Padma Shri is added responsibility for Rabia
The Hindu
Even though she is bedridden, Rabia offers classes to poor school children, mediates in family and social issues, offers motivational guidance to people who visit her, and offers counselling. She was awarded the prestigious civilian award in 2022
The Padma Shri, bestowed last year on the bedridden hero of Vellilakkad, is yet another reminder of social responsibility for K.V. Rabia. Physical sufferings continue to haunt the 57-year-old woman; yet she continues to hold high her indomitable will to teach and motivate.
Even though she is bedridden, Rabia offers classes to poor school children, mediates in family and social issues, offers motivational guidance to people who visit her, and offers counselling to young and aged alike. “The objective of my life is clearly defined. God sent me to earth with a responsibility, and it’s my duty to fulfill that,” she said.
Life has been harsh on her. Struck by polio, she has not walked since she turned 14. Her left breast was removed following a cancer attack when she was 32. She broke her spine in a miserable fall. For two decades and a half, she has been bedridden. She suffered severe gastrointestinal and lung issues in the last 10 years. She survived COVID-19, though she was struck twice. “COVID-19 had such a debilitating effect on me that I continue to suffer its aftereffects,” Rabia said. Of late, she has been under Ayurveda treatment at Kottakkal.
She has been widely extolled as a messiah of the underprivileged, considering the contributions she made to the State’s literacy movement in spite of her handicaps. Some cultural leaders of Kerala went up to the extent of saying that Rabia would have been beatified had she been born into Christianity.
The Central government honoured her with Padma Shri in 2022. Rabia had won many an accolade, including the National Youth Award of 1993, the maiden Kannagi Sthree Shakti Award of 1999, the United Nations Development Programme Award of 2000, and the Joseph Mundassery Award of 2010.
School children visit her often. Rabia advises her visitors: “In good times, never be arrogant; and in bad times, never whine.”
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