Harekala Hajabba, a fruit vendor from Karnataka’s Mangaluru, wore a simple white cotton shirt and a dhoti, as he walked on to receive the Padma Shri award at the august assembly in Rashtrapati Bhavan on Monday (November 8). As President Ram Nath Kovind handed him over the award, the audience cheered for him heartily.
And why not? It’s not every day that you meet a humble fruit seller with megre earnings, who spend his life earnings to build a school for the children of his village – Harekala-Newpadpu village in Mangaluru – that did not have one.
The school, currently, has 175 underprivileged students from the village. Hajabba, who sells oranges at Mangaluru bus depot since 1977, does not know how to read or write and has never been to school.
The desire to bring about this huge change in education in his village came to his mind in 1978 when a foreigner asked him the cost of orange. “As I could not communicate with the foreigner, I felt bad and decided to build a school in the village,” the Padma awardee was quoted by ANI. “I only know Kannada, not English or Hindi. So I was depressed as I could not help the foreigner. I wondered about constructing a school in my village,” he added.
His dream of constructing a school was realised only after two decades. The Akshara Santa (Letter Saint), a title that he earned through his philanthropic work, approached former MLA late UT Fareed, who sanctioned the construction in the year 2000.
The school started with 28 students and now accommodates 175 students until Class 10. Now, Hajabba wants to invest the prize money that he has received after winning various awards in these many years in the construction of more schools in his village.
When asked what his next target is, the 66-year-old man said, “My target is to build more schools and colleges in my village. Many people have donated money and I have accumulated prize money for purchasing the land for the construction of schools and colleges.”
“I have requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to construct a pre-university college (for Class 11 and 12 students) in my village,” he added. He also thanked President Ram Nath Kovind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, MP Nalin Kumar Kateel, district in-charge minister Kota Srinivasa Poojary and MLA UT Khadar for recognising his philanthropic work.
The Central government had announced the names of Padma Awardees in January 2020. But due to COVID-19 protocols, the award was distributed on Monday.
Surjitt Sahani
