BARWANI: We are all well embedded with the story of Mowgli a character based on The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling. But this time, the fictional character is turned almost real as Kanhaiya Avasya, an 18-year-old boy made headlines for choosing to go to college draped in a towel. The reason is he does not like wearing clothes.
A few years back, Kanhaiya, a native of Pichori village in Barwani district stormed into the news as he went to school wearing shorts. He did his primary, secondary and higher secondary education in this manner.
Now Kanhaiya is in college and he is only interested to go college in a towel. Currently he is pursuing BA second year.
Narrating her ordeal, Kanhaiya’s mother Lalit Bai said, in his childhood, when we used to wear him clothes, he never liked that and took them off and threw or torn them. We admitted him in the school anticipating he could start wearing clothes after seeing other kids in the school, but to no avail.
We do not want to see our child behind other kids and have no other choice but to succumb to his insistence on not wearing clothes as he refuses to attend school otherwise.
Then Ramesh Chand Saraf, the teacher of Girls Primary School, Pichori, came to our house. The teacher told us to send him to school and no one will tell him anything. He was good in studies. In the middle school, he got admission to Kathora.
Here also came the matter of clothes. Boys and girls studied together in the class. In such a situation, teacher Alex Thomas came forward. He gave the uniform but Kanhaiya did not wear it. He kept going to school in tights.
Last year he took admission in Shaheed Bhima Nayak Postgraduate College. College’s career cell incharge Dr Madhusudan Choubey said that Kanhaiya studies like ordinary students. He is a simple young man belonging to a poor family. What makes him stand out is his outfit.
According to his teachers and brother, his parents have also given up on dressing him like everyone else. Wearing only tights and wrapping a towel on top has become his habit.
Dr Choubey adds, Kanhaiya’s handwriting is good. Along with good writing, he is also good at studies. He gets good marks like other students. Kanhaiya speaks very little in addition to being simple. He does not even ask many questions, Dr Choubey said.
Apart from this, being interested in sports, he participates in various events. At the same time, he is undergoing training in yogic activities. His brother wears clothes.
His family members say that they have given up as he is firm on his decision of not wearing clothes. Due to his interest in learning, they keep motivating him for studies.
