Kerala   

A mind balanced by Vedanta

K.S. Fathima Beevi The Perumbavoor municipal chairperson is at ease with politics and Vedanta alike, writes R. Ramabhadran Pillai

The political battle is over, but occasions for taking on rivals are round the corner. That is the state of affairs in several civic bodies. The Perumbavoor municipality is no exception. The seat of the chairperson is all too important as the balance of power is precariously poised. K.S. Fathima Beevi, Perumbavoor Municipal Chairperson, takes a balanced view of the challenges before her. In a council of 24 members, the ruling front, which she leads, has a strength of 12. But that is not an insurmountable problem for the professor-turned-civic chief. It is one of the ordeals that life goes through for this academic in Vedanta.

It may look odd for a Muslim woman to take up studies in Sanskrit. How did she happen to learn Sanskrit? It was, perhaps, the result of a probing mind. She studied in a school in Kalady where Sanskrit was compulsory. There were times when apprehensions were raised about it from various quarters. But her father, an employee in a Government hospital, had an open mind. He was a good-natured man, she recalls.

As a little girl, she used to wonder what is wrong in pursuing studies in Sanskrit. She had learned Arabic already. The road from materialism to Vedanta was one of adjustment, she says. "After all, life is an adjustment."

The studies in Kalady Brahmanandodaya High School, adjacent to the Advaithashramam, provided fuel to her thoughts on the riddles of life.

She finished a degree course in Sanskrit at the Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit and did her post-graduation in Government Sanskrit College, Thiruvananthapuram. While pursuing an M.Phil. course, she got married and studies had to be dropped. Later, she started her career as a lecturer. She worked in Tripunithura Government College, Tripunithura Ayurvedic College and Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit. She was awarded a doctorate in Vedanta in 1999. Her husband, a businessman, supported her all through her efforts in pursuit of excellence.

How did she enter the world of politics? It was not fascination to political ideologies that took her to public life. As a college lecturer, she was a member of the teachers' union, affiliated to the Congress. She was a member of the Mahatma Gandhi University Syndicate at the time of her retirement.

"I enjoy working for people." She was bowing to people's wishes when she decided to contest the elections. As a contestant, she had never even thought of becoming the chairperson. "It doesn't matter whether I am the chairperson or just a member of the council," she says in all humility. This philosophy is presumably good for heading a council which generally is torn apart by diametrically opposite political interests.

What is her agenda for the next five years? The work has just started. It will take some time to set the agenda. The focus will be on providing basic amenities to people.

Of course, that is not a political rhetoric, but a frank statement, a mantra for the people's welfare by a woman who is well versed in Vedanta.

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