From delivery boy to civil judge: A 29-yr-old Malayali’s tale of tenacity​on January 6, 2025 at 12:37 pm

From delivery boy to civil judge: A 29-yr-old Malayali’s tale of tenacity

​From delivery boy to civil judge: A 29-yr-old Malayali’s tale of tenacity From delivery boy to civil judge: A 29-yr-old Malayali’s tale of tenacity   

‘Naan veezhven endru ninaithayo?’ (Did you think I will fall?)

These poetic words by the great poet C Subramanian ‘Bharatiyar’ kept Yaseen Shan Muhammed going every time a hurdle tried to knock him down. His ‘never say never’ spirit helped him on his eventful journey from being a delivery boy to a magistrate.

The accomplishment of Yaseen Shah Mohammad, who came second in the Kerala Judicial Services Examinations 2024 and qualified to be a civil judge, is nothing short of a peak cinematic moment.

Yaseen’s life, since he was a small child, has been nothing but full of challenges. His father abandoned his family when Yaseen was just three years old. His mother, barely 19 herself, had not only Yaseen to look after, but also his younger brother and their grandmother, while they lived in a dilapidated house.

Although they got a small house through the state government’s housing scheme, their life was far from easy.

Recollecting a time from when he was six years old, he recounted how his mother used to sell milk for a living. He remembered that his mother bought two milch cows and then walked for kilometres in the morning and evening to sell the milk and earn a living.

Yaseen also didn’t shy away from hard work as he began working from the age of 16. His days as a child used to be something like this: he would wake up at 4 am to deliver newspapers to houses within 10 km distance; from 7 am he would deliver milk in the neighbourhood, and then rush to school.

He worked as a milk supplier, newspaper boy, catering staff, stonemason, painter, food delivery person and several other gig jobs to earn money.

He used to study using old books, wore hand-me-downs and second-hand clothes and would eat whatever was available.

He completed his Class 12 and joined a diploma course in electronics at a polytechnic college in Shoranur. He worked in Gujarat for a year before returning and joining a course for a public administration degree. It was in the final year of his degree course that he heard about the state law entrance exam and decided to prepare for it. He got admission to the prestigious Government Law College in Ernakulam with 46th rank just as he wished. There was one more reason he wanted to study in Ernakulam. He would work as a delivery boy for food delivery apps after college hours till 2 am.

But the real struggle for this Palakkad native was overcoming his academic failure, as he didn’t realise the importance of education during his childhood. “It was surprising to many that a below-average student, who constantly failed in Maths, English and Hindi, and had to stop studying after failing Plus Two, had studied for so long… ” he wrote about his journey.

Yaseen enrolled as an advocate in March 2023 and later began working under Advocate Shahul Hameed PT at the Pattambi-Munsiff Magistrate court. He got 58th rank last year but did not get an appointment so he appeared for the exam again next year.

“I was not comfortable in English since I studied in a Malayalam medium school. There was a paper that was fully in English which was really difficult for me to crack,” he said.

His tenacity saw him through to success and at 29, Yaseen has lived the struggles and dreams of a lifetime.

According to him, he would continue to live by the lines of legendary Malayalam poet Changampuzha: “I will get everything from life that life hesitates to give by living.”