Chennai: Legend has it in Tamil Nadu that an old woman once chased away a tiger thrashing it with a winnow.
And on Sunday night, pretty much displaying similar valour an elderly couple in Kadayam in Tirunelveli, deep south in Tamil Nadu, became heroes of sorts by chasing away two armed thieves using an assortment of household items as “'missiles'”.
Their brave act, caught on CCTV camera, has since gone viral making jaws drop a thousand times.
Around 9 pm on Sunday, Shanmugavel (72) had just finished calling his son over the phone and was sitting on a chair outside his farmhouse when an armed thief came from behind and threw a towel around his neck and pulled him to strangle him.
However, Shanmugavel did not give up and caught hold of the intruder using his hands and screamed. Hearing the commotion, his 65-year-old wife Senthamarai rushed to her rescue.
Instead of panicking, Senthamarai immediately bent down and took a slipper and hurled it at the thief. Within no time, another man accompanying him entered the scene and both threatened the couple with sickles.
But the couple was not petrified and instead laid their hand on every other household item they could spot in the vicinity and began hurling them towards the two men. Buckets, chairs and table were thrown at the men who appeared rattled by the development.
The thieves, both masked, then ran away from the scene. “We thought they were scared and ran away. But only after they left I realised my wife’s gold mangalsutra was missing. They had left as they managed to get the ornament,” Shanmugavel said on Monday with no signs of being a hero.
His wife Senthamarai too was not overcome by the sudden media focus on her. “I have always been bold,” she said matter of fact. Why she did not try to close the door on seeing the armed men, she said,
“They were holding him (my husband) and I had to save him. If something happens to him, my health will be affected. I took the slipper, bucket and everything and hurled at them.” She sustained minor injuries in her right wrist. “This is nothing. The sickle just brushed through my wrist,” she said.
By Dravida Thambi
