Ravindran Pottekkat

A Triple Talaq in Kodagu Ravindran Pottekkat

This is the story of Kodagu, the picturesque valley of Karnataka, India. The main protagonist of this story is Mohammed Rafeeque, a rich and educated youth. The main heroine is Jahanara and the subsidiary heroine is Saira Bhanu who is responsible for the tragic twist of the story, resulting in the triple talaq of Jahanara. The father of Mohammed Rafeeque was Rahmatullah Khan who hails from Pathan clan . His ancestors came from Afghanistan and worked in the army of Mysore Raja Tipu and then Wadiars. Rahmatullah joined as forester in Karnataka Forest dept. and retired as Divisional Forest Officer. He amassed huge wealth due to his connection with the forest brigand, Ponnappan and became multi-millionaire. He acquired three big estates viz two coffee estates, in Kodagu and one tea estate in Kotagiri, Ooty. After his death, Rafeeque became the sole owner of these estates. Rafeeque had a sweet heart while studying for BCom, named Krithika and had a son in her. He was running the Ooty tea estate and the other coffee estates run by his wife. A lady named Saira Bhanu joined service as his maid. She belonged to Calcutta and married an Anglo Indian and eloped to Ooty, to escape from the fanatics. Her husband Freddy worked as supervisor, in a tea estate and fell ill, due to cirrhosis of liver. Rafeeque did his best to help Saira and her daughter, after the demise of her husband. This led to marital discord which ended in the triple talaq of his wife Jahanara. In the quarrel, he also stabbed his wife for which he was convicted for 5 years jail. His daughters joined medicine and came out as doctors, by the time, he was released from jail. He wanted to reunite with his wife but it required marriage and divorce by another person. Rafeeque and his daughters tried for reunion, but Jahanara resented this move. The eldest daughter was given in marriage but the second daughter had a hard time to get an alliance, due to the triple talaq and conviction and she decides to live unmarried and this causes mental strain and death of Jahanara. Zeenath develops a psychic problem. Ultimately, a doctor from Lakshadweep islands marries her and she dies by taking excess sleeping pills. Rafeeque is devastated and he decides to lead the remaining life for charity, after giving his tea estate to his secret son in his sweet heart Krithika.