For the last ten years, Narender Gowdu has been teaching at the government school in Malluguda, a small tribal hamlet in Gummalaxmipuram mandal of Andhra Pradesh’s Vizianagaram district. Everyday the teacher would travel 20 km on his bike to reach the village to impart education to the children. Narender would not only impart lessons to the students, he would also take general knowledge classes, conduct co-curricular activities and prepare students for an overall development. He would double up as a counsellor for families in times of trouble and also assist residents when they needed to fill application papers. In no time, Malluguda, which presently has 42 families, soon considered the teacher as one among them.
On January 31, Malluguda decided to give Narender a befitting farewell on his last day in the school. Residents washed his legs with turmeric water and then carried him on their shoulders, while the entire village danced to the beats of the drums. Speaking to TNM, Narender whose happiness reflected in his voice said, “I never expected the farewell to be this grand. I am extremely happy, they treated me like family. The entire village made it feel like it was the village festival. They not only danced and sang but also cooked food and served the entire village. I couldn’t have asked for a better gift from them”.
Narender Gowdu was posted to Malluguda in 2011. He got a second posting in the same village in 2016. “When I came here in 2011 the village had nothing. In the last 10 years we have seen remarkable change. When I got my second posting in the same village, they sent another teacher to help with the teaching. Together we managed to teach students until class 5,” explained the teacher. With the second teacher joining, Narendra Gowdu became the headmaster of the school which then had two teachers and around 32 students.
On January 18, Narender received his transfer order. He has now been transferred to another school in the same mandal in the district. “The children were in tears when I received the order. Soon the families also were saddened. They requested me to stay, but I have already been lucky to have been able to teach here for the last ten years as part of two postings. I have a family too and I need the job to fend for them, so I knew I had to move on,” said the teacher.
According to Narender Gowdu, the residents spent around Rs 30,000 on the grand farewell. They not only cooked, danced and sang, but also gifted the teacher a Godrej almirah, silver and a ceiling fan. They expressed their love by gifting clothes to the entire family of the teacher who had accompanied him for the farewell arranged by the village.
Speaking about the love of the residents for the teacher, Gummalaxmipuram Mandal Education Officer J Narayanaswamy said, “It's heartening how the village bid him farewell. Clearly, he became more than a teacher to them. He will surely be missed by the village.”
Though with a heavy heart, Malluguda bid Narender goodbye, knowing that what he did for them can probably never be replaced.
