Raising a voice against injustice is second nature to him, no matter what the consequences. Meet N Balakrishnan, a retired school headmaster from Kannanchery, who has been bringing administrative and social follies into the limelight through satirical one-man agitations in the city for the past 12 years.
At a time when protests have become an everyday affair across the globe, what makes Balakrishnan’s stirs unique are the props and the methods he uses. Balakrishnan master formed a ‘gomoothra’ chain on the link road between Kannanchery and the mini Bypass with the support of the local residents, in a bid to save the Kannanchery road from water-logging and spilled cow dung.
As a masterstroke, he brought in a cow named Ammini, which became the centre of attraction during the agitation. He doesn’t mind being labelled a compulsive protestor, and firmly believes that the only way to stir public opinion is to use innovative methods.
“Protests must be penetrative enough to whip up public opinion. Unless we use ingenious modus operandi, it will be just run-of-the-mill stuff, and defeat the purpose,” he says. Recently, his ingenious protest march with a giant ‘puttu-maker’ at the Kids N’ Corner outlet, against a food festival, attracted the attention of many.
Another time, when the floodlights at the Corporation stadium failed to function properly, and the Mayor blamed it all on a “misplaced nail” Balakrishnan master jumped into action. He organised an amusing ‘Aani (nail) laksharchana’ and ‘Laksham aani samarppanam’ in front of Corporation office, hitting the nail on the head, so to speak! He said at the time that the Corporation had awarded the contract for installing the floodlights to the wrong company.
The natives of Kannancheri are hardly surprised by the novel methods of N Balakrishnan Master, for they have lived in the knowledge of his integrity and his strong principles for years. The winner of the state’s best teacher award in 2001, with his unflinching love for teaching, has given a new lease of life to the Kannanchery Government LP School, which had been on the verge of closure owing to the dearth of children in 1997. By the dint of sheer determination and hard work, he had increased the number of students in the school from 76 to 394, and kept the school afloat.
He embarked on his teaching career at Kakkodi Panchayat UP School, Makkada, as a bright-eyes 21-year-old. Since then, with his innate quality to make learning interesting, he has managed to keep generations of children engaged. Since retirement, he has been actively involved in social causes. To channelise his protests, he has formed Nireekshanam, a committee that serves as a platform to bring together people who share his ideology.
(This article was published in The New Indian Express newspaper)
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