Remembering one's dad

20th November is a day that I always feel deep in my heart as it is the birthday of my late dad.



After finishing his schooling in Bishop Cottons, Bangalore, (where later he was the Chairman of the Old Boys Association), he did his first degree in Mathematics at Madras Christian College, Tambaram, Madras, and then studied Electrical Engineering at Imperial College, London, in the early 1930s.



He worked as a student in Germany, before his return to India to marry my mother in 1936,

I do not know his earlier job positions although I know he served at the Sivasmudram Dam Hydro station, at the Jog Falls Hydro Station, as the Superintendent Engineer in Mysore City Electricity where amongst other jobs he was in charge of the lighting of the Maharaja's Palace, and then in Bangalore where he crossed swords with the Chief Minister Hannumanthaiya on principle so as to resign and move to his first assignment as Engineering Manager in Bombay in B.E.S.T.

From there he became the Chief Engineer of B.E.S.T, then served as Engineering Adviser in Killick Nixon (which included Bombay Suburban, and several electricity companies in Gujarat) and finally as Chief Executive of Tata Consulting Engineers (TCE) which he took from being a small engineering consulting company to be India's most prestigious engineering consultants.

Even after his retirement, he set up and guided the Bangalore Office of TCE, one of the finest engineering consulting centres, while at the same time sitting on the Board of Mysore Power Corporation supervising the design and construction of the Raichur Thermal Power Plant. He also was an Adviser to the Kerala Power Corporation.

Kuriyan Matthan, as was his name, was a fun guy all through his life till his sight was reduced through a series of problems which started after his 60th birthday which led to his retirement in 1972. With the reduced vision he lost his most favourite hobby, to solve, in writing, mathematical problems and to do crosswords.



I pay quiet tribute this day to my father on this his 96th birthday.



This was one of the last photographs of him taken by Annikki in 1992 when we visited India. He passed away in 1993, a few weeks after I paid him a visit to say my final goodbye.

Even at that age he was man enough to apologise to me for what problems had transpired between us and for him to tell me that he loved me. Tears were in his eyes when I left the front door to go to the airport. As I looked back out of the car window, although he could not see me, he was waving goodbye from the front steps, seated on a chair that he had insisted be brought out to see me leave.

He never showed the enormous power he wielded. However, what sticks out most in my mind is the way he had of dealing with people of all ages, as he gave them all equal respect and importance.

His best friends were the lowliest of those who worked with him, as the driver of his car, or a line electrician. All these "insignificant" people, in later life, were prepared to give their arm and their soul for him and his family!

I hope that this is the one most important characteristic that I have learnt from him!

I am proud he was my dad!

Remembering two important people in my life

Last night, as the clock ticked past midnight, Annikki and I remembered two people, both of whom Annikki did not have the chance to know as they passed away before we met. But she knew them through me and others whom she had met in later life.



Today is the 130th birth centenary of Dewan Bahadur Kuriyan Matthan, also known as Mysore Matthan, my paternal grandfather. He is survived by four of his 11 children, Mrs. T. Thomas (Elizabeth, Chinchaya, my godmother, standing second from left), Mr. Jacob Matthan (Kochuppapen, the youngest son who at his retirement was the Chairman of the Life Insurance Corporation, standing on far right) and the two youngest children, Mrs. M. V, Kurian (Grace, Accahi, sitting far right) and Mrs. G. T. Verghese (Susan, Papachi, sitting third from right). All of the surviving members, including grandson George Matthan Jr.. sitting on the floor, now reside in Bangalore, although Accachi does spend time with her daughter in Ernakulam.

At one point of my life, Annikki and I did live in Mandya District in Karnataka. It was only then that I discovered how Mysore Matthan was loved by so many people in that part of Karnataka, as he had changed the lives of many people by his wisdom and concern for the ordinary people that he had governed when he was an Administrator in the service of the Mysore Maharaja.

The second person that I remember today is my elder sister, Nalini, who tragically passed away on this day 47 years ago.

Nalini, as a baby - with the beautiful smile
that she carried through her entire life.

I remember, vividly, how she returned to India to have her baby in Bombay. I was at the Santa Cruz airport to receive her, as I was on holiday from college in Delhi.

It was a wonderful holiday, as it included a family weekend of living in a shack in Juhu Beach, Bombay, as my mother's brother's family, Mr. K. M. Philip (Peelukuttychayan, former World Y. M. C. A. President and now 95 and still active), his wife, Chinnamakochamma, and children, Sen and Suresh, were also with us.

During that wonderful weekend where we swam in the sea, played games on the beach, played cards in the shack, and in general had a really great time, we enjoyed having my sister back from her time in England where she had been living with her husband.

Nalini, although eight months pregnant, was so full of life. She was really close to all of us that weekend.

But then, it was time for Suresh and me to return to College. Despite her condition, Nalini insisted on coming to the station to see us off on the Air-Conditioned Deluxe train. She met all my other friends who were travelling with us and walked the long walk down thee Bombay Central Station platform to say goodbye at the door of our compartment. She stayed there to wave goodbye to us as the train pulled away.

Just 2 weeks later, the news of the birth of my first nephew was relayed to me in Delhi. I was able to ring the hospital and speak with her at the joy of the arrival, albeit, just for less than 3 minutes.

But that joy did not last for long as just 4 days later I was told that I should return to Bombay as Nalini had a problem. As I flew from Delhi to Bombay I was told that she had contracted tetanus, a fatal infection, especially in her weak state after childbirth.

When I reached Bombay and went directly to the hospital, she was already in deep sedation as the lock jaw was excruciatingly painful and the body would be put into spasms, which were so strong it could crack the spine.

Although under sedation, she knew when family members were in the room, as when I clasped her hand, she reacted almost immediately to tell me that she knew that I was there.

The next 10 days were nightmarish, as each day we hoped for better news, but each day the news was not good. There were no signs of any improvement and the pain was getting worse by the hour, till at one point we all prayed that God relieve her of this terrible suffering.

And on 29th October 1960, the end came and we all were deeply moved by the passing of a wonderful human being, my dearly beloved sister, who had meant so much to me as also many other people.

The funeral was the next day. Her husband had arrived from the UK. When we said goodbye to Nalini at the Sewri Cemetery, there were tears streaming on faces the many tens of mourners who were there, which included, besides relatives, many of her dear friends from her college days in Bombay and their families, all of whom had been touched by the gentleness and kindness of this human being.

So today, I honour, with a feeling of humbleness, these two wonderful people on this our blog.

Coincidence at Oulu Airport!

Posted on my Jacob's Blog, the Oulu Chaff Blog, the Mumbai Cathedral School Seventh Heaven Blog and the Delhi Stephanian Kooler Talk Blog.

Yesterday was Annikki's birthday. I had offered to take her to any restaurant of her choice in Oulu. We have an offering of several cuisines here: Algerian, Chinese, English, Finnish, French, Greek, Indian, Italian, Mediterranean, Mexican, Moroccan, Thai, Turkish, Russian, US, Vietnamese, ...

But Annikki had other plans.

We started on a shopping expedition where she first went to he favourite Flea market and did some expensive shopping - maybe a couple of Euro!

Then we went to some small shops where she bought stuff for the house. Her next stops were two shops that were also celebrating their birthdays. We got free coffee/tea and cake for just visiting them.

Just then I had a call from Prof. Ajeet Mathur, a Cathedralite and Stephanian, like me, and also resident in south Finland. Ajeet said that he was on his way to Oulu and his plane should land around 6 pm. I told him I would pick him up from the airport.

Annikki told me rush back from the airport as her plan was to buy a pizza and go and sit on the beach and enjoy the sea breeze and the glorious sunset. She wanted a large open air restaurant and not be cooped up in a tiny one with no view in town!

I reached the airport at exactly 6 pm. There were a load of people coming off a plane. I noticed what looked like a foreigner waiting with a small placard identifying a conference, which I knew would be the one Ajeet would be headed for. I also noted a cameraman waiting to get a film of the arrival of Ajeet. Obviously, Ajeet was to be a distinguished speaker at the conference.

I positioned myself next to these two gentleman, who obviously had come for the same purpose - to receive Ajeet. I heard them conversing.

One said to the other that he was from Australia.

Always ready to break the ice, I asked him whether he knew our popular Australian CHAFF participant, Benjamin Hayes. The answer was in the negative, but with the formalities done away with, we struck up a conversation. He asked me where I came from. When I said Bangalore, India. Out of the blue, he said his parents were from Bangalore, India and they had left India at the time of Independence in 1947.

Then came a second shock as he said that his dad was from Bishop Cotton School, one of my alma maters.

I asked Alen his surname. Then came the even bigger surprise. His surname is Pembshaw.

Alen's dad used to come to Bangalore in the 70's very regularly. He would head straight to my dad's office as my dad was, at the time, the Chairperson of the Bishop Cotton Boys School Old Boys Association. My dad had passed out of school in 1926. Alen's dad was much junior to him.

I had met Alen's dad several times, as my office used to be in the same buolding!

As we were looking at the coincidence, the cameraman, whom I do not recall ever seeing in my life, turned to me and said that he knew my daughter, Joanna and also my wife. Apparently they go to the same church and his wife, a doctor, is a good friend of my daughter.

That was a string of coincidences which seemed outrageous to me!

Later, Annikki briefed me that Seppo Ahava is the husband of Maria, who is a doctor now and whom she has seen as a small girl in the church.

Ajeet arrived. As I am camera shy, I made myself scarce.

Usually Ajeet stays with me, but as the City of Oulu had organised this programme, he had been booked into a hotel. I took Ajeet to his hotel and organised that he spend the evening usefully.

I rushed home, picked up Annikki, picked up a pizza from a friends's pizzeria and headed to the beach. The sun was just setting and darkness was falling fast, but the glorious colours could still be seen.

It was extremely windy, so we sat in a shaded place and enjoyted our pizza.

There was no one around when we reached, as it was still drizzling, but before we finished our pizza, some kids and then some elderly people could be seen walking on the windy shores.

Before darkness finally set, we set off back for home, not accomplishing one part of Annikki's mission, to look for more stones to take home!

Coincidences and a windy pizza dinner on the beach were the mark of Annikki's birthday for this year. (Of course, there was cake when we got back home!)

Maliyakal Web Sites Updated

RAJA MANTRA PRAVINA DEWAN BAHADUR

MALIYAKAL KURIYAN (MYSORE) MATTHAN

I have been a bit lazy regarding the updating of the Maliyakal family web sites.

Thanks to a major input from Suresh (Rev. Chandy Kuruvilla) in Lucknow, India, and a simultaneous update from Sarasu (Sarasu Isaac) in the Virginia, USA, I did a major update of all the Maliyakal web pages. I still lack much data to be able to call this a comprehensive site of our family.

But that depends on the inputs that you can provide me - such as birthdates, family notes, etc.

• Maliyakal Ravoor Matthan Kurien, alias Maliyakal K. Aaschan, alias Kurien Assan, the founder of the House of Maliyakal




1. Kuriyan "Mysore" Matthan (1877 - 1951)


2. Dr. Kurian Kuruvilla


3. K. George


4. Mariamma


5. K. Kurian


6. Elizabeth


7. Susan


8. K. Jacob


9. Sara

An article by Prof. M. M. Ninan has been brought to my attention which states that according to Thomma Parvom, the first convert by Apostle St. Thomas on his second visit to Kerala was from Maliyakal who became Thomas Maliyakal the Ramban.

I have seen this article many years ago as it was released at the time of the 50th Indian Independence celebration (1997). There has been much debate about many of the statements made and is still a matter of considerable debate.

The page which is entitled STORY OF ST. THOMAS THE APOSTLE AND THE ST.THOMAS CHURHES OF INDIA; A SHORT HISTORY and is by Prof. M. M. Ninan. Hope you find it enlightening and many thanks to both Abu and Sarasu for reminding me of this.

Thanks to Shalu

Anand and me

Many thanks to Shalini, wife of Anand (son of the late George Matthan Sr.) and daughter of the late Dr. Nainan Varghese, for providing me with the name of her daughter-in-law (Kavita) and also correcting me that Pushpa's only son's name is Rohan George. Pushpa is the second daughter of Jacob Matthan Sr. (me being Jacob Matthan Jr., but not the son of Sr., only a nephew). The Dewan Bahadur Kuriyan Matthan page has been updated.

One small story about Shallu's late father, who was one of the most famous haemotologist that India has ever known. He met me at a party one evening in Madras where my parents were also present. We were all standing together and my dear mother was ranting about how much dessert I was consuming and that I would soon become a diabetic like my dad.

Dr. Nainan Varghese chipped in and told my mom that I would never become a diabetic!!

Coming from such a renowned expert, I was taken aback, as were both my mom and dad. He went on to explain that as both my mom and dad were considerably shorter than me, I am 6 foot 2 and half inches (191 cm) while both of them were below 5 foot 6 inches, the level of inherent growth hormone in my system would always keep me from becoming a diabetic as I had the natural anti-dote.

We all laughed, but he was deadly serious, as he had made this a serious study and was convinced that the immense volume of data he had collected had no exceptions till that date!!

And, in truth, I have been a borderline diabetic for many many years. I have never reduced my sugar intake, usually in the form of chocolates, biscuts, ice creams, barfi, sweet curd, and every other delicious form of sweetmeat that I can lay my hands on (my mouth just waters when I think of carrot halwa, jelebi, gulab jamuns or a tin of condensed milk), and I remain as such, a borderline diabetic. The moment I do some gym work, within two days my blood sugar will fall well below the borderline!!

Dewan Bahadur Kuriyan Matthan site updated

Thanks to all the inputs, I have updated the Dewan Bahadur Kuriyan Matthan website.

The site of his father which links to all his brothers and sisters and their Families will be updated shortly.

Bookmark the sites for your convenience. Do send me photographs that can be used on these sites.