Poster boy on a mission

Swati Goel / TNN / Nov 4, 2008, 02:23 IST

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As a child who worked as a mason after school hours, Srinivas Panthukala would often wonder why in spite of his good marks, the mere mention of his community made his teachers frown.

HYDERABAD: As a child who worked as a mason after school hours, Srinivas Panthukala would often wonder why in spite of his good marks, the mere mention of his community made his teachers frown. Today, armed with degrees, a seven year stint with media and the current post of a University lecturer to boast of, this dalit professional stands vindicated as a hero. But what makes him a community star isn't his success but the fact that he embarked on a mission to put scores of people like him on an equal footing with the rest of the world.
"We dalits should make the most of all the opportunities the state provides us. I believe access to information is the first step towards this goal," says Pathukala, who has guided a number of underprivileged dalit students from school to colleges and later on to jobs. With all the hardships he has faced, he thanks the quota policy in colleges that has aided him achieve what he deserved. Not one to add yet another name to the hordes of existing organisations working for the dalit cause, he prefers to work with those already active NGOs and spends his weekends in his native village in Nizamabad teaching the illiterate, spreading awareness about minority rights, helping students with information on courses and colleges and guiding them with tips to clear entrance exams.
In course of time, he has managed to attract academicians, activists and journalists who all work towards empowering dalits with knowledge and funds. This group called "Dalit Information Trust' has proved a mentor for many dalit aspirants, the recent success story being a young boy who recently got a job with BHEL after this group initiated him into joining a college for a course in ITI after passing out of a local government school.
'Information is power', believes Pathukala. A first generation learner, neither his father, a drainage cleaner nor his mother, a beedi roller, ever thought their eldest son would one day be the poster boy for their community. Even as a 10-year-old working to supplement the family income with his earning of a mere Rs 5 a day, he knew education was his only hope. Let alone achievers, this small village in Nizamabad can hardly boast of even high school pass outs.

Interestingly, it was Pathukala's grandfather, a mason, who showed his grandson the road to success. As he cemented bricks in lawns of plush bungalows of rich bureaucrats, the mason grandfather would often ask a thing or two about the education process, how and where to apply, what books to refer to and opportunities his grandson could avail of. So after school, he enrolled in a local college for an arts degree, followed by post graduation in mass communication from Hyderabad Central University and then an M. Phil. from Osmania University. He worked with print and electronics media before his current post of a lecturer in English and Foreign language University. "My background in journalism too has helped me understand core issues and ground realities,'' says Panthukala.

These are achievements that today make a lot of young dalit children look up to him and realise education as their vehicle to climb up the social ladder. Panthukala recalls one of the many incidents that still trigger him ahead in his mission. "During college, a friend got severely ill and I took him to hospital. Since the family stayed in a different city, they came in only later. All along, I took care and would get lunch for the family everyday. But the moment they realised I was a dalit, their affection turned into disdain and they refused my food," he narrates bitterly.
"Being a dalit is not easy. It is not sympathy we ask for but only an opportunity," he says.

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