PATHANAMTHITTA: “I was eagerly waiting to take my four-month-old son Juvan to show him to ‘Appachan’ once the latter recovered from his poor health condition. But today (Wednesday) morning, I came to know of the shocking news that I never wanted to hear. He is gone. I feel I am standing alone in a big street like a child who lost his guardian,” says T Subramanian, 30, a native of Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh.
On Wednesday, He struggled to find words to describe the benevolence of Appachan — Philipose Mar Chrysostom Mar Thoma Valiya Metropolitan. For him, Mar Chrysostom was his living God. He saved Subramanian and his parents from the streets of Tiruvalla, where they spent sleepless nights due to the attack of drunkards. Subramanian and parents Siddaya and Seethamma reached Tiruvalla from their native place when he was just 11 following family issues.
“We lived the life of beggars. In the daytime, we begged in the street to satisfy our growling belly. I feared each night. Drunkards would come at night while we slept on the verandahs of shops. They would attack us and take away the money we got from begging. Living such a life had become impossible for us,” says Subramanian.
One day in 2003, their destiny was rewritten. It was just a week before Christmas. “Authorities of YMCA Tiruvalla asked us to reach there as Appachan wished to give food and dresses to the people staying on the street. All of us reached there. Among us, there were nomads speaking Kannada, Tamil and Telugu. When we were eagerly waiting for food, Appachan came and said in Malayalam that he wished to give new dresses and food to us only if we gave him half of its price in a humorous way. The nomads from other states could not understand him.
But I knew Malayalam, Telugu, Tamil and Kannada. I translated his words and then the people, who came with us, replied that they didn’t want food and dresses but only wanted what they got free of cost. I told Appachan that these people only know about receiving things and not giving anything to others. Then Appachan laughed at me and asked for my details,” he said.
“After a week, as per his invitation, I reached his office. I requested him for a house of my own. He bought a piece of land and constructed a home for us. He sent me to a private institution and I completed high school and Plus Two. He then helped me get a job in YMCA Vikas School. He also came and blessed me when I married Ancy Varghese, a native of Tiruvalla. My parents died because of age-related ailments. At present, my wife and I are staying with my two children in the house constructed by my Appachan,” concluded Subramanian, unable to fight back tears.