Kandasamy Naicker, a 73-year-old man from Meenakshipuram in Tamil Nadu's Tuticorin district, stayed in his family’s home until the very end. In July 2021, while standing in his old house, he said, "My father and grandfather lived and died here, and I too will die here," showing his strong desire to stay. Sadly, Kandasamy passed away on May 24, becoming the last person to live in Meenakshipuram and marking the end of the village.

Kandasamy’s son, Bala Krishnan, explained that people in the village had to walk almost four kilometers to get water. Because of this and the lack of basic facilities, many families moved away to find better opportunities. However, Kandasamy was determined to stay in the place where his family had lived for many generations.

The decline of Tamil Nadu’s ‘speechless villages’

The abandonment of Meenakshipuram is part of a larger trend in Tamil Nadu. Even though the state ranks high in human development, it has many abandoned villages, which are often called "pechilla gramangal" or "speechless villages." These ghost towns are found mostly in the southern districts and were left empty for different reasons, such as floods, droughts, epidemics, or even local legends and beliefs in curses.

Former professor and Tamil scholar MP Srinivasan points out that the abandonment of villages is not a new thing in Tamil history. In ancient times, people left villages because of war or invasions. The Sangam literature, a classical Tamil text, mentions empty villages. For example, in ‘Natrinai,’ it talks about villages being deserted after invasions. In 'Akanaanooru’ it describes a village being so completely abandoned that even a deity’s image disappeared from the walls of a temple.

While ancient villages were often abandoned because of conflict, today’s abandonment is mainly because of economic reasons. Professor S. Irudaya Rajan, chair of the International Institute of Migration and Development, says that people now leave their villages to find better job opportunities, better education, and improved living conditions.

Kandasamy’s death marks the end of an era for Meenakshipuram, a village now empty and silent. It serves as a reminder of how social and economic changes are causing people to leave their homes in search of better opportunities.