SITTING IS THE NEW SMOKING

 SITTING IS THE NEW SMOKING

Dr. Viveka Kumar, Vice Chairman and Chief of Cath  Labs, Max Healthcare.

"Young people working in the IT sector or in startups are spending 12 - 16 hours at their desks, unaware that  sitting is the new smoking."

LEGACY OF THE GRANDPARENT

 

When one carries the name of his illustrious Grandfather  or Valiappachan  - 'Abraham Sir'  to the uninitiated or to those who haven't heard of him - it throws a challenge.  No one is able to identify you in an ocean of 'Abrahams'.  Someone very close to me once remarked, it's very difficult to be spot on, on whom you are referring to  in a large cluster of Appachans, Appichas and Valiappachans sharing the name 'Abraham', unless you are specific and are pinpointing the one you mean.

Teaching is in your genes. However much you exert to shake it off or extricate yourself from the legacy, whatever has been bequeathed stays put in you.

You are or you can only be the finest teacher around because the original 'Abraham Sir', the efficient and well respected teacher that he had been,  lives in you.

From the moment of conception, you are destined to be what you are.  You are the teacher with exceptional capabilities and knowledge, the teacher who vibes with everyone he interacts with and the teacher who leaves his stamp behind.

When you carry such a legacy, you have no other option but to go ahead, create an impression, teach and lead as you are the successor to the legacy of your grand parent, the great visionary.

Deepika Padukone

 

Whatever I am today is

 because I worked hard. 

And, the best part of this journey

 is figuŕing out 

how I can 

add more to it

Dr. S S BADRINATH & CHANDRIKA TANDON

 I  discovered two great personalities through reports in two newspapers. 

The first was Chandrika Tandon, the sister of Indra Nui, former CEO, Pepsico.

The Second was Dr.S S Badrinath, founder of Sankara Nethralaya.

First on the latter

There is an ophthalmic surgeon at Chaitanaya, Kesavadasapuram. He is the son of a former deputy registrar at Kerala University who had joined at first as an assistant. This doctor once told us that  after finishing his MBBS at Trivandrum he did his PG at Sankara. What he said was a PG student does more than 2000 surgeries at Sankara whereas in Kerala the PG student does less than 6 surgeries. What he said was that  the exposure had made him the most sought after surgeon at his hospital. He provides succour to an unimaginable number of patients. Look at what Dr Badrinath has accomplished on his return to India forsaking the riches and comforts abroad.

Sankara, today, is the finest in Eye care at the lowest cost. The outcome speaks for itself.

The former

Look at what Chandrika has done and is doing. She's giving it back to the society. 

She has fully funded the setting up of the MCC Boyd Tandon School of Business at Chennai. 

She is grateful to MCC for her transformation to what she is today.

If Dr Badrinath had chosen to remain in USA there wouldn't have been Sankara and the millions who see today.

If Chandrika hadn't chosen to give back, what she has done wouldn't have happened.

The grandson who craved for the liver preparations

 

There was a grandson who had always complained his grand mother had forever ignored his pleadings and the liver preparations were served to her husband who was his grandfather. 

It was because Valiammachi had looked after Valiappachan very well. She had catered to all his needs. No wonder she served the liver to her husband because she knew he liked it very much. She wanted to ensure he did not miss what he loved to have. It was the wordless communication between two souls who vibed.

This is what our Mummy,   Kanam Ammachi, Thankamma Kochamma, Annamma Kochamma and Kuttiyamma Kochamma - the daughters in law at home - did for their husbands. They had no inhibition to cater to the special and at times peculiar desires (to others) of the one with whom they had hitched their lives. They did that as they loved their husbands most.

SANTHOME VARIKOLITHARAYIL

 Can't believe it's 75 years.  The house was cute from the very beginning. It still retains the charm. 

It welcomed everyone with an open heart. The hopitality was par excellence. It never sent anyone away without serving them sumptuous food in plenty. There was laughter. There was total faith in the creator. There was love and affection in the air. It left the feeling it cared.

The tradition is retained to this day

Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation

 Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation

Pressing global health threat

Mortality impact of being socially disconnected is like smoking upto 15 cigarettes a day and even greater than that associated with obesity and physical inactivity.

Loneliness is far more than just a bad feeling. It harms both individual and societal health. It is associated with a greater risk of cardiovascular disease, dementia, stroke, depression, anxiety and premature death. 

Contrary to the perception that isolation and loneliness primarily affect older people, it affects the health and well being of all age groups across the world. 

Social isolation and the social pain of not feeling connected add fuel to the epidemic through insufficient number of social connections and the feeling of loneliness that fill the mind.

Based on a report by WHO in Times of India of 20th November 2023

MUNNAR OF THE 1960s

 

In the late sixties, money was in short supply. People did not have enough. It had been struggles all over. But people were happy. There were close inter personal, inter family relationships.

At Munnar we had visitors all the time. Family and non family. Papa and Mummy were happy to host them and entertain them. They didn't have much. Still they were happy when people visited. Fortunately we were staying in a Bungalow that had quite a number of rooms. 

Jose achayan was more than a son to Papa and Mummy. He was their nephew. They had loved him much more than us. Papa had given him driving lessons that he did not favour us with. Mummy had always prepared special food for him. For us , Jose achayan  was our elder brother whom we always  tried to emulate.

He had stayed with us to complete his schooling. Both of his parents had to move away to Valparai on a routine transfer. It left him with no place to stay to complete his studies. Our parents had no hesitation in accepting him into our household as their own eldest son. It  enabled him to continue his education without any interruption and move ahead in life. It fulfilled his two avowed ambitions, one,  to become a doctor and two, to emigrate. It led him to do well in life. It made him successful in his chosen career. It made him rich.   

We  had always hoped Jose achayan and his wife, Mini ammamma would visit us and stay with us for a few days soon after their wedding. Unfortunately it did not happen. 

The time I refer to dates back to the late sixties.

I was much pained when Jose achayan had recently  made it public that his dirty relatives had denied him and his wife a honeymoon at Munnar. No one had told them not to visit Munnar. They could have stayed with us as long as they wished. We too would have been happy.

When mud was thrown at us  in Don Quixote fashion I thought of our own visit to Munnar after our marriage. We happily had made it to Munnar as there were no dirty relatives there to prevent our visit. 

Though we had planned to stay in a Hotel, the first person we met had asked us to stay with his family and roam around Munnar as we liked. It was two days of bliss in that picture post card environment. 

Unforgettable it certainly was and it still is.

Kanakakunnu Palace

 Kanakakunnu Palace had been let out for weddings and receptions   by the Govt.  at one point of time. 

Then the policy was redrawn. Govt. decided to hold no more functions like that. They hold exhibitions etc there now.

It's a beautiful palace. It was built by the Travancore Royals. Elevated, the view from the palace is breathtaking. People throng the road around for walking and jogging.  It fills your lungs with fresh air. 

PEAKING AND CHOKING

 Cricket

World cup 2023

The Indian team peaked early and choked when it mattered most.

The Australian team did the reverse.

They choked early, only to peak at the hustings.

Net outcome

The Australians made it simple. They easily won

MARKETING AND DISCOUNTS

 It is plain economics. Not banking. 

Having seen Ashwin run his shop Travancore Fresh Supermarket, (you can see it if you google) Vandithadam, Tiruvallam, Thiruvananthapuram the past six years, he completed six years on 11February2024, we can honestly state that the discounts are all marketing techniques.

You get one bottle soft drink free with one bottle. Two at the price of one. Big profit. But please watch the expiry date. 

MRP is where the producers mark prices high much above the cost. The sellers have the liberty to sell low, raise the volume and make profit.

When there is intense competition your prices cannot be more than that of your competitor. 

When the stock remains with you for long, unsold, your money is blocked. 

It may be profits to your perception, but it may not be real either.

It is plain economics to sell them at discounts.

It creates precious shelf space and the much needed funds to acquire fresh stock.

Marks Mania: Watch out for exam fever in your child, and yourself

 Come exams, especially board exams. Exam fever grips the children relentlessly. Parents are no exception. They'll tell they are putting no pressure on children. They'll say they have no expectations about the child's grades as long as the child gives it's best efforts. But what the best effort is, remain ambiguous, creating all kinds of confusion and pressure on the child's mind. The parents want the child to get into the best college or institution.

Most children try to live upto their parents' expectations. They feel deeply inadequate and troubled when they sense that they are falling short.

These are questions pulled out from an article, "Marks Mania: Watch out for exam fever in your child, and yourself" by Dr Amit Sen in Times of India of 18January2024.

The learned doctor suggests:

1. Understand and accept the child's unique learning style.

2. Help the child to pace the preparation. You have to encourage extra carricular activities along with  studies and let the child peak at the exam

3. Be aware of your own worries and anxieties. Do not nag, lecture, put restrictions or inflict harsh punishments. Believe the children are doing their best just as you are.

4. It's okay to seek help. Turn to a professional in times of crisis.

KERALA ROADS

 How have I always wished for world class roads in Kerala. 

But it will never be.

 It's a war on the roads. 

The meek never inherits the earth here. 

Battlescarred we gamely carry on, 

live to see yet another day 

and fight it out day after day. 

Everyone is in a hurry, 

only to be held prisoners on the roads

 at the hold ups one after the other. 

The blaring horns at once shock the elderly 

and the weaklings 

and land them

 in a state of inertia.

MIKE BREARLEY

 Belief in God

For many centuries, belief in God, went virtually unquestioned. 

Then  the educated in the western world began describing themselves as agnostic, 

even if in times of crisis they called outwardly or inwardly for help from God - 

- it was said that there were not many atheists on the Western Front in the First World War.

Turning over the pebbles

Mike Brearley

ELDERS AT THE WORSHIP

 Whenever we attend the worship  at our Church, we experience an excruciating pain that could be equated  to lightning passing through us when we observe people who are invalid arriving to partake in the Worship. They must be experiencing difficulties with inexplicable severity. Yet they make it every Sunday leaning on someone. Of course, they have the innate desire to be one to one with the creator. 

We could see many of them could not discern what happens during the Worship or the blistering messages from the Pulpit. But they would be there on the pews with an unrelenting regularity.

When the Worship concludes, people whom they knew when they were active and vibrant, come to them and exchange pleasantries. They return home leaning on the shoulders of the caregivers, looking forward to attending  the ensuing Sunday worship.

We have rarely seen a Pastor, though the Church is blessed with the presence of  several Pastors,  going to them and exchanging pleasantries with them once the Worship is over.  For them,  they are unable to offer succour to the invalid when they find it extremely difficult to manage the hale and  hearty participants at the Worship who are bursting at the seams.

However the suffering elderly do not mind. They are happy they could listen to the messages that never reach them. They are happy they could smile at the people whom they could see the next Sunday, if they survive.

KERALA MEDICAL COLLEGES BASK IN GREY HAIRED DOCTORS

 Kerala Govt Medical College Teachers' Association had held a march recently to the DME - Directorate of Medical Education - Ofiice.  

Dr.C.H.Haris, head of the depth. of Urology addressed the marchers.

1. Kerala Medical Colleges are becoming Old Age homes  populated by the grey haired doctors.

2. The Urology dept of Trivandrum Medical College will have to be closed down after 5 to 6 years.

3. The Urology dept of Trichur Medical College is in a state of closure. The lone doctor who was there has been transferred to Ernakulam Medical College on promotion. The dept of Urology functions at Trichur Medical College by keeping the same doctor at Trichur on a part time basis. How can the dept function when it needs a minimum 5 to 6 doctors to attend to the 200 patients per day at the OP?

4.There are no senior doctors to oversee the patients after surgery. Resident doctors alone are there to manage such patients.

5. The standard of the Hospital could be elevated only if more senior doctors are available

6.There are no doctors appearing for PSC interviews for appointment in the Urology dept. Last year there were only 9 applicants who had appeared for the interview. They were all appointed without troubling them with questions. But 8 of them did not join.

7. The reason for that was the private hospitals where they worked had tripled their salary package.

8. The problems at the entry point of Govt. Doctors will have to be resolved.

9. If we put together a hastily arranged mechanism now,  we would have substandard doctors alone to look after usafter 5 years. 

10. Patients will then be getting nothing but substandard treatment.

11. Is it enough, is the question.

12. If educating students abroad for their medical degree is the solution, the experience is that many such degree holders are unaware of the basics.

Malayala Manorama of 24thSeptember2025
Translated from Malayalam

LONG COVID

Muscle energy depletion linked to Long Covid

Researchers from the Amsterdam University Medical Centre have discovered that it is an energy availability problem within the muscles that is responsible for fatgue in people with Long Covid.

The constellation of lingering symptoms - fatigue, shortness of breath and brain fog - is collectively called Long Covid.

The commonest symptom is extreme tiredness or fatigue that is worse after even mild exertion. The cause of tiredness was identified as muscle cells not receiving sufficient energy from mitochondria - a good analogy for mitochondria can be - if a cell is a car, then the mitochondria is its engine which is required to provide the car with energy to function.

The Hindu 14January2024

Recurring Deposit

 I strongly recommend Recurring Deposits as a savings avenue. 

If you have a savings account which everyone will probably have, register a standing instruction with your bank for transfer of funds to the RD account. 

The quantum and period are for you to choose. My suggestion is for a period of one year. 

Quantum - it may be 50, 100, 200, 500, 1000 or multiples. 

RD doesnot offer high interest and the interest is taxable.

The attraction is if you remit 500 for one year, you'll have 6000 plus interest after one year. 

Spend it if you need to spend preferably for acquisition of whatever you need at home. If not put it aside as an FD for one year that may be renewed year after year. Please open another RD when the existing RD is closed.

Over a period of time you can build reserves or capital. 

I had suggested this to as many as possible while in service. 

I still do it. 

My principle has always been,

 " Those who have ears, let them hear"

Because I thought I could not get it

 "Never considered IAS because I thought I could not get it."

 (This was the statement of a close relative who had been very good in studies) 

This is where we all go wrong. I am no exception.

Even before the start of the game we give up asserting we'd lose out.

Our acquaintances and relations try their best to dissuade us from pursuing our dreams. 

Even before sitting for the exam we assert we are going to fail.

We learn of Robert Bruce and the spider in the school. We leave it there.

There are no limits to human capability. But we  limit ourselves. 

Just one heave would have won a Medal for PTUsha. She lost.

Unless we make an attempt how can we know we are going to lose out. 

Unfortunately I learned this very late in life. 

But I have made it my mission to motivate others. 

If they succeed, I am contented

Articulation of our own advancing age gets us nowhere

A close relative had been harping on his age factor. He had often made out he was 79 and he would be 80 soon. 

I wrote to him.  

As the moments in our lives race ahead, it is the plain indication to us and everyone around that we are growing old. No escape from that. Reiteration of our advancing age gets us nowhere. What matters is how you have lived your life and how you are living it. 

You can live and create no impact in the lives of others or of your own brethren and go away unsung and unheard. Or you can sacrifice and work or nudge  to make a difference in the lives of others. When you are helping others you are helping yourselves as the goodwill you create, quite unknowing to the self raises you up to unimaginable levels.

You'll be 79 today, this moment. A moment after that it'll be 79 plus that moment. 

Growing old is no crime nor a big achivement. It is the Grace of God that blesses you to live in the land of the living. 

Our Mummy, Thankamma to some, Thankochamma to some, and your mother to some, left us when she was 50. We did fight to keep her here. But no way we could hold on to her. 

Papa, Babychayan to some, Baby to some, Chacko to some, Chackochan to some and again your father to some, lived on as a widower for almost 30 years. He left two months and five days after turning 91.

To us, they left an imprint. To us, they left behind pleasant memories with all those whom they had touched, inclusive of strangers.

Forgive me for being subjective. 

But setting an example by our own lives is the finest legacy we can leave behind. We have time on our hand to probe and make amends.

Recap of what we have seen or we have experienced hitherto, and the unknown facets of history when conveyed to others, helps everyone else too to connect to their own invisible or submerged past. 

We live in the present. But the past is never irrelevant.

San Francisco // Elon Musk

 

San Francisco: A poster City for urban decay in America.

It's  Goodbye, El Dorado: It's Fear and Poverty.

Elon Musk tweets:   So many stores shuttered....Feels post apocalyptic.

You could literally film a Walking Dead episode unedited in downtown.

JFK,  John F Kennedy had once said:

If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, 

it cannot save the free who are rich.

BRAINSTORMING

 Look at the wonders brainstorming does. 

Pose your problem, inability or incapability on a brainstorming platform. 

You have your answers, solutions or the path in a jiffy.

Never grew up that way. 

No one taught that while in school or college. 

The family as a whole didn't know it either. 

Later it evolved in me through in service programmes while on the job.

Today, people know it very well. 

And if you are unwilling to do it you don't reach anywhere, for every one has to be well  aware, no one knows everything.

 It is like the more you know and learn the more, 

you know and learn you are nowhere 

and you are very much in the dark

CREDIT CARDS DANGERS

 Quoting from a newspaper 

"When a businessman was saddled with a staggering debt, from eight credit cards, he was isolated and cut off from social circles. His world quickly shrank to his immediate family. 

He recalls, " Every Rupee owed felt like a chain around my neck. 

I didn't want to meet anyone."

"When people find out you are in trouble, they stop taking your calls and they start avoiding you."

"It was incredibly hard on my family, for all of us. It was a constant struggle to keep life on track amidst the stress and chaos."

In the case of another, deep in debt - credit cards - FREED, a debt resolution platform founded by Ritesh Sreevastava, guided the borrower to set aside a sum every month and diligently work towards a resolution.

BLAND CORPORATE STYLE

 Working in the bank we had to do quite a lot of write ups or brief notes summarising our recommendations or prepare matter for circulars. We were expected to cover all aspects. After a while we became attuned to the style.  Recently I found a news item on Sriram Finance in the BusinessLine that was an exact replica of what we were exposed to on the job. Putting that here to expose our youngsters to what would be expected of them as they climb the ladder.

May14,2024, BusinessLine carries a front page article, Shriram Fin to sell home loan arm (SHFL) to Warburg Pincus.

Ravi Subramaniam, MD&CEO SHFL says,

" The affordable housing finance segment is poised for significant growth. 

Our focus on innovative customer centric solutions, product diversification and superior customer experience remains steadfast, supported by cutting edge technology and analytics."

The newspaper further describes the downside risks in Home Finance.

"Regulatory changes, tighter liquidity, continuation of elevated interest rates, delayed resolutions/recoveries in wholesale loans and competition from banks may pose downside risks to NBFCs."

Notice how bland it is. But that's the manner in which corporates function

ELSY

 Elsy was our sister too.

She was brilliant. Though the Church had discarded her unceremoniously and gave out the message she was  no good for its institution she gave her everything for the Church.

It's a real pain when merit is ignored to satisfy influence. Yes, history has evidence Elsy was denied a posting at the Bishop Moore College despite her merit to satisfy the whim, fancy and unjust  demand of a retired Bishop who was not even a serving authority. Pity is,  the person who bagged the appointment riding over  merit had  left the job within a year. It meant Elsy lost her chance for ever. 

The ugly episode she faced from her own Church did not deter her from loving her Church. She was unfazed.

The real loss was to the students of  Bishop Moore College over the years and the society as a whole.  They missed the brilliance, capability and dexterity of Elsy who could have been the best teacher of Chemistry ever.

It is highly regrettable, we are satisfied with mediocrity. 

 Elsy might have survived if the Hospital had not been negligent.  

Again, fortunately, in Kerala, we survive not because the system is 100% efficient - efficiency is not even 50%  - but by the will of God alone.

Actor Sonam Kapoor

 Actor Sonam Kapoor

She says her father Anil Kapoor shares a special bond with Vayu, her son.

"My father is obsessed with Vayu because all he is interested in seeing on the family group chat is Vayu's videos and pictures.

ALL GRANDPARENTS THINK THEIR GRANDCHILD IS SPECIAL.

It is so amazing watching my dad react this way because because he definitely did not have this reaction when my sister Rhea, brother Harsh and me were toddlers."

ADITYA PURI

 Rian, when he is a young boy,  asks Aditya Puri, his grandfather, "Dadu, how do I get rich and successful?" Rian has somehow learned  Aditya is well known and that his photograph is  regularly hitting the newspapers. 

Aditya ponders and replies:

1.You have to work very hard.

2. You must learn how to get along with people.

3. You have to know a lot of things and remember them.

Aditya Puri is the former MD of HDFCBank.

Excerpts from Adityanama by Anita"Smiley"Puri

Unannounced visits are unwelcome

 Those were the days when people loved to host and entertain guests, especially relatives. 

Though people subsisted with bare minimum of resources, they relished, loved to extend hospitality to the utmost be it a relative or a friend. 

One would forsake the cot, sleep on the floor and let the guests sleep on the cots.

One would go out of the way to help or assist relatives who find it difficult to make both ends meet, help people to find jobs.

It has all changed. 

Everything is now apna apna. 

Guests are certainly entertained if they arrive after fixing up an appointment. 

If not, they'd stiil be entertained,  the silent message would be clear.

Unannounced visits are  unwelcome. 

Overnight stay of guests, is not encouraged. 

This is just a general observation. 

Variances will be there. 

I pray the positivity exceeds the negativity

Mariamma Oommen Chandy

 It was shortly after our marriage was fixed. I received a letter in the bridegroom’s handwriting. The first love letter! When I opened it, the letter contained just two lines: ‘It is election time, keep me in your prayers.’

I did not know much about Oommen Chandy or his politics then. It was his second election from Puthuppally. The opposing candidate was P C Cherian. It was a tough contest. “You pray hard”, said my cousin, making me more apprehensive.

I prayed hard. If he lost, wouldn’t people say that his future bride brought him bad luck? But he won with a huge majority. We were so happy on that day! 

There have been many elections after that. But the happiness on those occasions cannot rival the one that I experienced that day. He became a minister after that win. Because of that, our marriage was delayed further.

In Kunju (that is what I call him), I like and detest the same quality – he is naïve. He inherited it from his mother. He cannot say ‘no’ to anything. He exhibits enormous patience and humility.

Probably, it is this trait that keeps the 43-year-old marriage going. He was never arrogant, never tried to control anyone, and seldom got angry. There was complete freedom. That was him. 

In Old Testament, Jacob falls in love with a beautiful Rachel. He embraces her by the heart. But by the turn of fate, Jacob has to get married to an unattractive Leah. Puthupally is Oommen Chandy’s Rachel and I am his Leah. 

We lived with mutual trust and respect.

(This article was written by Mariamma Oommen Chandy.)

Desist from transaction and interact instead

 Last Saturday, Anoop was telling me that their PBH - Personal Banking Head, once exhorted them to desist from transaction and instead to interact to develop business. 

It was his response to sharing my experience at a neghbouring  Branch of a Bank on Friday (14thJuly) last. I was telling him of my experience of  Banking with the same Bank in 1970 for the first time in life and later of working in the Banking field for 35 years and of my observation in 2023 that 53 years hence the experience was the same as in 1970. The attitudes or the characteristics remain  exceptionally or exclusively unique and static. Dynamism had no locus standi.

Anoop explained when you transact, the debit credit alone matters. But when you interact, you build relationships that last more than a life time. 

That set me thinking. The principle is unversal ie.  whatever we do we must never be mechanical. 

And I feel we have to go into the world not to transact but to interact. 

We have to guide our children to be likewise.

At night soon after Anoop left on the 15th I found I had a high fever. 

It lasted till the before yesterday. It kept me down. It debilitated the body and the spirit despite drugs. But it kept me glued to TV ever since I learned early in the morning that the great Oommen Chandy was no more. 

It was indeed a revelation  of what the man was. 

I could see that he was not transacting but interacting all through his life. I could see how or why life has to be dedicated to giving and sharing and not to taking away or appropriating everything for the self. 

Like a slogan a lady coined, indeed,  Oommen Chandy was the Jesus Christ of Puthupally.

NIRANAM

 I am proud I was born at Niranam, a sandy Kerala Village that was an ancient port . 

Each time I visited the place the beach sand mesmerised me. 

I often wondered how come such an interior place was filled with sea sand. 

It was difficult to wade through the sandy roads or the  dry land as my feet would sink in like when you walk on the beach. 

Unfortunately, there were no excavations.

 No one ever bothered to go into it's origins. 

History was cast aside.

Niranam Valiapally, the Orthodox Church holds a few relics from the past.

But it ends there. 

I have heard stories that remnants of a cross the apostle St.Thomas had erected lie underneath the altar of the Jerusalem MarThoma Church, Niranam. 

But that is hearsay. 

Niranm remains unexplored. 

A fine example of what could have been and what did not.   

Valiappachan, my maternal grand father held sizeable properties at Niranm. 

Vazhappally Kumbalathu. 

The lineage is ancient.                  

Educational facilities at Munnar

 Educational facilities at Munnar

The Britishers never wanted educated Indians at Munnar. They needed coolies, workers and staff to man offices, factories, workshop and fields. They were disinterested in furthering the careers of the natives. All they needed was dropouts from school to work as labourers and staff with abilities  - read and write - and proficiency to work basic arithmetics and nothing more.

They did start the High School there. They were running it well. But one headmaster, with selfish interests, encouraged the students to block the car of the General Manager. Angered, the GM as soon as he entered his office gave away the School and several houses occupied by the teachers to the Government for One Rupee. 

Naturally the students suffered. 

I left the school in 1965. In my clouded memory, I can recall two IAS officers and one doctor as former students of the school and nothing more. 

Poor parents had to struggle hard  to provide higher education to their children. And most of them had to spend literally all they earned for that. 

Later Tatas brought modern education within the grasp of the people there. But that was after 1975. We left Munnar in 1975.

It was Oommen Chandy who  opened the College at Munnar. An Engineering College followed. Notice how long it took for the authorities to learn that people at Munnar deserved minimum facilities at least..

If I remember right, John Hopkins University of USA wanted to set up a facility at Munnar. Our strong left who know everything opposed it tooth and nail. They wanted nothing of the bourgeois in Kerala. Disgusted, John Hopkins dropped the idea. Singapore welcomed them with both hands and John Hopkins flourishes there.

These days the left is after foreign universities to set shop in Kerala. 

What a travesty? Opportunities lost are lost for ever.

I am reading now, Animal Farm by George Orwell. It is allegorical. 

If anyone has time I'd advise you to read and reread it. You'll get an idea how autocracies take you for a ride and transform you to become their blind followers forsaking the truth

ON THE CHOLAKATHU FAMILY MEET ON 26th Jauary 2023

 We met so many of our relatives at the Cholakathu meet on 26Jan23

I feel offline brings us a lot more closer though online is not taxing at all.

We were very happy to meet everyone, some of whom we've never met or we'd  otherwise have never met. 

We're indeed grateful to Kochumon Doctor - we've other Kochumons, one of whom too was there - for gently and strongly pushing for the physical meet.

The icons of the meet were truly two persons. One, our own Daisy and the  other, Babu of Mercy. Despite the immense struggles they were being put through in life, they were insistent to fight and be with us. They were admirably backed by their dear ones, but for which they could never have made it. 

Yes, life is a masala or combination of events, good and bad, that land upon us without any notice.

 Life, it seems, is certainly a disruptor. 

But it is the disruption that eggs us on.

'Kusavan kayyil kalimannu pol' is what we really are. (The earth in the hands of the Potter)

Ultimately adversities make us what we turn out to be. 

Life is not for crying it out.

Life doesn't offer us time for that. 

Life persistently pushes us on from events to events whether we like it or not.

Forgive me for he philosophy rendered. Certain moods make me fly off.

I always maintain the delete key are always  there as the SOS.

BOBANUM MOLIUM OF KANAM

Someone very close  labelled him Appothikary.

But he was Apppacahan to all of us.

Appachan was Doctor to us and Doctor to everyone else. The Doctors at Munnar GH also addressed him Doctor though they were highly qualified than him.  

He had the RMP.

I heard no one addressing him Appothikary.

He was quite good in what he was doing. 

His son, a Doctor, once said his Papa used to begin his practice every day only after praying for his prospective patients that day.

He was soft, kind and affectionate. No one could dislike or hate him. 

His diagnosis and treatment were effective.

 As he knew Ammachi was very clever and highly capable he left the management of the worldly matters entirely  to Ammachi. 

And Ammachi managed everything very well.

At Kanam people called them Bobanum Moliyum as they were walking around together all the time.

Those were the days when vehicles like Cars and Buses on the road were far and few.

Autos were non existent.

Cellulitis & Necrotising faciitis (fashee-Eye-tis).

 This would be quite a long narration.  The information it shares may benefit arguably  a few alone. If you are disinterested please do not go any further. 

I am not a doctor. I could never have been one, the way I had been, the build I had had.

Recently, I came across 'Complications' by Atul Gawande, Surgeon at USofA. He is a prolific writer on medical science and it's challenges and has published a large number of books drawing deep from his experience and vast array of knowledge.

I am awestruck by his lucid description of two ailments that may afflict human beings.

One is Cellulitis and the other is Necrotising faciitis (fashee-Eye-tis).

While Cellulitis is a simple skin infection, Necrotising Faciitis  is described as a horrendously lethal type of infection. The tabloids call it, a flesh eating bacteria because the infection kills 70% of the people who are affected.

Cellulitis is the garden variety skin infection, the result of perfectly ordinary bacteria in the environment getting past the barrier of skin through a cut, a puncture wound, a blister or whatever and proliferating within it. The skin becomes red, hot, swollen and painful. You feel sick. Fevers are common. The infection spreads along the skin. Antibiotics and a tetanus shot subdue Cellulitis.

I came to know of Cellulitis very recently when I once phoned Raju, a routine. He said they were in the Mandiram Hospital. Leela had swelling on her feet that did not subside. Fortunately Mandiram had a Vellore trained doctor who could identity  the symptom and the treatment was effective, Raju said.

Unnikunju, Ann's Appa, (Ann is Ashwin's (our younger son) wife) had visited us. The true farmer he is, an erstwhile Principal, Govt. Higher Secondary School, he ventured into our plot of land - something I shy off- and when he returned there was a slight scratch on his leg. He ignored it and  didn't think much of it. However, on his return to Kadammanitta, the scratch developed into an infection of bigger proportion and the effect wore off only after undergoing treatment for a couple of months. He is not diabetic.

Last Monday, 20thMarch, we were in Thalavady. I visited Appu Sir who stays close by. We knew each other from Valiappachan's time. He said he is 95. His daughter told me he was 97. He looked fit, but needed the support of a walking stick. He said the paraphernalia was the consequence of an attack of Cellulitis. Initially, he said, the leg had swollen like that of an elephantiasis patient. He was in great misery. 

He was operated upon by  a Surgeon at Alapuzha. 

The attending Sister told him the lady on the adjacent bed too had similar ailment and her life could be saved by subjecting her  through  amputation.

Necrotising faciitis is highly aggressive and rapidly invasive. No known antibiotic will stop it. One in a population of 250000 is afflicted by it. As with Cellulitis it enters the body through breaks in the skin. The break can be as large as a surgical incision or as slight as an abrasion.

 People have been documented to have gotten the disease from a rug burn, a bug bite, a friendly punch in the arm, a paper cut, a blood draw, a toothpick injury and chicken pox lesions. In many the entry point is never found. 

Unlike Cellulitis, the bacteria invade not only the skin but also deep underneath the skin consuming whatever soft tissue it finds. 

Survival is possible only with radical excisional surgery that often requires amputation.

(All the scientific materials are quoted from

'Complications' by Atul Gawande)

NOBODY

 While I had been working,  I could see that some who had worked with me were being promoted. 

Award of promotions are the management's prerogative. 

I felt the management must have seen them much better than me.

I held no grudge.

It meant they went a step ahead of me . 

That jump sometimes enabled them to frogleap higher and higher. 

Though we were equals at one point of time  the person who had gone ahead would no longer treat me as his equal anymore. 

 The position eats into him and he assumes he is the Lord of all he surveys.

His attitude would tell us plainly while all are  equal some are more equal than others.

 In our organisation people were known by the scales we were in. 

I think it was one to eight or nine. 

The scales reveal to every one the position one is placed in the organisation. 

The higher scales you are in, you ignore those in the lower scales. 

Well, positions are transient. 

The guys who were ignoring you starts recognising you once they superannuate. 

Suddenly he considers you as his equal becuase he is a  nobody just like you.

YOU WILL RISE UP

 

The practice in this part of the world has been, people would generally get up when the Pastor walks in.  It is a mark of  showing respect to the one who has been anointed by God. 

There   was a  student for Theological  studies. It was well known  that he once had remarked to somebody,    " You will not rise up when I come in now. But you will do that after a few years." 

He is now a full fledged Pastor somewhere.

I presume his assumption must have become real now.

The last I heard was, he had taken to task the fifty fve plus Principal of a Church sponsored institution for not getting up to welcome him, when he had entered the Principal's office.

He must have forgotten he has to grind hard to earn respect and that  it should never be an oblation.

When I related the story  to a senior Pastor, he laughed and said he called the phenomenon 'Achenism'

He said as you are ordained and wear the cassock, it goes into your head. You suddenly feel you are much higher and better than the rest. He added it takes a minimum of three years for one to understand you are not an exalted human being.

It does happen to all of us. 

But it is for us to discern and understand we are not special. 

The earlier we do that, the better for us.

ASIDE // IN LIGHTERVEIN

 Aside

In lightervein

I was in the 2nd BSc. Hindi was the second language. Ran away from Malayalam after SSLC because the practice was to award minimum marks for Malayalam at that time.

I had a very good Hindi teacher at the school because of whom I could understand and score good marks. It was topsy turvy in the college. Hindi was taught in the most unimaginative fashion. We were barred from using guides.

At the degree level when the University exam came I didn't know much. 

I repeated the questions several times along with the smattering of Hindi I knew on the answer sheets.

The University, because it wanted to see the back of me for good awarded the minimum pass marks to me for Hindi and got rid of my presence in the exam hall forever.

In the English Worship at Church , the topic for the day was 'Inter Faith Dialogue'. Probably from the Synod or the diocese.

The Senior pastor was on the pulpit.

He had a written script. 

He went on reading it as well as intervening with  his own monologues.

Like my Hindi exam he went on repeating 'Inter Faith Dialogue' again and again. To me he must have done it a minimum 25 times if not more.

I thought of my Hindi answers for the University Exam.

Because the committee had advised to finish the service at 9.00 am to avoid traffic jam or melee as the jampacked Malayalam Worship would begin at 9.45am and since the eminent Holy person had resisted the committee's view with the statement English Worship needed two hours from 7.15am, it had always been  ensured the worship closed only  at 9.15am. 

The Sunday School students were made to sit through the ordeal and they were let off only after the message in  the ALWYN TOFFLER  THIRD WAVE style.

Poor children.

The congregation sat through. Most of them elsewhere. Trance. Dreaming. Napping. Sleeping. Listless.

It mattered little to them what went on.

They left at the close, fully charged for the onslaught  of the week just begun, with a firm commitment to return for another episode Sunday next.

Attending the worship was all that mattered.

P M ABRAHAM IAS

P M ABRAHAM IAS was a well respected official. He was never involved in any financial irregularity. He had a clean image.

After retirement he helmed the St.Thomas Educational Society, Trivandrum for six years. His tenure brought laurels to the institution.

I remember Papa referring to him once while we were at Munnar.  He said excitedly, he saw Mathai Sir's son, PMAbraham, an IAS officer, walking on the road near the School.  He was on a short visit to Munnar, the place  where he grew up and did his schooling. Mathai Sir was a teacher at the School. What surprised Papa was that the high profile official recognised him after such a long time and called out,

" Chackocha, enthundu vishesham" as Papa was moving on. (Papa was addressed Chackochan by friends while at Munnar). Then he   exchanged pleasantries. Well, Papa was really excited as you don't come across such highly placed officials on the road in Munnar  like in Trivandrum or other places where they are everywhere. Papa said Mathai Sir's son had not put on airs and spoke to him with respect. 

Life is a mixture of good and bad

 

As an instructor at an SBI  training centre had taught us, we alone can resolve our problems. He said, when you are at your branch or office, never expect anyone else to come and resolve your problems for you. You have to do it yourself.

Certainly, you can seek guidance from elsewhere.  But you cannot run away from your problems.

I could never forget the lesson.

But personally, I have found everything cyclic in life. It is like the needles on the clock. From 12 it comes down to 6 - the lowest point - and ascends to 12 again. The clock ticks for us as long as we are alive. 

Life is a mixture of good and bad. Man has to go through both phases. We may think everyone else is having it good all the time. But we never know what they are being put through by life.

Take courage, catch the bull by the horn and you'd be the winner

ROHAN BOPANNA

 Rohan Bopanna at 45 brims with pride and positivity after playing his 18th USOpen.

He thrives under pressure.

He has no plans to hang up his raquet any time soon.

Every time he gets ready for a match, he knows it's his journey, his hard work and his discipline that got him there.

Even if the results may not always  be ideal, the joy of competing hasn't changed.

Taking pressure as a challenge, not a burden is the key to his longevity.

Every time he steps on court, he feels he's inspiring  some young player out there and it keeps him going.

When people ask him when he'd retire, he replies no one asks a CEO that question. He affirms he'd know when the day comes. Till then he'd compete.

For him pressure is a privilege. He thrives in the moments when the match is on the line. He has trained his whole life for that.

Mental health is vital.

He takes complete breaks at times from Tennis, do something different, and returns with renewed energy.

Tennis to him is more about fun and expression.

Trivandrum Times

Times of India

20 September 2025

CIVIL SERVICES

 Today, the Civil Services results are out. 

One thing that strikes me is, the winners are mostly just ordinary folks. Just like us.They won because of their self belief and relentless endurance. 

When I was at Kollam, I had an occasion to interact with an IPS Officer, an ASP, at Visakhapatnam. 

He said the Civil Services offer the best job in India. But for that you need to invest a minimum of four years of your life in it.

Well, as a community, our presence in that field is negligible. If I look at my large  family, none of us are there. I did want to have a go at it. But I did not know how to go about it. There was no one who could guide me. 

I rolled on. 

But, today, people have means to know how to crack the tough selection process. 

Whenever I chance upon the youngsters I make it a point to motivate them to ride this path. 

Unfortunately, the response has always been of disinterest and diffidence.

Why, I can't fathom.

If it's a girl, the parents wish to get her married off at the earliest. If it's a boy, the parents wish to make him  a doctor or an engineer and export him to far off lands.

Apart from that, most of the parents never encourage the children and stifle their desires, openly telling them they are not upto such challenges. The end result is, though the children achieve, they are in reality non achievers not reaching where they could have easily reached.

IS GOD REAL?

 The Question put to me was, "Is God real?"

I can reply in volumes after volumes. Serves no purpose.

But let me attempt from an edge.

What was Pascal famous for?

What was Blaise Pascal known for?

Blaise Pascal laid the foundation for the modern theory of probabilities, formulated what came to be known as Pascal's principle of pressure, and propagated a religious doctrine that taught the experience of God through the heart rather than through reason.

Yes, matters of faith are beyond reason. It works through the heart.

Let me refer to THE THIRD WAVE by Alvin Toffler.

In the evolution of mankind, it refers to the divine. It was paganism. Pagan belief was that the elements were the Gods. They worshipped elements as Gods because man needed a proof. They could see the Sun, the wind, the fire etc. They put up idols. That's how idol worshop took roots.

When Christianity arrived, the pagans were not willing to accept a God who was invisible. 

The Catholics understood this and that's why we find objects of worship in Catholic Churches. The Oriental Churches followed similar pattern. Renaissance and Reformation gave rise to Protestantism where the accent of worship is on the invisible yet all powerful God.

While Charles Darwin states human beings evolved through a natural and sequential  process, my instinct convinces me that the fact God created man is the absolute truth because a creator alone can create. Look at the food we take at home. It doesn't just walk onto the table. Someone takes the effort.

If we delve into it, our life itself is a product of innumerable activities. A creative mind alone can create. God has created man with the capability to create - I am not referring to procreation - whatever he sets his mind upon. Ultimately it is the human beings who fail God.

Now on St.Thomas. Legend states that with St.Thomas, Christianity took roots in India. If we are going to say St.Thomas had not been to India we could be contradicting known history as well. If St.Thomas is fictional, Jesus Christ is fictional. Then God is fictional.

St.Thomas or not, Christianity has deep roots in India. Like it or not, we cannot deny it.

Let me repeat.

What was Pascal famous for?

What was Blaise Pascal known for?

Blaise Pascal laid the foundation for the modern theory of probabilities, formulated what came to be known as Pascal's principle of pressure, and propagated a religious doctrine that taught the experience of God through the heart rather than through reason.

True, God exists. 

God is all powerful.

TRYST WITH FOOTBALL

 Nearly 14 years ago, when Vinay Menon from Cherai, walked into the dressing room of one of the richest football clubs in London, Chelsea FC, it was his first tryst with football.

Later he was with the Belgian team in the FIFA World Cup, 2022.

He was the wellness guru, helping players relax by making the dressing room more enjoyable.

He articulates on the  Indian psyche.

"We Indians are normally very good in our professions. 

We are very skilful, very talented, but what is lacking is leadership and communication. 

We don't command, we only follow. Times have changed. We have to lead."

Based on an article in The Times of India of 18thMay2023.

ON CORRUPTION AND MISMANGEMENT

A doctor, a close relative, wrote on the factors that drove him out of Kerala and the country of his origin. He became citizen of another country.

I wrote.

I really appreciate the honesty and the pain expressed in the post. Such posts open a window for us to learn more and more.

True, you were a victim of rampant corruption and nepotism prevalent in Kerala at that time. It has not faded an inch. Its reach is all encompassing at this juncture. It's everywhere. It's system protected.

I never meant to find fault with those who emigrate. It's a matter of choices and preferences.

My write up was the response to the poser,    

  " Why people return or choose to remain here?"

 I refer to the phrase I had invented, "the ignominal insufficiencies prevalent here."

Yes, it's true. Everything was in short supply here. It still is. The silverline is, Kerala of 2023 is far advanced than the Kerala of 1960s. Whatever we find in the shops abroad are available in plenty even in the remote corners. People have the purchasing power. People have better access to knowledge.

However medical care is still very bad here. Yet  Elsy,  survived a nasty accident and the onslaught of Cancer. Many do that.

Even then Elsy's untimely death was due to medical mismanagement.

Again Papa passed away due to incompetent medical care by Pushpagiri. 

The comedian Jagathy leads a life alien to his nature through the incompetent intervention by a medical team in Kozhikode or someplace close to that. Examples are aplenty.

Yet people live upto their 90s here. 

Here the medical fraternity  at times treat  you to make money for themselves and earn commisions. I don't blame everyone on this. There are very good and conscientious souls among the medical fraternity here who strive hard with limited facilities and resources to stretch the lives of the patients who approach them. Else people would never have been nonagenarians or centenarians in this land of ours.

But who has taught us corruption? 

Every time India or it's states go for purchases of equipments, aircrafts or any other essential things where the cost runs to   millions or  trillions or billions in  Foreign currency, who pays commission to the facilitators of the  purchases.

Corruption is a global phenomena. Because the foreigners have ceaseless money power or resources the corruption they indulge in is unimaginable for the corrupt here where they are satisfied with a pittance.

Corruption is bad and unjustified. Yet corruption goes on unhindered.

We are truly a menagerie of diversities.

CARDIAC ARREST

 My cousin wrote our Papa had a heart attack in 1980. It was incorrect.

I wrote to correct the error.

"I am indeed happy my cousin still remembers the day when our Papa, who was Babychayan to him and everyone else who were junior in age and Chacko in the official parlance, had quietly walked into death and walked out of death. Yes, he had died and yet he lived.

There has to be an amendment. It was a Cardiac Arrest and not a Heart Attack. The former is  what they had recorded in the medical records.

childisprecious.blogspot.com, the blog that lets me publish my scribblings has an article titled GOD ALONE CAN SAVE YOU IN KERALA.

It is a graphic narration of the events of that period and the struggles we were through that remain embedded in my mind. It's not a literary masterpiece and I don't even pretend to be a writer."

PAPPACHAYAN

 Pappachayan was always helpful. 

When textbooks were in short supply he used to procure them at Kottayam for me and entrust them  to the Driver of the KSRTC Kottayam Devikulam Fast Passenger or Express to be delivered to Papa at Munnar.

 My classmates always got the texts late. 

But my studies never suffered over lack of textbooks.

There are many many instances where we were generously assisted by Pappachayan . I am desisting from putting them all here as the exercise would be humongous.

 Pappachayan never ever sought anything in return.

He  was affable.  Family on the larger frame was his prime concern. But he never neglected his own family either. He excelled in deftly balancing the demands on him, diverse in nature.

Quite enviable, but pretty tough to emulate.

SPIRITUALITY NEEDS TO BE THE STAMP

 

I wrote to the Principal, KUT Seminary once .

"Yesterday two people came. They were here in connection with the Church election.

They wanted to meet you. 

You were not here.

They said they wanted to take the 'Thirumeni' - Bishop - to SKD.

I said the seminary would lose the best person.

However, I added,  people like him should head SKD to straighten it out.

They said that's exactly what they want.

It took me to the message I had from a Police personnel, who is a member of the Church.

It was blunt.

Yes, people want a shift from the past few years of utter disregard for law, scripture, Christian values and extensive corruption.

Yes, the Church has to be Christ centric.

From time to time God brings forth people to act decisively.

Question is, if you don't do what you can do and what you have to do, who would do it.

No one can run away from God."

                      ............................

I wrote again on 28th September 2025                

Borrowing from Morne Morkel, India's bowling coach in Sunday Times of India 28 September 2025

He has seen high pressure games as a bowler. He knows the Asia Cup final on Sunday will be about nerves as much as skills.

The team has all the tools. It has played in big games before. However, when pressure comes they need clarity in their thinking. Plans are great. But they have to be executed. 

The team has to stitch together a 'complete game'

You reach there through rewinding. Then you learn where you need to relaunch. You have to be the sharpest, when put under pressure.

You are never the finished article at any point of time.

The key is to learn, improve and peak when it matters most. 

The coming days offer the perfect stage for that.

Insert your name in the key areas.

You can see it's the call to you from the almighty.

The stakes are high. 

SKD has to be revamped. 

No question on that. 

Spirituality needs to be its stamp and address.

No compromise on that.

EVANA 7 YEARS 14 SEPTEMBER 2025

 

CFC / CHOLAKATHU FRIED CHICKEN

 Lamentations of an Amma, a loving mother,  and the striking comment by a doting father

The parents were both employed. They were never rich. It was a middle class family. They survived with their salaries. However they managed to provide the best education to their children. The children studied well. The daughter became a doctor and has migrated. The son has a good job. He stays with his parents. His wife too has a good job. Their children are well  looked after by the doting grandparents.

The grandmother was recently lamenting. She says though she prepares quality food, the children are dissatisfied. They clamour for KFC.

The mother in order to pacify them would order for KFC to be delivered at home. The children become happy. They enjoy the food.  They would be on their mobiles as they relish the food. 

However the leftovers  are left on the table for clean up by the grandmother.

The grandfather commented, in the good old days, 'nammal nellu kuthi choru thinnumayirunnu'. (We were pounding the paddy to eat rice)

'Ennal innu mobile kuthi choru thinnunnu'. (Today, we pound the mobile and eat the rice)

It took me to our Valiammachi, Grandmother, at Cholakathu House, our ancestoral home.. The eruthil, teh cow shed,  had a tiny room adjacent. I could see her there all the time with the maid, busy on the ural (Grinder) and the ulakka (Cylindrical wooden instrument to pound paddy and to bring out the rice). 

Their efforts had ensured incessant serving of food to the large  family three times a day. Those were the days when we relished CFC - Cholakathu Fried Chicken. 

KFC was yet to make its mark in the world.

Salman Rushdie

 Salman Rushdie was viciously attacked at a public event in New York last year. 

He is now writing a memoir about the experience titled, "Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder" 

The book will be published on April 16, 2024.

Rushdie elaborates:

"This was a necessary book for me to write: a way to take charge of what happened, and to answer violence with art."

I forward this with a purpose. All of us are blessed with precious experiences. I would suggest that in the limited spare time we have it would be ideal if we could jot down our life or our experiences or what we have been through. 

It is an opportunity to think and be active in mind and body.

Though it is challenging,

what we put down would be a learning experience for the one who reads it.

Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

 Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

in The Hindu Magazine on 14January2024

Fiction and non fiction

In fiction we create the structure of the story.

In non fiction, 

We don't have to create.

The topic is there.

But in both cases, to ensure that the book touches the reader's heart,

the writers must bring the characters alive in the crucible of their imagination.

What is the consideration

 You have to understand, nothing comes free in this free world 

or free country or enlightened society of ours. 

When you buy something you naturally pay for it. 

But if someone gives you something for free, the first question

 you have to ask yourself before accepting it is, 

what is the consideration. 

If it's love and affection it's ok.

If it's anything other than that you have to understand you'd be 

forced to compromise on your principles on a later date.

Teach them basic civic sense

 There is an interview with Santhosh George Kulangara in The Sunday Express of 14May2023

Folio 6. Full page.

It's titled, " We teach kids all about religion, but don't teach them basic civic sense"

It's an eye opener or introspection on the Malayali mindset that harps on negativity at all  times. It's explicit why  and where we lag behind

If you have the time to spare, worth reading.

The exceptional among exceptionals

 Ayyappanicker Sir belonged to a generation of exceptional teachers who knew their students well and who cared for them. Sadly the generation is extinct today. Now it's nothing else but business.  

There was an interesting article on the legend  in the  Malayala Manorama of 19thAugust2023

 When Lila read this, she went down the memory lane. 

Susheela Ammamma, her elder sister did her MA English at the University College, Trivandrum - an institution that turned out doyens after doyens at that time.

 Ayyappapanicker Sir was teaching the class. 

He was leading them to a  sublime level.

Suddenly he saw a fellow teacher who was passing by the corridor. Unfortunately, the teacher was the subject of ridicule by the students he taught and Ayyappapanicker Sir had been aware of it.

As he was teaching the class could see he was shifting his eyes looking up and then at the passerby.   he Swift was the comment,  "From the Sublime to the Ridiculous."

Lila says, unlike all his contemporaries who taught English, he was well versed in Malayalam as well

According to Lila, he was masterclass in playing with words at will - the exceptional among exceptionals.

Dr. Pai or Pai Sir

 Dr. Pai or Pai Sir 

Dr. KP Sasidharan Nair is the senior Paediatrician at Lords Hospital, Anayara, Trivandrum. Before Covid, he was available six days a week. Sunday had been his off day. After Covid,  it is now three days a week - alternate days. He must be in the 75 - 80 range, in age.

I learn he was in the Govt. Service earlier.

His diagnosis is exceptional. He prescribes medicines if they are absolutely essential. He takes time in explaining everything though he has a long list of patients to attend to.

We take Evana, our granddaughter to him when she is unwell.

The Hospital is less than 2km  from our place.

Dr. Sasidharan Nair is a no nonsense doctor. If you complain, the child takes very little food, he'd point at the weight and blast us with humour. He'd ask, then how come the BMI is ok. He'd tell, you leave the child alone. She knows how to take care of herself.

One day, he was in a talkative mood.

He said I was a student of Pai Sir.

What he had taught was, " You must prescribe medicines for the sick. But you must tell why the medicines are prescibed"

"I follow that"

Pai Sir, I have never met. Lila remembers seeing him move around at the University Health Centre, Palayam.

Pai Sir, is a legend. A great man, who did everything as Jesus Christ has taught us. 

But he was a non christian.

Ayyappapanicker Sir

 Ayyappapanicker Sir was a giant among teachers of English in Kerala.

In a  recent anecdote, Prof Babu Zacharia recalled Ayyappapanicker Sir had been failed by the UPSC in the IAS interview along with his elder brother Mathew Zacharia

Lila recalls a famous comment by Ayyappapanicker Sir when he was teaching Lila's elder sister Susheela Ammamma in the MA class.

As Sir was teaching, a teacher well known for his failings in the matter of teaching was passing by through the adjoining corridor.

Sir first pointed his finger at the heavens and then  pointed at the person who passed by and said,

 " From the sublime to the ridiculous"

There was high decibel laughter.

How the aged and the ailing are taken for a ride

.

How the aged and the ailing  are taken for a ride.

I had a friend. He was a bachelor. He had severe health issues. He was staying alone. He had once told me that his relatives had built a house for him where he was staying. 

He had told me he would bequeath the house and the property to his church if and when he passed away. Well he passed away. The Church took hold of the property. It was a prime property. 

The Church then sold off the property to one of their members. It was a quiet affair. They didn't advertise. They didn't even measure the property. It was in excess by a cent than it was recorded in the title deed. What the Church did with the money, no one has any idea. On a later date, no one in the Church knew such a thing had ever happened. 

The Church could have set up at least an endowment to perpetuate the memory of the good soul who had gifted all he had to the Church.

But that didnot happen.

The conclusion:

I leave it to the reader.

KALEIDOSCOPE OF PEOPLE AND EMOTIONS

 Lest the Cholakathu family forget.  

It is an avalanche of dear ones who are around and who are not, that crops up in my mind.

And I felt we cannot be male chauvinists. Women have their place in the world, empowered or not. It is said a society that neglects its women is signing its own doom.

Apart from the frivolities let me zero in.

I see Kuttyamma Kochamma who sacrificed her own career to ensure the survival of Cholakathu at Kunthirikkal.

There were our Mummy, and Johnychayan's Kochamma who stood like rocks behind their husbands.

I see Daisy's husband who fulfilled her desire to attend the recent family conclave.

I see our Pappa who ventured into the unknown at a tender age - Singapore - and tomorrow, 5th April 2023, marks the 15th year he called it quits from the world. He had toiled hard sending home everything he earned. His remittances had set off the rebuilding process of the family home, we call Tharavad. Beauty is he had nothing left when he returned. And his parents prevented his return to Singapore. I have often wondered where the whole family would have been - he was a family man and he cared for his siblings - if he had disobeyed his parents.

Then there are Jose, Gigi, PVJohn Achen, Kochukunjachayan, Keevareechayan.

Can we ever forget the inimitable Elsy. Then we have Anitha, Mercy, Shabna,Reena and if I leave out Lila - it could provoke an internal strife  -and  it makes me  add her - and Minnie whose achievements I believe no one is aware, not to forget Betsy who had a PhD in medicine and who had been instrumental in the formulation a life saving drug - well the names would roll on and on. Please do not feel bad if all the names  do not form a part here.

What I meant is the family as a whole has pulled through because of the respect, love and affection the constituents had for each other. 

I pray it stays like that forever

KUTTYAMMA KOCHAMMA

 Kuttyamma Kochamma lived for the family, Achenkunjachayan and her children. 

She never lived for herself, her own advancement.

She was an ordinary teacher and remained an ordinary teacher 

though she could have exited her job at a much higher level.

When she married Achenkunjachayan, he was in the LIC at Ernakulam.

She took an inter district transfer to Ernakulam forfeiting  her seniority .

Her posting was at Tripunithura. 

They had rented a small  house there. 

It was just opposite to a thriving Toddy Shop.

No special advantage.

Achenkunjachayan was a teetotallaer. 

Poothotta was closeby where Karimeen was available in plenty.

When they were flourishing at Tripunithura 

Achenkunjachayan lost his mother. 

His aged father had no one to look after him.

Achenkunjachayan took a transfer to Chengannur that had an LIC Branch.

Kuttyamma Kochamma had no hesitation in taking another inter district transfer

back to where she  originally had been.

In the bargain she became the junior most in service.

It was a  battle against elements at  Kunthirikal,Thalavady

where they stayed.

She had to wade the flooded landscape to reach her school

She looked after the family well.

She did her job well. 

She was an excellent teacher.

She was never unhappy she could not rise up 

in her career.

When her husband went down with Parkinsonism 

and was bedridden

she happily had looked after him.

She had no complaints.

When she was alone after Achenkunjachayan passed away

her son took her to his workplace at Dubai.

She adjusted herself to the changed environment.

She had no complaints.

She was always happy.

Where do we have such daughters in law.

Where do we have such wives 

Where do we have such mothers.

She was indeed a wonderful woman.

she looked after him for seven long years

The self had thrived in selflesness.

PALATIAL HOMES OF CENTRAL TRAVANCORE

 I write this thinking of the pain I experience when I travel around Central Travancore/Kerala where thatched houses have given way to palatial buildings that display splendour and pomp. Yet, many are empty or have one or two occupants  who are aged and ailing. They hope their children would come or return to take care of them. The children are away busy, looking after their own interests. Fact is, the palatial buildings were built by the children to enable their parents reside in houses with all modern facilities. Fact is, the parents are no longer in a position to enjoy the rich life due to failing health. There is no one to talk to them or listen to them. 

Author Alex Haley is well known for his historical fiction ROOTS. 

He has authored another historical fiction QUEEN with David Stevens published in 1993

I think QUEEN is a reflection of what is happening in our neighbourhood especially in Central Travancore.

We observe an irish immigrant  to America putting up a palatial home in the woods.

The house was vibrant.

,As time wore on, the occupants left the house in search of greener pastures one by one. 

Then we find the house in ruins with the wilderness reclaiming its lost space.

The significance here is, people   build their beautiful houses. But the succeeding generations  are not going to stay there. 

The houses stand there in ruins on a later date as a symbol of lost glory.

Acquisition of wealth is essential upto a limit for survival. Beyond that it is senseless

Ostentatious display of wealth takes us nowhere.

POPE FRANCIS

 Pope Francis highly concerned at Italy's shrinking population 

encourages Italians to have more children. 

He says, HAVE CHILDREN, NOT PETS. 

Italy recorded a record low number of live births last year, 392598, 

which combined with an elevated number of deaths, 713499,

 has accelerated the demographic trend

 that threatens to crash the country's social security system.

Times of India 13May2023

Look at the beautiful,  dispassionate construction of the sentence, stating the fact

The Higher Force kicks in

 Michels,  who wrote 'The Tools', had put a question  to his physicist friend Steve, 

" Do you really accept the spiritual system?"

Steve replied shrugging his shoulders,

 " Pascal said, it's the Heart that feels God, not reasoning powers. 

You get results, sometimes that's all that matters."

Faith can only be trusted, and not tested, 

and when you trust, 

The Higher Force kicks in.

Great families

 Many are great and outstanding in all the families around.

But one thing to be borne in mind is that all who have come into the families are all great in their own way. Pity is they are unsung or they prefer to remain off the limelight in spite of the fact they are achievers and not non achievers.

We can see the families  are  blessed with talents that remain  unsung.

Each person who has joined the families is far better off than the rest  in capability. They have or they must have done quite a lot for their adopted families.

We salute them all for joining their respective families and making life much better for everyone around.

THATTARUPARAMPIL

 Thattaruparampil is the family of Thampy, Beena's husband. It was among  the  most well off families of the locality in the earlier days. Thampy's Ammachi was a sweet and beautiful lady who cared for everyone in need.

The Thattaruparampil House stood there in splendour surrounded by apologies of houses inhabited by people immersed in poverty. Thampy and Beena stay in the ancient house.

The widespread migration or emigration seeking fortune has transformed or altered the equations.

Thampy's  father was the Dentist at Edathua. He was a very good doctor. He had a flourishing practice. He was a good agriculturist too. His coconut trees yielded a minimum one thousand coconuts in fifty six days. There was the cultivation of paddy as well. The harvested paddy was stored in the Ara or Pathayam in the house. Though the area was flood prone, floods never entered the house. But the unprecedented 2018 floods broke the tradition. The house had two feet of water inside and it drove Thampy and his younger son to a relief camp. Beena and the elder son were in Dubai at that time. Incidentally the Gulf boom had drawn Thampy first to Dubai. However the recession there had driven him back to India. Once Dubai was limping back to normalcy Beena with  managed to find a job in an insurance company at Dubai. Along with the sourcing of insurance business, Beena had managed to find a job for her elder son there. The son later managed to find a job for his younger brother at Dubai. With both the sons away at Dubai, Thampy and Beena are managing their life at Thalavady, Kuttanadu.

The substantial properties Thampy's father owned  are fragmented,  partioned among his successors. 

MARCOS

 We read from newspapers and hear from the Channels that MARCOS had thwarted the sea pirates in the Arabian sea when a Liberian registered ship was hijacked or seajacked.

MARCOS  is the well trained marine commando unit of the the Indian Navy based in Mumbai. They are modelled on the Seals of USA.

In the 26/11 attack on Mumbai they were the frontal assault force at the initial phase before NSG took over.

There is a book 

 by Praveen Kumar Teotia who had been a MARCOS commando..

'26/11 Braveheart My encounter with Terrorists that night'

It's a graphic narrative.

Bengal Gazette/ India's first newspaper

 India's first newspaper was published on 29January1780. Known as 'Bengal Gazette' or 'The Calcutta General Advertiser' it was a weekly edition.

James Augustus Hicky was it's editor, publisher and owner.

He declared his policy in the first edition.

"I have no particular passion for the printing of newspapers.  I have no propensity, I was not bred to a slavish line of hard work, yet I take pleasure in enslaving my body in order to purchase freedom for my mind and soul."

Bengal Gazette had made it explicit that it was a weekly political and commercial  publication that could not be influenced by anyone and that it would hold supreme the interests of each and everyone.

The newspaper was well received.

Kerala on par with developed nations

 Gulf money has been a big contributor to the progress Kerala. But it is really remittances from abroad - it means from wherever Malayalis have stepped out to - that is behind it.

However it is only one of the reasons.

But the standard of living has gone up. People live long. Educational and medical facilities have improved and are available everywhere.

The income of people has gone up manifold in comparison with what it was 50 or 60 years ago. 

There has indeed been a social upheaval that has brought Kerala on par with developed nations  though no one in Kerala or non Keralites everywhere else would concur.

CRICKET// T20// SURYA KUMAR YADAV

 India's T20 Captain Surya Kumar Yadav says," "Pressure is always there when you play against any team - but that's where the fun is. If you don't have butterflies, you won't enjoy overcoming them once you step on the ground."

PRIYADARSHAN'S ADVICE TO DAUGHTER KALYANI

 Father and film director Priyadarshan's advice to his daughter Kalyani Priyadarshan on the success of the Malayalam film, Lokah:Chapter1 that has stormed into the Rs.200 crore club in under three weeks.

SUCCESS SHOULD NEVER GO TO YOUR HEAD AND FAILURE SHOULD NEVER GO TO YOUR HEART

She says her dad always reminds her to stay grounded - enjoy the moment and keep looking ahead without overthinking future success or failure.

ACTOR KALYANI PRIYADARSHAN // TAKE FROM LOKAH:CHAPTER 1

 The most rewarding part for Actor Kalyani Priyadarshan from acting in the Malayalam film, Lokah:Chapter1

SEEING CREATIVITY SPARK IN OTHERS BECAUSE OF SOMETHING  THE LOKAH TEAM CREATED

She observes there are many ways people engage with her character CHANDRA in the film -- fan art, scrapbook cutouts and even a 'KalyaniOmlette'

Golden Jubilee

 Today is 16th September 2025. It is the 50th anniversary. Yes, the Golden Jubilee. When I go back it was on the 16th September 1975, I had joined the banking service. It was The Bank of Cochin Ltd at Puthiyakavu, Mavelikara. 

When my Papa had retired on 31stJanuary1975, from the KDHPCoLtd Munnar at the age of 58, I was 24. I turned 25 on 20th April that year. At Munnar, we were staying in a Bungalow. Papa was Mechanical Foreman there. 

Papa moved to Thalavady on retirement. We had a ramshackle dwelling place. He had no pension. I had no job. My siblings were in College. People used to belittle me as I didn't have a job to support my family. I was the eldest. My Mummy's twin brother, sad at the predicament of the family, asked me why I did an MA in English. I quietly replied I liked the subject. It was as if I had been an irresponsible son to the parents who had showered nothing but love on me.

Well, I went for interviews after interviews. Nothing clicked. 

Then it happened. I was appointed by The Bank of Cochin Ltd as an executive trainee.

At Munnar I had grown up watching the High profile Managers of the Company. It had put in me the longing to become a Manager. I never knew what management was. I never knew what a manager did. My posting in the bank was the stepping stone to become a Bank Manager. 

I was happy my desire was fulfilled. The family was happy I had a job to support them. 

It had been a terrific journey the past 50 years. Whatever I am today is the sequel to the faltering steps I took on this date 50 years ago. The blessing of God had been with me all these years. 

True, there had been ups and downs. Everything did not go as I perceived. But I have no complaints. Life has taught me quite a lot. It has given me a family. I try my best to give back to the society as much as I can for the fruitful life I had been blessed with.

My love of English has remained with me all along. It has enabled me to publish my first book, 'A Walk Through The Rain' on the 18th of August 2025.

I know I am never a big time writer. But I am happy I could do it. 

The crucible of happiness and agony has created me. 

Lila reminded me today it's the Golden Jubilee.

 Yes, it is, I agreed.

VAZHAPALLY KUMBALATHU OF NIRANAM

 Vazhappally Kumbalathu story does not wind up with the unfortunate extinction of the identity of Kumbalathu at Niranam for good. There are no traces of Kumbalathu left there now. The properties we had roamed when we were children are still there. But they have been fragmented beyond recognition.

Circumstances beyond control brought about the unwelcome transition.

But we all do have a piece of our own Kumbalathu within us. That will never be erased.

Apart from the senti - sentiments, I understand our lineage dates back to six generations. Suku, Suku C Oommen, MD of Travancore Scans, Trivandrum and an excellent and successful businessman tells me, we are family. He adds that the family was into business from the beginning of the traced ancestry. They were at Kozhencherry and Alapuzha and they owned the first Petrol Pump or the Gas Station in American parlance at Kozhencherry. They were elsewhere too. They owned large Kettuvalloms - big country boats - that transported goods through the rivers and lakes.  They were adventurous. Failures never deterred them. They fought and won.

I had requested him to furnish me the history as he knew.

Later Suku had forwarded the ensuing.

The Vazhapally family had three brothers who were into business together. One of the brothers had passed away all of a sudden. While the remaining two brothers carried on with the existing business, they did not look after their sister in law - the unfortunate widow -  well. In fact she was shut out from the business of which her late husband was a partner. Since the poor widow had no means of survival she left the Vazhapally family residence and returned to her people at Ranni. She tried her hand in business - in fact she owned a Vallom too - at Ranni.  But it was a failure. Later she moved on to Vechoochira where she settled. The move was successful. Suku is a descendant from that line.

While the two brothers were successfully running the Vazhapally family business, one brother took over the whole business after vesting  the other with the ancestral home along with a few acres of dry land where coconut trees abounded along with inter cropping and another few acres of paddy field  where paddy and Sugar Cane were cultivated. Agriculture was the mainstay for this brother, who was our ancestor.

Quite interesting to know about ourselves and bring to light the unknown.

I am grateful to Suku for furnishing me the family tree.

CHOLAKATHU FAMILY OF KUNTHIRICAL THALAVADY

 I have often asked myself how Cholakathu as a family have done well from a humble beginning.

I did find the answer.

It is the ardent faith and belief of their grandparents and their parents that has made it happen. 

They were not rich.

But they prayed. Tears rolled down when they prayed. They prayed for their children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. They never missed the Church.

They depended on the creator alone. 

And I have personally seen Mummy praying for everyone she knew as well as her children. I believe they were all doing it. The outcome or result is before us. 

Question is, do we do that? Do we think of others? Are we living only  for ourseles or are we living for others as well? 

I firmly believe if  we stray from the path we have been painstakingly exposed and initiated into  it would be the worst disservice we would be heaping on our successors down the line.

We must pray, pray like our grandparents and our parents and it would ensure the values we have inherited are passed on to generations and generations