Kasaragod: In a country where political power is often accompanied by a rise in personal wealth, Mavuvalappil Narayanan stood apart. A former postman and lifelong communist, Narayanan was elected twice as MLA from the erstwhile Hosdurg constituency. He died in Kozhikode on Tuesday at the age of 73. He had been under treatment for age-related ailments.

Throughout his tenure as MLA and later as a district panchayat member, Narayanan remained rooted in his village, leading a modest life that he continued even after retiring from active politics.

Born into a family of nine children in a farm labourers' household in Elerithattu, a village steeped in communist history, Narayanan's political journey began as a young AIYF activist in West Eleri. He worked as a postman for 18 years before the CPI asked him to resign and contest the 1991 Assembly election from the erstwhile Hosdurg Assembly segment, reserved for the Scheduled Tribe. "I had only my khaki uniform when the party asked me to contest,” he said in a 2015 interview with Malayala Manorama. A colleague lent him a mundu and shirt before he walked into the CPI district committee office, where party secretary and former irrigation minister A Subba Rao welcomed him.

Narayanan went on to defeat Congress candidate Kottara Vasudevan by 6,688 votes. In 1996, he increased his winning margin to 16,000, defeating Congress’s C P Krishnan.

In 2001, after Narayanan’s 10-year stint as MLA, the CPI fielded his younger brother M Kumaran from Hosdurg. And he won. It may well have been the first time two brothers from the same household both served as MLAs. (After the delimitation of 2011, the constituency changed to Kanhangad and became a general seat. Since then, it has been represented by CPI's E Chandrasekharan.)

As MLA, Narayanan laid the foundation for development across the constituency. He helped bring an agricultural college to North Malabar, upgraded the district hospital, and pushed through key infrastructure projects: bridges, government offices, even a new jail.

But even as he helped build institutions, his own house quite literally collapsed.

On the night before his first election victory was announced, heavy rain flattened his thatched hut in Elerithattu. Returning from celebrations, he found his family relocated and his home a pile of soggy fronds. "I took a stick, propped up the fallen leaves, and lay down on a bench beneath it," he recalled in an interview to Malayala Manorama in 2015. "I've never felt sorrow like that day." He blamed himself for not thatching the roof with new fronds before the rains came.

Later, he moved closer to the constituency. He sold his ancestral land at Elerithattu, took a bank loan, and built a small house at Bangalam near Nileshwar. But life didn’t get easier. Medical expenses for his elder daughter, Sheeba, mounted. For his second daughter Sheena’s wedding, he borrowed five sovereigns of gold from a local jeweller, a debt he repaid by selling part of the land he had inherited.

As expenses piled up, he began defaulting on the housing loan. "I knew where it was going," he had said. So he sold the house and paid off the loan.

Narayanan built a hut under a large gooseberry tree on the remaining part of the plot and moved in with his family. Later, with what was left after repaying the loan, they built a modest home. But mounting medical bills and unforeseen costs pushed the family to the brink again. Income couldn’t keep pace with expenses. Loan repayments became irregular. Eventually, the bank pasted an attachment notice on their front door.

The story appeared in Malayala Manorama. A Malayali from Jalandhar, Punjab, saw the news and called Narayanan.

"His house is either in Palakkad or Thrissur," Narayanan had recalled. "He contacted the bank to ask about my loan liability, collected my account number, deposited ₹1.85 lakh, and only then did he call me. Even when I asked, he wouldn’t tell me who he was. The attachment was lifted."

"That evening, I called to thank him. I tried again later to share my joy, but the number was switched off. To this day, I don’t know who he is."

In 2015, the CPI fielded him for the District Panchayat from the Bedakam division. He won.

Towards the end of his tenure as the District Panchayat member, Narayanan suffered a massive heart attack and underwent surgery. He never fully recovered, said party workers.

Narayanan’s life reflected the values that once defined the communist movement: hard work, frugality, and a deep sense of responsibility to the community. He knew times had changed. "But I haven’t changed," he once said. He is survived by his wife, K M Sarojini, daughters Sheena and Sheeba, and son Shimjith. The funeral will be held at Elerithattu on Wednesday.