“I was born in a poor family. I stopped schooling when I was in fifth standard. Then I worked as an areca plam tree climber for five years. By the time I was fifteen, I was tall, strong and muscular. Onattu Sasi, the roughest and toughest local rowdy in the region, was impressed and took a liking to me. He appointed me as the manager of his gambling bar. The bar used to a close at 11 p.m. Then I wuld roam around, looking for little, little things to steal.

Gradually, I became a famous small-town thief and rowdy. I was in jail several times. When the government cracked down on gambling centres, I became jobless. So I decided to work in a cinema theatre. My job was to distribute ticets and stick posters. On Sundays, there would be a big procession as part of the promotion of the movie. I used to hold the largest poster in these processions. My wife Aysha and her parents were regular visitors to the theatre. We fell in love, and lived together for three months. Later, we got married. After marriage, I went to Mathikettan forest area and worked in a cardamom estate. But our main job was to run a marijuana farm deep inside that estate. Few years later, government evicted people from Mathikettan. I came back home and started my life as a fish-seller. It was not a profitable business. So I decided to be a daily wage worker. I started by assisting masons. I liked that job. I earned enough to marry off my three daughters to good families.”

From the series "HOME" taken from Kambani, Thodupuzha, Kerala.