KOZHIKODE: On a busy Thursday afternoon, when traffic at Eranhipalam junction had slowed to a crawl and tempers were running high, a 73-year-old woman quietly staged an act of resistance that would soon ripple far beyond the crowded stretch of road.
Prabhavathy Koyyeri, a former hostel warden and long-time political worker, was walking on the footpath when a motorist attempted to steer his vehicle onto the walkway to bypass traffic and asked her to move aside. She refused to budge. The moment may have passed like countless other minor street altercations. But it didn’t.
The scene was captured on camera by Aflah, a city-based vlogger who happened to witness the confrontation. Within minutes of posting the clip on social media, the video garnered millions of views, striking a chord with viewers across Kerala and beyond.
“I have seen vehicles using footpaths before, but I had never seen someone resist like this,” Aflah said. “What struck me was her calmness and clarity. She wasn’t shouting. She was simply standing up for what is right. I felt this needed to be shared.”
For over ten minutes, the standoff continued. The motorist repeatedly asked her to move, but Prabhavathy stood her ground. “He kept asking me to move. But I blocked him again and again,” she later recalled. “The footpath is meant for pedestrians, not motorists.”
Finally, unable to proceed, the man reversed his vehicle back onto the road. As he left, he reportedly remarked, “Finally, you won, right?” Her reply was steady and unflinching: “This is not about winning. This is about following road safety rules and regulations meant for the safety of the public.”
This wasn’t the first time she had confronted such violations. On a previous occasion, she similarly stopped a young biker from using the footpath. The confrontation escalated, with the youngster allegedly using abusive language.
“I was forced to file a complaint with traffic police,” she said. Prabhavathy’s courage is rooted in decades of public life. A former district committee member of the women’s wing of a political party and hostel warden in the city, she has been actively engaged in civic issues for years. “I am not new to the road,” she said.
“I took my driving licence in the 1970s. I have used the road both as a pedestrian and a motorist. So I know the road well.” The viral video has since transformed her into the “super woman of Kozhikode”. “I never thought that this video would get millions of views,” she said, still surprised by the sudden attention.