Movies often portray the lives of dons as full of action, escapades from law enforcement agencies and the lifestyle of a Casanova. Dons in real life, do not lead any glamourous lifestyles. Most of them lead an anonymous life, cloistered, and away from the prying eyes of the law.
Yet, a few have managed to cultivate, an aura of romantic charm, in their lives of intrigue, treachery, informers and incarceration. One such don was Kasaragod’s K.S.
Abdullah. Reportedly, he was very handsome and charming, and enjoyed a reputation as a Ladies' man! His life inspired a Malayalam movie called “Athirathram”, meaning in the dead of the night, it also refers to one of the Somayajnas performed by Vedic scholars of Kerala. The film portrays loosely the life of smuggler KS Abdullah who ruled Kasaragod, enacted by Malayalam superstar Mammootty.
The car-chase and Mamooty’s introduction scene in the movie ‘Athirathram’ are real-life events that happened in the life of K.S Abdullah. He was born to K.
S. Abdul Khader and Aasiya Abdul Khader. Much is not known about his early life, but in later years, like many others in Kasaragod, he pursued smuggling as a profession, which enabled him to amass considerable wealth.
Along with wealth came sensual pleasures and other luxuries, but one day the long arm of the law caught up with him. An Order was issued by the State Government of Kerala, under Section 3 of the Conservation of Foreign Exchange and Prevention of Smuggling Activities Act 1974 (COFEPOSA), dated 20th September 1974, and also by the Central Government under Section 3 (1) (c) of the Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA) 1971 as amended by Ordinance No.11 of 1974, on the ground that K.
S. Abdullah smuggled goods to India and abetted others also to smuggle goods. Several other leading smugglers of Kasaragod were detained along with K.
S. Abdullah, notably, Kallatra Abdul Khader Haji, Ibrahim Soopi, M.B.
Abdullah, M.B. Moosa, V.
A. Mohanan, and T.M.
Thomas. The respective wives of these detainees, filed Original Petitions before the Kerala High Court, challenging the incarceration of their husbands. It is quite revealing from Para 3 of the Judgement rendered in Abdullah and others Versus State, case numbers 239, 313, 321, 323, 326, 329, and 437 of 1975, of the pathetic lifestyles that these crorepatis, were undergoing: “They have been deprived of their bedding and mattress, and are being only served with inferior type of food unfit for human consumption.
It is further alleged that the furniture, bed, clothes, slippers etc, provided for them have been taken away after the notification, and they are made to sleep on the floor without any pillow or mattress, and they are not free to get any legal aid. (Para 5 of the judgement) Men who once lived, steeped in luxury, were reduced to living like vagabonds. But, this did not break Abdullah, he rose like a phoenix, to emerge as a great philanthropist, in later life.
He realised that the youth of Kasaragod had little access to education and proper health care. Out of his funds, in Kasaragod, he established the Malik Deenar Charitable Hospital, and a School of Nursing, B. Pharm and D.
Pharm colleges, and an English medium school. When attendance in the school was not satisfactory, he realised that shortage of money, for the people was a major reason for poor attendance. He took steps to give to the poor and needy students, from his personal funds, free uniforms, textbooks, food, and even pocket money, so that the youth would become educated.
He was widely acclaimed for his many altruistic ventures and initiatives. Compare the above philanthropic activities of a single individual, to what is happening nowadays in Kerala and many other States. Money collected from the public by many political parties, in the name of COVID relief, and other natural disasters, has simply vanished without a trace.
Hundreds of crores of rupees received as donations from within the country and abroad have neither reached any beneficiaries nor are they traceable! Politicians and bureaucrats have enacted laws enabling preventive detention of individuals indulging in economic offences, while totally securing themselves, not only from preventive detention, for siphoning funds, meant for humanitarian purposes, but also from any kind of investigation or probe. The disappearance of funds means that it has been diverted, into private hands, for the enrichment of undeserving people. There are no laws in place as to how funds from the public has to be collected, in what type of accounts such funds need to be deposited, and mechanism to oversee, how it is disbursed and who is the beneficiary.
It is a stupendous task, and that is the reason, why in Western countries, there is no such system of either collecting funds from political parties or distributing them, in the name of relief work. The only course is to claim insurance or bear the loss. While government support and aid is a humanitarian gesture, their misuse needs to be checked by proper rules and regulations.
In India, on the streets, it is very common to see groups of youngsters, standing in subways, railway stations, and bus terminus, accosting the public to put contributions in buckets, and, hand-held tin hundis, in the name of some calamity or other. Obviously, most of these funds are for private squandering or enrichment. As Calvin Coolidge puts it “Nothing is easier than spending public money.
It does not appear to belong to anybody. The temptation is overwhelming to bestow it on somebody”. The lives of individuals like K.
S. Abdullah are an eye opener, that, despite engaged in activities, deemed to be economic offences, he utilised the bulk of it for public causes and charitable work for his hometown Kasaragod. The many institutions that he established are standing testimony of his altruism.
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