Staring into the void

Saleena Musthafa, who lives on the eighth floor of the Holy Faith H2O building at Maradu talks about her emotional roller-coaster ride of the past few days

Photos: Saleena Musthafa; The Holy Faith apartment building  

By Shevlin Sebastian

In the early morning of October 2, while the country celebrated Gandhi Jayanti day, Saleena Musthafa stood in the verandah of her eight-floor apartment of the H20 Holy Faith building at Maradu and stared at the backwaters. In the distance, she could see numerous trees while the slanting rays of the sun lit up the eastern sky. “This sight always gave me a sense of peace,” she says. “I would stand here most mornings for the past 11 years ever since my husband and I moved in.”

But now the situation has irrevocably changed. Suitcases and cardboard boxes are lying about in the apartment. Most of the furniture and the beds have been taken away. The state government had given the deadline of October 3, to the owners to leave the building.

The Supreme Court has ordered the demolition of Holy Faith and three other buildings -- Jain Coral Cove, Alpha Serene, and Golden Kayaloram. All the buildings have been constructed within the High Tide Line of the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ). The No-Development Zone is 200 metres from the coastline while the Holy Faith is at 13 metres.

“When the tehsildar officers, as well as the police, entered our apartment on Monday to know about our Aaadhar card and other details that was when it sank in,” she says. “Our beloved building is indeed going to demolished.”

On Monday night many flat owners and their families gathered together and everybody was crying. “All of us have a pain in our hearts that the court never listened to what we had to say,” she says. “They never studied the petitions that we had submitted.”

The children are also traumatised. “When they go to school, their classmates ask them, ‘Is your house getting demolished?’” says Saleena “And that makes them feel so sad and upset.”

However, Saleena’s children Tarique Ahmed, 23, and Fadaya, 22, are living outside Kerala. While Tarique is doing a photography course at the National Institute of Design at Ahmedabad, Fadaya is doing an architecture course in Bengaluru.

Saleena says that if some people have done wrong, they should be punished. “But why take away our homes?” says Saleena. “When we bought the flat, all the papers were in order. How are we to know that there was a violation of the CRZ? We bought this with our hard-earned money. We are not crooks. We have been tax-paying citizens all our lives. What will society gain by demolishing these buildings? There are so many other problems like bad roads, poverty, and environmental degradation that need to be solved.”

Seleena lives with her husband Muhammad Musthafa in this 2200 sq. ft. flat with a drawing cum dining room, a large kitchen, and three bedrooms with attached bathrooms. The couple bought the flat for Rs 85 lakhs. “It's resale value is Rs 1 crore,” she says. “And now we are left with nothing. We are not even sure when we will receive the Rs 25 lakh interim relief proposed by the court.”

However, the crisis has brought the people together. A few days ago, when Saleena put a message in the group WhatsApp saying she was not well, within a few minutes, there was a knock on her door. Her neighbour Krishna had bought a breakfast of idlis and sambar.

“We have always been like a family and celebrated Onam, Christmas and other festivals with a lot of enthusiasm,” says Saleena. “We have gone to movies also.”

Meanwhile, Saleena, who is a certified Art Of Living teacher (Sri Sri Ravi Shankar), has not given up. “I am praying hard,” she says. “In fact, all of us are hoping for a miracle, and God will save our building at the last moment.” 

(The New Indian Express, Kochi)