A teacher who swims through a river everyday 2 get to school

NeverSayGoodBye SG

Malappuram: At 9 am on a weekday, Abdul Mallik is busy wading through neck-high water, a tyre-tube around his waist, his tiffin box and shoes held in one hand above the muddy river.

It's hardly the average morning commute, but for this 40-year-old teacher, it's all in a day's work.

This is what it takes Mr Mallik to get to the primary school where he has been employed for 20 years in a village in the Malappuram district of Kerala.

"If I go by bus, it takes me three hours to cover the 12-kilometre distance, but swimming through the river is easier, faster and I reach school on time," he says, after he emerges from the river 15 minutes later.

He changes into a dry set of clothes on the river bank, and then treks uphill for 10 minutes before he reaches school.

An average salary for government teachers like him is around Rs. 25,000.

The compensation, he says, lies elsewhere.

As he arrives at his classroom, a bunch of excited students surround him with their offerings of cards and letters.
A staunch environmentalist, he often takes his students swimming, hoping the field trip will impress upon them the need to save the river, swirling with filth, that he navigates every day.

A seven-year old student, Jahangir, smiles shyly when asked what he wants to be when he grows up. "Like Mallik Master," he says.

NeverSayGoodBye SG

Manzoor Alam has been moved by the plight of a person who has to swim to his workplace everyday.

A.T. Abdul Malik, mathematics teacher at AMLP School, Padinjattumuri, near here, will not swim anymore to reach his school.

A mental health doctor from England has donated him a fibreglass boat after reading the curious story about his daily adventure published by the media on last Teachers’ Day.

Reading the story of Mr. Malik, who has been swimming across the Kadalundipuzha to reach his school every day for the past 20 years, Manzoor Alam from Streetly, England, set out on a journey with the determination to meet him and end his woes forever.

“On learning about his plight, I decided that he should not be swimming any more to reach his school,” Dr. Alam told The Hindu.

The fibreglass boat Dr. Alam bought from a person at Tanur was delivered to Mr. Malik at Perumbalam in Anakkayam panchayat on Monday. Mr. Malik will operate the boat with the help of a pulley and rope tied to the anchorage on both shores of the river.

“This will give him advantage to operate the boat from both shores,” said Dr. Alam.

Khajah Shihabuddin, lecturer at Government Polytechnic College, Tirurangadi, has offered technical support to fix the pulley and rope system.

Dr. Alam, however, does not want to wait until the pulley and rope system is operational.

“I’m returning to England tomorrow (Tuesday). I’m happy I could do something to alleviate the woes of a man in need,” he said.

Dr. Alam, an exponent of anti-tobacco and eat-less-salt campaigns, also visited the Herbal Garden of Kottakkal Arya Vaidya Sala.

“I am in search of an antidote for tobacco. Usually doctors prescribe a substitute for tobacco to those wishing to quit smoking. It has its own problems. What we really need is an antidote,” he said.

Dr. Alam said that consumption of more salt than needed was becoming a problem for the people of south India. “Eating more salt will lead to high blood pressure, kidney diseases, osteoporosis, obesity, diabetes and stomach cancer,” he said.