The first time I met Kaveri, I was struck by how young she was and that she was wearing a widow's colours. White, sombre and dignified. She was only 24, when her husband died. After just 3 years of marriage, leaving her with a one year baby boy. This story is not about her, but the strange way her husband died.
Pooviah, married Kaveri when he was 27, he was 6 years older than her. He came from a wealthy family, only son with two sisters. When he saw Kaveri at his cousin's wedding, he asked his parents that he wanted to marry her and 7 months later he did.
He was not an unkind husband, but every day after looking after the coffee estate he liked to drink. Drinking late into the night with either his friends at home or at the North Coorg club. On the weekends he drank earlier, at around 12.00 in the afternoon. This was the only issue they ever fought about.
On that particular day, he and Kaveri had a fight and he had been drinking. He took out the Double Barrel gun hanging on the wall of his dining room, grabbed a bottle of rum, got into his jeep and drove away into the coffee estate. He was last seen alive then. They heard a couple of gun shots and then deafening silence.
When they discovered his body the next day, it was unrecognisable. It took the forensic's and police a couple of days to put it to together.
Pooviah, drove into the middle of the estate, got out of his jeep, and sat on the bonnet with his bottle of rum, taking swigs of the drink directly from the bottle. He then started taking pot shots at a wild bee hive up in the teak trees. The first shot got the bees agitated. The second shot got the entire hive buzzing all over, and then they formed a huge big ball of fury and turned on him. They attacked him from all quarters. When they found him, he had died of asphyxiation, with his tongue swelling up due to the allergy caused by the bee stings. His face was blue in colour from the multiple stings. Every exposed part of his body was covered in bee stings.
Pooviah, married Kaveri when he was 27, he was 6 years older than her. He came from a wealthy family, only son with two sisters. When he saw Kaveri at his cousin's wedding, he asked his parents that he wanted to marry her and 7 months later he did.
He was not an unkind husband, but every day after looking after the coffee estate he liked to drink. Drinking late into the night with either his friends at home or at the North Coorg club. On the weekends he drank earlier, at around 12.00 in the afternoon. This was the only issue they ever fought about.
On that particular day, he and Kaveri had a fight and he had been drinking. He took out the Double Barrel gun hanging on the wall of his dining room, grabbed a bottle of rum, got into his jeep and drove away into the coffee estate. He was last seen alive then. They heard a couple of gun shots and then deafening silence.
When they discovered his body the next day, it was unrecognisable. It took the forensic's and police a couple of days to put it to together.
Pooviah, drove into the middle of the estate, got out of his jeep, and sat on the bonnet with his bottle of rum, taking swigs of the drink directly from the bottle. He then started taking pot shots at a wild bee hive up in the teak trees. The first shot got the bees agitated. The second shot got the entire hive buzzing all over, and then they formed a huge big ball of fury and turned on him. They attacked him from all quarters. When they found him, he had died of asphyxiation, with his tongue swelling up due to the allergy caused by the bee stings. His face was blue in colour from the multiple stings. Every exposed part of his body was covered in bee stings.
