My two heroes

For some reason I have been thinking about these two personal heroes. None of them are alive - nevertheless they continue to be my heroes.

The first one most definitely is my maternal great grand father. - the same person who built the home where I grew up most part of my younger days. He used to travel frequently to his other farm lands, but weekends he was always at home. He continued that lifestyle until he was about 85 years old. The remaining 10 years of his life, he was mostly home suffering from Parkinsons, I'd already moved out to stay with my parents by that time.

A great man who commanded respect from everyone he met. He was well educated for someone of his time - a farmer, a banker, a firm practicing Christian (btw, unlike most people think, Christianity came to India almost 2000 years back). My great grand mother used to tell some of his stories. Kerala was divided into 4 different small kingdoms, India was mostly under British control, but the British were lenient enough not to attack these kingdoms, but maintained diplomatic control over these regions. My great grand father was from the kingdom of Kochi while my great grandmother from the kingdom of Travancore. He had to frequently travel across the border to take care of the farming lands there. Bullock carts or boats were the major form of transportation. He'd have to cross this jungle which was infamous for robbers. He always used to carry a walking stick which had a long sharp sword inside - well armed and well equipped it was sort of a caravan whenever he crossed the border.

I was his favorite (not surprising considering that I was the only kid around), sometimes I'd accompany him on his evening walks, it was more of a social walk and didn't have much of a "work out" value, he'd have lots of people coming and talking to him and I would pretend that I had a very important part in the decisions being made and the instructions being given out. Sometimes he would handover money to people, and he would always give the cash to me to handover.

Evenings he was particular about the long 1 hour prayer before dinner (ok, I have to agree, didn't quite like that part) Dinner time - I would always get the chance to sit next to him and at times on his lap. I was so proud that the same person who could terrorize the house with a slight change in his tone was actually feeding me at times. After dinner I would sit with him outside, looking at the stars while he told me stories - sometimes funny, sometimes fictional - he was never a character in those stories, and when I am almost asleep he would call Grandma to take me to my bed.

I was there by him during his final 2-3 days. He couldn't recognize anybody, was mostly in coma, but the morning of his death he was awake, he had a constant smile on his face, he was tired but he would touch affectionately anybody sitting next to him. He passed away that evening. The funeral was the biggest I'd ever seen. So many people - political figures, popular figures in the community, a number of bishops, lot of priests, etc.. I think at least one person from every household attended the funeral. I was so proud of him..

My second hero is my paternal grandfather. I didn't get a lot of chance to spend time with him and he wasn't always approachable as my maternal great grand father was but as I was growing up and learning more about him, my respect for him grew day by day. He and my maternal great grandfather were almost of the same age. My father was his sixth son, so his house was always full of kids, many of my cousins were almost the same age as I was and obviously I didn't get the undivided attention except for my mischievous nature and my reputation for getting in trouble.

He was a lawyer (or a Barrister as they used to call in those days). Becoming a lawyer during the pre-independence era was definitely an achievement. He began his practice in the early 1940s and was a great sympathizer of the freedom movement - I am still not sure whether he supported Gandhi's nonviolence theme or Subash Chandra Bose's way of the Indian National Army. But he was definitely daring and outspoken. Famous for his Hitler style moustache, can you imagine wielding a Hitler style moustache and walking into a pro-British court as a lawyer, that too during the Second World War era? It doesn't mean that he supported Hitler's Nazi ideology, but he most certainly viewed Hitler as a power who threatened British supremacy and treated enemy's enemy as a friend. He was the first in his community on many accounts - first lawyer from the community, first man to own a car, first man to have a telephone, a pretty successful lawyer, many of the lawyers who practiced under him went on to become judges, and he was also the lone successor of the vast areas of coconut/paddy farm lands, prawn farming fields, family operated business.

My father sometimes tell us - His pride was his biggest enemy. My grandpa did trust some wrong people, and of course did many things and gave up so much money to defend his pride, and on his death bed only had a fraction of his fortune.

Regardless, he was one heck of a man, my grandpa, my God Father and most definitely my hero.