Boy takes exam even as mother dies in Valparai

Sources said that while T Arun Kumar (19), of Valparai in Coimbatore district, a class 12 student, wrote the Chemistry paper on Monday before attending the final rites of his mother, his brother T Shankar Kumar (17) would be taking his SSLC examination on Tuesday. Their mother, T Ayyammal Selvi (38), was a cook in Amma Unavagam, Valparai and father, S Thiruselvam (42), a cable TV operator of Anna Nagar in Ceylon Colony, Valparai Town. 

Speaking to DTNext, Thiruselvam said, “After the recent rains, weeds started growing behind our house. I bought some chemical for de-weeding and stored it in a soft drinks bottle on Friday evening. Meanwhile, I received a call from Valparai and left immediately leaving the bottle with the chemical on the table. Selvi, who returned home from work, drank the chemical mistaking it for soft drinks.”

“When Selvi experienced some strange effect, she spit it out, but the damage had been done by then. She was rushed to the Valparai Government Hospital. Selvi responded to the treatment and even spoke to us on Sunday evening. Unfortunately, breathed her last in the night,” he said. Meanwhile, Arun Kumar said, “My mother asked us to come out in flying colours in the board exams. I was preparing for the Chemistry exam when she passed away.”