Madikeri: Karnataka’s Kodagu district and the state of Kerala saw one of the worst natural disasters to hit the country in years. For the victims of the recent flooding and landslides in the beautiful hilltop district of Kodagu, the future seems uncertain. For one resident of the district, however, the situation seemed bleak even before the disaster took away what little she and her family had to their name.
Tashma Muthappa and her family lost everything in the landslides and have been residing at a flood-relief camp ever since the disaster struck. While her story may sound similar to that of many others in the district, the 23-year-old’s is unique as she is no ordinary citizen… or at least, she wasn’t at one point of time.
Tashma, a resident of Second Monnangeri and daughter of Muthappa (60) and Girija (45), was a national and international-level throwball player and did her country, state and district proud with her accomplishments on the court. She won the state and country several medals and trophies over her career as a throwball player. She was even part of the team that won the gold at the women’s international throwball tournament.
Unfortunately, trouble struck her home long before the landslides did. In 2016, financial problems at home gave her no choice but to turn away from her dreams and ambitions in the throwball field and take up a job to support her family. Tashma, who is a B.Com graduate, took up a contract job as a computer operator at the Kodagu Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS) in Madikeri about a year ago, where her older brother, Sharath Kumar (26) also worked. However, tragedy struck the family when her brother passed away two months ago.
Tashma was recently engaged to a Dubai-based man and the family was making preparations for the wedding which was to be held in December this year.
Her parents had bought gold jewellery worth Rs 3.5 Lakh for the upcoming wedding but, it was all swept away in the landslides that took their home along with Tashma’s certificates and trophies.
The family was forced to postpone the wedding to April next year.
Considering that she is now the sole bread winner in the family since her father stopped working two months ago, Tashma hopes to be able to get a stable government job in order to continue to support her family.
“I need to take care of my mother and father. I want to get a government job so that I can do that,” she told NewsKarnataka.
Now, her hope is that the government will consider the laurels she has brought to the country and state and lend her a helping hand.
When asked if anyone has come forward to help her family, she said that the Art of Living and Kodava Family of Singapore has offered to pay her house rent for a full year. “They are looking for a rented house in Madikeri. They said they will pay the rent for one year,” she explained and added that the chairman of Alva’s Institution also had contacted her and offered her financial support.
