PALAKKAD: A 24-year-old tribal youth, M Krishnadas greets you on entering the house of Vijayasekharan Master in Karippali, Pattanchery. Krishnadas has been residing there for the past two years. Having cracked the national GATE examination this year, possibly a first for the tribal community here, he is now pursuing an M Tech course in Manufacturing and Material Engineering from IIT, Palakkad. With the coronavirus pandemic disrupting normal life, he is now attending classes online from the comfort of the education complex on the residential premises of his mentor Vijayasekharan Master.
The son of Maakulan and Savithri, of Kalkandiyoor in Attappadi, Krishnadas’ association with K Vijayasekharan began as a high school student when he was an inmate of the Pattanchery pre-matric hostel run by the Scheduled Castes and Tribes Welfare Department.
The students of the pre-matric hostel took tuition -- for free -- at Vijayasekharan’s house every morning and evening. Before Covid-19 sent schedules haywire, the hostel had around 50 students. Four years ago, the figure stood at 100, all of whom benefitted from the free tuition classes. A decade ago, the revered teacher’s former students -- several of them employed overseas -- decided to give something back to their guru.
“They formed the Synthesizers Educational and Charitable Trust and pooled their resources to set up a two-storeyed building on the residential premises.
The facility can now cater to around 75 students during a session. There are three rooms too on the first floor, one of which is now occupied by Krishnadas. The second floor comprises an A grade library that receives assistance from the Library Council,” Vijayasekharan recalls.
Now 70, he had retired as the principal of the KKM HSS in Vandithavalam in 2005. But he had been a frequent visitor to the pre-matric hostel from 1990 when the hostel had just 20 students. “Belonging to the tribal areas of Attappadi, Walayar, Parambikulam and Nelliampathy, the students rarely went home, even during vacations, and continued with their studies at the hostel.
They would sit in groups in our compound and the seniors would give classes to the juniors. I would clear their doubts,” says the teacher who lives with wife, Saraswati, and son, interestingly named CV, now a cricket coach.