KOCHI: Life is full of ups and downs for most of us, but for a few, the road remains bumpy till the end of the line. For Savithri K M, 63, this holds true on all levels. The teacher from Kuzhipilly, Vypeen, has been struggling since a tender age. Decades later, she continues to return life’s punches, battling the vagaries of chronic lung disease, the apathy of government officials and the weight of finding a livelihood to get by. The state has been delaying the implementation of order that granted her the pattayam for poramboke land on which her small house is built.
However, even as she struggles to eke out a living, Savithri continues to be a benevolent soul who imparts knowledge to the children of the fisherfolk at Kuzhipilly. She does it for very little fees, which most kids fail to pay sometimes. “I was born into a really poor family. My father used to earn a living by digging up the earth from the paddy fields and selling them. He used to make around Rs 2 per load and this wasn’t enough to feed his big brood of seven children,” she said.
But her elder brother shaped Savithri’s life. “He ensured that I got enrolled in a school and didn’t drop out,” she says. She completed her schooling and was good in her studies. “Throughout my school days, especially, after Class VIII, my health deteriorated. I was a sickly child and was diagnosed with a cancerous growth in the lungs,” recalls Savithri.
“I was hospitalised for a long period and wrote the SSLC examinations right after getting discharged from the hospital,” she said. This was the start of the long struggle with health issues that continues to haunt her even now. But amid all that, Savithri persevered and completed her degree with the money that she earned by giving tuitions to children in her neighbourhood. “I was soon married off. But that too ended in a tragedy. Who would want a sickly wife? My husband, apparently already had a lover. After three months of marriage, he left to live with her,” she said.
But Savithri was not ready to give up. She joined a parallel college at a starting salary of Rs 45 per hour. She continues to teach at the college, and presently draws a salary of Rs 90 per hour. “The amount can’t even cover the cost of the medicines that I need,” said the teacher who had also adopted a young girl from an orphanage. Savithri educated the girl child and even married her off. “But they can’t help me out. My daughter’s husband is also a daily wage earner and has a lot of debts to pay,” she said.
Her financial woes got worse after a portion of her house collapsed during the flood. She had to borrow money to repair the damage. Savithr holds documents that show she has been allotted pattayam for the land. “If only they would give me the pattayam for this piece of land, I would be satisfied,” she said looking out of the tiny room of her house. With no money for her medicines, Savithri is forced to rely on paracetamol tablets to numb the pain.
Grace of giving
Savithri had also adopted a young girl from an orphanage. She educated the girl child and even married her off. “But they can’t help me out. My daughter’s husband is also a daily wage earner and has a lot of debts to pay,” she said.