By Matters India Reporter

Kottakkal, July 27, 2020: Jayasurya means victorious sun and the son of migrant Tamil parents in Kerala has scripted victory with grit and courage.

Philanthropists now flock to the young construction worker after television channels in Kerala flashed the news of the son of a bed-ridden father and a ragpicker mother scoring “A plus” (above 90 marks) in all subjects in the twelfth grade commerce stream exams.

“This is an unforgettable moment in my life. It is actually the success of my mother, my teachers, all the kind hearted persons who supported me,” Jayasurya told Matters India July 25.

Jayasurya says he never expected the twelfth grade exam to make a radical change in his life.

“I was engaged at work in a construction site when I checked my results. We were all very happy. I stopped my lunch at once and went home,” a jubilant Jayasurya said.

Her employer also sent his mother early home as it was the day of his results. “I told my parents I got all A+. My mother asked me if I passed. I told her yes and she embraced me with joy,” Jayasurya said..

He says mother is his biggest motivating force in his life. “She is like my only guru, I can say. She would say, you are the only one we have. Only if you study we can become something in society,” he recalls.

The young man’s parents came to Kerala some 20 years ago when he was an 18-month-old infant.

Initially, the couple made their living by doing menial jobs such as collecting scraps in Kottakkal, a town in Malappuram district.

Tragedy struck the family two years later when his father Raja Kannan met with an accident and became bedridden. Jayasurya explains when his father met with the accident there was no facility or means to treat him.

His mother continued collecting scrap with Jayasurya helping her occasionally. Their main worry was to keep paying the rent for their home.

“I would accompany my mother when I was small. She would say not to go along and encouraged me to study well and become a person serving the poor in society. All what I am today is the fruit of my mother’s love and care,” he says.

As he grew up, to supplement the family income he worked during his holidays.

“Now, since lockdown began mother cannot go collecting things from houses. So I wait at Kottakkal bus stand at 5 am and someone calls me for work. I am very happy to go to work with my friends. I get about 850 to 900 rupees. Thus our life is moving forward. While studying in high school I worked in hotels as cleaner. Life was very difficult,” he says.

As he became a teenager, Jayasurya took to construction work taking off from his mother’s work.

However, all the struggles made him a stronger person and he kept his faith in his studies at the Government Raja’s Higher Secondary School in Kottakkal.

Jayasurya is glad people have been helpful in his life.

He now wants to become a teacher.

Jayasurya, who likes languages, plans to do English literature, simultaneously attending online free coaching for Indian Administrative Service entrance exam. “A well-wisher has offered to help me,” he told Matters India.

He is grateful to the many well-wishers who have offered gifts of various kinds, including land to build a house. Several have offered to meet the expenses of his future studies.

As well-wishers and media people began to flock to his small tin-roofed house, Jayasurya said with a smile, “I thought no one would come here. My house is so small. Even my friends do not come. I go to grounds to meet them and play with them.”

Jayasurya struggled to manage studies and helping the family. “I would return home from work tired but help mother with house work and would study from 8.30 to 10 pm,” he explained his timetable.

When media persons went looking for him they found him at a building site carrying cement sacks.

Speaking about him his teachers say, “Although he was teased for being a migrant in the beginning he would help his companions in their studies. He is also good at sports. He has gone through a hard life. His success is the result of his courage and determination.”

Jayasurya says he is fortunate for the opportunity to live and study in Kerala. “People are very helpful. I got constantly positive energy from my teachers, friends and the atmosphere itself.”