Teacher flies 35 students to Delhi for New Year

KALABURAGI: It was a dream come true for Mahanteshwar Kattimani, a Kannada-language teacher in a Maharashtra government girls’ school, when he rang in the New Year at India Gate in New Delhi along with 35 of his students in biting cold.

What’s more, Kattimani had taken his students – all from the Kannada-medium school in a village along the Karnataka-Maharashtra border – from Solapur to Mumbai by road and then to Delhi by flight in first-ever air travel for the students. The school contingent returned from Delhi to Solapur by train.

The 54-year-old Kannada teacher’s wife Santhoshi, about 50, who teaches Marathi language in the same school, had also gone on the year-end trip to Delhi in a display of linguistic syncretism.

Kattimani has spent nearly Rs 4.5 lakh from his pocket on travel and accommodation. Some parents have come forward to make partial payment for the rather expensive trip for students, who primarily come from agriculture families with meagre and unsteady income.

Kattimani, who teaches at Maindargi government primary school in Akkalakot taluk in Solapur district, told TOI that it was for the fifth time that he was taking Kannada-medium students on a flight. Earlier, he had served in Jeur, Goudgaum, Naganasur and Maindargi, all border villages. His love for Kannada knows no boundaries and says he “always finds happiness in children’s happiness”.

The students from Class 4 to 7 visited Mumbai and Delhi on a week-long tour. Vaishnavi Hatti, a class 7 student, said her first air travel lasting a little more than two hours was akin to “flying in the air, caressed by fluffy clouds. I’m extremely happy at the end of the trip.”