Journalist extrordinaire - Sachi

The late K. S. Sachinanda Murthy (Sachi)

(Courtesy Malayala Manorama)

On 13th of October 2023, when the untimely passing is K. S. Sachindanda Murthy (known in media circles as Sachi) was announced, in my lifetime I have never seen the media react in such a manner. Almost every newspaper and magazine in India covered his life and contribution to journalism. 

My maternsl grandfather, K. C. Mammen Mappillai, laid down ”A Sacred Trust” for  all of us to follow.

The Sacred Trust

Sachi served Malayala Manorama for a full 40 years. He understood and followed ”The Sacred Trust”.

After joining Malayala Manorama in 1982, Sachi became the Chief of Bureau and when they started their unit in Delhi, he became the Resident Editor, Delhi. This is  largest unit outside Kerala. They have nearly 175 staffers in Delhi. (No drivers, no peons.)  They have the Hindi Vanitha  published from Delhi. 

Sachi headed all the verticals as his job. He ran it professionally and very very efficiently. Sachi ran a tight ship and gave fortnightly status reports on every facet to the Management. 

Many personal stories have been recited in the last few days as everyone knew Sachi and everybody loved Sachi. Even the highest praise that have been offered are not enough to express the tremendous impact of this humble individual on the Indian media.

Three journalists stand out in my list of the extrordinaire category - the late B.G. Verghese, A. G. Noorani (now 93) and the late  K. S. Sachinanda Murthy.

When my cousin, Rajen told Sachi that I held him on the same pedestal as A. G. Noorani, he was thrilled to bits.

I knew B. G. Verghese as he was the brother of my aunt. BG used to visit us regularly when we lived in Bombay. When I was studying in St. Stephen’s College in Delhi, I used to meet him and his wife, Jameela regularly. They were both Stephanians, Jameela, before Stephen’s became a male only college.

I used to read BG’s columns regularly. He had the art of telling the facts in a manner which was understandable by the common man, much like the cartoonist, R. K. Laxman, That was why Nehru appointed BG as his Press Secretary.

I did not know A. G. Noorani personally, but his two brothers, Mohamed and Mushtaq,  are close friends of mine. Mohamed looked after me when I was being trained at Farbenfabriken Bayer AG in Leverkusen (near Köln) in Germany in 1964. Mushtaq was managing a hotel in the centre of Bangalore and Annikki and I stayed with him when we visited the city. They are true gentlemen and AG stands in the same category. AG knows that the PEN is mightier than the Sword and politicians as Nehru and Vajpayee respected this incredible lawyer, journalist and author.

I read AG's white papers at the time of the Indo-Chinese conflict and after that I got hooked on his writing.

Sachi was different but equal to both of them. 

He joined The WEEK in  Bangalore at the end of 1982. From my very first meeting I knew that he was a man of absolute talent. He could develop a story when one could never see another side to it. He hardly made predictions but when he did, he was always right.

 

Rajen getting his Padma Shri award from  President Abdul Kalam. His father Padma Bhushan K. M. Mathew is in the picture which also has his wife. Prema, their son, Jayant, and Jayant's wife, Anu. In the lventre back is Sachi.

(Courtesy Malayala Manorama)

Sachi served as the secretary general of the Editors Guild of India and chairman of the Lok Sabha Press Advisory Committee. He also was a member of the Central Press Accreditation Committee and the Press Council of India.

I was later told by my cousin Rajen that the contacts that Sachi had in all circles in Delhi and around India were without any comparison. He knew everyone that needed to be known and not only that he knew them intimately. He was the source for many journalists wanting a hot story. But Sachi was never after a hot story as his concentration was on the best reporting..

I met him for the first time when he joined tThe WEEK in Bangalore. He already knew the names of my wife and all my children. And he addressed me as Sushilchayan, a form of respect amongst Malayalis, although he was a Kannadiga from Kolar.

He knew all the contributions my paternsl grandfather, Raja Mantra Pravina Dewan Bahadur Maliyakal Kuriyan (Mysore) Matthan made to Mysore society.

When we moved to Finland, The WEEK magazine used to arrive at our home. Both, our son Mika and I, would rush to see Sachi’s writing. Although Mika was just 12 years old, he too liked the way Sachi told his story.

Mika kept all the old issues of the magazine for many years mainly because he liked Sachi’s page.

When President Pranab Mukherjee came to Finland in 2014, Sachi was in the media team but unfortunately we could not meet. A few weeks later I was in Delhi sitting in the office of The WEEK when Sachi came in. He was so greatly moved that he had not seen me during his visit to Finland, especially when he heard that I had brought  a group of Indians from Oulu to meet the Indian President.

After I heard of his illness, there was not a day that I did not say a prayer for dear Sachi and his family. It was then, when Rajen told him of my appreciation of Sachi that he was so moved by that.

What were the greatest lessons that I learnt from Sachi were that it is important to be humble and give respect to everyone who deserves respect. He taught me that it is the contacts that one develops in the course of one’s life that  leads to one’s success.

I will certainly miss the writings of Sachi as there is no one who can replace him.

Sachi with Philip Mathew, the Chief Editor of The WEEK, and Prime Minister P. V Narasimha Rao

(Courtesy Malayala Manorama)

Sachi with President Ram Nath Kovind and Chacko  Mathew, the Administration Chief of the Malayala Manorama group. 

(Courtesy Malayala Manorama)

The Karnataka government decided to accord full state honours to the departed during his cremation.

Sachi was a recipient of the Durlabh Singh Media Award and the Karnataka Media Academy award award for lifetime contribution to journalism at the national level, among others.

Sachi is survived by wife Chandrika and sons Nithin and Rohan. 

His columns called “Desiyam” and “Power Point” in the Malayala Manorama daily and The Week respectively dealt with national politics and garnered a wide readership. The editorials written by Sachi in the Malayala Manorama daily shaped the worldview of a large Malayali audience.

May this great journalist rest in peace. And may the dear Lord give solace to his immediate family and every single member of our Malayala Manorama family who will all miss him dearly.

Philip Mathew hits 60

Philip Mathew (known to me as Thambi) was a Stephanian a few years after me.



Younger brother to 64er Mammen Mathew (Rajen), Thambi is also the father of a couple of Stephanian boys of the 90s. His sons are married to daughters of a Stephanian of my era, 63er Abe Tharakan, who is the sea food mogul of India.

Thambi manages the Cochin office of the Malayala Manorama. I also think he is managing the English publication of Manorama Group, The WEEK.

Among his interviews I think has been one of Nelson Mandela.

Please join me in wishing him a great 60th.

Padma Shri Award to Rajen (exclusive pictures)

Rajen receiving the Padma Shree Award
from President of India, Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam

In January of this year I blogged the great news of our cousin being awarded the Padma Shree. I am now able to give you the exclusive pictures of the event as they were sent to me directly by Rajen.

The President of India, Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, conferred on Mammen Mathew (Kandathil, Stephanian, commonly known to all of us as Rajen, Rajenchayan) the PADMA SHREE Award.

This important news was announced on Republic Day at New Delhi.

Rajen studied journalism on the job at Bristol in Wales and then in the USA. In 2002 he received the rare honour of being appointed as a Reuters Trustee, the first Indian to be appointed to this position. He has been the Chairman of the Indian Section of the Commonwealth Press Union, President of the Indian Newspaper Society, and the Editors Guild of India, and has also been on the Press Council of India.

Today, he is the guiding spirit of the Malayala Manorama Newspapers Group, India's most outstanding newspaper and magazine publishing centre, founded by our greatgranduncle, Kandathil Varghese Mappillai, given shape by our grandfather K. C. Mammen Mappillai and then guided in turn by the late K. M. Cherian and then K. M. Mathew, till Rajen took the helm. 

Rajen and his family, wife (Prema) on his left, 

son (Jayant) behind him, father (K. M. Mathew) on his right, and daughter-in-law (Miriam) on the far right. Sachinanda Murthy who heads t Delhi operations of Malayala Manorama and The WEEK is in the top left.

Rajen's daughter-in-law, Miriam (Anu) Mathew (née Paul) was a leading executive in a US bank till she returned to India to take the helm of Manorama Online. Her husband Jayant, is also in the newspaper business.

The other Award Winners in our family:

1. The late Mr. K. M. Cherian (Chetpetappachen) - first awarded the Padma Shree and the later he was given the Padma Bhushan. 

2. Mr. K. M. Philip (Peelukuttychayan, Pappa) was given the Padma Shree three years ago ago. 

3. Mr. K. M. Mathew (Mathukuttychayan, Rajen's father) was given the Padma Bhushan, nearly a decade ago. 

4. The late Mr. K. M. Mammen Mappillai (Kochappachen), received the Padma Shree half a decade before he died in 2003. 

Mr. K. M. Mathulla, founder of H.M.T. (Hindustan Machine Tools - India's largest producer of machine tools) and a die hard Kandathil, got a Padma Shree some 20 years ago.

Kandathils, Stephanians - Hip Hip Hurrah

The President of India, Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, has conferred on Mammen Mathew (Kandathil, Stephanian, commonly known to all of us as Rajen, Rajenchayan) the PADMA SHREE Award. This important news was announced on Republic Day at New Delhi. This award has made it a record for any one family in Independent India (see below). 

Rajen gets the Padma Shri award from Abdul Kalam

 

Rajen, former US President Bill Clinton and former Indian President Shri K. R. Narayanan

Besides being my dear and constant companion when we were together in St Stephen's College, Delhi, Rajen was also very dear to both Annikki and me when he came to England. It was Rajen and his friends who campaigned for me and made history in the college by getting a second year student elected to the post of JCR President of the College. Together we made the JCR from a dumb unloving unfriendly place into one of the most liveliest places to hang out in.

Later, I was one who was involved in giving him the courage to choose his life partner, Prema!! I still remember him sweating away in the car when he went to see his to-be for the first time!! He ran through more than a few of my handkerchiefs and hand towels at that time!!

Rajen, with another outstanding Stephanian classmate, architect Ramu Katakam, who is also now a member of the Kandathil family by marriage, hitch-hiked across the globe from India to London to land at my doorstep in the mid 1960's. Both were going places, and Rajen has shown us the way to the top.

I must mention the other two of the four Stephanian musketeers of Rajen’s year, Azhar Siddique, who went into hotel management and made a great name for himself in that field, and Suresh Mehra, who runs one of the finest garment export houses from Hyderabad.

Rajen studied journalism on the job at Bristol in Wales and then in the USA. In 2002 he received the rare honour of being appointed as a Reuters Trustee, the first Indian to be appointed to this position. He has been the Chairman of the Indian Section of the Commonwealth Press Union, President of the Indian Newspaper Society, and the Editors Guild of India, and has also been on the Press Council of India.

Today, he is the guiding spirit of the Malayala Manorama Newspapers Group, India's most outstanding newspaper and magazine publishing centre, founded by our greatgranduncle, Kandathil Varghese Mappillai, given shape by our grandfather K. C. Mammen Mappillai and then guided in turn by the late K. M. Cherian and then K. M. Mathew, till Rajen took the helm.

Rajen is assisted by his two younger brother, both professionals, Philip Mathew (Thambi), also a Stephanian and father of 2 Stephanians, Amit and Riyad, and Jacob Mathew (Chacko), sadly not a Stephanian but the father of one, Harsha.

Rajen's daughter-in-law, Miriam (Anu) Mathew (née Paul) was an outstanding Stephanian and a leading executive in a US bank till she returned to India to take the helm of Manorama Online. Her husband Jayant, is also in the newspaper business and a student of our leading Stephanian friend, Sreenath Sreenivasan, Professor of Journalism at Columbia University and an expert on convergence journalism.

The other Award Winners in our family:

1. The late Mr. K. M. Cherian (Chetpetappachen) - first awarded the Padma Shree and the later he was given the Padma Bhushan. Our dear cousins, Dr. K. C. Mammen (Bapukuttychayan), one of India’s leading paediatricians and Mrs. P. V. Jacob (Sarasukochamma) are Chetpetappachen’s surviving children.
2. Mr. K. M. Philip (Peelukuttychayan, Pappa) was give the Padma Shree three ago back. He was the World President of the Y. M. C. A. after many years of outstanding and honorary service in the Indian Y. M. C. A. At the age of 92, he is still physically and mentally fully active and still takes part in many business functions. His wife, Chinammakochamma is also fully active at the age of 85. She was the leading light of the Mumbai Y. W. C. A. for many many years. A dearer lady so full of fun and laughter one will not find on this earth. His two children are Sen Philip and Dr. Peter Philip (Suresh, a fellow Stephanian of my era, an outstanding economist, the business brain behind the launch of the FIRST Kooler Talk, classmate of such leading Stephanians as Sayeed Rizvi, Sarwar Lateef, Zaffar Hai).
3. Mr. K. M. Mathew (Mathukuttychayan, Rajen's father) was given the Padma Bhushan, nearly a decade ago. His wife, the late Mrs. K. M. Mathew (Annammakochamma), who passed away in 2003, surpassed all what her husband and her children have done in her service to the women and children of India. His daughter, Thangam, Rajen’s sister is the mother of 2 Stephanians, Adit and Rohan. (See above for details of his sons - Rajen, Thambi and Chacko.)
4. The late Mr. K. M. Mammen Mappillai (Kochappachen), half a decade before he died in 2003. His wife, Kunjukochamma is a hostess extraordinaire, a person who has made any person entering over the doorstep feel as one of the family. Kochappachen, aided by his six brothers (Cherian, Oommen, Eapen, Varghese Mappillai, Philip and Mathew) and one sister (Mariam, my late mother ) and the sister-in-law of their deceased brother, (Mrs. K. M. Jacob, Pallammachi), built the MRF tyre company by their sense of unity and devotion to one another as well as the entire Syrian Christian Malayali Community. Kochappachen was physically assisted by his wife’s brother, now retired Technical Director of MRF, Kurian George (Georgie, my dear friend in Chennai who keeps me abreast of all the best news from India these days) and technically, mentally and morally assisted by my late father (Kuriyan Matthan). MRF was stabilised and brought forward as India’s leading tyre company by his son, the late Ravi Mammen, and is now run in the family tradition of professional management by his two surviving sons, Vinoo and Arun. Vinoo is the father of 2 Stephanians, Samir and Rahul. His only daughter, Remani is an outstanding artist running her own creative art design company.

It is important to mention Mr. M. K. Mathulla, founder of H.M.T. and a die hard Kandathil, got a Padma Shree some 20 years ago.

In this tribute of honour to Kandathils, I must also say a fond farewell to a dear friend, also a Kandathil, Mr. K. C. Mathulla, who died in Mumbai on 28th January 2005, my wedding anniversary. Mathullapapachayan, as I knew him, had been one who had been of greatest strength to me. When I arrived in India with a "foreign" wife, it was he who, with his Mauritian wife, the late Gabbykochamma, gave me the most practical advice on how to live in India. Besides that, it was he who took me to a leading homeopath and cured me completely of sinusitis, a terrible scourge that I had suffered for many years. It was he who cured Annikki of her acute tonsillitis, again with homeopathy through a well known homeopath in Bandra, Mumbai.

May his soul rest in peace.

Sadly, he had no issue. His dear wife, Gabbykochamma, who suffered from painful arthritis for many many years, left for her heavenly abode to await resurrection several years ago. I will remember this humble and great man, who was dear cousin and friend to my mother and a wonderful uncle and mentor to me, in my daily prayers forever.