Pongalil Tharavad

About PONGALIL THARAVADU ( Tharavadu means ancient and highly respected big Family)

Biography

""Pongalil" is a very famous aristocratic Nair family in Ernakulam District and the head count will be to the tune of 2000 members in around 500 households scattered around places like Perumbavoor, Vengola, Valayanchirangara , Pulluvazhi, Rayamangalam.

The root of the family traces back to ancestors migrated from Mala in Trichur District around 500 years back and settled down in vengola, a lush green hamlet on the outskirts of Perumbavoor with full of paddy fields,mangrooves,ponds,temples and surrounded/guarded by two hills (Ottathani Mala & Thekka Mala - Mala Means Hill in English and Thekka Mala Means A hill full of Teak Wood Trees) which rise around 2500 feet above the sea level. Even now the Thekka Mala and surrounding areas are under the ownership of the Pongalil Family Members and most of them are now converted into Rubber Plantations.

Though the family members were fully engrossed in Agriculture,all of them paid good attention in providing the best education to their children. The Literary prowess of most of the members are well known. Most of them could fluently speak Sanskrit ( supposed to be a divine and scholarly language), 'Moolabhadram'( a codified derivative of malayalam used for secret communication). The encoding and decoding in Moolabhadram is done based on the following Manthrika( Formula)

" A ko - Kha go- gha nga- Shchaiva ( replace A' with k and vice versa & Kha with Ga and vice versa & gha with Nga and Vice versa) Cha do- nja nnho- Tha po -na ma ( Replace Cha with da and Da with Cha and so on......) Ya sho- Ra scho -la sa -schaiva Va ha -ksha la- ja da -Da bha ra zha Tdha nnha ithisloka mithyathe Moola Manthrika Illustration - Suppose we have to codify the word Bhara-nnha-m ( Meaning Administration in English) The code for Bha is 'da' ( 4th line in the formula above Da Bha) IIIly code for Ra is "Scho" ( See 3r line Ra Scho) IIIly Code for nnha is "nja" ... Bhara-nnha-m in Moola bhadram is written as 'Da Scho nja-m "'Note - Incomplete sound at the end of word need not be codified. See the 'm at the end .

By regular practice , people used to develop amazing skills for instant coding/decoding of Moola bhandram .In other words it was a hobby of elderly family members to speak Moola Bhadram during their family meetings etc.

The wits and humour of Pongalil Velayudhan Pillai ( popularly known as Velu Pilla Sir),the translations of Pongalil Kunchu pillai ( Kunchu pilla Sir), the Sanskrit knowledge of Govinda Pillai ( Vaidhyan Govinda Pillai), the poetries of Pongalil Neelakandhan Pillai etc are well known.

Eminenet Schaolars of the Next generation include

Dr Ramakrishnan : Retd Dean of Jawahar Krishi Vidyalaya, Jabalpur (Ph.D & Post Doctoral Research in Sweden)

Dr.Sulochana : Retd Dean Kerala Agricultural University (Did extensive research in Virology in Canada)

Dr.P.K Janardanan Pillai : Very famous Veterinary Surgeon

Dr.Santha Kumari : Professor of Kerala Agricultural University

Another characteristic of the Pongalil family members is their Brave nature. They are known for taming all anti-socials hooligans and drunkards without any fear as police and law enforcement authorities would not respond many a times.At the same time all of them were benevolent and used to help the needy people.

The technical skill of many members was a fun to watch. In the olden days the ability of Pongalil Madhavan Nair to cast replica of any thing in copper and bronze was very famous.He proved his mettle in Music also. Pongalil Raman Pillai had opportunities to work in British Oil companies in the Middle East during the Forties and fifties and he made many improvisations and modifications in Automobiles. Pongalil Narayanan Nair is well known Industrialist in Mumbai and holds many patents to his credit.

The most notable amongst the youngest generation is Pongalil Anil Kumar who is a techno crat turned Management professional.

Early Life : Born on 27th March 1965 as the first son of Mr Neelakandhan Pillai( HVF Avadi) and Pongalil Komala vally , had his primary education in Madras . Following the premature death of his father had to migrate back to Kerala along with his younger siblings Sunil & Binil.

Though the Grand parents were not very old , the younger days were full of difficulties. However pursued the goal of becoming an Engineer as Grand Father Edamana Sivaraman Nair used to highlight the importance of Mathematics and Engineering on a daily basis. Grand father used to ignite the brain by asking tricky questions and encourage by saying

he has got the intelligence of your father, with the right training can come up. Oh God! be with him, he has to carry the burden of the whole family.

Career History

Having graduated in Engineering from the University of Kerala, joined ALIND as Engineer ( Marketing & Export) and then pursued MBA in the same University.

After working in highly reputed organizations like Godrej,GE Appliances, WorldSpace, Electrolux he went to United Arab Emirates and is currently working as the National Sales Manager of NIKAI Corporation.

As an expert in motivation and People Development, his Oratorial and Reasoning skills are well known.

He is at the same a philanthropist and a sincerely want to help people develop into their full potential.

According to him he is only a gardener of god's garden and his plants are the ordinary people around him and the extra ordinary success they produce are the flowers.

His wife, Dr Bindu G Nair is a well known Gynaecologist in Dubai who has done her Post Graduation in the prestigious 'Armed Forces Medical College' Pune. They have one daughter Shweta studying in Our Own English High School

Visit him at http://www.worldisthestage.com