A pen on paper service

Chandran and Francis Manjooran help people fill essential government forms without taking a fee

August 28, 2014 06:59 pm | Updated 06:59 pm IST - Kochi

Chandran and Francis Manjooran helping people to fill application forms at Poonithura Village Office near Vyttila. Photo: Thulasi Kakkat

Chandran and Francis Manjooran helping people to fill application forms at Poonithura Village Office near Vyttila. Photo: Thulasi Kakkat

Chandran can never forget that Athachamayam day. He had decided to discontinue his studies and had begun working in a hotel. Life was a struggle and though he would have loved to study there were other pressing commitments and priorities. He had to keep a family going. Taking the day off from the hotel Chandran walked with a couple of his friends from his home at Poonithura to Tripuntihura where the Athachamayam celebrations had already begun.

The grand procession over Chandran was finding his way back through the maze of a crowd when he happened to bump into his school teacher, Chandrika. Caught right in front and not being able to ignore her Chandran wished her and was walking off when Chandrika told him that she wanted to talk to him. Moving to one of the quieter by- lanes she asked Chandran what he did now.

“When I told her that I had stopped my studies and was working in a hotel she was angry. She ordered me to continue my studies and that she would meet all the expenses. With her and Kochammini Teacher’s help, I pursued my studies,” says Chandran of that fateful day.

Completing his pre-degree Chandran began hunting for a job. “Every decision I took was based on the advice and suggestion of my teachers. The only advice they gave me was to be honest in whatever I do; and to try and help at least one person, in whatever little way, every day. I have tried my best to do this.”

He now does voluntary service at the Poonithura Village Office at Vytilla, helping people who come there to fill up forms, and offering advice on the sometimes complex land and revenue rules. For the past 23 years Chandran has been here doing this without charging a fee. Along with him, doing the same service is Francis Manjooran. “He is much senior to me and in these long years of service he must have been of immense help to many more people who frequent this office, certainly more than me,” says Chandran.

People who watch these two men at the village office with a crowd breathing down their necks, filling up forms, handing out suggestions, there are those who in hushed voices say ‘See, they are making a lot of money doing this.’ “That is only natural. On a crowded day, a person who I knew very well got tired of waiting for his chance. He thrust the papers into my pocket and asked me to do the needful. I heard one from the crowd comment that, along with the papers that man had pushed in a wad of currency notes. I felt like laughing.”

Then how do they live? Chandran has a family that depends on him heavily, while Francis is a bachelor. “I’m okay for I don’t have a family to support. Moreover, I can bank on what my parents have left me. But for Chandran, I know, it is difficult. His daughter just got married and he also built a house. But I think he has a lorry, which gives him a regular income,” says Francis, who finds time for other social work and was the person who filed a court case pleading that the old Village Office should be maintained.

“My story is different,” says Chandran, who worked for sometime with a mobile company when they were establishing their network in the State. He continues, “I worked for K.K. Praveen, a contractor. For almost two years, I think I handled my job honestly, settling the accounts, returning the balance amount every evening. When the job was done, happy with my work, Praveen Sir gifted me a lorry. I still maintain it and this is my only source of livelihood. The house that I built has been pledged to repay loans I took for my daughter’s wedding.”

The crowd gets bigger around Francis and Chandran. They seem to have all the patience in the world. How many people do you’ll help daily? Both of them smile, even as they bent their heads over the forms, their pens working over time. Francis answers, “Can’t say, perhaps hundred on an average. The numbers increase during school admission time when there are a lot of people who come to the office for income, and caste certificates.”

These good Samaritans have created a model that has perhaps not been replicated in any of the government offices across the State. Good job!

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