Gopinathan did well and passed— only to find that most schools with higher classes, run by upper castes, were not too eager to take in Dalits — and many Christian-run schools mostly preferred Christians. So Gopinathan took on a Christian name, Kunhachan Marcos and joined a school and then moved on to St Mary’s School at Kuruvilangadu. This is where he ran into another equally determined Dalit student, who became a lifetime friend, KR Narayanan, the former President of India.

‘’Our father used to tell us how it hurt when a teacher there snubbed him for being a Dalit. He had stood up in the class to answer a question, before others could. And the teacher asked him: Do you think a crow could become a stork if it takes a bath?’’ says Balakrishnan’s brother Ravindran, now a bank manager.

Gopinathan finished school but remained Marcos, until a Hindu ashram did a ‘purification’ rite on him and made him Gopinathan all over again. He still couldn’t find a job, so the ashram arranged with a school run by a Brahmin management to take him as a teacher. ‘’They used to make him sign that he got his salary, but would pay him only a portion of it. He had to leave the job soon,’’ says his wife. He later joined as a copyist in a court, bringing up eight kids on a salary that started at Rs 15.

‘’We survived. I was so happy to get my first pair of footwear when I was 14,’’ recalls Vijayan.

... contd.