THE JHARKHAND STORY NETWORK
Daltonganj, Oct 30: A fractured limb Returning Officer here in Palamu has won the hearts of candidates. He has become a symbol of fortitude in crisis. His is a saga of courage and patience.
Candidates cutting across the party lines appreciated the stoic endurance of pain of the Returning Officer Kundan Kumar who did his duty and responsibility with clinical precision and that too with just one leg as his fractured leg was too tender to touch the hard surface.
Facing physical challenges head-on
Kundan Kumar used to sit in his nomination office from 11 am sharp to 3pm sharp. As his one leg had fractured, he used to keep his fractured leg on a wooden tool in a horizontal posture to avert swelling.
A fractured leg if kept down for hours swells like ‘double Roti’. Kundan Kumar said, “I knew I am to be in my nomination office every day and so there is no wisdom in keeping the fractured leg down. I managed to keep it parallel to the surface. It’s much easier said than done. I did my poor leg full justice.”
He said, “On the first day of the start of the nomination which was incidentally the second day of my fracture in my leg, I mustered the courage to negotiate the staircases from the ground floor to the first floor to the second floor. It was no wisdom of mine. The day went off somehow but the evening was painful and torturous.”
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He said, “My BP began to fluctuate. It went up and down. I got it to be stable.”
Kundan Kumar said, “Orthopaedic surgeon Dr Anil Kumar, who is the civil surgeon here, gave me an orthopaedic chappal. It was quite a soothing experience with the leg.”
Additional Collector Kundan Kumar is the Returning Officer of Bishrampur assembly constituency. Bishrampur assembly constituency is one of the five assembly constituencies of Palamu.
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Chief Electoral Officer K Ravi Kumar was quite concerned about his health on knowing the mishap on his leg. He spoke to the district election officer cum deputy commissioner of Palamu Shashi Ranjan and civil surgeon Dr Anil Kumar all to be assured that the officer is still in a position to manage the duties and responsibilities of the Returning Officer.
Just a day ahead of the filing for nominations to begin with, Kundan Kumar fell and got hurt. His left leg sustained a fracture. It happened during an event of the SVEEP programme about 29 km away from Daltonganj.
An avid reader of books, Kundan Kumar tried hard to hide his agony in the pages of the books. He once told this Jharkhand Story correspondent, “I feel reading a book is reading your thoughts. My office table in the chamber invariably carries a book or two.”
This Returning Officer never made any parade of pain. Like the characters of the great English novelist Ernest Hemingway, he continued to believe that “Man is not made for defeat. He can be destroyed but not defeated.”
