Kerala’s Thettamala village dreams beyond plantations, thanks to Sanghachetana library

KALPETTA: For generations, the tea plantations were the horizon of possibility in Thettamala – a small hilly village in Mananthavady. Life revolved around the estates, and for many young people, the idea of stepping beyond them seemed distant.

Today, the village has a different story to tell. Its roads lead to government offices, hospitals, schools and engineering institutions, carrying with them the aspirations of a generation that once studied within the confines of a modest library room.

At the heart of this quiet transformation is Sanghachetana Library, established in 2006 by a group of local youngsters. It had neither a grand building nor abundant resources. What it had was a group of young people willing to sit together, study together, and more importantly, convince one another that a government job was not an impossible dream.

The first batch that gathered there to prepare for PSC examinations became the turning point. Once they found their way into government service, they returned to the same room where their own preparations had begun. In the evenings, they became teachers for the next generation.

That cycle continued. And now, nearly 75 people from the locality are working in government service. Others have moved into medicine, engineering, teaching and a range of professional careers, with some finding opportunities in institutions outside Keralam and abroad.

The change has been particularly visible in a community that once had only a handful of families with limited educational opportunities.

“The aspiration for progress was always there, but what we lacked was direction. For a long time, our lives revolved around the tea plantations. The library came up because the community wanted to change that reality. We wanted our children to see a larger world and have the resources to reach it,” says library secretary Suresh.

“When the first group started preparing for PSC examinations here, almost all of them eventually secured government jobs. They may not have had extraordinary academic backgrounds, but they had the confidence that determined effort could take them much further,” Suresh says.

Eventually, the library became a meeting point for community initiatives, with local youth taking up self-help groups, palliative care activities, forums for women and senior citizens, and even football training.

There is an irony to the library’s success. Despite helping create a generation of government employees and professionals, it still does not have a building of its own.

For years, its activities have been conducted from a rented room. The community has now acquired space on the first floor of a privately owned building, hoping to turn it into a permanent home for the library. But raising the money required to set it up remains a challenge.

“Since we don’t own the land, we haven’t been able to access assistance from the local bodies. We have now secured space in a private building, but arranging the funds to establish the library there is difficult. We want to overcome that hurdle because our intention is simple: to give more children access to books, knowledge and opportunities,” Suresh says.

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