Hartal? My Foot! Lecturer Walks 11 km

KOZHIKODE: Call it a protest against shutdown or commitment towards profession or both. While most Keraliites enjoyed a ‘holiday’ on Tuesday on account of the hartal called by the BJP in the state, for Anitha Ramesh, an associate professor in the English Department of Zamorin’s Guruvayurappan College here, it was quite a unique working day. She walked 11 km from her house at Chakkorathukulam to reach the college in Pokkunnu in a little over two hours. She started walking at 8.05 am and reached the college by 10.15 am.

Anitha, who usually goes by car or bike, decided to cover the distance on foot on Tuesday in protest against hartals. ‘’I do not support shutdowns. I usually go to college on all hartal days on bike. This time when the hartal was announced, the thought of going to college on foot crossed my mind.  I thought of doing so as a mark of protest to send a message against wasting time by observing hartals,’’ she says. 

Anitha, 53, admits that it was indeed a challenge to travel the distance by foot. Surprisingly, she felt only a little fatigue. ‘’I shared the idea with my colleagues and husband but nobody came forward to walk with me. So I decided to go ahead and made it a lone walk,” says Anitha.

Arya Gopi, writer and colleague, described Anitha as an active and dedicated member of the English Department. “She is a very dedicated faculty member with no political leanings. When the hartal was called, she shared the idea of coming to college on foot. However, we could not make it along with her. On Tuesday, she arrived in the college earlier than some of us,” says Arya.