17th October 1999

6 o'clock the next day morning we reached Bangalore and took a local taxi to the long distant taxi stand, from where we had to catch another taxi to get to Hogenakkal.



After another three hours of traveling we finally got to Hogenakkal. Our relatives, who had gotten there immediately upon receiving the news, were waiting for us. They said that there was no news about Vijayan. The local boatmen were engaged for the search for Vijayan, but the fire brigade was not there to help us. In fact they were not in the neighborhood at all. All of us anxiously waited for the boatmen to come back - every minute was precious for us.



The boys who were with Vijayan gave us lots of hope for the survival of Vijayan. They told us that Vijayan waved for help even after the current dragged him into the 60 feet deep pit and they saw him swimming in the river and clinging to a rock for a while. One local man was fishing in that area where Vijayan signaled for help but when the boys asked him to help he refused. The boys also told us that at that time it was become dark and was drizzling.

At about six in the evening the search party came back with news that they could not find Vijayan yet. Still the boys gave us hope for survival of Vijayan. The police were not much help nor did any of the Government missions help us. It was a terrible night and it was very hard to keep Vijayan’s mother at Hogenakkal. She fell unconscious several times and there are no doctors in the vicinity. We sent her to Tuticorn in a taxi were she was looked after by our family members there. I had a sleepless night and was praying the whole time.