Pavan Nash, a Class 6 student in Kerala’s Ernakulam district, was devastated when he came home on Monday. The gooseberry tree in front of his house, which he had been fondly nurturing for the past two years, had disappeared. The miscreants who broke off the two feet tall tree had left nothing but a small portion of the trunk.
The 12-year-old who was waiting to see a gooseberry grow on his tree was inconsolable. But the very next day, Pavan and his family were astounded to see officers from the Njarakkal police station standing in front of their house with nine new tree saplings in their hands.
The officers came up to the house to console the grieving boy, after he reached out to them without the knowledge of his parents.
Hurt by the incident on Monday, Pavan had given a call to ‘Chiri’, a tele counselling initiative for children started by the Kerala government, to aid the mental well-being of kids in the state during the lockdown. When the official of Chiri (meaning Smile) picked up Pavan's call, he cried his heart out, states Malayala Manorama which first reported the story. The issue was picked up by higher officials of Chiri after they were informed about the distraught child. Following this, reportedly on the direction of Inspector General (IG) of Police P Vijayan, Chiri's nodal officer, officials of the Njarakkal police station brought the tree saplings to give to Pavan.
“He was very sad, but we didn’t know he had called up the officials,” Pavan’s mother Divya told TNM. His elder sister has a teacher who is part of the Students’ Police Cadet and in his WhatsApp profile picture, the teacher wears a police uniform, she says.
“Pavan had seen this before, so on Monday following the incident, he took the phone from me saying he wanted to play games. But it was to call this teacher thinking that he was a police officer and he could help... we learnt this later. It is the teacher who gave Pavan the ‘Chiri’ helpline number thinking that they could console him. Pavan then called this number and poured out his grievance. We didn't know any of this,” says Divya.
Pavan is a student of Lobelia School in Nayarambalam. He had received the gooseberry plant from the school when he was in Class 4.
On Tuesday, the police officers gave Pavan saplings of tamarind and guava, in addition to gooseberry.
Pavan, who is now excited about the media attention following the incident, says, “I’m happy now, but I'm still a little hurt about my gooseberry tree,” he tells TNM.
Meanwhile, a CCTV firm in Kochi named Smart Guard has come forward and gifted Pavan a CCTV camera for the house, after seeing media reports about the incident. Pavan and his family are thankful as the CCTV will help them keep an eye on his beloved plants and ensure that no one harms or steals them again.