The Best Pappa in the World.

My father grew up in the village of Udayamperoor. In this village the parish church is a fifteen hundred years old. This church is famous because the Synod of Diamphor took place here. My grandfather wrote the history of this church. My father wrote a monograph about this church.

The picture on the left is very very old. My father told me this story about his childhood. One day my grandfather had gone out on an errand. My father was in his house. In the olden days there were no lawns in homes. In the yard it was just soil. My father started writing on the soil. My father wrote in the entire yard not legible letters but shapes that resembled writing to impress my grandfather when he came back from his errand. My father told me he did this to impress my grandfather who seemed like God to my father. My father one day won a poetry contest during his childhood. At that time there were kids from the royal family in my father's class. The contest was judged by a member of the royal family. That person liked my father's poetry a lot and very fondly asked my father, ee kavithayokke evidunna? Meaning where is all this poetry coming from? I think at that time there was a rule that only members of the royal family can get the first prize. Or that non members cannot get a higher prize than the members of the royal family. So my father got the second prize. But my father was happy because of the kind words spoken to my father by the judge. My father's favorite thing to do is write. My father loves writing poetry. My father's first published book is a book of poetry called Notes on an Era. This book is available in the Library of Congress. My father wrote fifteen books. My father translated a famous malayalam novel Ara Nazhika Neram into English. This tells the story of an old patriarch of an old family who lived his life perfectly. This book was made into a movie in the 1970's (Not by my father). My father just liked this book a lot and my father translated it into English.

My father is on the extreme left in this photo.

My father encouraged all of us to write. While we were children we were encouraged to write hundred sentences every day. There is pretty much no child in our family who has not been encouraged by my father to write. Pretty much every child is told to write an essay about some simple topic. My father likes public speaking. My father regularly attended toastmasters club or gavel club meetings. In these meetings mostly topics that form the subject matter of editorials in newspapers or front page news in newspapers were discussed and spoken about. My father can speak about any topic in the newspaper without preparation because my father reads a lot and so if any question was put to my father my father was always able to give a well informed speech packed with facts. My father also took me for the meetings. I was very reluctant to attend these meetings in my childhood but my father would strongly encourage me. Because of this early training I am very comfortable in the toastmasters club setting and in giving speeches. If we go to our relatives homes or my mother's or father's native places which are magical villages after we reach back to our ernakulam home my father would make us say a speech about our trip to that place. We had to start our speech by saying "respected Appapan, pappa, mamma, and names of siblings" and then proceed to say the speech.

My father was very happy about the fact Kerala had hundred percent literacy in the 1980's. This was at a time when the rest of India had very low literacy. This is an achievement similar to developed countries. Once a United Nations report was published by the United Nations Development Project where in an article Kerala was cited as a place where there was high quality of life which is an index measured by factors like low infant mortality, high education for women, longevity for all, high levels of health etc. My father wrote lots of articles in newspapers based on this report. After my father retired from Cochin Shipyard my father spent a lot of time contributing articles to newspapers and magazines on topics like economic development and education. My father believes that if you equip humans to read and write they will prosper on their own. So my father believes governments should invest in education such as schools and colleges. And the whole society would prosper. My father encouraged myself and my brothers in all our talents. No matter what the talent was my father encouraged us to speak and write about it. My father encouraged me to paint and write and do mimicry. My older brother was extremely extroverted. My father encouraged this. My younger brother loves cricket. My father encouraged my younger brother to make a speech about cricket and after that my younger brother won many prizes. One day my family visited my grandfather's younger brothers family. My father when we visit this family after talking to all the relatives would spend his time reading the Time magazine. At that time one of my uncle's who lived in the US would send this magazine for his brother who was interested in current events. In their home there was stacks of Time magazine. My father one day called me and showed me a picture in the Art page in the Time magazine and encouraged me to paint that picture in the Time magazine. My father bought me paints and paper and I painted that picture. After that my father took the painting I painted to the custom frame shop and got it framed. For several years it was in our living room. My father encouraged me to continue to paint. My father told me the concept of Sadhana. Sadhana is when you put all your efforts into a single activity. It could be painting, studies, writing, reading etc. It is walking away from distractions of this world and focusing and pouring out your energy into the activity. My father taught me to make a Time Table. My father told me to designate a time for every activity. My father taught me to designate time for reading, studying, writing, playing, and everything else. My father taught me that if we set aside a specific time for every activity we can accomplish every activity we like to do. My father told me the importance being the best in your field. No matter what college you are studying in be a topper in that college.