I was the third in the family of eight, six boys and two girls. My early memory was that of living in our family home in Thathampally, Alleppey with my parents , brothers and grandmother. I have memories of seeing huge mangoes , almost the size of coconuts,hanging in small branches of the mango tree which I think is not there any more. We don’t see such mango trees any more. They are called Njetukuzhiyans(because there was a big dip where it attaches itself to the trunk). We used to visit Edathua occasionally, but more regularly at the time of the feast of St.George at the church. All of our relatives from the mother’s side would be there and our maternal grand parents were then living. We used to sleep on big “pa”s (mats) made beautifully of grass leaves. In fact pas were the ones people used to sleep on before the modern beds came into the market. It was a happy and playful time. The older children in the family would take baths in the river nearby, although I did not.
My Father was a serious person in our eyes in those early days, with strict rules for us to observe. His greatness would become revealed to us when we grew older. We would see him always dressed impeccably in the standards of those days, with his suit coat and mundu with a neriathu folded beautifully around his shoulder.He was the manger of a bank and whenever he came at night, he would have something for us in the pockets of his coat. He would bring either a ball or oranges and sweets which would know about only the next morning. We rarely have seen him on weekday nights as he would come from his office very late, stopping on the way to do errands for the family or talk to the priests.
He had his own personal assistant called Raphael and Raphael was the rikshawallh.He would pull his rikshaw through the streets of Alleppey to any place he wanted to go just as a car would take one nowadays. O f course we can never imagine allowing any one to do that now for us. In those times, that was a sign of convenient travel, and a show of ones’ status in life.
But somehow since I did my studies well in the classes given by a teacher from the school at home, I was given a promotion to the second standard. By this time we moved to our new house at Thathampally which was at that time one of its kind. We can still hear the echoes of our sounds as we opened the different rooms. It had a terrace and we could sleep on the terrace at nights. No house in that area did have a terrace in those days. We were lucky in that sense and the house was across the street from our parish church. We used to go with our father for the masses and people would always speak appreciatively of our being with the father at the masses, most of the time, may be on our knees. In the evening, when we were in our house, we could hear the loud laughter that would come from the friendly chat between our father and the vicar of the church, Fr.Sebastian Cherussery. They became good friends and they enjoyed the company of each other. Fr.Cherusserry was a talented priest with enormous potentials-- bringing all people together, erecting necessary buildings for the church , inspiring congregation etc. It was told that he himself carried bricks and stones for the construction of the church.He was the one who extended the church by building an additional wing, built additional buildings for the school and founded the Adoration convent. He may be considered the modern architect of the vibrant St.Michael’s parish and his contribution to the parish can in no way be minimized. In vision, planning and the cohesiveness that he brought to the community, he can in no way be rivaled by any of his successors. He was also the unquestioned leader of the Catholics of the area at that time. No voice would be raised against him. It was a sad day for the parish when he was transferred to Palai to oversee the various construction projects of the newly established diocese of Palai. He was from Palai and hence the Bishop wanted him to be there. I have never seen him after that. My father was the Convener of the farewell meeting held to bid adieu to him on the Thathampally maidan(grounds) which was packed with people. He is the first vicar of my parish about whom I have good memories.
Another priest I remember well was Fr.Joseph Valiaveettil who was the associate with Fr.Cherusseril. Fr. Valiaveetil was in charge of the altar boys and he did a marvelous job if organizing them. He was a good writer andtransalted many good works from Englsih inot Malayalam for the Book a Month club which was in existence then. He created in us a sense of pride and elegance. He got new robes made for altar servers and also enrolled us into the Tarcisian league. We saw our group picture published in one American religious weekly. When I was studying in the fifth standard I gave my name for a speech competition. I hadn't made any speech before that. I approached Fr.Joseph for help and he wrote out a speech in Malayalam for me .I delivered that speech and I got the first prize along with a friend of mine C.P.Joseph who became a priest later. I don’t know whether the sisters knew that the speech was written by the associate pastor. That prize gave me a tremendous sense of satisfaction and pride . I think I got a book in English as the prize which I could not read or understand at that time.
Fr.Joseph took us on several trips and only those who could afford the fare joined those trips. We remember one memorable trip that we took to Changanacherry when the two new bishops Mar Matthew Kavukattu and Mar Vayalil who were consecrated for Changanacherry and Palai were staying at the time at the Bishop’s House in Changancherry. We met the bishops and the Bishops gave all of us pictures as a memento of our visit. When we came down we met Msgr.Kallarackal, who was the Apostolic Administrator during the interim period after the death of Mar James Kalacherry. Msgr. Kallarackal was in his old age , looking almost like a Christmas Pappa. He played a trick on us. He stretched out his hand asked all of us to give back the pictures given by the Bishops. He scared us by saying that if we didn’t give the pictures the boat by which we came to Changancherry from Alleppey would capsize. All of us gave our pictures to him. Now we realize that he was senile and out of his senses at that time. Otherwise who would ask kids to give back some thing that they cared for deeply?
Fr.Joseph Valiaveetil later went from the parish for higher studies in Malayalam Literature at the University college. It was while he was there that he was given a prestigious award in Malayalam debates. He took his M.A. through private study. He joined the Dept. of Malayalam at St. Berchmans’ college. Then he thought of a monastic vocation and joined the Franciscan order. He didn’t remain there long. He returned to the diocese and to the college. He was lovingly called “Ouseppachan “ in the college campus. Surpsingly when I joined the college as a member of the Dept. Of English, Fr. Joseph was there. He always kept a fatherly affection for me. I was there for all the important events in his life: to speak when he was given a farewell by the Adoration Convent, Vazahappally, at the celebration of his birthday at the convent etc. He was acting as their chaplain after his retirement from the college. He wanted to see me before he died. But the message did not reach me in time. I didn’t know he was hospitalized. When I went to see him, he was in coma. Somehow it happened, I was designated to speak at his funeral and I felt really blessed in my heart to speak at his funeral. That is only the funeral of a priest that I had preached in my life.
I completed my primary and middle school education at St. Michael’s school, Thathampally . Some of the teachers that stand out in my mind are Mr.George who taught us Hindi, Sr.Espirit, Sr.Mary Kuracherry and Sr.Antonisaamma Kattampally. I had the happiness of taking communion to Sr.Antonissammma when she was admitted in the
Antonissamma was my primary school teacher. In those days since the convent didn’t have any newspapers,she would ask me to bring the paper from our house for her to read as our house was just a couple of yards away from the school. She would then write in my book all the meanings of words that I missed in my note book in her own beautiful handwriting.I had some good friends in the primary school in Mr. V.T. Joseph, K.M. Mathew, Jacob etc. We moved from St.Michael's to Leo Xlll for our high school studies. We have to walk four or five miles every day back and forth to go to school. Very few had bicycles and hence most of us walked all the way. All of us coming from Thathampally had a good habit. Before entering the school compound, we would stop at the nearby Church (now it is the Cathedral of Alleppey diocese) and spent a few minutes in prayers. All of us did, even those who were mischievous and undunruly. It was an unwritten rule to visit the Blessed Sacrament , passed from generation to generation.
The atmosphere at Leo X111 was very different. The atmosphere was more mature and there was a mixing of students and teachers from different parts of the town. This is the same school where my father and my elder brothers studied. In fact there was a teacher Mr. John from Kattoor who taught my father. There was an interesting incident. When my friend Chandy and myself were passing by his class room, he called us both inside and asked more details about us. When he found that I was Mr. M.P. Joseph’s son, he let me go by saying that he had taught my father, Mr.Joseph. He gave Chandy a good spanking with the cane in his hand. I still feel sad for Chandy!
The teachers who stand out in my memory are: Fr.Paul Kunnumkal , our headmaster, Fr.John Meemepellikavil S.J. Fr. M.C.Joseph and Fr.Scaria ( who left priesthood later), Mr.C.X. John, C.X. Lawrence,T.L.Issac, Mr. Jacob Kattezham, and Mr. Kuncheria. The three years we spent there were some of the best years of formation. Fr.Scaria would invite us personally from our holidays to show us the corrections in our English papers. Fr. M.C. Joseph was a source of great inspiration in the spiritual formation of the students. On First Fridays, we would come to the school chapel early in the morning . Fr. M.C. Joseph would lead the stations of the cross for us and we could hear his sobbing words as he would come to the sections dealing with the fall and crucifixion of Jesus. He was also instrumental in starting a very good basket ball team for the school.
1 comment:
This is a good article, think of writing a autobiography.
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