TIRUCHY: A Rifle over five-feet-long seemed out of place nestled in the arms of a man in a white dhoti in the collector’s office on Friday. P Selvaraj, a 78-year-old retired school headmaster, has been in possession of the huge firearm for the past 45 years. He has neither harmed or threatened anyone with the weapon but it has saved him from wild animals on several occasions. Selvaraj, who had purchased the gun legally in 1973 from an armourer, needed the weapon as there were threats to his life in the line of duty.
As the lone teacher in the panchayat union primary school in Yerikadu, a forest village in the Pachamalai hills, he was once chased by a bear on the way to work. Though he managed to outrun the bear, he feared for his safety as he had to trek through the forest every Monday morning to reach the school and every Friday evening to return home. A resident of Perumalpalayam, Selvaraj was then staying in Erumaipatti, a nearby village in the hilly region, as it was not possible to cover the 13-km distance to the school on foot daily.
When he expressed his fears and narrated his tale of the bear to his higher-ups, they advised him to apply for a gun licence and also to carry the firearm with him to school. Selvaraj was in the collector’s office on Friday, along with the gun, to renew his licence.
The gun is now a family heirloom. Life has since changed for Selvaraj, who was transferred out of the school that catered to children of the hill tribes after 15 years and he no longer carries the gun when he ventures out.
The school which he diligently served for so many years, has also undergone a sea-change. “Modernisation has changed everything, even in the forest villages. The school and the village have improved infrastructure. Teachers work in the school comfortably unlike during my days there,” he told Express.
In his 15 years of service when he walked to work carrying the gun, he would have fired in the air several times to scare away animals. He could identify an animal approaching from their sounds and a gunshot would scare them away. The gun’s role as protector was over when he was transferred to Senappanallur in 1988. Selvaraj retired from service in 2000, but the gun he bought for `500 in 1973 continues to be with him. Though he had once thought about surrendering the licence, his son, living abroad, urged him to retain the weapon as a family heirloom.