BOOKS. of log, household furniture, coconuts, animals alive and. in Noah s times. The adventurous local people

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1 Preface one day and ebbs in no time. At present I live on the banks of river Pampa. As I look at the river from of log, household furniture, coconuts, animals alive and dead, and in Noah s times. The adventurous local people will grab from that in hand I remember my childhood. hood Pleasant memories crowd in. It from Eraviperoor and there we sat around him coaxing him to tell us stories. Over-eager eager I was and I crawled into the chair along with him. There came my father and pulled me down by my ears. Vallyam- boiled egg and later in the scripture class I remembered this incident the great friend Narayanan Nair who fed us with all the fruits on the trees by the roadside on our way to school. He plucked them for us -

2 1882 is, for a generation past father, mother and three sons came all the way from Kallooppara, in a boat. In the new place of settlement they started farming. Later some were also servants and helpers among them. That family loved the soil and gradually they took root there. The name of this family was Adangappurathu Kalamannil and its head at that time was Chacko Eapen. It is his grandson, me, who is narrating this story. Sitting in his K.E. Oommen], was the youngest of his three sons--the eldest, K.E. Jacob chose priesthood suggesting his association with pally the church. He was a chronic bachelor who was very fond of children. Though he sometimes said, The other elder brother Kochukoshy farming as his vocation and indeed a farmer he was. An excellent farmer, he was a good family counsellor, too. Counselling in the professional way as we know it was no dearth of family problems. He was adept in resolving family issues. Years later I had a direct experience of this talent of his, when I was serving as a diocesan bishop. A young couple came to meet 13

3 An incident m on my life. Sadhu Sundar Singh was one of the main speakers at a Maramnon convention that took place before I was born. Born in the Punjab, he was a Sikh by birth. He was blessed with a vision of Christ and his life thereafter was for the Lord. He spoke in Hindi which nobody in the assemblage followed -- this happened a century fumbled Sadhu Sunder Singh would come to his help. In those days there were no loud-speakers and the gospel workers repeated what the the gospel mission. My father who at that time was the Secretary of the Evangelical Mission heard these words. He decided that if he had a son as his second child he would send him for gospel work though he and my mother wished for their second child to be a daughter. God heard their prayer. My mother became pregnant and the doctor who made the check-up suspected that she was carrying twins. But I came were having twins. The two babies must have joined together. Thus their wish for a baby girl. I grew up and as a boy I ran around collecting offertory in cloth bags. When the choir started singing we the boys would start collect- 16

4 My Mother During a great meetin precious days of my life were those I slept with the wife of a famous I lost my mother quite early in my life but there is no substitute for the days I spent with her. She was just an ordinary woman without any otherwise she would beat us. During the days of examinations we had to get up at 4.30 in the morning and she would come in at intervals to check if we were dozing off. f. If caught, we would get good beatings. Therefore it was impossible sible to fail, even if we wanted to. During those days a drama troupe came to our place. All my friends were going to see e the play and I too wanted to go with them but mother would not let me. At night she would come to our bedroom and see if any one of us had slipped out. In disappointment I wished I had Much later in life I realized that it was my mother who was behind all the growth in my life. 18

5 Childhood Days or my father after his ordination was as the vicar of Maramon Church. No accommodation was provided for the clergymen of those days. We stayed in Kozhencherry in the house of Dr. Abraham, the son of grew in this house, nurtured by all the love and affection lavished on us by the parishioners here. In those days children were taught were taught to write in village Asan Kalari] ] owned and run by one individual teacher. I was taken to the village school in Kozhencherry. through the sand spread before them. Nobody objected to children s playing or writing in sand. The master would apply on the lazy one s ears the sharp edged object stylus used to write on palm leaves and then everyone eryone would write humming the vowels. These village school masters were poor people who were not much educated. In - dents and each paid a monthly fee of `1. The school master and his family lived on this income. When my father was appointed vicar of the church in Maramon I had to bid good-bye to the village-school and was admitted in the school owned by the church here. My father was the manager of but in my opinion it was not good. Will any child appreciate a daily 20