Thiruvannathapuram: Following a Delhi High Court notice, everyone is expected to refer to her as the minor girl from Kathua. But the name blazed strongly in every heart as different groups offered tributes at Manaveeyam Veedhi here on Saturday to the eight-year-old who was raped and murdered. People from different walks of life, not representing any collective, stood silently with melting candles in their hand.
At another end of the street was a group offering a tribute of melodies for the little one. The melodies were not sad, and originally they were not meant to be for Asifa. It was a fortnightly event called 'Swarapacha' put together by Aksharaveedhi street library and Nizhalattom collective. The singer Deepu G. Das had chosen the sweetest of songs, including romantic melodies, but this was the week when the chargesheet revealing the chilling details of the murder came out. "I could not practise. My heart was heavy. I rang up a poet friend. I needed words as tribute to Asifa, which I would share before the event would start," he said.
His friend, Sudheer Raj, has written something to the effect of fascism turning even God into a helpless onlooker. Nizhalattom creative head Ratheesh Rohini said, "suppose someone says something against God on social media, there are people who gang up and assault them. Now, the same set of people have raped a girl in the temple. They give little respect to the gods they worship." There are more tributes planned for the minor. A collective has decided to walk backwards from Kanakakkunnu to Manaveeyam on Sunday.
