Indian families in Oulu relax

Thanks to Nisha and Sunil, a few of the Indian families in Oulu got together at the Raantel Community Centre to relax and enjoy a few precious quality moments.

Among those present were Rajesh, Sunita and Karthik, Srikanth, Renu and Dipankar, Narayanan, Padmavathy and Ambil, Sunil, Nisha and Hannah, Nagendra, Ashwini and Suhina, Kiran, Prasad and myself.

Raantel Community Centre

Nisha cooked the frozen ready made vegetarian samosas I had brought from Helsinki and offered crisps and cake. Padmavathi prepared some great carrot halwa, the likes of which I have not tasted since my days in Sundarnagar Market in New Delhi. She was so nice to share the compliments with me as she said I had given her the new deep non-stick frying pan!! (Mark of a truly great personality to share her fame and glory with someone who least deserved it.) Ashwini brought some delicious capsicum dish, a dish which I so far have not had the pleasure of tasting. Renu did her task in bring some of her delicacies.

Prasad dropped in after cricket practice.

The kids enjoyed themselves running around the house and the compound. After enjoying the food, the menfolk got down to some serious carrom playing, using probably the only carrom board in Oulu and possibly Finland! The board is badly warped because of the different climatic conditions between India and Finland, but our experts mastered the board configurations and played a dozen games, each one a cliff hanger!

On the whole a very delightful afternoon which extended to late in the evening.

April snowman

The childhood spirit was reignited in Annikki the day Joanna and her kids arrived for the Easter holidays. Daniel (5 in May) was Annikki’s constant companion. They were very busy in the garden.

Many of you will remember how Annikki produced this snowman to greet me on my birthday in 2006. The childlike spirit lives on, especially when the grandchildren arrive on the scene!!!

There was a little snow on the ground.



When I came home one evening, there were a couple of snowladies (identified by the sprigs of twigs on the head) in the garden, one being pulled on a sleigh by the reindeer.



Last night, as Joanna and the grandkids are due to leave for Newcastle on Sunday morning, Annikki decided she would put some colour into her snow scenery and had a plethora of candles burning with her snow friends.

The picture does no justice to the radiant colours that we could see from the kitchen window. The candles have been burning right through the night and will do so till the family depart at 06:45 am this Sunday morning. (Unfortunately, I could not capture the true beauty of the scenery with the digital camera.)

Thayyil Kandathil Family Directory 2007

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.

Mariam Matthan Family Tree

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.

Dr. Kurian George's daughter, Lalitha

After I posted the link to my second cousin's, Sarasu, blog, she replied that she was still learning the blogging process. She sent me info about another second cousin (her first cousin), Lalitha, who is the late Dr. Kurian George's second daughter.


The late Mysore Matthan.

The late Dr. Kurian George was the son of the late Maliyakal Kurian George, Former Chief Secrectary of Travancore Cochin, younger brother of my late grandfather, Mysore Matthan.


The late K. C. Mammen Mappillai.

We were particularly close to this family as they lived in Kottayam. We always visited them when we went to stay with my other grandfather, the late K. C. Mammen Mappillai.

As the eldest of the late Dr. Kurian George family, Padmini, is no more, Lalitha, who was widowed, is the eldest in that family. Lalitha was married to Raju and lives in Chennai.

Lalitha has given details of her family which I thought several of you would like to know. You can also find the details of the entire family (as supplied to date) on the web page devoted to her grandfather, the late Maliyakal Kurian George

Lalitha has four children, Ajit, Binu, Achu (Sneha) and Ammu (Prem).

Ajit is married to Dina, lives in Chennai, and they have 2 sons, Anish and Ajay. Anish is a Mechanical Engineer and worked with Nokia for 10 months. He is off to the US to do his Masters at Michigan Ann Arbour. Ajay is doing his 4h year in Mechanical Engineering.

Binu is married to Jibby and have been in Singapore for the last 23 years. They have one daughter who is doing her 4th year medicine in Singapore.

Achu is married to Allen amd they live in Bangalore. They have 2 sons, Ameet (Class 9) and Aashish (Class 6).

Ammu is married to Titus, and they too live in Bangalore. They have 2 sons, Rahul (Class 10) and Nitin (Class 8).

Lalitha has retired after her role as Head Mistress of the famous Sishya school in Chennai.

Many thanks to both Lalitha and Sarasu for all the details provided.

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.

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.