By Hassan Cheruppa

Saudi Gazette

JEDDAH — The story of the demise of Sakeer Hussain, a 13-year-old boy from Nilgiris district of Tamil Nadu, and Nithin Chandran, an engineer-cum-social worker from Kozhikode district of Kerala, touched millions of Indians working in the Gulf countries, especially in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, after they died in their prime.

Sakeer Hussain, a terminally ill cancer patient, was instrumental in securing the release of his father from the Jazan Central Jail while the legal fight of the Dubai-based Nithin and his pregnant wife Athira Geetha Sreedharan had resulted in launching India’s ongoing largest repatriation operation titled Vande Bharat Mission.

The bodies of Sakeer and Nithin were buried and cremated respectively in their native places on Wednesday in the presence of their family members and close relatives. The funerals were held under strict precautionary protocols due to the corona pandemic.

Sakeer Hussain, who had been suffering from the deadly disease for the last eight years, breathed his last without fulfilling his big dream of memorizing the Holy Qur’an in full. A student of Qur’an Memorization College of Padanthara in Devarshola, Sakeer Hussain memorized some parts of the Holy Scripture.

He died on Wednesday morning in Moolavayal village and the funeral prayer for him was offered in Three Division Mosque in Devarshola, a town bordering the southern Indian states of Kerala and Karnataka.

The death of Sakeer Hussain was shocking news for hundreds of thousands of Indians in Saudi Arabia as he was in the limelight earlier this year when he came to perform Umrah on wheelchair and visited his father in Jazan jail. It was the ardent desire of the teenager to perform Umrah and meet his jailed father Syed Saleem after a hiatus of nine years.

He had a will to pray in front of the Holy Kaaba for the release of his jailed father that forced his mother Safiya and grandfather Muhammad Ali Haji to take him to Makkah in January this year where he supplicated earnestly for the release and reunion with his father.

Though his physical condition and the family’s financial position proved an obstacle in realizing his wish, a philanthropist from their locality lent a helping hand by offering to meet all the expense of their Umrah pilgrimage.

“Within a few days after my arrival in Makkah, the first demand in my prayers was answered by God as I was taken to Jazan jail for the much anticipated reunion with father,” the boy had told Saudi Gazette while he was in Makkah.

With the support of some social workers and philanthropists, the boy, accompanied by mother and grandfather, was able to fly to Jazan from Jeddah and had a reunion with his father. Speaking to Saudi Gazette after the visit, the boy praised God for enabling him to meet his father before breathing his last.

“I forgot my severe pain for a while when I had the opportunity to meet my father after a gap of nine years. I praise God for answering my earnest supplication to have a chance to visit the Holy Kaaba and pray from there for the release of my father and it was a double blessing for me when God answered my prayers by giving me an opportunity to meet my father Syed Saleem,” he said.

The boy and his mother thanked the Saudi authorities, Jeddah Indian Consulate officials and social workers of Jazan, led by Haris Kallayi, for supporting them to facilitate the visit to Jazan jail to meet Syed Saleem. The visit of the boy gave momentum to the procedures for the release of his father, who had completed his prison term after being convicted in a financial case. Syed Saleem was reunited with his family one month after son’s visit of him in the jail.

After returning to India, Syed Saleem is making a living as an auto rickshaw driver. His mother Safiya told Saudi Gazette that her son breathed his last without fulfilling his big dream of memorizing the Qur’an in full. “Even though his health condition had worsened a few weeks ago, he managed to recite the full part of the Holy Book during Ramadan,” she added.

Tearful adieu to Nithin

The Indian community in the Gulf gave a tearful adieu to Nithin, who had died early morning in his sleep at his apartment in Dubai’s International City on June 8. Earlier, he was reportedly under treatment for high blood pressure and heart complications and died of a heart attack while asleep.

Nithin was a mechanical engineer working with a construction company while wife Athira is an electronics and communication engineer with an IT company.

The couple had hit the headlines in the Gulf as well as in India when the 28-year-old supported his pregnant wife in filing a petition in India’s Supreme Court for early repatriation of Indians from the UAE during the coronavirus lockdown.

The engineering couple, through their successful legal fight, had become the face of Indians stranded abroad. Nithin had said at that time that it was the plight of stranded expatriates, especially those with health issues that prompted the couple to take the legal recourse.

Athira had managed to get a ticket on the first repatriation flight from Dubai to Kozhikode on May 7. Despite getting a ticket in the evacuation flight, Nithin stayed back in Dubai to facilitate conveyance of an ailing person. His unexpected demise came hardly a month after he sent Athira home for delivery that was expected to be in the first week of July.

Nithin’s death happened on Monday when he was planning to join his wife, to be with her when she gives birth to their first child. On Tuesday, the next day of his death, Athira gave birth to a baby girl through a caesarean section without knowing that Nithin will never be able to see her and the baby. His body was repatriated late on Tuesday night on board a chartered flight from Sharjah to Kochi in Kerala. The devastating news of Nithin’s death was revealed to Athira on Wednesday morning.

It was an emotional scene when Nithin’s body was brought to a private hospital in Kozhikode for a brief while to enable Athira to see him for the last time. Several people gave a tearful farewell to Nithin at the embalming session in Dubai and at the funeral ceremony in Perambra, his hometown in Kerala.

The couple had been active in social service as members of the Blood Donors Kerala-UAE chapter. Nithin was coordinator of Blood Donors in Dubai and member of the Indian Culture and Arts Society (INCAS). He found time to distribute food kits for those affected by the pandemic and also organized blood donation drives.