As a senior priest, Fr Uzhunnalil has an extraordinary ability to adapt to his circumstances. Fr Tom Uzhunnalil never doubted that he would come out of captivity unscathed. His captors had dropped him enough hints. Some of them even bought him biriyani and chocolates.
“I knew from day one that they were not going to kill me. Nothing happens without God’s knowledge,” the priest said as he recounted his days with the terrorists in Yemen. “A few days before my release, they told me that they will let me go soon and I would be famous.”
Fr Uzhunnalil had witnessed gory scene just before he was thrown into the captors' car on that fateful day in March 2016.
How did he survive the trauma?
“Bible,” pat came the reply. “I used to dream that I was celebrating mass. I even dreamed that I was back at home feasting on chicken curry,” he said amid bursts of laughter.
As a senior priest, Fr Uzhunnalil has an extraordinary ability to adapt to his circumstances. Hardly a month after his release, he has left behind the tense days. He does not want to term his experience as an ordeal or even suffering. He is not bitter when he talks about the gunmen who held him hostage for a year-and-a-half.
“They never pointed a gun at me,” he said. “The sounds of torture you heard in my video they released, were actually made up by them.”
A day in the life of a hostage
Fr Uzhunnalil cannot tell for sure when he used to wake up. Every day was the same to him. He had lost track of time.
“My day started with a thanksgiving prayer to God. I also said the rosary for the murdered nuns and for everyone else. I would celebrate mass without bread or wine. I would dedicate each and everyone from my family and the church to god. I would pray for my friends and even for my captors,” he said.
The abducted priest was assigned to a thin cotton mattress. Two of the places where he had been kept had an attached washroom.
“They made sure that I never saw their faces. They would always blindfold me, except when they took me to the washroom. I was allowed to lift the blindfold a little when I ate. But I was ordered not to look at them.”
Gradually, they grew comfortable with the hostage’s presence. They stopped blindfolding him. “Still I had to cover my face when any of them walked in. I soon became accustomed to it.”
The priest was healthy but for two bouts of fever and an episode of stomach troubleThe priest had no knowledge of Arabic and most of his captors spoke little English yet they communicated through gestures and whatever words they could think of.
“They gave me good food three times a day. There would be biriyani, kubboos, rice, fried potatoes and boiled eggs. Some of the days, they would give me as many as five eggs. I would eat two and keep the rest for the next day.”
Yet the priest lost weight at an alarming rate. “They were worried and asked me why was I becoming thinner. I told them it was my diabetes.”
The priest was healthy but for two bouts of fever and an episode of stomach trouble. “They called in a doctor for me one day. My blood pressure was high. Sugar level stood at 450. They gave me insulin to inject. Then they gave me 30 pills. When the batch was finished, they kept giving me batches of 100 pills. They also told me to do some exercise in the room.”
Ramazan and Christmas
The gunmen made sure that their hostage ate well even when they fasted during the Ramazan month. The priest prayed silently behind the genuflecting captors.
"I could not pray all day long. I would conjure up my days as a teacher in an ITI. I would think about electric circuits and do intricate mental calculations. How long has a 100-year-old man has lived? How many hours, how many minutes and how many seconds? I used to do stuff like that."
Of course, his captors did not know what went through his mind but one of them came up to him and said he would live for at least 85 years.
"Whenever they grew tired of waiting for someone to offer them money in return for my freedom, they shot videos of me to propagate. They must have shot at least five clips."
They would write down what they wanted the priest to tell on camera. "I had no option but to parrot whatever they said, mentioning the prime minister or the Pope." They showed him the message sent by Navitha, David and Thomas from his family.
He was pleasantly surprised when he noted the date on the camera screen on a cold day. It was two days after Christmas and they had treated him to a sumptuous meal two days ago.
Ready for the mission
An older member of the gang developed a particular liking for the hostage. He expressed his intimacy through food. "He would often buy me a chocolate whenever he returned to the house. He would also gift me apples, oranges and banana-flavored milk."
His mates would tease him for taking someone hostage and caring for him. They always said that their only goal was money and the priest would walk free the day they received money.
Fr Uzhunnalil spoke to Sr Sally, the nun who was with him in Aden on the day of the attack. "She is in Beirut now. Her faith is strong. She has gone through a bigger ordeal than me."
Salesian missionaries work in 134 countries.
Will Fr Uzhunnalil go on another assignment?
"Of course, if God wills so."
I could not help asking him if he could forgive his captors as an individual. “I can only answer that question as a priest. The Christ has taught us to love our enemy. It was natural for me to forgive them. I have been praying for them from day one.”
(Concluded)
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