Arjun and Sailu’s trek through the wilderness, carrying their lifeless child, symbolized more than grief—it exposed the state’s neglect of the vulnerable, their pain echoing as a silent plea for change
Published May 25, 2025 | 12:05 AM ⚊ Updated May 25, 2025 | 12:05 AM
A grief too heavy to bear: Couple treks through darkness with infant's body
Synopsis: On 23 May, Sedari Arjun and Sailu began a heartbreaking journey through the wilderness, carrying the body of their two-month-old daughter who died at King George Hospital, Visakhapatnam. The infant had battled for life since 8 May. Her death marked an unbearable loss, but the struggle to bring her home added to the couple’s deep sorrow
In the heart of the wilderness, where the earth is untamed and the night unforgiving, Sedari Arjun and Sailu trudged through the darkness, their hearts shattered by an unbearable loss.
On Arjun’s shoulder rested the lifeless body of their two-month-old daughter, her tiny form wrapped in a cloth that could not shield her from the cruelty of fate. Earlier that day, on 23 May, their beloved child had passed away at King George Hospital in Visakhapatnam.
The ordeal began weeks earlier, on 8 May, when their infant daughter struggled to breathe. Alarmed by her deteriorating condition, Arjun and Sailu rushed her to King George Hospital, clinging to hope. For fifteen days, they watched helplessly as their child fought for life.
But on that fateful Friday, the hospital’s sterile walls bore witness to their worst nightmare—their daughter was gone. The loss was a calamity, a wound that would never heal. Yet, the journey to bring her home would deepen their anguish in ways they could not have imagined.
The hospital provided an ambulance, but its driver, hardened by years of witnessing death, seemed to have lost his humanity. He drove the grieving parents and their daughter’s body only as far as Kothavalasa, declaring the road ended there. To Arjun and Sailu, it was as if the world itself had abandoned them.
They pleaded with him to continue, at least to Sariya via Devarapalli, a route closer to their village. But their cries fell on deaf ears. The driver, unmoved, left the tiny body by the roadside and drove back to Visakhapatnam, leaving the parents to their despair under a darkening sky.
Stranded and heartbroken, Arjun and Salu called their relatives in Madrebu. The village rallied, pooling ₹6,000 to hire an auto-rickshaw from Devarapalli. The relatives arrived in Kothavalasa, where the couple waited, clutching their daughter’s body. Together, they squeezed into the rickety vehicle, the lifeless infant cradled between them, and began the second leg of their torturous and tortuous journey. But their trials were far from over.
When they reached Sariya, the auto driver, like the ambulance driver before him, refused to go further. The road had ended, he said, and the encroaching darkness offered no mercy. He took their money and drove away, leaving the small group stranded once more. The night closed in, merciless and oppressive, as if mocking their plight. With no one to turn to and no help in sight, Arjun made a heart-wrenching decision. He hoisted his daughter’s body onto his shoulder, and the group began the final, grueling five-kilometer walk to Madrebu.
Each step was a battle against grief and exhaustion. The terrain was unforgiving. The silence was broken only by the sound of their laboured breaths. They moved forward, driven by love for their child and a resolve to give her a proper farewell. After what felt like an eternity, they reached Madrebu at 11 p.m. There, under the weight of their sorrow, they laid their daughter to rest. But the state, tasked with protecting its people, hung its head in shame, its neglect laid bare by the family’s ordeal.
The villagers of Madrebu, led by elder Konda Thamabli Jagan and CPM district secretariat member K Govinda Rao, vowed to fight for justice. They planned to petition the district collector, demanding the arrest of the callous ambulance driver and steos for the construction of a road from Sariya to Madrebu. The community, united in their outrage, prepared to stage a dharna on horseback at the next Zilla Parishad meeting.
Arjun and Sailu’s journey was more than a trek through the wilderness; it was a stark reminder of the state’s indifference to its most vulnerable. In the darkness, carrying their child’s lifeless body, they bore not only their grief but the weight of a system that had failed them. Their story appeared like a cry for change, echoing through the hills.
(Edited by Ananya Rao)
