Daily Archives: November 20, 2014

God’s Own Kerala on the Road to Become Catholic ‘Cradle of Saints’

Leaders, Records, All, Uncategorized, World Opinion

Kochi :

If you thought canonisation of two blessed souls from the state—Kuriakose Elias Chavara and Mother Euphrasia—scheduled to be held on Sunday was wonderful enough, think again. Out of the 30 pious men and women the Catholic Church in India has placed on the path of beatification, 28 are from Kerala, a feat that could well earn it the ‘Cradle of Saints’ epithet in the future.

Catholics in Kerala comprise less than one per cent of the global Catholic population.

BlessedLeadersKERALA20nov2014

Out of 28 revered spiritual men and women, three each have acquired the status of the Blessed (third of four stages of canonisation) and the Venerable (second stage), while 21 are Servants of God (first stage).

The other two Indians on the list with status of  The Blessed are Mother Teresa and Fr Joseph Vaz, a missionary who served in Sri Lanka.  Interestingly, Devasahayam Pillai is the only layman on the list. All others are bishops, priests, or nuns. The Kerala list includes Fr Zakharias, a Spanish missionary, and two German missionaries —Mother Petra Morningman and Br Fortnatus — who served, died and were buried here. “This is a list of people likely to be canonised. The process cannot be completed within a definite time period. The long list shows the depth of faith of Catholics here,” said  Fr Varghese Vallikkat, deputy secretary, Kerala Catholic Bishops Council and director of the Pastoral Orientation Centre.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Kerala / by Babu K Peter / November 19th, 2014

 

Kochi Pays Its Final Respects to Former Mayor Mercy Williams

Leaders, Records, All
Kochi  :
A silence blanketed Thekkumveettil House on Shantipuram Road at Palarivattom here as a sea of crowd swept to the residence of Mercy Williams, the former Mayor of Kochi, who passed away at the age of 65 on Wednesday.
MercyWilliamsKERALA20nov2014

Kochi Mayor Tony Chammany was among the first to pay tributes to the first woman Mayor of the city. 

Senior LDF councillor M Anilkumar, Deputy Mayor B Bhadra, Corporation standing committee head T J Vinod Kumar and GCDA chairman N Venugopal also rushed to the spot to pay respects.

Mercy, who was born and brought up in Fort Kochi, studied at St Teresa’s. After securing an MA degree in Sociology with first rank and gaining a gold medal from the college, she joined St Teresa’s College as a lecturer and served there for over 25 years.

She joined politics after retiring   as the head of Sociology Department from the college. The move surprised many. But the LDF independent candidate not just swept votes to become a first-time councillor, but also became the first woman Mayor of Kochi city.

“Known for her sincere and straight-forward approach, babus were afraid of her. Consequently, corruption allegations were comparatively low during her tenure,” said Anil Kumar.

Mercy was sworn in as Mayor when Kochi was gripped by an absolute crisis on waste management front. The dumping of waste at Willington Island had to be stopped due to complaints from the Navy.

A similar situation emerged at Cheranalloor owing to public agitation. Heaps of waste remained on roads with no place to dump.

It was for the Mayor to face the heat, remembered senior journalists.

“Mercy issued a bylaw for waste management, a first in the state,  which gave buckets to every house for decentralised waste segregation. Kochi was announced a ‘binless’ city.

“Spadework was started for Brahmapuram plant and plastic bouquets were abhorred even in public functions,” said a veteran journalist. Mercy could also effectively liaison with the Delhi circle to get funds pumped in for big ticket projects in Kochi, including ADB loan and JNNURM funding.

Altogether, the city received `900 crore for projects during her tenure. When she left the chair, it was not without begetting ‘the most clean city award in India’ for Kochi from the then Union Minister Jairam Ramesh.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express  / Home> States> Kerala / by Nidheesh MK / November 20th, 2014

The history of the Dutch in India

Historical Links, Pre-Independence, Records, All, World Opinion

Kochi  :

Cultural anthropologist Bauke Van Der Pol will doing a reading from his book at David Hall, Fort Kochi, today Cultural anthropologist Bauke Van Der Pol will be doing a reading from his book, ‘The Dutch East India Company in India’. This will be held at the David Hall, Fort Kochi, on November 19.

The Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie (VOC or commonly known as the Dutch East India Company) is often associated with Indonesia, China and Japan. In India, however, the company covered an area larger than all its other domains in Asia. This period lasted from 1604 to 1795, and therefore Dutch trading relations with India have existed far longer than those with, say, Australia or the United States. And yet most people are unaware of the fact that 17th and 18th century traces of Dutch heritage can be found all along the coast, from Surat to Kolkata.

In this richly illustrated edition, researcher and India specialist Bauke van der Pol presents, for the first time, a comprehensive compendium of VOC heritage in India. He guides the reader through settlements, country houses, warehouses, trading posts and cemeteries featuring unique sepulchral monuments. By referring to old pictures and contemporary photographs he shows what the settlements looked like and what can still be found of them in the India of today. He elaborates on the background to how the Dutch landed in the various regions of India, and explains the details of their relationships with the Indian maharajas and other rulers. Furthermore, he describes the precious commodities that tempted the Dutch to embark on such exotic adventures, and he shows how today’s Indians relate with the traces that these foreigners left behind in their country.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Kochi / by Express News Services nie / November 19th, 2014