40-year-old Abdul Mallik, a primary teacher, wades through neck-high water everyday to reach his school
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. (
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"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. (
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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 for Teacher's Day.
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.