Yesterday's post brought me much joy as there was a small package from my uncle, Mr. K. M. Mathew, now 90 but still quite active. It contained 2 copies of the Thayyil Kandathil Family Directory 2007.
The cover features a picture of the Thayyil Tharavadu, the original Thayyil family House, which now rests in the compound of the Kodimatha Unit of the Malayala Manorama newspaper.
As I thumbed through the directory, many old names and faces which had been erased from my memory as a child came flooding back, those long gone, those who have similarly aged with me, and those younger ones whom I have seen growing up.
It was interesting to read from our family tree that our son-in-law, a hardened Finn, had been given a traditional Malayali name, Manninen being transformed to Mammen!
These mistakes are not to be taken seriously, as this compilation by Mr. P. T. Elias is truly historic. Our thanks go out to him for his dedicated and wonderful work.
It will now give me a chance to complete a lot of my online web pages about the Thayyil Kandathil family tree which was something I put up for the first time in 1994 as a tribute to my grandfather, K. C. Mammen Mappillai, the doyen of Kerala.
So stay tuned for some exciting news on this blog as this basic ground work is transformed into a glorious online work of Kerala Culture.
