This teacher swims to school

 Abdul Malik, a Maths teacher at the Muslim Lower Primary School in Malappuram, Kerala, hit the headlines when photographs of him swimming to school every day appeared in the newspapers, even the BBC.

Malik finds it easier to swim across the river in half an hour than travel for almost three hours in two buses every morning and evening.

Though he was born, brought up and studied in the Koodalangadi panchayat in Malappuram, he didn't have to cross the Kadalundi river till he got a job to teach Maths in Padinajattumuri in the same panchayat.

Malik has always been interested in Maths. "I am from a poor family. My father passed away when I was quite young. We are eight siblings. We were helped by our uncle, who was an Imam. I had to start working early. My uncle advised me to train as a teacher after my 10th standard. He felt it would improve my chances of getting a job."

By the time Malik finished his teacher's training course, his elder brother had started working in the Middle East. Malik's heart was in teaching, not working in the 'Gulf.'

In Kerala, he says, one has to pay a huge amount of money to get a job in a school. Malik paid Rs 50,000 for his job as a primary school teacher. Putting such a large amount together would have been impossible without his elder brother and well-wishers who lent him the money.

In 1993, Malik secured a job as a teacher at a salary of Rs 1,350 per month.

Then, he was faced with a new problem. To reach the school that is surrounded on three sides by the Kadalundi river, he had to travel almost three hours by bus to cover a distance of just 12 kilometres.

The school started at 10.30 am, but Malik had to begin his day with a kilometre-long walk to the bus stop at 8 am. To reach the school, he needed to change buses. Both buses, he says, are always crowded.

After the school closed at 4.30 pm, Malik had to repeat the same tiresome journey to reach home.

This ordeal continued for a year. "By the time I reached home, I was exhausted. This route had very few buses. If you miss one, you have to wait 30, 45 minutes for the next one."

One evening, as he was walking towards the bus stop, he was stopped by a teacher who taught Arabic at the same school.

"Why do you waste so much time travelling by bus? I have a farm on the other side of the river next to your house. Whenever I come to collect things from my farm, I swim across."

The distance between the river's banks, says Malik, is only one kilometre.

The Arabic teacher was carrying a huge bunch of bananas as he swam. He used a tube around his torso which let him float so that he needed to use only one hand to swim; with the other, he kept the bananas above water.

One evening, Malik decided to return home with the Arabic teacher by swimming across the river. Like the Arabic teacher, he too used a tube.

It was the perfect solution. Since then, Malik has been swimming to school.