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Karnataka Fruit Seller Making ₹150 A Day, Wins Padma Shri For Educating Kids In His Village

byLoveleen Kaur
28th January 2020
3 minute read

They say, not all heroes wear a cape and this stands true in the case of this 68-year-old orange seller hailing from Karnataka. Born in a humble family, Harekala Hajabba never got a chance to finish his formal education, however, he was determined to educate the children at his village after he realised the importance of being educated, the hard way.

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Harekala who belongs to the village of Newpadapu near Mangalore, has been selling oranges in the city to make ends meet, reported News18. One fine day when a foreigner couple asked him the price of an orange in English, he was unable to speak the foreign language. Deeply hurt by his inability to crack the deal, he realised how important education was.

“The first time I felt handicapped because of my lack of education was when a foreigner asked me the price of the fruits in English. I didn’t know what he meant,” he said to BBC.

“I realised the manner in which communication can help one to progress in life, and at the same time bring people together.”

That’s when he decided to provide education to the children in his village so that no one else has to face what he went through. Until then, his village didn’t have a school. Hence, Harekala who earns about Rs. 150 rupees a day from selling oranges set up a primary school with whatever he could save. He says:

“An idea struck me to start a primary school so that the young children of my village would not go through a similar situation.”

In 2000, he had saved enough money to set up the school. Since kids started enrolling in his school and the number of students grew manifold, he even took out loans and used his savings to buy land for the school, reported NDTV.

Without any major support from the locals and authorities, he opened a primary school with 28 students in a madrassa (a Muslim educational institution generally connected to a mosque.) Later, with the support from a few philanthropists, he managed to construct a small building for the primary school. After working day and night to raise funds, Harekala was finally able to open a high school for students aged 10 to 14 years.

With no additional manpower, he even had to mop the school premises, boil water for the children and undertake various other activities alone. However, all his effort paid off when he received a call from the Union Home Ministry ahead of the 71st Republic Day. He was informed that he was awarded the Padma Shri Award, one of the highest civilian awards given by the Indian government for providing education to children of his village.

“They spoke in Hindi, I could not understand, but later someone from the DK DC’s (Dakshina Kannada Deputy Commissioner) office told me that I was selected for Padma Shri award. I could not believe it or dream of it, but I was happy,” he said. Harekala’s hard work made him one of the 21 recipients of the Padma Shri award this year. He now intends to open a college in his village.

“If we have a government college in our village, the poor families would not have to pay for higher education.”

“So I have started saving and also requested the government to sanction a college in the village,” he said.

We don’t have to move mountains to do great things; it’s that one step that makes a huge difference. We are proud of you, Harekala Hajabba!

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