Achan

I just wanted to say thank you once again to all my friends and family.

When Amma rang Asha in the middle of the night with the news, we were in Dubai. Although we had told everyone where we were going to be staying, we didn’t give them the contact details. Asha managed to get hold of Premlal and Rajalekshmi’s phone number through her med school whatsapp group. Both of them had a busy day ahead and yet stayed up with us while we tried to sort out what to do next. We didn’t have our OCI cards with us as we were not on our way to India. It was holiday time in Dubai and so getting an emergency visa was also going to be a problem.

The next day Premlal sorted out our tickets to Trivandrum. It was the last two tickets left I think as it was holiday season. I didn’t have any Indian clothes and a quick trip to the shops was not fruitful. Luckily Rajalekshmi’s clothes fitted me perfectly. In the evening another classmate and friend, Dinesh drove us to Sharjah airport. My cousin who works at Trivandrum airport reassured us that the OCI stamp on our passport was enough.

Malayala Manorama

Malayala Manorama

My school friends came to see Amma as soon as they heard the news. John Thomas, Shaji and Sasi have now visited us a few times and Amma knows them very well. They came again with John Mathew on the day of the funeral bringing with them a bouquet of flowers with the ‘Little Flower’ logo. Asha later told her schoolmate, Ajith, who she went to Little Flower school with about this when he came to visit. They only found out about the death after the burial.

My school, pre degree and med school friends who couldn’t come rang me. Susan, Laly, Segi, Roshini, Annie, Annie Tharakan. Sobha, Jayaraj, Sheela, Remani, Prasantha and Rafia all rang me. Asha Kishore, Usha Mary Mathew, Beena KV, Sheela, Sreekumari, Chitra, Susan, Jose Varghese and Beena visited.

I cannot express how much all this meant to me and my mother. My brother wrote about his feelings and thoughts on his Facebook page. Apparently he received lots of messages. Asha is going to read this all to Amma when they get some quiet time together. We are all overwhelmed with all the kindness and support.

Thank you my friends from the bottom of our hearts. If I have missed anyone out I am really sorry about that.

For my family and relatives. We are totally blown away by the way everybody pitched in without asking and was there to help my mother from the time of my Achan’s death. Babu mamen, Sobhana chechi, Kunjamma, Valiyamachi, Soman mamen, Sharathchandran Chettan all do not need any special mention, but Babu mamen’s children and children in laws need a special mention as they were there as a constant source of support for my mum and we know that we can rely on them when needed. Also a special thanks to our neighbours Suresh and family, Sankaran pillai and Sura chittappan. Beena Rajesh also needs a special mention from my husband’s side for informing all their family and getting us prime spot on Kerala Kaumudi at short notice to post Achan’s sanchayanam message.

G Gopinathan

G Gopinathan 1928-2016

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