#memory
#കേരളചരിത്രം
Jacob Cherian
Maruthukunnel.
Jacob Cherian, my maternal grandfather, was one of the most prominent figures in the native State of Travancore. He was a founder director and later Chairman of the biggest bank in Travancore, and the second largest private bank in the entire country, the Palai Central Bank.
I was a school boy when he died, but grew up hearing the stories about the legendary leader from all quarters.
He was so confident about his abilities and prominence that his letter pad had only the heading – Jacob Cherian. No house name, no qualifications, no designation, no adress. Just the name was enough.
He had the good fortune of getting educated in the first Syrian Catholic school with boarding facilities in Travancore, the
St Ephrem’s High School, Mannanam.
The school was established in 1885 by the CMI ( then called TOCD) , the first indegenous Catholic religious congregation in the country, led by eminent priests like St Kuriakose Elias Chavara.
Jacob Cherian, as an eminent old boy, was given a pride of place in the Golden Jubilee ( 1885-1935) celebrations of the prestigious school. His welcome speech is a testimony of his erudition and felicity of the English language.
Jacob Cherian was one of the earliest students in the English medium school. It was a chance meeting with an English missionary at the school that inspired the young boy to go to England for higher education. The travel itself in those days was fearsome. You have to travel to Bombay by land or boat to catch a ship. The voyage would take months with a stopover in Gibraltar, travel by land through Europe and cross the sea to England.
Jacob Cherian returned with a passionate goal to start new financial and industrial institutions like those he had observed in England and Europe.
He was one of the pioneers in the motor transport industry in Travancore.
He was instrumental in the establishment of the Palai Central Bank with the financial help of his relatives, the Kayyalakakom and Kottukapally families of Palai. The bank withstood the vagaries of the World War II when most other private banks folded up. The vision and hard work of Jacob Cherian saw the bank growing up to become the second largest private bank in the whole of India, before being liquidated in the early 1960s, due to the political visccittides.
Jacob Cherian was a visionary who realised the huge potential of the seafood industry in Kerala. He, with the active encouragement of the visionary Dewan of Travancore, Sir C P Ramaswamy Iyer, founded the West Coast Fisheries at Neendakara, to tap the potential of deepsea fishing and the export of marine products. Unfortunately the project has to be abandoned midway since the existing bridges and culverts in Travancore were unable to withstand the enormous wieght of the heavy machinery imported through the Cochin port.
He was a huge benefactor of the Syrian Christian community, the most notable contribution being the establishment of the Kerala Catholic Trust at Kottayam to promote the interests of the Catholic community in the State.
– Joy Kallivayalil.
p.s: It’s a matter of great pride is that my father Abraham Kallivayalil also was an inmate of the prestigious school and boarding in the 1930s.
https://gpura.org/blog/1937-st-ephrems-english-high-school-mannanam-golden-jubilee-souvenir/?fbclid=IwAR07JB_O927JK0VbIaua0kvk3-MsQz_aO3YQZQ4ckGG4IjOLh9Z2pjQtnYk
