Kandathil Cherian Mammen Mappillai (KCMM) - Doyen of Kerala

Kandathil Cherian Mammen Mappillai (KCMM)

Doyen of Kerala

Milestones in the life of KCMM

• Born: 4th May 1873
• Married: 1888
• Founding of Malayala Manorama: 1888
• B. A. from Madras Christian College: 1896
• Headmaster, M. D. High School, Kottayam: 1901 - 1909
• Resignation from M. D. High School: 1909
• Demise of K. I. Varghese Mappillai, Founder of Malayala Manorama: 6th July 1904
• Took over as Editor of Malayala Manorama: 1904
• Elected to Sri Mulam Assembly: 1908 - 1912
• Chairman, Travancaore National Bank: 1912
• Elected to Sri Mulam Assembly: 1917 - 1921
• Elected to Travancore Legislative Assembly: 1922 - 1928
• Chairman, Travancore National and Quilon Bank: 1937
• Closure of Travancore National and Quilon Bank: 21st June 1938
• Closure of Malayala Manorama: 10th September 1938
• Arrested by Government of Travancore: 20th October 1938
• Demise of brother K. C. Eapen in jail: 27th April 1940
• Death of son K. M. Jacob: 30th December 1941
• Revival of Malayala Manorama: 29th November 1947
• Death of wife Mrs. K. C. Mammen Mappillai: 19th September 1952
• Died: 31st December 1953  

K. C. Mammen Mappillai

Biographical sketch of KCMM

(Edited version from "K. C. Mammen Mappillai, The Man and His Vision " 

by Dr. M. J. Koshy, 1976, Kerala Historical Society)

The genius of KCMM was such that he was wont to set the Ganges on fire, and also whatever he laid his hands. The success of his efforts demanded full payment. It mocked him with vain hopes and tested him with many a hardship.

He was born on 4th May 1873. He was the eldest son of Kandathil Cherian Mappillai (eldest brother of Kandathil Varghese Mappillai) and Mariamma of the Thayyil family at Niranam in Central Travancore in South West India. 

This is the place regarded as the seat of one of the earliest seven churches founded by St. Thomas the Apostle. (KCMM was fully immersed in his roots as a Indian Syrian Christian and never left the path of the teachings of Jesus Christ even in the face of all his adversities.)

It was customary among Syrian Christians to deny the privilege of education to the eldest son to enable him to attend to household and family affairs. KCMM's schooling was neglected in the early days. His passion for learning was appreciated by his uncle, Kandathil Varghese Mappillai. He permitted KCMM to join a government school where he completed his middle school. He continued his studies in a high school at Kottayam. He matriculated by private appearance. He qualified to study for a university degree from the Madras Christian College, Madras, after doing his junior college in Trivandrum.

His wish was to continue his higher studies and join the Mysore Civil Service, a very coveted position in those days. 

As if by some divine calling, he was summoned back to Travancore by his uncle. He was given an appointment in a high school at Kottayam. Soon he was its Headmaster, a position he held till 1907. A model teacher, he was revered by teachers and students.

Following the demise, in 1904, of his uncle, the founder and editor of Malayala Manorama (a small literary newspaper), the entire responsibility fell on the shoulders of KCMM. He had a distinct flair for journalism. He used his encyclopaedic knowledge in its columns with verve and vision.

Under his editorship the popularity and influence of the newspaper rose. It grew from being a purely literary bi-weekly into a flourishing tri-weekly by 1918, and a daily in 1928, with several novel and interesting features. The aim was to make it a mass-education and news medium. He not only succeeded but marshalled the beginnings of the social responsibility concept of mass communication, in which the medium and the people become joint promoters of a common cause.

He was elected several times as a member of the Popular Assembly and the Legislative Council. As a legislator he had few equals. His faith in democracy and ardent spirit against casteism, which had been breeding a legion of evils for years, made him a reformer and defender of people's rights. An erudite scholar, his discourse on the floor of the House and his writings were replete with wisdom. moderation, depth of perception and maturity. 

Amidst members blissfully ignorant of the duties of legislators, KCMM's profundity of knowledge stood out. A spirit of accommodation, not at the risk of principles, enabled him to carry the day on almost all the burning issues that came up for discussion. 

In the political agitation for responsible government he was one of the central figures. Until his demise he was consulted on all matters of political tactics. 

His involvement in politics cost him his newspaper and the bank he had nurtured.

Perhaps more enduring is his contribution to the economy. His pioneering efforts were in the field of plantations, banking, joint stock companies and industries. Were it not for the bank being destroyed by political intrigue (as stated by Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru at the time of the closure of the Palai Central Bank in 1963, he would have risen, in his time, to the level of the most well known industrialists and financiers of independent India.

All that he lost in his stand against despotism, he revived after 1947 and also blazed new trails in subsequent years. Every day some new plan or scheme would dawn upon him. But it was too much for him to endure. Death rewarded him with eternal rest on 31 December 1953. 

I was at his home on Kottayam with my mother, his only daughter, at his passing. Even as a 11 year old, I cried from the bottom of my heart!

Yet, he has left behind a halo that will ever lighten our path to the glory of a beautiful part of India which he had so lovingly visualised.

People around the world associate Indian national figures, as Mahatma Gandhi and Lokmanaya Tilak, with the freedom movement against British occupation in India. There were many unsung heroes who worked for freedom irrespective of what the national leaders were doing. One of these was KCMM, who was one of the spearheads of the freedom movement in the princely state of Travancore.

Freedom was most important to KCMM who identified himself with the people of Travancore in their struggle for responsible government. He had been warned that he would be destroyed if he gave any form of support to the freedom fighters. He knew what was his duty. He ignored every threat that was hurled at him and faced the consequences of his action with courage.

His love for the region where he was born limited his sphere of influence in Indian national politics. After his devotion to his wife (a gentler person I cannot remember), his greatest love was reserved for his only daughter among his nine children. Next, he loved his life as a journalist as he was able to express his views and prove that the pen was mightier than the sword.

Besides his autobiography and several works on his life, there are the recollections of those who knew him. 

1. Mammen Mappillai REMINISCENCES, translated from the original Malayalam by Murkot Kunhappa, 1980, 270 pages.
2. Portrait of K. C. Mammen Mappillai,. K. M. Tharakan, 1988, 363 pages.
3. K. C. Mammen Mappillai, The Man and His Vision, Dr. M. J. Koshy, 1976, 673 pages.
4. Thayyil Kandathil Family Directory 2007  
5. Grandad K. C. Mammen Mappillai (KCMM)

Although I was only a small boy, my memory of him is vivid. He always had time for us children, even when he was in the midst of a most important meeting. Not just us his grandchildren, but any child was to him most important. He lived his Christian life with this guiding feature of love.

Today, in India there rages a bitter irrelevant controversy about the role of other religions to Hinduism and especially that of Christianity in India. There are some who try to point to Christianity as being alien to India. These people only show their ignorance. India is one of the few countries in the world where Christianity is of Apostolic origins. The Syrian Christians of India are more Indian than those who try, in their self-interest, to make them out to be aliens. (This will be treated in a subsequent blog entry about the Syrian Christians of Kerala.)

Thayyil House shifted to Kottayam

Thayyil House relocated at Kodimatha Unit of Malayala Manorama

During my 2014 visit to Kottayam, I visited the original Thayyil House which had been moved to the grounds of the Kodimatha Unit of Malayala Manorama as a permanent family symbol of the Thayyil family.. Although I had seen pictures of it, it was the first time I had visited it and seen it in person. A great nostalgia overcame me as went through this building.

The size of the Thayyil house, the quality of the wood used for its construction and the excellent carpentry point to that it has belonged to a well-to-do family. Houses of that time were primarily utilitarian rather than aesthetic. However, the builder of this house had given it considerable effort to make it beautiful. The wooden planks had been beautifully designed. The original house had a thatched roof, bit this was later replaced with a tiled roof.

When this building was transplanted to its present location in May 1999, it was installed in strict accordance with the traditional Vastu principles. The kitchen unit was removed as it was damaged.The absence of this part of the house had meant the loss of some essential features.

The layout of this house were KCMM grew up tells a lot of the day-to-day lifer if the Syrian Christian community of 2000 years ago.

It must be remembered KCMM also fought for the rights of women and especially their right to education. His daughter, my mother,  graduated from an Indian University in 1934.

KCMM's daughter, Mariakutty,
passing out of WCC College in Madras in 1935

Family tree of KCMM covering 6 generations

1791 - 1855: Kandathil Mathulla Mappillai

Children:

1. Karthalil Eapen Mappillai
2. Varghese
3. Mathulla
4. Idikkulla
5. Chacko
6. Pothan
7. Mariamma
8. Aleyamma

1816 - 1896: Karthalil Eapen Mappillai

Children:

1. Kochachiamma
2. Mathulla
3. Mariamma
4. K. I. Cherian Mappillai - married Mariamma (Thayyil family of Niranam)
5. Aleyamma
6. Eapen Vakil
7. K. I. Varghese Mappillai - Founder of Malayala Manorama
8. Kochupennu
9. Annamma  

1850 -1904: K. I. Cherian Mappillaimarried Mariamma (Thayyil family of Niranam)

Children:

1. Saramma married Kodumulayil Joseph
2. Akkamma married A. K. Abraham
3. K. C. Mammen Mappillai - married Kunjandamma (Mammi - Modisseril family)
4. K. C. Eapen married Kunjandamma
5. K. C. Mathew married Kpchannamma
6. K. C. Philip married Kochumariamma
7. K. C. Chacko
8. Achamma married O. E. Varghese
9. K. C. Varghese married Achamma
10. Annamma  married P.  K.  Chacko

1873 - 1953: K. C. Mammen Mappillai married Kunjandamma (Mammi - died in 1952) (Modisseril family)

Kuppapuram, Island home of KCMM(as I remember it in 1952)



Kuppapuram, remodelled in 2015

KCMM Family Tree
Children of KCMM and Kunjandamma (Mammi)

K. C. Mammen Mappillai with his only daughter (on his left) 

and his daughters-in-law (Madras 1953)

Padma Bhushan K. M. Cherian

K. M. Cherian (Awarded Padma Shri, Padma Bhushan) married Saramma (Children: Mammi, Cherian, Sarasu) 

K. M. Cherian, known to me as Chetpetleappachen, as he used to live in the suburb of Chetpet in Madras, was the eldest son of KCMM. When KCMM was imprisoned, Chepetleappachen took over the problems of the closed Malayala Manorama, cleared all its debt and bought it back when it was auctioned. 
When India  became independent in 1947, the Malayala Manorama was restarted. He took over as Chief Editor when his father passed away on 31st December in 1953. 
He was a close friend of Rajmohan Gandhi (author and research professor at the Centre for South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Illinois at Urbana. Champaign, USA, grandson of Mahatma Gandhi).

Chetpetleappachen with Prime Minister Indira Gandhi

Chetpetleappachen was an man way ahead of of his time. His broad-mindedness is historic. He was also quite eccentric. When I was studying in London, he visited me and I found that he had tied his dressing gown belt as his tie! 
When he learnt that I was planning to marry a foreigner, unheard of in a traditional Kerala Syrian Christian family, he wrote me a beautiful letter, telling me to follow my heart, regardless. His love for Annikki as a daughter was touching as he welcomed my family back to India with open arms.
Tragedy was part of his life. He lost his wife at an early stage of his life. His eldest daughter suffered from schizophrenia. He spent the greater part of his life looking after her while managing the newspaper. I never saw him burdened by what suffering he was carrying. He trusted in his Lord with all his heart. Besides the Malayala Manorama, he edited a publication called "Church Weekly" which he sent to a selected few people.

His son, Dr. K. C. Mammen (Bapu), was the Head of Pediatrics at the famed Christian Medical College in Vellore. After his retirement, Bapu has been running the Malankara  Orthodox Syrian Church Medical Mission Hospital in Kolenchery, a social medical clinic in Kottayam. His wife, Kunjunamma, a dermatologist, was our family doctor when we lived in Madras. Later, one of his students, Dr. Vishwanath, became our family pediatrician. 

Bapu has three children, one a doctor, Sara, in the US married to a doctor, another, Annu,  the wife of a leading planter in Kerala and the youngest, Mary,  married to T. K. Kurien, the Vice Chairman of Wipro Limited, one of India's most well known IT company.

Sarasukochamma with her family

 The younger daughter of Chetpetleappachen, Sarasu, married a person (P. V. Jacob) who headed the Alind aluminium plant in Orissa. She has 6 children, including a pair of twins. (Appu, Susy, Sara, Unni, Kunju and Sunny).
Their eldest son,  Appu, is the present Technical Director of Malayala Manorama. He has been the one responsible for the technically planned growth of the capacity of the newspaper to reach all the places where the publication has made steady inroads. Kunju produces printing inks in Kottayamn.

K. M. Oommen married Annamma (Children: Kuriyan, Accakutty, Mammi, Oommen, Ashwathy) 

Every family must have a rebel. Of all the eight brothers, it was K. M. Oommen,, known to me as Mambalamappachen, as he resided in the suburb of Mambalam in Madras. 
He would always stand up for the weaker person. And always a way to right a wrong. On many occasions he defended me in problems with the family. 
Annikki and I would visit him in his home almost every Saturday evening when we lived in Madras. His enormous heart, equalled only by that of his dear of his wife, were for everyone to see and enjoy. 
His five children were very dear to me. Two of the daughters (Mammy and Ashwathy) with their husbands lived in Delhi when I was studying in college there. They were my guardians.I would go to their homes to spend the weekend at every opportunity I had. We used to have a grand time. Both of them, like their eldest sister, were superb cooks and made the most delicious Chinese cuisine! Mammy has three children, Raghu, Latha and Moni. Ashwathy has three children, Preminda, Shona and Ranjit.
The younger brother was an extraordinary surgeon but also served as our family doctor when we lived in Bangalore. After his return from USA and Canada he started the Republic Nursing Home in Bangalore, which became a pioneer of private care in India. There are many stories of Dr. K. O. Mammen (Mohan) who one one occasion was called to a restaurant as a person with as knife had attacked a kitchen staff member and cut up the intestines. Mohan did the operation on the floor of the hotel and saved the life of that person. They have four children, two boys and two girls. I used to entertain the two girls with bedtime stories about my own version of Enid Blyton's Noddy.
He had a very simple system. All of his poor patients were attended to free of charge, while those who could afford treatment, paid the amount due and also helped bring in required supplies from abroad for the poorer patients..
The eldest brother, K. O. Kuriyan (Vellichayan), was a man of many trades and master of all. Photographer, radio technician, he acted a consultant to Malayala Manorama in is days soon after it was allowed to restart. He joined politics and would work tirelessly for his party candidates. He had three children, Ashok and Pradeep, who live in Bangalore and the third, Rajeev, who lives in Kottayam.

Accakuttykochamma with her youngest sister, Ashwathykochamma

The eldest daughter, Accakutty, now 93, is still hale and hearty and enjoying her children and grandchildren, situated in US, Canada and Singapore. Her eldest son, Diliip, lives in Madras, the eldest daughter, Susan, lives in Canada, the second daughter, Annu, lives in New York. The youngest daughter, Usha, is settled in Singapore.
When MRF was struggling financially in the early years, it was Mambalamappachen and his children who raised money by selling products door to door in Madras. Few remember those rough days!

K. M. Eapen 

K. M. Eapen married Kunjatty

(Children: Ammini, Susy, Mammen, Mary)

K. M. Eapen was a lawyer. He had a brilliant brain and was a very God-fearing person.
He was my godfather, along with George Matthan, my father's elder brother and Elizabeth Thomas, one of my my father's sisters. I was certainly blessed with three godparents who ensured that my moral behaviour was always within Christian principles. Eapachayan, as he was known to me, sent me a book called "Tales from Shakespeare"  as my Confirmation present which was co-authored by Charles Lamb and his sister Mary Lamb.
Eapachayan was also a philatelist and wrote a great book about philately for the beginner, which made me take up this as a serious hobby.
Eapachayan's eldest daughter, Ammini, qualified as a doctor from Vellore. When I was going to Madras for a holiday, my elder brother, who was considerably shorter than me, had his tonsils removed in Vellore, while I had my adenoids burnt out. Ranjit did grow a bit, but he never was able to catch up with my height. Ammini moved to Madras after her marriage and was always a doctor for us in times of any emergency. Ammini has 3 children, Sujit, Meera and Geetha.
Eapachayan's second daughter, Susy, married T. Thomas (Papachayan). 

When I was studying in Delhi, she was my third guardian, as he was the factory manager of Hindustan Lever dried peas factory in Ghaziabad. Susy has two children, Sunil and Anita.

When MRF Ltd. started its tyre factory in Madras, it was seven factories within one that had to be coordinated. This was proving quite impossible for the staff who had never worked in a tyre factory before this. Without crossing a production of 3000 tyres per day mark, there was no way the company would be profitable. After much soul searching, my mother persuaded Eapachayan to ask his son-in-law to join MRF as the technical director cum factory manager. He was a chemical engineer by education and was a specialist in time-and-motion management. 
He approached the task with great strength and purpose, even giving me a minor task in the process. He motivated everyone, and with a record time he had pushed the production of tyres to well over 3000 per day.
However, Papachayan was a very ambitious person. Having achieved his objective, his was not happy to be just the Technical Director of MRF. He had a more long term objective of becoming the Managing Director, replacing my mother's youngest brother, K. M. Mammen Mappillai (Kochappachen), one of the founders of the MRF Ltd. company, from this post.
I remember my mother being at the heart of this battle where swords were crossed between the two brothers, Eapachayan and Kochappachen. 
Into the fight stepped in another brother, K. M. Philip (Peelukutty), who had also laid claim to the Managing Directorship as he had been responsible of obtaining the collaboration with Mansfield Tires of Mansfield, Ohio, of USA. Peelukutty had befriended the President of Mansfield Tires, James Hoffmann I,  when on a tour of the USA as the President of YMCA, Bombay. 
The battle was bitter. It was my mother, who played her cards in such a manner which only she could, as she commanded the love and respect of all her 7 remaining brothers. The battle lasted well over a year. 
Papachayan was offered back a job in Hindustan Lever, something that had never ever happened in that company. The issue of Managing Director of MRF Ltd. was resolved as she also convinced her brother Peelikutty, that he was far more valuable to the family by remaining in Bombay.
Not only did Papachayan become the Chairman of Hindustan Lever in India, but he was appointed a Director of Unilever Ltd in London, the first Asian to rise to this great great height in this multinational.
One story about Papachayan told to me by his workmates revolves around the 1967 Koyna earthquake which hit Bombay in 1965. It happened in the middle of the night. While all the people were taking steps to see that their families were safe and sound, Papachayan jumped into his car to drive to the factory to ensure his machinery was safe and sound!
He was the Chairman of the Board of my school in Mumbai, Cathedral and John Connon School till his passing earlier this year.
Papachayan had a major problem with both Annikki and myself.
With Annikki, he had entered into a couple of discussions about the Bible. There are few people more knowledgeable about the Christian Bible than Annikki. 
Papachayan was a male chauvinist and did not like his incomplete knowledge to be shown up on any subject, and especially by a woman! So whenever there was a discussion, he had to agree to disagree with Annikki's superior knowledge.
His problem with me was that I was one of the very few people who knew many of his intimate weaknesses. As I was a person who always expressed myself directly, he just could not get on with me. 
He tried to exercise is superiority by claiming he was one generation ahead of me, claiming respect on that grounds. I refused to accept that as he was my third cousin, and married to my first cousin, so he was on par, except for the benefit of age.
Additionally, he felt that as he was a chemical engineer, he was superior to a mere polymer chemist/technologist. That was a lack of knowledge. As a polymer chemist I was a different breed of person and a specialist, not a generalist like him. Chemical engineering was only a small part of my specialisation!
So any discussion with me also ended with the fact that we had to agree to disagree.
In addition, I knew the shop floor situation in the Hindustan Lever factory in Sewree, Bombay, which was racked with corruption. He could not accept the fact that in his organisation, people were raking in money by corrupt practices. This story will be told later in another blog entry!
His open antagonism to me became evident after I moved to live in Finland.
When I moved to Finland I got a request to attend a interview with the Managing Director of Ford Australia for a job as their Polymer Technologist in the Melbourne plant. The telephonic interview with the plant manager had gone well. 
As my cousin, Susy, married to Papachayan was living in London, I called her to ask whether I could stay a couple of days with her. Although Ford would pay my travel and stay in London, this was common practice in our family. This would have been considered a mere formality.
As I was talking to her on the phone about my impending visit, I heard her telling Papachayan about my visit., What I heard on the telephone of their discussion was not very agreeable. I closed my phone saying bye to Susy.
I quickly made my own arrangements for my stay in London, as I had friends from my college days, Anil and Marion living there.  I did not want to cause any marital trouble for Susy. I knew she was most upset, but it was no skin off my nose. 
I had realised the situation of when he was a mere factory manager in Ghaziabad. Moving up the social ladder to become a director of a multinational company had turned his head. Also, probably the fact that my mother had been responsible for his not being made the Managing Director of MRF Ltd. was probably also an additional factor.
From that time I never made any effort to meet him. During my years while I was working in Oulu University, I used to visit the UK almost every 3 months, but I never tried to even visit Susy. 
In 2009, when Annikki and I visited Bombay, Susy, knowing the situation, came to visit Annikki and me where we were staying. In 2014, Annikki and I visited Susy when we knew Papachayan would not be around! I had no intention of addressing this small minded individual who could not show basic courtesy to his flesh and blood!
Obituary Notice of T. Thomas (Mumbai 2018)
My best family friend in Bangalore in the early 1950s when we moved to Lalbagh Road was Eapachayan's son, Kunjumon, who lived two houses down the road. I used to spend hours in their house. Sadly, as Eapachayan's daughter, Mary, was disabled and suffered from Asthma, Eapachayan and family moved to Madras. They used to come to Bangalore every summer to escape the heat of Madras, and I used to spend the summer months playing in their house till we moved to Bombay.

K. M. Varghese Mappillai

K. M. Varghese Mappillai married Thandamma (Children: Mammen, Soma)

Varichayan was my mother's elder brother who spent his life looking after the estates that had been bought by his father in the late 1930s. 

British companies were running tea, coffee and rubber plantations in India. When they were scared of the likelihood of the Japanese invading India as part of World War II, they disposed of many plantations as quite low prices. 

KCMM snapped up this firesale and appointed two of his sons, Varichayan and K. M. Jacob (Chackochayan) to look after these estates, some of them in Mysore State in Chickmagalur District.

Varichayan was the most jovial of my mother's brother. He was marrierd to Thandamma.

Varichayan and Thandammakochamma

Her most unique character was that she kept day-to-day accounts of every expenditure, however small or big they were. 

When I visited her in the Estates, where they lived, I went through her account books, which taught me how important it was to maintain accounts. She was very proud of her account books!

When I moved to Finland in 1984, I kept detailed accounts like her. It was based on these accounts that Annikki and I wrote our first non-fiction book in 1994 called "Handbook for Survival in Finland".

Varichayan had two children, Mammen (Thamban) and his sister, Soma, who married G. K. O. Philips, Managing Director of Crompton Greaves Ltd. 

Thambachayan and Annammakochamma and their family with Thandammakochamma

Thamban has five daughters (Tara, Roshin, Mamy, Susan and Ashwathy) while his sister, Soma has four sons (Thomas, George, Joseph and Peter).

K. M. Jacob

K. M. Jacob married Thangamma Children: Kunjumon, Anian, Roy)

If tragedy struck one of KCMM's families, it was the family of KCMM's son, K. M. Jacob (Chacko). He died young in the Chikmagalur estate of what, my mother told me, was the bite from a rat. His wife, Thangamma (Pallammachi) lost her second child (Anian) as a small boy, and her youngest son (Roy) when he was just completing his college education.

Her eldest son, K. J. Mammen (Kunjumon) was alive while we were in India and was the closest of my cousins. He inherited his father's share of the KCMM enterprise and as his two brothers died, he also inherited their share. He was extremely sentimental and if anyone was selling an MRF share, he would buy it, making him one of the largest single shareholders of the MRF concern. Kunjumon had three children Anil, Rachel and Roy.

He took to following in the footsteps of his father and his uncle, Varichayan, and looked after the estates in Chikmagalur. He sadly passed away just after Annikki and I left for Finland.

K. M. Philip

K. M. Philip (Awarded Padma Shri) married Chinamma Children (Sen, Suresh)

K. M. Philip (Peelukutty) survived all his brothers and his sister. He lived till the age of 104.

He was the sixth son of late KCMM, and was a recipient of Padma Shri and many national and international awards.

He was the first Asian to become the President of the World Alliance of YMCAs.

He has been known as the Father of the Rubber Industry of India. He set up in Bombay and started to traded latex rubber from Kerala. He started tea and coffee retail outlets and the Philips Coffee and Tea Distributing shops were n 38 locations all over Bombay from Colaba to Sion. This became synonymous with fresh Arabica ground coffee and Orange Pekoe tea which he sold from these shops. However, after the 1970's, as property prices became exorbitant in Bombay, he did not open any further retail outlets.

He introduced the first Expresso Coffee Parlour in Bombay when Akbarally's opened its department store in Flora Fountain.

He was a pioneer in many ways. His knowledge of Indian economics was encyclopaedic and made him one of the most sought after people on comments about the Indian Rubber Industry.

His wife, Chinamma, set up a Philately organisation, selling stamps from all over the world. Only two of the wives of KCMMs children took active part in running a business. She also became the President of the Young Women's Christian Association, parallel to Peelukutty's standing in the YMCA.

There is most important story about Peelukutty and his wife Chinamma. 

In those days in the 1930s, it was considered taboo in the Syrian Christian community to marry anyone less than a ninth cousin. Chinamma was Peelukutty's fourth cousin. To get married, KCMM had to get special dispensation from the head of the Kerala Syrian Christian church Patriarch. 

Peelukutty had two sons. The elder, Mammen Philip (Sen), qualified in Economics from Cambridge University and returned to India to run the MM Rubber Co. Ltd, which became India's largest producer of foam latex products. He was a cautious optimist and always looked for justification of any steps he took. Sen has two children, Kavitha and Karun. Sen was a classmate of Ratan Tata while at Cathedral and John Connon School in Bombay.

He was more than a mentor to me. His office was always open for discussions and advice, which was always given with a great deal of caution.

Due to problems with the Government Excise Duty, the company finally wound up operations, but the investments in property in central Madras, helped it survive the financial calamity that befell it.

The younger brother, Dr. Peter Philip ()Suresh, was a few month's younger to me. As I lost (happily) a year in my schooling when I shifted from Bangalore to Bombay, he went a year ahead of me. We were quite inseparable in our school days. We read comics together, we played Monopoly and Trade, and went fishing on the pier on Colaba Causeway. On weekends we used to go to Juhu Beach as families to enjoy a swim and have a picnic.

When I joined St. Stephen's College in Delhi, he was a year ahead of me doing Economics. When I stood for President of the College Residence (Junior Common Room) in my second year, and won, he sort of grew jealous of my achievements, which manifested itself in small ways. It came to a full head only in 2015, which will be outlined in a later blog entry. 

Suresh did his degree in Economics from Cambridge University and then did his doctorate in Economics from Stanford University in the USA.

He returned to India and worked for a time at the Government Statistical Institute, finally joining his father to run the Bombay operations of India Coffee and Tea Distributing Co. Ltd. Suresh has two children, Rohit and Divya.

So long as his father was alive, Suresh was able to manage, but when his father moved to Madras due to poor health, the Bombay operations slowly started to die.

When Annikki and I were in India in 2014, we went to one of the Philips Coffee and Tea retail outlets to buy a few kilos of fresh coffee beans to bring to Finland. Talking to the shop assistant, it became obvious that the end was nigh. The prestigious office premise in central Bombay was a casualty as also many of the retail outlets. A company which had a head start in India on Starbucks has been slowly dying because of a degree of pessimism that prevails in Suresh's character. 

More on his attitudes based on his jealousy will become evident in subsequent blog entries.

Mariakutty 1973

Mariakutty married Maliyakal Kuriyqm Matthan (Children: Nalini, Ranjit, Sushil, Thangamma

(I will treat this part of the family in a separate blog entry and it will also run as a thread through these memoirs.)

Indian Postage Stamp issued on Padma Shri K. M. M. Mathew

K. M. Mathew (Awarded Padma Shri)  (Children: Rajen (Awarded Padma Shri), Thambi, Chacko, Thangam)
On the passing of his eldest brother, Chetpetappachen, in 1973, the seventh brother, K. M. Mathew (Mathukutty), took over the reins of Malayala Manorama. His autobiography is contained in his book "The Eighth Ring" published in 2015. A good read and highly recommended.
His wife, Annamma (known to almost every Kerala housewife as Mrs. K. M. Mathew) , was the most talented and hard working  person that I have ever known. She was a cookery expert, running a cookery column in the Malayala Manorama for many years. 
We used to tease Mathukutty and their children that the Malayala Manorama newspaper  circulation would drop dramatically if the cookery column was dropped. 
She used to get up every morning at 4 am and create a new recipe for the ladies of Kerala.

Mrs. K. M. Mathew (Annamma)

She was instrumental in the launch of the ladies magazine, VANITHA. 

Annamma was always busy and yet she had time for everyone, however small or insignificant the person She and Annikki were on the same wavelength as far as art and creativity were concerned. 

Rajen was their eldest son. When we moved to Bombay, they lived in Bombay in Byculla. I used to visit their home and play there with Rajen. 
When Mathukutty moved to Kottayam to join the newspaper, Mammen Mathew (Rajen) was sent to school in Madras. But when I was in St. Stephen's College, he joined the college in my second year. He was my rock as he and his friends, Suresh Mehra, Ramu Katakam and Azhar Siddiqui, canvassed to get me elected as the President of the JCR. Thanks to them, I was the  only person ever who was able to hold that post in his second year.
When I went to London for my higher studies, Rajen and Ramu hitch-hiked their way from India to UK. I got a call from the harbour to get him into the country.
He continued to stay in the UK to learn his oars in journalism. He visited me when I was staying and working at the research institute in Shawbury. The first time I landed up in the snow was when I was driving him home from Shrewsbury station to our village home in Shawbury! Neither of us can remember how I got out of that mess!!!

Padma Shri Mammen Mathew (Rajen)

Rajen's younger brother Philip Mathew (Thambi) also attended St. Stephen's College, while the third brother Jacob Mathew (Chacko) went to Madras Christian College. Chacko was the girl child that Annamma had longed fo,r so she brought him up almost as a girl, teaching him Indian dancing as the traditional Kathakali dance.
When their fourth child was born, Thangam, finally a girl, Chacko came back to the mainstream as a young lad.
Thangam is one of the most loving personalities that exists on this earth, having all the qualities of love for her fellow human beings that her mother had shown in her lifetime.

Picture of the K. M. Mathew family after the passing of Mrs. K. M. Mathew

I will deal with the life and works if the three Mathew brothers in my subsequent blog entry on the Malayala Manorama publications.

Padma Shri K. M. Mammen Mappillai

K. M. Mammen Mappillai (Awarded Padma Shri) 

(Children: (Vinoo, Ravi, Remani, Arun)

K. M. Mammen Mappillai (Kochappachen) the eight son of KCMM was a Zoologist by education. While living in the Estates he played with rubber latex and started to create balloons. As he dried the latex dips them in open air, dust used to stick to the balloons. The myth is that he turned the balloons inside out, blew them up and when he shook them, the dust used to rattle inside the balloons. He sold them in fairs as rattle balloons!
He started the MRF Ltd in Madras as a company making tread rubber for retreading car tyres. The original idea was to set it up in Bangalore but the Government of Mysore did not give its permission, so it was set up in 1947 in the outskirts called Tiruvottriyur.
The tread project was a great success and it soon became the best selling tread rubber in India. At the same time he came across a young rubber expert from Ceylon, Prabhakaran Nair, and they established a small latex foam company to produce mattresses and pillows. This was also a success. When I was working in the Rubber and Plastics Research Association of Great Britain (RAPRA), I had the opportunity to interact with Mr. Woolf, the owner of Griptight, the world's largest manufacturer of rubber teats for babies. When I mentioned this to Kochappachen, he was on the next plane to Manchester so that he could visit the factory in Birminghan and possibly set up a collaboration to make these latex teats in India. 
To visit the factory was virtual impossibilty due to strict security, but because I had helped Mr. Woolfe in the manufacture of PET baby feed bottles, he did allow Kochappachen to visit the factory and see how these rubber teats were made. 
For a person as Kochappachen, who had worked with latex dipping as a small boy, this was sheer joy. Collaboration did not happen but the two industrialists had a superb time together exchanging notes! In 1958, Peelukutty, on his travels to USA in his capacity as a YMCA President of Bombay, met with Mr. James Hoffman I, the owner of a small independent tyre company in Mansfield, Ohio, called Mansfield Tires.
They hit it off and they agreed on a joint venture as an expansion to the tread rubber company I will deal with the entire growth of MRF Ltd. in a subsequent blog entry.
Kochappachen's eldest son, K. M. Mammen (Vinoo), is the present Chairman and Managing Director of MRF Ltd. He does not have the same flair and character of his father, but the MRF  company has been on a steady upward growth, with systems set up a great band of managers from the 70s, so it continues to grow regardless. I name Georgie, Ratnam, Prem Sadanand, N. P. Abraham among the professional team that established the systems that have made MRF great.
Vinoo has two children, Rahul and Samir.
Vinoo started his life running a company called Devon Machines Pvt. Ltd. established because of the practicality and brilliance of his mother's brother, K. George (Georgie), who was the engineer in charge of MRF from its inception.
My history with Georgie stretches back to my days in Bangalore when he was staying in the St. Joseph's College hostel on Lalbagh Road, opposite our home!
Devon Machines was set up to produce the tyre moulds required by MRF. As an expansion, they started to make the moulds for antique car tyres,  which required the hand artisanship of Indian workers. It dominated the space for many years.
Vinoo got the touch of earning money easily and in a subsequent blog entry I will give the background of this which I was closely involved with during his days at Devon Machines!
Besides the father, it was the second son, Ravi Mammen (Ravi), who was the architect of present day MRF. 
He studied at the Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management in Bombay. He used to spend his weekends in my parents home. I found him to be super intelligent and extremely insightful, having the many characteristics of fellowship, which was his father's trait. He could discuss any subject with anyone and treat them with respect, immaterial of what status the person belonged to.
Ravi has two children, Varun and Aditi. After his untmely passing, his wife Meera Mammen (Meera) continued Ravi's work at MRF as the Human Resources Manager, and has been one of the outstanding leaders in the company.
MRF was troubled with labour union problems when Ravi joined the company. His compassion and depth of management abilities helped resolve this. At the same time he took over running the Cricket World Cup in 1987 and it was an enormous success.
That established the name of MRF, not just as a company producing tread and tyres, but a company that was committed to improve the lives of Indians. Sadly he suffered a massive stroke at a young age, and MRF was robbed of a great asset, leaving behind a wife and two children.
Kochappachen's third child was a daughter, Remani, who, like her father is an outstanding artist. She set up a company producing art works.
Remani has two children, Arjun and Kiran.
After a gap of several years, Kochappachen had a fourth son, Arun Mammen (Arun), who today is the Joint Managing Director of MRF. Arun has two children, Annika and Ayush.
I will go back to full and detailed blog entries about Malayala Manorama and MRF, as they require to be tackled as separate subjects.  They are a couple of cornerstones of my early and later professional life!
Published Blog Entries

Preface: Preface to the Last Will and Testament

Chapter 1: Introduction to The Last Will and Testament

Chapter 2: Raja Mantra Pravina Dewan Bahadur Maliyakal Kuriyan (Mysore) Matthan

Chapter 3: Kandathil Cherian Mammen Mappillai (KCMM) - Doyen of Kerala

Chapter ?: Nalini Mariam Jacob (née Matthan) 1937 - 1960

Other coming blog entries (publishing order may change): Maliyakal Kuriyan and Mariam Matthan Malayala Manorama MRF Ltd. Kerala Syrian Christian Community Bangalore 1943-1947 Mysore 1947 - 1949 Bangalore 1949 - 1953 Bishop Cottons School Bombay 1954 - 1959 (Cathedral and John Connon SchoolNalini Mariam Jacob (née Matthan) 1937 - 1960 Delhi 1960 - 1963 St. Stephen's College London 1963 - 1966 National College of Rubber Technology Shawbury 1966 - 1969 RAPRA ms Victoria Madras 1969 - 1975  Bangalore 1976 - 1984 Oulu 1984 - 1992 Oulu University Oulu 1992 - 1998 Findians Oulu 1999 - 2001  Oulu 2001 - 2006 Oulu 2006 - 209 Oulu 2009 - 2016 Oulu 2016 - 2019 Polymer Consultancy Services Agro Polymer Research Services Polyprint Pvt. Ltd. Flexpak Ltd. Amazon Associates Aläkko Mua? and ETNO Finnish Sports Federation CHAFF Hospitality Raantel FarOy Oy Plastics Technologist Printer Microelectronics Engineer Author Web Page Developer Social Worker Hospitality Manager Annikki 1944 - 2019Ashok Peter Jacob - 1960 -  Last Will and Testament Broken Trust Epilogue