A father's appeal

AN agony of immeasurable depths haunts me, as my son, Alex Paul Menon, who has gone to Chhattisgarh to serve the people there, has been held captive by Maoists. I am not aware of their demands. Let them hold talks with the government to find a solution to their problems. But abduction of my son is unfair. My fervent plea to them is that they should release my son unharmed so that he will be able to continue his work for the people. I also appeal to them to consider my plea on humanitarian grounds as my daughter-in-law is three months pregnant and she needs peace of mind.

This was the plea of A. Varadhass, the 69-year old father of Alex Paul Menon, when Frontline met him at his relative's residence in Chennai on April 25, the fifth day his son was in captivity.

A retired school headmaster, he is proud of his 32-year-old son's passion to serve the people, particularly the poor and the downtrodden, in the remote tribal villages of Chhattisgarh's Sukma district.

Varadhass, who recently underwent a bypass surgery, is a native of Samathanapuram near Valliyur in Tirunelveli district, Tamil Nadu. He was in Chennai when he got the shocking news over phone from his daughter-in-law in Sukma on April 21.

Only a couple of days earlier he had returned to Chennai from Sukma, where his son had assumed charge as the Collector of the newly created district in January.

He became emotional when he spoke about his son. My wife, a former employee of the State government, died of cancer in 1996. Since then, I, as a single parent, devoted most of my free time to the education of my son and daughter, he said. The family shifted to Palayamkottai to give the children access to better education. Menon won the acclaim of his teachers for his academic brilliance. After completing his schooling in 1997, he joined a private engineering college in Dindigul and graduated in electronics and communication engineering.

Even as a student, Menon evinced keen interest in serving the poor. Driven by the desire to join the Indian Administrative Service, he went to Chennai and prepared for the Civil Services Examinations without joining any coaching centre. Though he was chosen for the Indian Revenue Service in 2005, he continued with his efforts until he was selected to the IAS in 2006.

Before his appointment as the Collector of Sukma district, Menon had served as Additional Collector of Jagadalpur and Dhamtari. The local people appreciated his unassuming and selfless service to the public, said Varadhass.

The tribal areas which come under his administrative jurisdiction are known for their poor infrastructure. The roads are in such a bad shape that it takes four to five hours to cover a distance of 80 km. My son has initiated several steps to enhance infrastructure in these areas, besides resorting to a lot of social welfare measures, he said.

Menon is a great admirer of Che Guevara and has emulated him in reaching out to the destitute. Taking inspiration from Che's Motorcycle Diaries, he made frequent trips to inaccessible tribal areas, including Maoist-affected places, on a motorcycle.

According to Varadhass, Menon is known for his progressive outlook in social and religious matters. He has tremendous faith in secularism. In fact, his blogposts (at https://alexmenon.blogspot.in) vouch for his honest approach to social issues, besides demonstrating his interest in art and literature. Varadhass also cited an example: a Tamil haiku titled Voice of a Rebel penned by Menon. A free translation of the haiku reads as follows:

Our slavery is formidable;Our fetters are strong;ThenHow can the hammer strokes

That fall on the shackles be soft and painless?

The blog's purpose is to document all experience in my professional and personal life specially in educating aspirants for the IAS and Civil Service and utilising the freedom of the blog to be one's own publisher, to scribble reviews about books, movies, websites, etc.

In fact, his interest in journalism enabled him to become a student scribe of a Tamil magazine during his college days, said Varadhass.

Asked about the Menon' in his son's name, Varadhass said he had added it in memory of former Defence Minister V.K. Krishna Menon. I have high regard for the late leader as a great patriot and an acclaimed orator, he said.

Varadhass concluded: My son is a strong-willed person. But he needs a lot of help and support at this critical moment. We, the family members, sincerely hope that the Centre and the Chhattisgarh government will take the necessary steps to secure his release from captivity.

S. Dorairaj