The social boycott has made the life of the poverty-stricken Palathody family at Thekkan Kuttoor near Tirur more miserable. Khader, the family head, who tried to make a livelihood by running a small tea shop near the locality, had to close the shop fearing the wrath of "the young generation of fundamentalists". Rasheed had also to abandon his Kathakali learning following pressure from the same section.

Khader, a communist sympathiser, also was unaware of the consequences when he had agreed to his son's request to learn Kathakali at Gandhi Seva Sadanam in Pathirippala. Rasheed was interviewed by veteran Kathakali artists Kalamandalam Ramankutty Nair and Keezhupadam Kumaran Nair,who are the guest lecturers at the institution.

"I was inspired by Kalamandalam Hyderali, the popular Kathakali singer. He told me once that art has no religion which I still keep in my mind," says 22-year-old Rasheed, who has enacted many Hindu religious Gods in the stage.

He had spent four years at Sadanam, which follows gurukula method. "Even during those days, I was allowed to offer prayers in the Islamic way," Rasheed says.

Rasheed bagged third prize in Kathakali in the Keralotsavam held at Kollam last year. The urge to become a Kathakali artist grew in him right from his school days. A teacher at Navamukunda school in Thirunavaya, where he studied, pursued him to study Kathakali when he proved his talent in Bharathanatyam and folk dance. His application was rejected from Kalamandalam due to some technical reasons.

"Obviously, the authorities at Kalamandalam did not want to invite controversy by admitting a Muslim there," he said. However, the application forwarded to Sadanam wasaccepted.

Problems cropped up after two years. The orthodox Muslims at Thekkan Kuttoor were not in a mood to swallow his words fully. They first persuaded him to leave the studies. But the family stood behind him and the ostracism followed soon.

The local people were ordered not to take food from the tea shop run by Khader, which forced him to stop his business.

"Their harassments against us continued. Even false cases were filed against us," said Rasheed, who teaches Bharathanatyam to students of various schools around Tirur to make both ends meet. He has six sisters and two of them are his disciples.

The local Muslim leaders on the other hand suspect that the family is involved in the propagation of Hindu religion. "Teaching Kathakali is one way of luring the non-Hindus," they say.