Come Teachers Day (September 5), dozens of tribal youth in a remote jungle hamlet called Alakkal will salute K. Narayanan, their lone teacher who dared the wild to reach out to them with the joy of letters and knowledge.
Fondly called Mani Master, this man from Manimooly, near Vazhikkadavu, has been walking 28 km every day through the dense Nilambur forest to teach the Cholanaikar children of Alakkal hamlet. In the past 30 years, Mr. Narayanan has brought about a perceptible change in the lone primitive tribal group in the Nilambur forest.
Many escapes
The long walk through the elephant-infested jungle has become his routine, but never been safe. He escaped from elephants, bears, leopards and wild gaurs several times. He has chronicled 15 kills by elephants in the jungle that he traversed since 1990. He believes that he had providence’s grace as he was on a noble cause.
“I take this pain for a noble cause. I could lift them (the tribespeople of Alakkal). I don’t think anyone else in the world is more satisfied than I am,” this alternative school teacher told The Hindu during a trip to the hamlet.
Cave dwellers
When he reached Alakkal in 1990, the Cholanaikers there were living in caves, and they were half naked. Now they are living in huts and enjoying music and movies on smartphones, though still deep inside the forest.
Mr. Narayanan’s day begins early in the morning. He pedals his bicycle for 4 km up to Anamari forest check-post, from where he walks 14 km through the forest. Except in summer, he swims across the Punnapuzha and Korampuzha streams as the recent floods destroyed the bridges across them.
Native tongue
He has learned the language of Cholanaikars, a special slang of Kannada and Tamil mix. “Neen ellu odha (where are you going?),” he asked a child who ran past him with a puppy. Soon a group of children greeted him: “Makkei neen olla sela” (good morning, sir).
He has begun offering online classes in Cholanaikar language on the special platform set up by the Samagra Siksha Kerala (SSK). He said the children were excited to attend the classes in their mother tongue.
Till three years ago, alternative school teachers in the State used to get only ₹3,000 as honorarium. Over the past three years, it was raised to ₹18,325. It still looks meager for the pains a man like Mr. Narayanan takes. But he has no complaints.
“What we badly seek is some insurance coverage for us. We are always exposed to the wild in the forest. We need some care and protection,” he said.
