Palakkal Khader’s life is deeply intertwined with the Cherupuzha river, beside which he has always lived. The river is much more than a source of water to him; she is a close relative. He knows her ebb and flow, he knows her many moods. For the past 40 years or so, there have been few days when he has not set out to her in his country boat.
Khader is now a minor celebrity in Kuttikadavu, a village in Mavoor Panchayat in Kozhikode through which the river flows. Post flood, people are beginning to look at Khader in a new light. Television and newspaper reports called him the ‘Protector of Cherupuzha’ and Khader is amused by this new recognition. He has been chosen for the 21st PV Thampy Memorial Endowment Award for environment conservation, constituted in memory of journalist and environmentalist PV Thampy.
A Facebook post about Khader had gone viral sometime after the August flood. Shafi Kuttikadavu, an accountant at a gold shop and a hobby photographer, saw Khader holding on to the bridge across the river from his boat in a precarious angle, trying to reach for the plastic waste that had accumulated after the flood. The river was still swollen and while people were busy gathering the remains of their possessions, Khader was single-mindedly picking up the trash. “At first, I wasn’t sure what he was doing, but I observed him for some time and was moved by his act, his concern for the environment,” says Shafi, who captured the essence of Khader’s act in a couple of telling pictures and words.
Khader has been picking out the trash from the river for the past 10 to 15 years. He sets out every morning in his boat and while fishing, if he chances upon floating debris, he picks it up and puts it in the boat. Sometimes, he goes in search of plastic waste, rowing much farther downstream. By the time he returns home, a considerable amount of plastic waste would have piled up in the boat. He stores it in a designated spot and gives it to a recycling plant.
This year alone, Khader has collected 1,460 kilos of plastic waste from the river. “Last year it was 70 kilos.” Khader’s figure indicates the progressive degradation of the river. “This is the same river I have grown up drinking water from. We used to drink its water, bathe, and use its water for everything. It pains me when it is treated as a garbage dump,” he says.
A tributary of the Chaliyar, the Cherupuzha originates from the foothills of the Thamarassery churam and is a source of water for the many villages around it. It was in the news for rampant illegal sand mining. The Chaliyar itself has been through the darkest of times, says KTA Nasir, an environmental activist and chairman of the Green Care Mission, a social initiative to create environmental awareness. The Gwalior Rayons at Mavoor, which was letting out effluents into the river, had led to large scale pollution of the river. After the factory was closed down in 2002, following mass protests by environmentalists, the river survived. “A river in our land is our responsibility. If each of us thinks of it this way, a lot of good can come of it,” he says. Nasir was one of the active participants in cleaning up the Iruvazhinjipuzha, one of the major tributaries of the Chaliyar. “For the people living around a river, it is not just a source of water. It is intrinsically a part of their culture, lifestyle and even imagination,” he says.
Khader doesn’t remember having gone to school. His main source of income has come from the fish he catches from the river and sells and now, he makes a measly sum selling the plastic waste. He says all he wants is to see the Cherupuzha clean. “I haven’t done anything expecting returns. But when people congratulate me now, I feel good. My family is very happy too.”