17.Public service personnel in REC Campus

There were a few persons in REC Campus who were always willing to help the residents and were almost indispensable even if it was for a nominal payment. Most of these persons were addressed by the generic name ‘koya’. Based on their character and nature of service rendered, an adjective  was added to the generic name. Those of you who have seen the old Malayalam movies by the famous novelist M.T.Vasudevan Nair , must have seen invariably a ‘koya’ who was a very good human being. Kindly  note that the  name  given to them  is not in  anyway intended to insult  or even  to mock  a particular section of the people living around the campus.

The most popular and indispensable among these persons  was Adraman (Abdulrahman) koya who was the most helpful among these. My wife has been brought up in an orthodox family of South Kerala and initially she was not very happy with the freedom he took entering  our kitchen without asking and  mixing freely  with every one calling  her ‘daughter’. His pronunciation was initially difficult to follow for us but as days progressed, he  became almost like a member of our family  like  many others in the campus. As he was ready to help anyone, anytime he was given the name ‘public service koya’.

He was ready to help anyone, without distinction of whether the person was rich or poor, young or old, man or woman, but he will do the work assigned to him very well and take a reasonable remuneration. If someone entrusts him the job of purchasing provisions from a shop nearby  or from the city, he will get the  best quality stuff for  a reasonable  price and bring it to the individual. He will give the balance money in full without taking a single paisa after giving you the bill of expenses. There will not be even a difference of a single paisa. After convincing you about the expenses, he will ask for his remuneration, collect it happily and move to the next person who needs his service.

The type of services he rendered were miscellaneous. Some routine and regular things he used to do without failure was procuring mutton  or chicken  from Mokkam, a  small town 6 KMs from our campus. As these items  were not available  near  the campus, Adraman koya used to visit  all those who wanted to buy this stuff and make a list of persons and the quantity they need like  250 gms, 500 gms or 1 kg and collect the money on Saturday,  procure these  in the morning on Sunday and bring it to each of the houses  before 10AM and collect  his fee based on the quantity delivered. No one has complained about   the quantity or quality of the material   delivered. Even the commission he collected was  fair and just.

Other services he rendered were like getting the ration card or include names in it at the supply office in Kozhikode, getting  kerosene permit etc.  He will make a few trips to the supply office  with  our application and  will collect it for you in a few days. Of course,   he will collect the  travelling allowance and  a  reasonable fee depending on the service.

During the reopening of the college or at the time of new admission, he will be available to carry  the bags and help the  boys in purchasing bed, buckets etc for the freshers from Kattangal or city. When students leave after completion of the course, he used to collect their parcel, take it to the town and book it to their home address with the parcel services like TVS or KTC. In fact, he was really a ‘jack of all trades.’

A very special quality we have observed in him is the capacity to keep secrets. My wife used to say he can even keep an elephant  in his  mind without any one knowing about it. As  he was a regular visitor to many of the  houses in the campus, he  used to come across  many personal information about people but he will never share  these with others. Even about people with whom he had any tiff, he will never talk ill  of them to others. No one can extract, not even CBI, can extract any information from him.

During the elections to the assembly or parliament, he will be very active. No one knows which party he supported or the flag he likes to carry. He will not be seen in any of the processions of political parties and no one knew which party he supports. On the election day, he used to   visit each one of the houses and make sure that no one is left without voting. If required he will call an auto rickshaw  to take the person to the voter’s booth. He never told anyone whom to vote, but made sure that even the lazy ladies sitting at home used their franchise effectively without wasting it.

He used to collect the ration cards from anyone who does not buy the rice due to them, buy these and give to his home or his daughter, married and living separately. During  Bakrid,   he used to bring at least a quarter kg of good  mutton to all the houses. He knew none of us will take it free of cost and even if someone did not pay him, he will not mind.

His house was at least 4-5 kms from the campus. He used to visit his house at least   3-4 times a day.  Even though his wife  left him early, he was staying with his son and family but made sure that he is not a burden to anybody. He worked for all of us for several years and suddenly when we heard that our dear Adraman koya is no more, it was a real loss to all of us , in the real meaning of the word, not an empty word our politicians say on the death of a leader.

As I mentioned earlier,  there were three  more ‘koyas’ in the campus. Another was  given a name ‘Gandhi’ as he had very little  hair on his head and looked like our father of the nation at a distance. But he was far from being honest like our great father as once in a while he used to cut the ripe banana bunch from some one’s house telling that the owner has asked him to cut and sell it during the vacation. If someone cross checks, then the cat will be out of the bag. He was not also as smart and capable like Adraman koya.  A third koya  was a poor guy who was always ill and had seven or eight children to feed without any regular income. He was more or less living on some alms given by the residents of the campus.  The fourth one was called ‘fire wood koya’ as he used to procure firewood for us from the market on trolleys and cut it to pieces for drying and burning in our ovens. Remember in the 60s and early 70s,  we did not have gas ovens, a few used kerosene stoves but most of us were using country wood for cooking.

So, we had at least 4 koyas in the campus definitely helpful to all us. Of course, the most useful among these was our Adraman koya, no one else. I take this opportunity to thank and salute all these good human beings for serving the people in our campus.