My Grandpa My Inspiration My Coach

Article written by Laxmi Narasimha Chary for certificate course HOSD 2015, Christ University

'' Feel what you feel, know what you know, and set your relatives free to do the same ''. 

This is an essay about my grandpa. It is not only an essay but my incidents with my grandpa. He is the great business man and most calm, disciplined person I have ever seen in my entire life. He has been both a figure and a friend to me. I could never imagine my life with him. He had taught me so much, but a few things really stand out. He has taught me to never give up and try and try again. But there was a time when he was also faced a lot of troubles in his life. But what kept him going was a fighting spirit. It is very rightly said that Grandparents are the best persons to have a chat in, because you get to learn a lot from their experiences in life, and experience only leads to excellence.

 Grandpa was the first person to give me a cricket batting glove and to play catch with me. My first glove was as small as the size of my whole hand is now. When Grandpa got me that glove I was very excited. I was so happy I even slept with it at my side. It was my pride and joy. When I was ten, I played on my first cricket team and my grandfather was the advisor. He wanted me to play only the role of the batsmen, but I like to play the role of an all rounder. Later, my grandpa was very proud of the way I played that season and he has worked with me ever since to make me a better all rounder. 

My grandfather is 70 old. He is in great physical condition, strong as a bull and very active. My grandpa still looks after the business and gives suggestions to my dad. He is well-known around town and everybody loves him because of his dedication on his work. Grandpa has helped me become not only a better player, but a better sport and an all-around better person. I owe him all my success in cricket and in my life. Today my grandfather is too old to help me with my playing, but he still comes to every practice and game. . He sits and watches my practices through rain and shine. He was named our cricket team's number one fan by my coach. I love him and hope he will be around for many more years to support me and cricket.

 He is 70 and the memories of 1947 independence is still alive in him. It feels like a roller coaster ride when I listen to some brave and fighting stories from him. He has shared his experience of "how India gained independence” from him. Whenever I was down with my life he was the only one who motivated me. Sometimes talking to him feels so much good, it feels as if with the best learned person. We used to go for holidays and it has always been a craziest experience with him. I feel very blessed living each day with him.

I wish he was here

Article written by Dilun Tatak for certificate course HOSD 2015, Christ University
 

My grand uncle's name is Digong but I call him Yayi which means father in my native tongue. He is a seventy year old man who looks as if he is a century old. I cant recall any moment when he looked a day younger but looks can be deceiving because I have seen him plough our ancestral land and chop woods in the forest and i am sure many young people such as myself wont be able to do the things he does. He loves his village and his farm. He tills the land and listens to nobody when they tell him to take a break. As a child my fondest memories with him were in the village where he taught me how to swim in the village river, catch fish with a bamboo stick and a string, plant crops and showed me the rich flora and fauna of our village. When he was younger he took active part in the district elections. He would go to every house in the village educating the people about elections as majority of the people in the village were illiterate during that time. He would sometimes get into brawls and win them too. My dad would brag about this to his friends. 

When he was in his thirty's my grandfather shifted to a town nearby but he remained in the village. From that day onwards till now we have to go to the village if we wanted to see him for he rarely made a visit to the town. His reason for hating the town was that he loved the sound of nature more than the noise of a town. During Solung(festival),he would lead the war dance which was to displayed before the commencement of any festival in the village. 

He would also donate a lot of crops and cattle during these celebrations and probably because of it he was very well respected by everyone. He is old now but he had his share of fun during his youth. That's what he keeps telling me. Whenever I ask him about happiness and life he would always say a happy life is what everyone should seek for and not materialistic gains. 

For him happiness 

• growing crops and vegetables in his farm
• fishing silently on the river
• living peacefully in the village without the disturbance of modern technology
• enjoying what nature has to offer him
• if a person is contended with what he has then he'll always be happy.

My grand uncle is one of my favorite among my relatives for he is a wise man who is always so generous and kind to everyone he comes across. I'm so grateful to him for teaching me so many things in life and I wish he was here with me right now so I could tell him that I love him.

My Grandfather

Article written by K G George for certificate course HOSD 2015, Christ University

Everyone in this life has met a lot of people with different personalities, but only a few of these people has inspired each of us. For me it was my grandfather, Anthony Kuriakose, who has implemented me with a lot of inspiration, wisdom, and guidance. An engineer who was transferred to work in Japan in the 1970's.He never complained about it. My grandfather is a person who inspires people to look at things from a different perspective or angle. Seeing things in a different point of view sometimes helps people to understand their life or thoughts better. Thinking things out before you react can help people not to make a mistake. His wisdom has made me analyze things. He has always said that you can work harder or work smarter. Meaning that using your head is helpful in getting the task accomplished. That's why the more driven you are, the further you will get in life.For instance, he has given me guidance on how college is important. Without having a college degree you have a hard time being able to get through life living comfortably. What you learn and achieve in college is applied throughout the rest of your life. I think that now, you can see how my grandfather has implemented his inspiration, wisdom, and guidance through me and other people. Being able to think things out will make you able to understand what is going on in everything you do in your life.

 A few days back he turned 72. I called him up and wished him. It felt really good hearing his voice. Even at this age, he buys groceries, goes to the bank and visits his younger daughter who lives 60 kilometers away. He likes to fix things, something which reminds him of the days he worked as an engineer. The eldest of 8 children, he had to work really hard and was a role model to his younger siblings. A topper in math during 12th grade, he was very focused and determined. Always very serious and quiet, he believes in having a simple lifestyle.

The fondest memories I have of my grandfather are when I used to visit my mother’s house during summer vacations. It was a something to look forward to. After an endless number of exams, my grandfather would come in his car to pick me up. Our conversations would keep going until the end of the 2 hour journey from Kochi to Kothamangalam (My mother’s place). He used to tell me about his 2 year stay in Japan. How he struggled with the food (He’s a bit picky when it comes to food) and also taught me whatever little Japanese that he knew. I was always fascinated by science as a kid and the best person to ask questions was my grandfather. He always had an answer. Summer vacations were the best time to learn new things. My grandfather taught me how to ride a cycle, shoot a gun, play chess, drive (a bit), and a lot more things. He’s taught me so much that I have a hard time remembering everything.
 
When I asked my mother about the earliest memory of her father she told me “he sits in front of the table fiddling with various batteries, bulbs and various other mechanical parts with his tools.” Thinking about what she just said I realized that it was also my earliest recollection of my grandfather.

Grandmothers are the Best Teachers

Article written by Divya Prabhat Kumar for certificate course HOSD 2015, Christ University

It is often said that Grandmothers are the best teachers in the world. They are with you irrespective of the success and failure you have in your life. True to some extent, my grandmother was also the same. Right from the childhood she has always been my source of inspiration. It is generally a consideration that grandparents never scolds ,no matter whether you are in a right way or wrong, but in my case it did not happen that way, she has always taught me the right values and ethics.

To be very honest I have learned a lot from my grandmother and best part is that I am still learning. She has crossed the age group of sixty but her attitude and energy still looks like a young and enthusiastic person. I have never seen her complaining. Normally, senior citizen develops a habit of complaining to life, most of the senior citizens lose faith and freshness in living. More or often the senior citizen develops a "waiting for the end" attitude in their life. But my grandmother, she takes one day at a time. Her attitude is still like a young and energy driving person. She practices yoga, balanced diet and a healthy lifestyle. Despite the wide age difference between us she has never been dependent to my parents and others even in her hard times. I like this quality of my grandmother too much. She is the only one who keeps me going even after obtaining a lot of obstacles and ups and downs in my life. Each generation has its own mindset and vision towards life but the most successful and happy people are the ones only who keeps learning and adjust themselves with time. This is the only feature of my grandmother which differentiates her with the woman and people of her age groups. She likes to learn each day. Learning each day has trained her mind to adapt changes with the environment and to deal with the canon of life. She is a pure religious minded person and a true worshipper of god.

 

 Most of the problems of the senior citizens of India is that whenever they find it hard to live their life or if living along with matching their feet with time and to deal with changes in the society are more challenging to accept they take the help of only point ,that is their culture, tradition and values and unknowingly by these values they think that they have solved their problems but the reality is that they escapes with the problems by putting these points, and the fortunate part for my grandmother is that she does not thinks like it. She values each and every culture. According to her, every religion has its own beliefs and it should be respected and shouldn’t be judged on the basis of wide diversity India has. So lastly I want to conclude that my grandmother is the best gift the great almighty has given me and I respect her from the core of my heart.

Everyone can be happy

Article written by Srishti Singh for certificate course HOSD 2015, Christ University 

"It's all about finding your calm amidst the chaos", said my grandfather when I sat down with him the other day and asked him what was his take on life. My grandfather (baba,as I call him), Sri Jai Prakash Singh is my hero, somebody who has always been my driving force, somebody I can always look upto for inspiration, who has always taught me to do what is right and to always aim high.

   His life has had two sides to it. One of those is the side which he has spent for himself and his family, where he has faced a lot of challenges; He got married while studying in college and dropped out of college while doing his B.Com due unavoidable family issues. He wanted to join the military, but circumstances took over his dreams. Due to his father's, my great grandfather's, sudden illness, my baba took over the business in Kolkata all alone. He sent his father, mother and his wife to their native, while he worked in Kolkata and managed the business which had incurred a heavy loss at that time, all alone. It took him about 5 years to get everything stabilised.

As a father of four children, he was a man of discipline. He wanted all his children to study and be independent. He gave them everything the needed. A very large part of the credit, for everything his children have turned out to be, goes to him.

The other side, a very large and pretty isolated part of his life is the life he has lived for others, is what has actually inspired me. He has always taught his children and grandchildren to help everyone who seeks your help if you can. He has spent his entire life helping others with whatever little he could do. If I start writing how and what he has done, well then that will require another 500 word essay. He told me once that God has given us more than what we require, so that we in turn can help the ones who actually are in need, with this he also added that there will be times when you find the people you were within their hard times would turn you down when you need them, but that is when you should remember that Peace begins where expectations end.

There are a lot of things he has learned from his life, and a lot of it has become an integrated part of me. He definitely is, and will always be my hero and someday, I dream of making him my proud grandfather. Lastly, I just wanted to mention the moment when I asked him whether today, after 67 years of his life, he is happy, he said "Everyone can be happy, if only they are satisfied with what they have and I am."

Kuppaswamy Iyengar

Article written by Amith Govind for certificate course HOSD 2015, Christ University

Born to family of 14 children my grandfather faced many deaths of his loved ones at a young age. The family soon began to lose hope in the younger children.  “Grow like the garbage at the corner of the street,” was what his grandfather said before naming my grandfather Kuppaswamy Iyengar. ‘Kuppe’ means garbage. This had a positive effect on my grandfather. As a child he wanted to prove to people that he could live a long life, forgetting the fact that it’s going to take a long time to do so. Being born a farmer’s son he spent maximum time on the field, be it playing with his mates or learning the art of farming. Eating the healthy farmer’s meal of a ragi ball for breakfast, plenty of rice and curry for lunch followed with Indian bread for dinner. It goes without saying that there were many more tiny meals in between. This kept him in tiptop condition throughout his younger days. Not once did he require any doctor’s assistance. I for one can say that my grandfather has definitely achieved his goal and has proved everyone wrong as he is alive and kicking even at the age of 86.

Since the age of 14 to this day not once has anyone washed his cloths for him. Not once has anyone watered his plants for him. Not once has anyone washed the vessels he has used.  Not once has he been to the doctor with any serious health issues. He wakes up, waters his plants, goes for a long walk, washes his cloths as well as my grandmother’s, finish his daily prayers and then sits with the newspaper and coffee In hand. To emulate him is not an easy task but it will prove to be useful in many years to come.

My grandfather is highly passionate about flying objects. Starting from flying kites to watching the launch of a new rocket by ISRO. It always leaves him mesmerized.  This was the main reason behind his fight for a job in HAL. Coming from a village, it was never an easy task to get high income and high recognition jobs as those given by HAL. Crossing all the hurdles he did manage to land the job leaving him ecstatic. At first the job wasn’t as glamorous as he thought it would be. It was one amongst the menial jobs of doing the clerical work. But just as no great life story begins in rainbows and sunshine, my grandfather worked tirelessly to go higher up the ranks to a point at which he was satisfied with himself.

The stories that my grandfather enlighten me with are more or less etched in my head. Starting from treating his group of 13 friends to a sumptuous meals of 7 dosas each with just 1 ruppee to the hysteria he experienced when he sat in the cockpit of a fighter jet.

“We are all story tellers and we are the stories we tell.” This quote never fails to remind me of my grandfather. Whatever be the distance, be it a few kilometers or be it a few trillion lightyears to heaven he will live on by the stories he told me.

My grandfather never fails to inspire me. Being a father to four he went through a hard time in maintaining the family. I must say he has excelled in his duties as a father as I can see all his children living happy lives all around the globe.

The best thing a grandchild can give his grandparents is time. No expensive shoes, no fancy clothing, no God’s idol instead precious time. As a matter of fact, one must be honoured to be able to listen to history itself on a first hand basis.

The fact that my grandparent’s days on earth are numbered did take a toll on me. The realization wasn’t a sweet one. It left me distraught for quite a few weeks but the outcome was something I was supposed to start doing many years ago. At this point I never lose an opportunity to spend time with my grandfather. I sit and listen to all his stories for many hours even if im exhausted because the joy in his face in seeing someone willing to listen to him is enough to rejuvenate me. He makes it a point only to tell me the happy or the value filled stories and never shares his pains. He always talks about the people who make him happy and the people who respect him for who he is.

The sole problem that my grandfather faces is hearing. This was caused by the fighter jet he sat in. So much for love. Apart from this there seems to be no other hindrance in his path to live a happier, longer life.

My Role Model, My Aku

Article written Tenzin Phentok, HOSD 2015, Christ University 

My aku (means uncle in Tibetan), his name is Tsering Dorjee. People can see him as a common man earning bread for his family by farming and seasonal sweater business but for me he is everything to me. He is my teacher, my friend, my honest guide and my idol. He is the one, whom I look up and feel inspired, encouraged and boost up.

When Tibetans fled during the invasion of Chinese in Tibet, many Tibetans left their home and migrated to India, my grandmother, grandfather and my father (Ngodup Dorjee) were also one among them. Carrying my uncle in her womb, walking across the mountains, when they reached at the border of Nepal and Tibet, at a place called ‘sharkhum boo’ she started to have labour pain and my Aku was born. Everyone accompanying them in this journey told her that this baby will be very special. But she didn’t know what does it exactly mean and she doesn’t bother.

As she can’t leave at such condition, my grandfather decided to stay with her there and sent my father and my uncle with the troop. When they reached at dharmasala, UP as they have no parents and no relatives to look after them at that time, they both were send to TCV school. After some weeks my grandparents reached dharmasala but they couldn’t meet my father and uncle as a parents because TCV only look after those children who are orphan or who doesn’t have anyone to look after them so, if TCV know that they are not orphan they will be chuck out of the school and that time my grandparents were not financially well enough to raise and educate them. So, they told them that they have to stay there in TCV to study and said they will leave to Manali to work as daily wage labour for earning and promised them to meet during vacations.

Leaving school at the age of 17, my father jointed military.

After some year, government of India gave some place in south Karnataka to start our (Tibetans refugee) own settlements. My grandparents with my uncle shifted to our settlement called Kollegal.

My uncle was send to our settlement school and my grandparents started farming on the land given by the government on lease. He was not good in studies but he was interested in learning Tibetan language.

After a while, when my father came back from military, my grandparents decided to arrange a marriage with the girl of their choice and that was my mother (Tenzin Choedon) and after months back my father went back to military.

At that time our home was not in a good condition and now after having a new member it was more difficult to be live with the earning from farming so, my uncle decided to quit his schooling and started earning money but my grandparents were not agree with his decision but still he left home and went out for work as a sales man under other people having their own sweater business because he doesn’t have even one paisa to start his own sweater business. After four months of work when he came back with his first salary, my grandparents was happy to see him as responsible at such a small age, he was 17 at that time. When knowing that sweater business has more profit then farming, then my mother also started working with my uncle. Slowly after 7 years, when he was 24 they both started their own business. They do farming and seasonal business every year.

From childhood itself, my uncle was very active in social services and concern about the contemporary Tibetan issues. And in 1995, as active member of RTYC he participated in “a peace march” from delhi to Tibet which was held by the Tibetan Youth Congress. After three years, when I was 3 and my brother was 6, my aku and two members of RTYC went to hunger strike for 28 days supporting the critical Tibetan issue which was happening inside the Tibet.

With such enthusiasm he lived his youth, and still after that, even though he doesn’t have lakhs in his accounts or a huge car to drive but he is living a respectful life where his surrounding knows him for his good will, where he has a caring mother, a lovely wife and five adorable children and soon going to be a grandfather.

KP Vasudevan Pillai : An Entrepreneur

Article written by R Balagopal, HOSD 2015, Christ University

My grandpa KP Vasudevan Pillai was born to Parameshwaran Nair and Janaki amma at the village of vettyar in allapey, Kerala on April 1936. He was the eldest of the 3 sons and a daughter. Records of birth and deaths were rarely kept those days and hence the exact day is unknown.

His father was a farmer like many others those days. Being the eldest among his siblings he always had an air of maturity around him and was very good at handling responsibilities. Even though the financial condition at home was not very good, his parents ensured all their children received good education. He however had to help his father in the fields during free times.

Grandpa recalls how he had to walk 12 km daily to school since buses were scarce those days. But his determination to study and achieve something in life motivated him to continue his studies. He was always rather mysterious about his parents and never spoke much about them even to his children. He did say about the evil caste system that prevailed in the society and how he had to watch the ill-treatments meted upon the lower caste people. He never agreed to the concepts of his parents and the caste system and this was one of the main reasons that motivated him to move to the city of Ernakulum. From young age he was determined to be an entrepreneur. To learn the art of business, he joined a well-established spice broking firm in Jew Town, Kochi. The proximity to the kochi port and the booming spice business provided the perfect scenario for a new establishment in that area. Armed with knowledge from the firm and knowing the growing scope in that area, grandpa along with his friend Kareem started the spice trading firm KV Traders. Grandpa worked day and night for the development of the firm and over the years KV Traders grew to be one of the leading spice traders in Kochi. Shortly after starting KV Traders grandpa married my grandma Meenakshi amma.

Most of my grandpa’s young age was spent developing the firm and the business. He never had time for family matters or for his personal self. Grandma always said how he sometimes even forgot to come home for lunch and grandma had to send someone to the office to call him home. My dad and uncle were sent to the best schools in the locality since grandpa was adamant that they received the best education they could afford. Grandpa was a strict father and used to penalize his kids for the smallest of their mistakes. He had an intimidating character on the outside but those who knew him well understood that he was kind at heart. He never let anyone who came to his office or home seeking alms leave hungry nor did he leave anyone who came to him seeking financial help empty handed. He provided employment to the lower caste and downtrodden people in the society and saved many of them from debt traps and even starvation. He was determined to help the needy in the society financially and contributed to charity generously and even today continues to do so. After few years, grandpa had to split the partnership with Kareem due to certain personal reasons and started his own spice trading firm Nima Spices. Grandpa still runs the firm with help of his 2 children and even at the age of 80 he still comes to the office and deals with the business matters.

Grandpa had never given a choice to his children to choose their career since the business was thriving those days and he needed their help to look after it. But later on he understood how children should be given the choice to choose their career and always told us to follow our passion and choose the career we liked. He however always said that money was not everything and that wherever we are we should never forget our past and help the ones who can’t help themselves.

Being born to an orthodox Hindu family, grandpa still follows his rituals daily without fail. He wakes up at 4 every morning and does his meditation. He visits the temple every evening without fail. He uses the least amount of transportation and prefers to walk however long the distance is even at the age of 80. He is the healthiest person in the family and even the doctors are flummoxed at how he manages to keep his health parameters at stable levels even at this age. He never breaks his routine and doesn’t allow any engagements to do so. He ensures he is home for his evening prayers every day at 7 PM. He is a pure vegetarian and follows one of the healthiest diets in the family. He encourages us to follow his routine patters which was close to impossible for us of course!.

When I asked him whether he considered himself successful in his life, he said that as a businessman maybe but not as a father or a husband. He said that his only wish now was to see at least one of his grandchildren achieve something prestigious in their life and as a dutiful grandchild I consider it my duty to fulfill his desire. He is a person from whom there’s a lot to be learned and even though it may impossible to adopt his complete lifestyle at this modern era, we should always learn to preserve our culture and values that people like my grandpa teach and pass it on to our future generations.

My Source of Inspriation

Article written by David Vishanth J , HOSD 2015, Christ University

I feel happy and proud to write about a person who been a source of inspiration not only to me but to a lot of people, she always stands out when it comes to my family. Usha Samuel, my aunt and more over I consider as my mother.

She was born on 11 August 1964, was 2^nd daughter of Chellapan and Annalla and also with 2 brother, she was youngest one amongst the four so she was pampered a lots in here childhood day and also the naughty one. She had done here schooling in Kamala Bhai School in Bangalore, then she did her 2^nd PU in Saint Annes College and form there she had go one do her typing class in St.Joseph.

 She got married on 26 April 1984 with a State Bank employee named Samuel Sridhar, very nice gentlemen, loads of patients and cool as a cucumber, then she had 2 kids and after that she started working in Sathya Sai as a type writer for a period of 6 months with a little experience in hand she got a job in Manipal hospital as a receptionist.

It was tough at the start but she somehow managed it and after a couple month she not only got used the work but excellent in it, she was always a nice, friendly, caring person be it the job or family.

Over the years she has a gained a lot of respects from coworker and also the patients who had come to the hospital, where she would personally involve here and see that patients feel better and she would also arrange any extra help for the patients if required, she would also talk to the doctors and see if she can any discount to the patents, I have personally seen that people thanking her and even coming to her house and showing their graduate and when I had asked here about a sudden or immediate situation where she nearly saved a person life, It had happened 8 years back where she said that on that day a patient wife had rushed to her and asked for help ,when she had gone to see, patient was not responding, no eye movement and was cold so she immediately had to call for ICU and they had move the patient to next floor but there was no ward boy so with the help of other nurses they moved the patient to the ICU and after a few hours the patient was out of danger and the doctor had told that if they delayed  he wouldn’t have made and she had stayed with the patient wife even after her working hours and made sure the patient had been out of danger and she said she still remember the patients wife eyes with tears thanking her the next day and I hear such kind of instance very often from her and feel very proud or feel privileged to have such a socially  responsible or helpfully and lovable person in my family ,she is also very particular about her work ,she had always made sure that she finishes her work on time and had no pending work for the next day.

For her work and dedication to her hospital she had been 8 times winner in a successive years for the best customer care officer and a two time runner up based on the feedback of patients and other staff ,it may not seem a big achievement but it is cause it is not just one hospital , it is all the branches of Manipal all over India competing and also several awards within the hospital itself and also she had been promoted to the senior post among all her other coworker and she has also given the duty to put people for work on each floor and there was another instance where the administrative department of had personally come to her had asked her to join in the administrative department but the senior officer had request her not to leave cause they didn’t want to lose an asset. a few year back  where she had saved my mother life ,my mother was admitted in CSI hospital with dengue and she was in ICU but her condition was detreating so at the middle of the night at 1:30  ,she made a choice to move her to Manipal hospital but the doctors of CSI had taken a signature stating that if anything happens they are not involved or part of it and after 3 days in Manipal she had recovered and is doing fine so without her who knows I wouldn’t have had my mother  today.

I could go on and on with her achievement’s, social service and her helping nature. To sum it up she is one of most important, influential, inspirational person in my life, from her I have learnt that even if you have to sacrifice your time for other its ok cause they need it more than you need it and helping others will in turn help you at some point of time in your life and you have to do your duty which is been given to you with your fullest ability. 

Light of Motivation

Article written by Chandana N, HOSD 2015, Christ University

I am glad to write this essay about someone who is about 68 years, a person very close to my heart, my grandmother. My grandmother, Puttlakshmi one among the other four children to her parents was a very genius and lovable child. She is so attached to her siblings even today that she keeps gossiping over phone and frequently meeting them to retain their childhood memories and talk about all the time that passed from then to their moments of grandchildren.  

 I got to know many things about my grandmother personally while writing this easy which inspires me to always work hard to attain my goals even if there are a lot of ups and downs in our lives. My grandmother studied in Yedur Government School and completed her studies only till 8^th standard and later got married to Ramaraju, my grandfather. She until today regrets that she could not complete her higher education and achieve her passion of what she wanted to become. For this she does not blame her parents but tells it was due to the old custom of girls getting married at very young age. The most interesting thing I heard was that she made efforts to study after her marriage. Ignoring her age she has hopes to keep reading books at home and increase her knowledge.

My grandmother having four children, one son and three daughters is always caring and concerned with even the smallest things that affects her children or grandchildren. She is very religious person and engages herself in prayers to protect and for the well being of others.

During festivals all of us go to her place with a lot of happiness and she presents before us delicious sweets and variety of mouth-watering food items that I can never stop myself from eating a lot of food that day. My granny loves cooking different kinds of food and has a keen interest to learn new recipes from TV shows and prepares it with a lot of taste and love and feeds it to us. This remarkable memory remains unforgettable throughout my life time.

Now she spends most of her time in gardening. Her love for growing roses, tulsi and many other species of plants in her garden makes her feel happy all day long. She treats these flowers like her own kids everyday watering and looking for its beautiful growth. She uses the colourful flowers to place it before the god every morning. She always teaches me about the mud and seeds used to plant which I think are the best way to indulge ourselves in our leisure time. She also watches a lot a daily soaps in different languages .She also watches news, quizzing and cooking shows and asks me to watch if there is any interesting news which enables me to enrich my knowledge.

My grandmother is a jovial person who always interacts with a people regardless of age and never brings the generation gap and difference of opinions between people while in conversation.

She loves coffee. One must taste the delightful coffee she makes with the thick and frothy milk. The smell and that essence of coffee she makes me active and sportive. With a lot of experience, my grandmother always gives me advises and suggestions which always make me excel in whatever I do. She also corrects us and guides us in the right way if we make any mistakes. She is very emotionally attached to her dear ones and expresses her different phrases of love and affection and gratitude to them.

I would say grandparents are the most adorable beings on earth. They spread love and provide it unconditionally. We get to learn a lot of things from what hurdles and goals attained and their experience which plays a major role in our lives to achieve our dreams successfully. I love my grandmother from the bottom of my heart. I feel great to say that she brings the light of motivation and happiness in my life.

Cast our nets for Stars (and not just fishes)

Article written by Cyril Thomson, HOSD 2015, Christ University

My grandma, Annie Varghese was born on the August of 1925 to Varghese Jacob and Thresiamma Jacob in Changanacherry, Kottayam district. She was the third of seven children, including six girls and a single boy. Since records were more or less sketchy in those days, grandma’s birthday is not accurately known.

Born to a fruit seller, grandma recalls much of her early childhood in the local market, helping her father with the customers and competing with her sisters to see as to who sold more and who could fool the customers convincingly. ‘I always lost,’ grandma recalls laughing loudly. However, from a young age, Varghese Jacob and Thresiamma encouraged their kids to study well at the local school. The fruits business would eventually be ruined and thus, led the family into financial troubles early on.

This did not deter grandma in her studies, though. She would go on to secure a first class with distinction in her tenth class.

For grandma, her mother was her biggest inspiration. The latter was uneducated, yet had a deep yearning for knowledge. She passed this to her children as well. Grandma recalls how her mother would tell some of the new things she could gather from about the independence movement or if they were lucky, a bit of world history. This would later motivate grandma to take up a career as a teacher. She says that she found great joy in the fact she could bring knowledge to the many around her, who were unable to study for lack of funds than a lack of interest.

Grandma never had a settled childhood on account of the family’s financial troubles. They always moved from place to place in search of a better living. Thus, the church became an integral part of the Jacob Mamoothil family. All children, including grandma, were part of the choir. Their games and studies took place at the church courtyard.

Grandma would continue her studies at the local St. Claire’s College for girls. Again, she would pass out with distinction. At this time, she also got took part in various elocution competitions which she never won. She also took part in athletic meets which also she would never win.

The joke aside, grandma believed in the importance of participation. She says that the greatest people in the world are not the ones who are the most intelligent or talented; they are the ones who never hesitate when they get an opportunity.

After passing out from pre degree, she would continue her studies obtaining a major economics. Her interest lay in history yet there was no history professor at the local college and moving away was expensive.During her studies, tragedy struck as her mother died. While this caused great despair, she became even more determined to achieve her dream of being a teacher. Yet after completing her studies, she was immediately married off.

Marrying grandpa, grandma says was the nicest thing that ever happened to her. He encouraged her to obtain a B.Ed and helped her find a job at the Sree Vijayasree High School for Girls. She would remain here till her retirement.

Grandma began as a Social Studies teacher at the school. She was only 23 at that time and was the youngest among the staff. When she joined initially, number of girls continuing for higher education was only one or two per year. She was very determined to remove this anomaly. She would have to wait for fourteen more years before she could change this situation. At the age of 37, she became the headmistress of SVHSG. Her immediate action was to obtain funds to construct a library for the girls. With the help of the church, she was able to achieve this.

She encouraged many to build upon their knowledge. Many would eventually end up as nuns or teachers themselves. So whether the library widened their scope is debatable. When I rose up this point, grandma said the idea of a library was not to show them a new path; it was to make the existing paths more diversified and to make all excel in their chosen field. Even today, there are many women who visit our home often to pay respect to my grandma which we all grandchildren find extremely amusing, since she is painfully shy.

We all have certainly learnt a lot from her. The importance of knowledge and the need for curiosity was built in us from a young age. Our grandma always made it a point to force us to participate in various activities and was our most vociferous cheerleader.

When I asked what she thought of her life so far, she says she simply has no regrets. She believes that she was extremely lucky to have an amazing family. Whether her life was a success, grandma feels that is something that would be decided fifty years after her death.

She says that if people would remember her even after that long, then she certainly had laid down a legacy that was unbreakable. She constantly reminds all her grandchildren to achieve their dreams. She says that we must always cast our nets for stars and not just fishes Grandma, right now, is enjoying her retirement alone with her hens and cows in our small home. Grandpa left three years back while her three children are away from home. She, however, finds great pride in her children’s achievements.

If those foreigners, she says, can allow my children to continue working in their country, then it simply means I raised them well, which is greater than any compliment I can ever get.

We ended our conversation with a hearty laugh as always.

A women who lived her life with her self-confidence

Article written by Nevin Kuriakose, HOSD 2015, Christ University

Am so glad and happy that am writing this essay because this essay is about my aunt. Her name is Cicily Mathew. She is 68 years old, and she is a widow, but she is the most energetic person I ever saw. My aunt Cicily Mathew is one among the 13 children. She is oldest kid so obviously she was like a mother to other 12 children.  Whenever I go to her house even I felt that vibrance of love, care which is filled around her.

When I talked to her about this essay, she was so excited, because she don’t even know what is internet, and something that is going to be in the internet about her made her so happy. When I started talking about her past and present through my phone I felt the happiness in her each and every word. 

My aunt studied till 10^th standard in Saint Thomas upper primary school in Wayanad, Kerala. She got married to Mathew when she was 20 years old. And they both together started a small teashop where maximum 10 people can sit and it was attached to their house. Both of them were expecting a good small family with their children, but god didn’t bless them. Doctors said that they can’t have a baby together. That makes her miserable. But Mathew, my uncle was with her always. He wiped her tears and started a new life. For the next ten years she was happy and my uncle and aunty had a nice life together. She said that was her best period of time in her life. But almost after ten years my uncle Mathew passed away because of heart attack. That made her half dead, she said that is the time when she realized that from this time onwards there will no one to wipe her tears. Then she realized that for the rest of her life she is alone, and from that thought she came to a decision that life is not to cry and sit doing nothing. It is about to fight back and enjoy it.

After one month from my uncle passed away she called my father and she ask him to help her for applying a loan to build a new tea shop. My father and aunt went to bank took that loan and within 2 month she renewed her old small teashop where maximum 10 can sit to a teashop where 20 people can sit. And she hired one helper and started her new life with a new teashop. After one year she paid her debt back to bank with interest. She paid all her small debts and after two years I saw her life coming back to settled and peace full again like how was when my uncle was there. After that two years, she never came back to a situation where she has to ask help to others. And in my village that small teashop is still there which has a shelf full of tasty snacks, same old helper and owner my aunt in the cash counter.

I don’t know why she inspired or touched my life so much. I got to know all this when I asked her. But always in my life she was there to help me.  Whenever I went to her shop she will be there in cash counter with a snack for me, and with a smile in her face. Whenever I feel so confused or tensed I went to her shop I helped her. She never gave any kind of advice but her presence helped me a lot. May be her view about life may changed my attitude also. I know that her presence and that tea shop is one of the important part of my life.  I am sure that when I go back to my village after few years, she will be there waiting for me in that cash counter with a snack for me and with that same old smile in her face.

A Shepherd guides his herd

Article written by  FRANCIS BONNY UKKEN, HOSD 2015, Christ University

I’m feel privileged  to write about my grandfather, his name is Joseph born on 9^th December 1937, born in Kerala with 5 brothers and he is the eldest one .he got married at the age of 17 and had 3 kids amongst them the eldest one is my dad.

After some years of his marriage he had moved to Bangalore with his brothers, in a time where my family was at low and wasn’t doing that well financial and after months passed by he had he made sure that his brother got into some kind of job and made sure that they could support their family and he also started a small shop.

As years passed by he always had one thing on his mind that is to have a joint family and on the other hand he also made sure his brother are doing good in their business, I would always had question why don’t you and your brother come together and work or start a business as one but his response would be that “family and business are two different worlds they should never collide”.

He would help his brother in some or the ways most, sometimes they won’t even know ,there was a time he helped his brother financially with a 3^rd person cause they had a misunderstanding so basically he has been the head of my family and at any time of  trouble he has always been our go to man. He always played a major role in dad life, when my dad was in a point where he thought of quitting his studies but my grandfather made sure he continued and now my dad is working in Dell and if it was not for him my dad would have been worked in some ordinary company.

Now he has department stores in double road and his dream of having a joint family will soon be true were he building a 4 floored house, with 15 rooms for our whole family and this would be done before 2016 and I’m just wait for it to get over so that we could all move in together as one family and all the requirements needed for building this dream house are meet by him and he go to the site regularly and makes sure that everything is going according to plan.

I feel so happy that there is someone who is a great leader ,a coach ,an Inspiration and a guide without him who knew were  we would have been and I have learnt a lot from him and I would like to end saying that every family need a light that shows the way.

My Grandfather : Silver in his hair and gold in his heart

Article written by Ann Mary Josmon, HOSD 2015, Christ University

I am proud to write an essay on the person who is always an inspiration to my dad and to me; my grandfather. His name is John Kattukaran. Being through all the stages of life, he is now in his 80’s. Though his hairs turned out to be white as snow he is very young at his heart. When I told him about writing an essay on him, he was happy that there is someone who is keen in knowing about him. Also he was trying to describe himself in such good usage of words that I had to just convert it to English.

He was born in Thrissur district on 28th Feb, 1930 to a well off family. He had 4 elder siblings. When I asked him about his childhood and schooling it was a bit indigestible to hear him say he was to schools only till his 10th because the knowledge that he has about different kind of things that we go to schools  and colleges and learn was massive. He had to quit his schooling not because he was not good at studies but because of his lack in opportunity to study, the reason being poverty at home. Though he has lost some of his childhood thoughts he still remembers him being very enthusiastic and eager in studying more. He was some who read a lot of books by borrowing it from the public library. Even now my dad gets him books to read.

Later in the 60’s, he was married to Mary who was a good support for the rest of his life. My dad was the second one among the three of their children. My grandfather had tried his level best to provide education to his children since he fell in short of the opportunity. He had set up a juice shop, which was the best during that time. From the income derived out of it he managed to make his daughter a teacher and got her married. But during the college of my dad, he fell sick that my dad had to drop out and earn for the family. Like my grandfather even my dad was interested in books.

Though not recognised much he seemed to be an artist in the theatre field for few years during his middle age. He is also good at art making and painting as well. He used to write and paint billboards for certain shops for earning his livelihood. He makes artistic models by carving it on thermocol. The two existing artwork of him is the statue of Jesus and Mother Mary, which we have it at our home. He is also very creative in his thinking. He still gives us ideas in doing certain assignments and project work and also helps us in making crib during Christmas, flower carpet during Onam, and in decorating the house during some functions.

My grandfather was someone who always motivated his children in everything they do. He is also a motivation to all his grandchildren. Though he is got less knowledge about the courses and education of today, he still enquires us about our studies and gives us good support during our exams. He is a person who makes lots of intercessory prayers for us during our exams so that we write those good. He is also a person with lot of moral and traditional value which he passes on to everyone in the family.

 He is still very keen and eager in gaining knowledge. He watches all the possible news channels available and tries to know about the world. He is also interested in politics. We children who hate watching news channels started liking it because of him. He is always a man who shares his knowledge with us and he love doing so. His favourite sport is cricket and he never misses any of the league matches that take place and enjoys the matches by watching it with us children. He is not a man who sits idle when at old age. Even though he is in hold of illness, he still manages to have a morning and evening walk to maintain his health. He is also someone who loves tasting new cuisines and also sometimes suggests recipes to my mother.  He spends good time with his wife by speaking to her and supporting her always and helps her in walking because she finds a little difficult to walk. He also identifies and understands the interests of us children and informs our parents about it. He is also very friendly with us and gives us money from his pockets to get some snacks.

My grandfather once told me:  “There are two kinds of people in the world, those who do the work and those who take the credit.” He told me to try being in the first group. I respect my grandfather for what he is and am proud to be his granddaughter...