My Parents

My father, Mr. Thanka Raj, is a retired school Head Master. He had served in various Government schools for more than 27 years. My mother, Mrs. Retnam, is a retired teacher. She too had served as a teacher for more than 25 years. They were the first from their respective families to became a government emplyee in those days. My father was an active participant in all their Teacher's Union related activities.

(Photo: Our family photo on 28 Oct 2001. Standing left to right: Me, Sister, Brother, Brother-in-law, Sister, Sister, Nephew, Brother-in-law. Sitting: Mother, Father, Nephew)

My Grandparents

My grand father, Mr. Kuttykun, was a farmer and my grand mother, Mrs. Ammal, was a housewife. My grand father passed away in 1990 when he was 98 years old. My grand mother passed away in 1993 when she was 95 years old. I loved them very much, they too love me a lot. I had a age gap of around 85 years with my grand parents (as my father got married so late). I still worry that I was not able to spend more time with my grand parents, they passed away when I was so young. My grand parents lived in our old family home (my grandfather's brothers, father's brothers & we lived in that home till 1975, my grand parents and my father's younger brother continued to live there after that). After 1989 my grand parents came to our home and lived with us. Both of them passed away when they were staying in our home.

My grand parents used to tell me stories and real life stories. Some of the stories are: Nallathankal, Lord Shiv, Harichandran, Markandan, & their real life experiences. They tell most of the stories in the form of songs. When I was doing my primary schooling (below 5th class), my grand mother used to say: I would became an engineer (I am from a village and during those days an engineering degree is considered to be very great thing). Like what she said, I became an engineer. I used to keep some money with me always, when I was doing my schooling; my grand father once said: the sea has to dry-up to make me with out money. Like the way he said, till today I have been having atleast the minimum amount of money at all times.

Based on my experience, I believe that the blessings from our elders are so important in our life and would really make us grow. So this is the thing I wanted to say to you, who is now reading this page: Help/serve the elders, not necessarily for some one from out of your family or society; help your parents, help your grand parents and get their blessings. Help them not because you are helping others, but think that you are getting more and more benefits (that no one can get by any other means) out of helping them.

My Brother and Sisters

I have one brother and three sisters. All of them are post graduates. My brother's specialisation is: Physics, eldest sister's specialisation is: Chemistry, elder sister's specialisation is: Mechanical, & younger sister's specialisation is: Commerce.

All my sisters and my brother got married. And they all have children. In our tradition, woman lives with her husband in her husband's home after marriage. My brother lives with my parents.