Story of a Kerala woman's fight for survival and her motivator go viral

While a 31-year-old woman, who made it to the Kerala Police as sub-inspector, has become an icon of inspiration as she had passed through very difficult times in life, now, a man who supported her in life has also become viral as an iconic motivator.

Annie Shiva, a native of Thiruvananthapuram, had achieved much even after she was abandoned by her husband and expelled from her family for marrying her lover. With a nine-month-old son, she started her fight in life at the age of 20 by staying on the railway station waiting area, in shacks and eking out a living by selling lime juice, insurance policies and doing door-to-door delivery service.

She received much attention recently as she took over as a sub-inspector at the Varkala police station, incidentally, a place where she used to sell lime juice. Over the last few days, she has been receiving appreciation from various quarters, even from celebrities like actor Mohanlal.

But the real hero in the story emerged afterwards on a social media post of Annie in which a person was seen adorning a uniformed Annie with sub-inspector badge. The person was Shaji, a Kerala State Road Transport Corporation driver, who had been motivating Annie to prepare for recruitment tests and had been morally supporting her.

Annie waited for a day after her passing-out parade for Shaji to come and pin the badge on her. To her friends who enquired why she was not wearing the badge, she emotionally said no one else, other than Shaji, should do it. "He is my father, brother, mentor and everything. It is because of him that I reached up to this stage in life," said Annie.

Shaji, who is Annie's distant relative, is still motivating her to chase the civil services, which was indeed Annie's father's dream. "I had seen the talent in her and hence, backed her," he said.

It was while doing her graduation in 2007 that Annie, who is a native of Kanjiramkulam on the suburbs of Thiruvananthapuram, ended up in a love affair and decided to marry her former husband. But he abandoned her when their son was about nine-months-old. Her family also refused to accept her.

There began Annie's fight to live. She had to even change her appearance by sporting a boy's hair cut as a safety measure rather than convenience. After completing her degree, she took up jobs like being an insurance agent, doing door-to-door delivery and selling lime juice.

It was in 2012 that Annie approached Shaji, who also hails from Thiruvananthapuram, seeking help for getting an address proof for her to apply for jobs. Shaji, who is the father of two girls, was moved by Annie's plight and thereafter, considered her as his third daughter and supported her in all possible ways. He only advised her to attempt recruitment tests.

Annie cleared the civil police officer's test in 2016. But she continued to dream big and cleared the sub-inspector test in 2019.

Though she was initially posted in Varkala on the suburbs of Thiruvananthapuram, senior police officers, who came across her wish to serve in Kochi for the convenience of her 12-year-old son's studies, swiftly gave her a transfer to Kochi.