As secretary-general of the Campaign for Popular Democracy, Suriyasai Katasila was for years broiling in the media spotlight, but only when he helped the People's Alliance for Democracy bring down Thaksin Shinawatra was his fame - or infamy, depending on your outlook - fully cooked.

His way with words and readiness to answer any question certainly added to his recognition factor, not to mention the fact that, standing side by side with other alliance leaders, he was the only one without grey hair.

Suriyasai comes from Rasi Salai, a rural district of Si Sa Ket. His father was the headmaster of a state-run school, and his parents fretted over his two elder brothers struggling in vocational institutes. It was Suriyasai's intention to do better, in grades, sports and the student administration, and he did.

When he left to study health education at Bangkok's Kasetsart University, fully planning to become a teacher like his father, the young man promised his parents he'd be back to help his hometown find the path to progress.

In his mind, however, there was the kindling of other fires. He remembered reading about the Falklands War in Thai Rath when he was 10, and his father's lessons to the whole village about politics.

Perhaps he didn't belong to just the village.

Another turning point came in his sophomore year. At the university's health club a senior student started loaning him books on political ideologies.

Then one day in May 1992, without informing family or friends, Suriyasai went alone to Rajdamnoen Avenue and joined a rally in protest against Suchinda Kraprayoon elevating himself to the Prime Minister's Office.

He served as a security officer at the gathering, and he witnessed everything that happened next, when police and the military broached that security.

Black May entirely reshaped his view of the world. He knew the goalposts had been shifted.

He regularly wrote to his parents, trying to explain that his course had shifted too, and he brought home his activist friends so they could see whom he was associating with and realise what they were up to.

His folks saw that he hadn't become deranged by communism or strange drugs, and that his new course was a laudable one. They've supported him ever since.

Suriyasai spent the rest of his time at university helping the Students Federation of Thailand. There was a rally in front of Government House against the Pak Moon Dam, for example, and the federation's leaders saw him hoist the banners as fervently as they did. They impressed him in turn with provocative ideological debates among themselves.

He became for a while an assistant and confidante of a federation leader, Nitirat Sapsomboon, and then he was asked to stand for the post of secretary-general in 1995. It meant setting aside his education, and yet he had just one semester left before graduation.

The sacrifice, he decided, was worth it. He stood by the federation and then, graduating late but finally, he immediately began working for the Campaign for Popular Democracy.

It was, however, the People's Alliance rallies that had the greatest impact on his life, he says. There were the many admirers who came forward, of course (especially older women, interestingly), but at the same time he found himself having to live more cautiously. The enemies and their threats were as common as leaflets in the early months of this harrowing year.

Always nervous, he's been to a shopping mall only once in all of 2006, to buy a computer. In June he finally bought his first car, after a supporter turned out to be a dealer of second-hand vehicles and offered him a low price.

He earns Bt15,000 a month from the campaign, plus fees for lecturing and writing articles. His expenses are similarly limited, though - Bt3,000 for his apartment, Bt8,000 payments on his Toyota Vios, petrol.

There'll be no house ownership for Suriyasai anytime soon, and likely no wife or children either. Now 34, he's still feeling heartbreak over a relationship that ended seven years ago when he was dumped in favour of another guy. He says he cried for six months.

His heart now lives where it used to, with his 60-year-old mother and 64-year-old father, who he phones almost every day.

Suriyasai is now pursuing a master's degree at Rangsit University, suitably enough in political science.

Scholarship assured, he'd planned to go abroad for a PhD in a few years, then return to the life of a college lecturer, ultimately keeping his promise to his parents.

But now a group of activists wants to establish a political party. It wants to harness the voting power of the middle class. It wants more people to participate in politics.

Another difficult decision seems to be waiting for him.

Kornchanok Raksaseri,

Somroutai Sapsomboon

The Nation