| Echayan was born on the ides of March in 1909 as the second son of Mr.& Mrs. Pullolickal Kuruvila Mathen. He died on 28th March 1977 after a life-span of 68 years, mainly at the village of Kothala and the town of Kottayam, Kerala, India. Echayan studied at the CMS LP School in Kothala, the St.George Government School at Puthupally and at the CMS English High School at Kottayam. For college education (B.A.degree) he chose the CMS College at Kottayam. He studied law at the Trivandrum Law College and obtained the B.L.degree from the University of Travancore. Echayan was not only a brilliant student, but also a talented artist. He was in the CMS chapel choir and known to be a creative person composing instant songs, generally of a humorous nature. Echayan was the first lawyer from the Kothala-Pampady area. To congratulate him for this achievement, there was a public reception at Kothala attended by many of his peers and villagers, including His Excellency the Pothenpuram Thirumeni (Pampady Thirumeni) who presented a gold ring to Echayan. (A group photo taken at this occasion was in his Tharavadu - Thazhathe Veddu- for many years). He was admitted to the Travancore Bar association in January 1939. Please click on the link After Echayan married Sosamma Ipe, the couple stayed for awhile at Echayan’s family home at Kothala. Our small family (Echayan, Amma and two sons) then moved to the Peraat House on the shore of the Meenachil River at Chungam , Kottayam. Later on, when Echayan started law practice at Ponkunnam, the family moved to our yet unfinished Kothala Veedu. He lived there with his enlarged family, enjoying the Esquire life. Other than his attorney profession , he also acted as a volunteer arbitrator for many minor disputes amongst the villagers. Everybody liked him and accepted his assessment and decision. Echayan was the first President of the Kooropada Panchayat. When the children were ready to go to higher schools, the family (now with four children) moved to Kottayam . Echayan and Amma commuted between Kottayam and Kothala leaving the children in care of good employees. At some point, Echayan stopped the law practice and became the legal advisor, and then the Secretary, of Kottayam Bank. Concurrently, he was involved with motion pictures such as Sashidharan, Yachakan, and Chechi that were produced by National Tone (whose proprietor was Amma’s brother Babychayan). After Amma’s death, Echayan retreated from all the above activities at Kottayam and spent the rest of his life at the Kothala house. Let me document here Echayan's commitment to higher education. Some of his siblings and cousins never studied at the collegiate level. Echayan was instrumental in changing this situation in his larger family. He also saw to it that his own children were well-educated. They were holders of one or more baccalaureate degrees. Some had Masters and/or Doctorate degrees. For this, and for a thousand other reasons, we are all very highly indebted to Echayan. |
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| ECHAYAN |