KASARGOD: Meenakshi Boddodi, 28, lost a whole day in Kadambar Village Office on Friday. She
reached the office at 11 am for an income certificate and a community certificate, but by then the village officer had ‘gone for prayers.’
The officer returned at 4 pm, only to tell her that he would clear the income certificate later in the day, and asked her to collect the community certificate from the Taluk Office.
For the officialdom, Boddodi is worth next to nothing, her one day worth less than Rs 75.
Five years ago, she was the celebrated daughter of Kasaragod. Boddodi was the first postgraduate from Koraga community, a particularly vulnerable tribe.
President Pranab Mukherjee had invited her as a special guest to the Republic Day dinner in 2014 to celebrate the achievement.
She went on to do an MPhil from Kasaragod Government College on the language and culture of Koraga community.
But society and the government consider her no different from any other member of the Koraga community. She makes a living today by rolling beedi, tobacco flakes rolled in a dry leaf.
“Every day, I roll 500 to 600 beedis,” says Boddodi. She will earn Rs 150 only if she manages to roll 1,000 beedis. “That usually takes two days,” she says.
But the money is crucial for her family. Her husband Ratnakara,35, works for a private passenger bus. But he has a job only for two days a week. The couple has a three-year-old son Mokshith, and Ratnakara’s
ageing parents to care for. Boddodi wants to be a teacher, but she flunked her psychology paper in the BEd course.
She was in the Village Office for the certificates because she wanted to apply for the post of management trainee in the Department of Tribal Development in Kasaragod. It has been pushed back by another day.
Bododdi’s achievement and struggle should be seen against the backdrop of the community she comes from. Not many years ago, the community lived off the leftovers of other people, according to ‘Echil Jeevitham,’ a book on the community by journalist Venu Kalar.
According to District Tribal Development Officer Anandan Krishnan, there are not more than five or six graduates in the community.
On Boddodi, he said she was from Kannada medium so she could not be hired in the department-run schools, which are Malayalam medium. “She can get a job only if the government takes a special interest in her case,” he said. Traditionally, the community is very reclusive.