Monroe Island

Chapter - 1
  Monroe Island

A few days before,  I attend one of my school friends bachelors party at Monroe Island Kollam. I was so excited to attend the party not only for meeting my old friends who supported me a lot during my rough times but also to spend my time at Monroe Island, which was one of the destinations to visit in my bucket list. We all were expected to reach the venue by 3:00 PM.  My cousin dropped me at the venue by 2:45, too early on Malayalees clock (my bestie's comment). 

My cousin offered to wait until my friends reach. I sat on the banks of the Astamudi river listening to my favorite playlist in Spotify. The songs of  the legendandry music directors in the Malayalam movie industry like Devarajan - Johnson Master along with the natural view in front of my eyes relaxed me a lot.  I relaxed there for over ten minutes listening to different Malayalam Songs. I even repeatedly palyed the song - Keralam Keralam kelikettunarunna Keralam from the Malayalam Movie of 1977 Minimol (Lyrics- Sreekumaran Thampi, Devarajan Master - Music direction and Sung by Dr K J Yesudas). 

Munroe Island is an inland island group consits of eight islands at the concurse of Astamudi Lake and Kallada River comrising an area about 1.4 Km. The island is named after Col John Munroe, the Diwan of the Thiruvithamcoor Kingdom during  1810 -1819.  He oversaw the  land reclamation efforts in the delta where the Astamudi Lake and Kallada River  joins.

The low lying areas of at present under threat of submergence during the high tides. The inland  population are forced to migrate to other places due to the environmntal issues. The death of Lance Naik Sudheesh at the Siachin Glacier  Avalanche in 2016 attracted the interest of the outside worlds interest towards the problems of the island. 

Service No : 2609858F

Birth Place : Monroethuruth,Kerala

Service: Army

Last Rank: Lance Naik

UNIT: 19 Madras

Regiment : The Madras Regiment

Date of Martyrdom: Feb 03, 2016

Lance Naik Sudheesh B belonged to 19 Madras of the Madras Regiment who also  served in Jammu and Kashmir in ‘Operation Rakshak’ . During his tenure, he was part of intelligence collection team of the Unit and had helped the Battalion carry out several operations successfully.He also served in ‘Operation Rhino’ in the North East and was part of the Quick Reaction Team of the Company. He also volunteered to serve in Rashtriya Rifles for two years. A sportsman to the core. (Coutresy: 

https://www.honourpoint.in/profile/lance-naik-sudheesh-b/)

 

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