Last Will and Testament

SYRIAN CHRISTIANS St. Mary’s Orthodox Nirnam Church, Thiruvalla, Kerala OF KERALA As I am talking about family values, it is most important to look at where these, in my case, were derived from.  I am a Syrian Christian by birth, but for reasons close to my personal views on humanity, I belong to no branch of any physical Christian Church or organised religion. History of the Catholicate of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church (Source http://mosc.in/catholicate/catholicate In the early Christian church there were only three ranks: 1. Episcopos (Bishop),  2. Priest and  3. Deacon.  By the end of the 300 AD, certain bishops of important cities in the Roman empire assumed a greater level than other bishops. They became called as Metropolitans. The Ecumenical Councils of 400 AD recognized the authority of these Metropolitans. By 500 AD  Bishops in cities like Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria and Antioch gained control over the churches...

(Photo copyright unknown but acknowledged) Malayala Manorama,  Written Media in India. 1980 marked the bicentenary of Indian journalism.  The first newspaper on modern lines appeared in Calcutta on the 27th of January 1780. It was called the "BENGAL GAZETTE" and was published by an Englishman. It was an outspoken political and commercial weekly. It displeased the officials and was shut down within a year. The "INDIAN GAZETTE" started the same year but played safe. The "CALCUTTA GAZETTE" appeared in 1874. Other journals that followed were the "CALCUTTA CHRONICLE" (1875), the "MADRAS COURIER" (1875) and the "BOMBAY HERALD" (1879), all of which were careful not to be critical of the colonial masters. There are over 40 newspapers in India which are centenarians. The oldest surviving vernacular daily called "BOMBAY SAMACHAR" is published in the Gujarati language. It was established in 1822. Amongst the centenarians are t...

Malyakal Kuriyan and Mariam MATTHAN  Maliyakal Kuriyan Matthan (1911 - 1993)  (son of Dewan Bahadur Maliyakal Kuriyam Matthan family of Thiruvalla) Kandathil Mariam graduating from Women's Chridstian College, Madras, 1934 Kuriyan Matthan, my father, studied at Bishop Cotton Boy's Svhool and then joined the Madras Christian College in Tambaram, Madras to do his BA in Mathematics. He went to London to do his BSc. in Electrical Engineering at Imperial College.  Wedding of Kuriyan and Mariam Matthan Bangalore 1936.  K. C. Mammen Mappillai and Dewan Bahadur Kuriyan Matthan are prsent with both my grandmothers He returned from England and married Mariam, only daughter of K. C. Mammen Mappillai. It was the union of twowell respected families of Kerala. Matthan family at Grace Home in Basavagudi in 1944. I am in my mother's arms on the extremeleft in the front seated row. . He joined the Mysore Electricity Board as an electrical engineer. His job was to be in charge o...