A Guy Selling Oranges in Mangalore Just Won One of India's Highest Civilian Awards

Every year, India confers the Padma Shri award to people who’ve made an extraordinary difference in their respective field. But even as this year’s bizarre list of winners includes the likes of Ekta Kapoor and Adnan Sami, one particular Padma Shri awardee has a heartwarming story that stands out from the rest. Harekala Hajabba, an orange seller hailing from a quiet village called Newpada near the city of Mangalore in Karnataka, was just given the prestigious award.

Hajabba, a street fruit vendor who makes an average of Rs 150 ($2) a day, started his own school for underprivileged children in his village, despite never having received any formal education himself or having any savings to do so. Inspired by an interaction with a foreigner couple who did not buy any of his oranges because he could not communicate with them in English, the importance of educating oneself dawned upon Hajabba at that moment.

"The couple were asking me the price of oranges, but then I did not understand. Despite my best efforts, I could not talk in anything besides Tulu and Beary language. The couple walked away. I felt very bad, and felt that at least the children of my own village should not be in a similar situation. I realised the manner in which communication can help one to progress in life, and at the same time bring people together," he told The News Minute.

He realised that his own home village didn’t even have a school in which students could enroll, and so, decided to bridge that gap. So he put together his meagre earnings and established a school of his own for all the underprivileged children in his village in 2002. While his school was opened as a madrassa—an Islamic school usually connected to a mosque—he eventually put in all his life savings and even applied for loans so he could buy land to support a basic education system and shape young minds. In fact, he even mopped the school premises, boiled water for the children and took up other activities before he received the backing of local authorities. Ultimately, his efforts were successful and the ambitious do-gooder was given a Padma Shri, incidentally while standing in line at a ration shop.

Talk about the fruits of labour paying off.

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