Journalism of Courage
At 80-year-old Trilochan Singh’s residence in Mayur Vihar, Malayalam books were strewn around, with several notebooks showing his prowess in a language that he is not remotely related to.
“Enik Malayalam ishtamaan (I love Malayalam),” he said with enthusiasm, displaying his grades from the Malayalam Mission’s classes.
Malayalam Mission, a 10-year-long course, was flagged off in Delhi for the Malayali diaspora with the Kerala government’s approval in 2005. Following its success and popularity in the national capital, the government inaugurated the scheme to be taught in various centres across the world in 2009 by then chief minister V S Achuthanandan.
The joint secretary of the Malayalam Mission in Delhi, Sreenivas N V, said that apart from countless Malayali children and a few adults with Kerala roots, only three people from different backgrounds have joined. One is Trilochan Singh and the other two are Nepali siblings Hemant and Prem Thapa. “They are from diverse backgrounds and it is interesting that someone like Singh, at his age, still has such passion for learning a language so alien,” he said.
Born in Lahore, Singh settled in Delhi after the Partition. For Singh, who was a technician at the Central Public Works Department in East Delhi, the decision to learn the language did not come from post-retirement boredom. Instead, he was fascinated by Tamil initially and later Malayalam through a friend from Kerala.
His love for learning Malayalam began in 1998, after visiting Kozhikode for his friend’s sister’s wedding. Following this, he returned to the capital with a determination to master the language. “I purchased Malayalam books from the education ministry at R K Puram then, but I don’t remember how I came to own the rest of them,” he said.
“I began my formal Malayalam schooling in 2017. Over almost two decades, although I studied alone with a few Malayalis lending a hand every now and then, I realised if I am to learn the language, I should learn it right. Now I can write essays in Malayalam,” Singh said, proudly exhibiting his ‘Certificate of Merit’ with a C grade from the beginner’s course.
There are four levels in the course — certificate course for beginners (two years), diploma course (two years), higher diploma course (three years), and senior higher diploma course (three years). The certificate course kicks off with alphabets, basic reading and writing in Malayalam. The diploma course entails advanced skills like writing essays and stories.
Singh’s centre, which conducts classes every Sunday from 4 to 5.30 pm, is close to his home. “I have seen him getting worked up because he overslept and missed classes. He is very serious about it,” said Nirmal Kaur (72), Singh’s wife. The octogenarian, owing to age, has hearing loss but works twice as hard not to let it impede his learning, she said.
“I am happy he is interested in this since he has retired, and picking up such a hobby has bucked up his ideas,” Nirmal added. “He does not enjoy Punjabi as much. He cannot even recollect the names of the ten Gurus in Sikhism,” she said, with a tinge of disapproval.
However, Singh chimed in, “This is not just a hobby. I retired in 2005. My love for this language predates it.”
Similar is the enthusiasm shared by Nepali siblings Hemant (16) and Prem Thapa (13). “I enrolled in the Malayalam mission classes when I was six years old. I have many Malayali friends. When they would speak in their mother tongue, I was very fascinated,” said Hemant, who lives in Hastsal Vikaspuri, a predominantly Malayali neighbourhood. Hemant and Prem completed the diploma course under the scheme this year, said Sara Isac, coordinator of the scheme in West Delhi.
Prem joined three years after Hemant. Both of them attend the classes without fail, Hemant said. Their father Bharat Thapa said Hemant’s Malayali tuition teacher informed them of the scheme. “I didn’t have second thoughts because they can have a command over four languages (Nepali, Hindi, English and Malayalam). We have neither visited Kerala nor have any connection with the state, but we wish to go there someday,” he said.
Asked what he liked about the classes, Hemant said the Onam celebration this year was delightful. “I ate sadhya after a long time. On Onam, we sang Malayalam songs. It was a good day,” he said.
For Trilochan Singh and the Thapa siblings, though it has been a long journey, spanning over a decade for two among them, it has not reached an end yet.
Singh took his second test, but he could not clear the paper this year. “I got a D this time. I have to retake the exam next year. I hit a roadblock with a story I was supposed to write, but could not complete on time. I failed by one mark,” he said. Nirmal broke in, “You have come this far, you will definitely clear it next time. Don’t lose heart now.”
