AKJM (1988-1994)

I shall be always remember him.

We are going to miss you father… May your soul rest in peace.

Mithun Cheriyath
SSLC 1998

I still remember the times when he told how to spell Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.

Those were the days.

I truly miss him. May his soul rest in peace.

Dear Gentlemen of Loyola Batch 1985,

SHALOM ! I was surprised when I read the news in our monthly Newsletter and then thought that Fr Kuruvila (I called him Kuru at his request) would recover. I went to xxxxxxxxx to conduct a Programme for Jesuits and returned yesterday evening. When I read the sad news, I was shocked. This was totally unexpected by me. Since we have a Monday Evening Jesuit Community Mass, I prayed for the repose of his soul and I invited my fellow-Jesuits here to do the same. I wrote to my Guyanese friend from our days together in England, Fr Malcolm Rodrigues S.J., but he has not yet replied. I know that all of you loved him and that he had a lasting impact on you. While waiting for news from Malcolm, let me share some information with you.

Kuru joined the Jesuits one year after me and I am a year older than him. (His Father and my Daddy had been friends as students at St Joseph’s College, Trichy.) We were together for one year at Beschi College, Dindigul. Later we were together again for two years at Loyola College, Madras. Then I went to England for three years. After my return, we used to meet during the Summer Vacation up to 1969. (Incidentally, he was first in Loyola in 1964-65 or so and I was there in 1968-69.) For our study of Theology, I first went to Kurseong (Darjeeling District) and then to Delhi; Kuru went to Poona. We were transferred to different places and were together again in 1984 when he returned to Loyola. We lived and worked together as friends. I was taken by surprise when I was told that he was urgently needed in our School in Kanjirapally and I was not able to retain him. Since he was from Changanacherry, he was judged to be specially fit for dealing with the Parents and the public of Kanjirapally, some of them being related to him and a good number being old Old Boys of Loyola. After his successful spell there, he returned to Loyola as Principal. By that time, I was in charge of the young Jesuits of Kerala and frequently on the move.

The blog hints at and tells another story. Actually, what happened is different. I know it since I was involved. It is I who sent Kuru to the last three places, each time at his specific request. I became the Provincial in May 1997 and, even though I supported Kuru in his work at Loyola, after a time he kept on making representations to me that he wanted to leave Loyola. He felt an inner call, inviting him to serve elsewhere. I took the matter up with my 4 Consultors and in response to his own request, I missioned him to the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) in Damak, NEPAL. In fact, I had been there earlier to take a Course for the Teachers in that huge JRS Camp. When Kuru was settled there, I visited him there and he was very happy with another old colleague and friend of ours, Fr P. S. Amalraj S.J., now the Director of JRS (South Asia), based at Indian Social Institute (I.S.I.), Bangalore. It was during my visit there that our friend, Fr Mathew Pulickal, passed away. I was indeed quite sad because we belonged to the same community, Christ Hall, Calicut, and his departure was sudden. When Kuru began to sense that the Refugees (they are still there — a large number of Nepali-origin Refugees, rich and poor, who had lived in Bhutan for years and years and who had been forcefully evicted from Bhutan) might be re-settled through the intervention of UNHCR, he asked me to mission him to St Augustine’s University College in TANZANIA, where he came to know of an urgent need for a Professor. I had correspondence with the Provincial of East Africa (whom I knew from a meeting in Rome) and Kuru was missioned there. After a few months there, he found that the standard was rather low and that his talents were not being used properly. So he asked me whether I could mission him to GUYANA. (Before Independence it was called British Guiana and I myself had volunteered to serve there! lt is the only English-speaking country in South America !)

The Regional Superior of Guyana was Fr Joseph (from Kerala), a friend of mine and a friend of Kuru. He was desperately in need of men. So I missioned Kuru to Guyana. We used to write to each other when he was in Nepal, in Tanzania and in Guyana, but his letters became few and far between. Last year he took a holiday in U.S.A. where he spent time with his relatives and Loyola Old Boys. There he met the present Rector of Loyola, Fr Joye James. Later Kuru wrote to me — that was his last letter — that he had been appointed Superior of the Pakaraima Region, that he would often have to travel on horse-back and that his work would be among the Amerindian Tribes there.

Kuru’s life was a colourful life. There was always a sense of freshness, because he was open to Life. He made use of the talents God endowed him with and his outreach was remarkable. May his soul rest in peace in God ! My Dear Friends, let us cherish the gift of life that each one has received. Let us make our lives bear fruit, fruit that will last. Stay well. With Love, Best Wishes and Prayers,

John FJ Manipadam SJ

This email was sent to the batch of 85 by Fr. Manipadam.

http://www.diocese.cc/upload/images/originals/19%20march%202010%20CSt.pdf

Justin Prabhu SJ

Keep watch over your little sheep, O Wise Shepherd.

Father had noticed this boy in school who was rather too quiet and not even in the fields like the regular Loyolite. He called me into the indoor sports room and handed me his table tennis bat. It was the first time I ever played a game. Our course had never played any indoor games and I was among the first who started playing table tennis. It soon started a revolution in the class; everyone was rushing to play table tennis. Even behind my TT racket was story. Father started to give me his racket for the first few times then he bought and gave me a racket which I paid back for in installments. All this happened when I was in class seventh.

It was at the same time he had introduced me to computers. I used to go to his office and sit and play on his computer, games like dave or a quiz and so on. Now this was never a trait you could ever find in other Principals.

But now as I start to remember many of the things he did for me as an individual it would seem very trivial to you but I have become who I am today because of Father… He had taught me to believe and have faith in the smallest of our talents. He helped me gather new skills which I use till date.

Father was in every sense a priest, a father who cared for his children. Words seem futile just as flowers on a deathbed but I thought to write this seeing that I’m not alone. Father had fathered many to where we are right now. I just wanted to give my support to those who remember him.

It was class 11 and 12, the toughest 2 years of our lives in Loyola – with the typhoons of entrance exams, ISC exams and tuition classes wrecking every bit of our lives as kids.

Fr. Kuruvilla was that calm tide that helped us reach the shore. His focus on extra curricular activities while everyone and their mothers were pushing us to study more was such a welcome change.

I fondly remember the excursion which he accompanied us to Chennai and Black Thunder. Although we were all looking forward to the amusement park, he was insistent that we go to a nearby place and watch the migratory birds in the region.

He was also the guiding light behind our school play – supporting us, despite missed classes and schedules… he was the silent guiding light that lead us through those 2 years which turned to being the 2 most enjoyable years in our lives.

Fr. Kuruvilla.. I hope.. no.. I know that your soul will rest in peace…

From the Students of ISC 99 batch

Binu Ninan Kovoor

I remember the suggestion box. That was an extraordinary thing to do, and a dangerous one too.

I remember how, one day during lunch, I got up to greet him as he passed by. That day he told me to ‘never get up while you are eating, even if the king comes by’.

I remember how he used to come to our class during free hours and play quiz with us. Once it was anthakshari, and I remember the look on his face when one of us got up to sing ‘Thazhampoo manamulla thanuppulla raathriyil, thanichirunnurangunna cheruppakkari..’. I think we were in class six then.

I believe he was a good man, and a great man.

Thank you, father.

You could go to Father Kuruvila when the chips were down and he would not judge you. A stern word maybe, but never would he judge you.

Thank you Father Kuruvila for instilling self belief in ourselves. May your soul rest in peace. Thanks for all the memories and the kindness.

Suninsh Mathew
AKJM, 1988-89 batch

Fr Justin Prabhu deserves special thanks for the update regarding the funeral.

Rajesh, I’ll be happy to link to Fr Manipadam’s version, when it’s available on the Web. I didn’t say that Fr Kuruvila was sent away from Loyola against his will.

Fr Toby, thank you for the chronology. Though I didn’t say that Fr Kuruvila left because of the poor academic result, I was wrong in putting “the academic result” as the backdrop. To those who returned to school after the summer vacation, the scene was: Fr Anikuzhy stands in place of Fr Kuruvila, behind him is a picture of poor academic result. This led people to associate the two. Interestingly, even today (after your comment) people confirmed that the Principal’s departure and the result were linked. Your correction, however, helps to set the record straight. Wish more people would read this blog and the comments. But is it correct to say that there was “no connection whatsoever”? I will agree with you once we arrive at the real reason(s) behind Fr Kuruvila’s departure in 2000.

This is a very sad news, Father has made a unique contribution to all us.

I was a very average student given Loyola’s high academic standards, I passed out in 1999. Father spoke to me several times regarding my problems, he encouraged me not to pursue a career in engineering and medicine.

I took up a graduation course in economics and my life changed. He used to joke at times saying that it looks like you are an ” ugly duckling”. He was the one who gave me the courage to pursue what I wanted.

Its very sad that Father left us all on 6th. I feel more sad because I got into another Jesuit Institution XIM- Bhubaneswar as a faculty on 9th March.

Father, your message of building the character of students will be a guiding light for me as a teacher.

His legacy has been the indelibe impression he has left on all of us. As is written on the small memorial to Sir Christopher Wren, the architect of St Paul’s Cathedral in London, ’si monumentum requiris, circumspice’, or, ‘if you need a memorial, look around you’.

Thank you father, I will always be inspired by you.

Jeevan

Monday 15th March 2010

11.00am Simple Prayer & Intercessions (Brickdam Cathedral, Georgetown) followed by transfer of body to Berbice.
3.00pm Funeral Mass (St Francis Xavier’s Church, Port Mourant) followed by burial in the SFX Parish cemetery

Our deepest sympathies to Fr Kuruvila’s family and friends. We continue to remember Kuru in our prayers.

the Jesuits in Guyana
http://www.guyanajesuits.org
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=316247259130

Ravi Mathew

Former AKJM product!

Here is what some of my batchmates had to say when I broke the news to them:

K.A. Varghese

Sad to hear this news, and – May his soul rest in Peace

Remember him clearly with his collection of songs, his hockey stick and his enthusiasm to play with boarders, his tennis racquet etc.

Antony Joseph

After our last visit to school, it was obvious that Loyala has/had lost its sheen on extracurricular activities. I guess Fr.Karadi had a role in keeping it balanced during our stint there….

Sanjeev Sivan

this is shocking….. the one person whom i admired….i have lost a friend…. just can’t take it.

Issac Philip

Really sad to hear this. Still remember the chemistry classes in 10th and the after school hockey.

May his soul rest in peace.

Rajiv Varghese
1977.

In summarising his time at Loyola, you provided us with a link to Fr Joseph and his problems. In the interest of objectivity, I guess you should also provide links to “the other version” – namely, a different perspective of things – for instance, the memories of the events in the words of Fr John Manipadam, who was the provincial referred to.

Father John had actually written to our yahoo group on this issue. Please let me know if you would like to publish excerpts from this letter.

I have sort of gone to the trouble of writing to you simply because, having stayed in the hostel, in close proximity to these priests, I tend to remember things differently. Fr. Kuruvilla, for instance, was no pushover: it would have been quite difficult to send him somewhere against his will or without his consent.

Having said that, both of us still know that this is never the full story.

We were perhaps too young to realise the undercurrents during those days!

Regards,

Rajesh (Raj; 1985 Loyola)

Regarding his last stint in Loyola, I wonder (from what I’ve heard) if (most of )the staff and parents didn’t understand or appreciate his vision.

Thank you Syam, Ashok, Sandeep, Asif, Suresh, Krishnadev, Sunil, Asti, Prathap, and Joy for touchingly sharing your personal stories, and showing us different facets of Fr Kuruvila Cherian.

Fr. Kuruvilla Cheriyan was my class teacher and Vice Principal. He brought me into Hockey, we played Hockey together and he was just like any other player on the field without asking for any advantage of being the VP. We used to have the usual fights, arguments and even physical attacks as it happens in any match of hockey and he was also like us at that time. However, he took all of them sportingly and never took them outside the hockey ground.

Along with him, we made the Rink hockey field (now a basket ball court near the cycle parking area).

When he came back to Loyola after many years, from somewhere he found out my phone number and contacted me. Then his question was ‘why is your son not in Loyola?’ (the age rules prevented him to admit my son in Loyola)

Now I have lost one of my best mentors.

May his soul rest in peace .

Joy

Prathap Suthan
Loyola 1977

Thank you Fr. Kuruvilla Cherian for touching our lives. A part of you continue to live in all of us (your students).

Suresh Kumar Aravind
School Leader – 1977, on behalf of the Boys of Seventy Seven (BoSS)

Memories that well up are of a kind man; who cheerfully told us, a bunch of mortified kids to resume the game, after a powerful kick landed the football squat on his back; who left me and a friend ashamed when he just walked on after looking at us with a shocked expression when on one of his rounds, he saw us through the window, playing ‘hand-cricket’ during class.

Fr. kuruvila started phonetics classes for students from junior school itself, we dint like it much but it really helped us I would say.

He then started a new system in assembly. He took out his camera box, poked hole in it and turned it into a suggestion box where each student could add his suggestions and complaints. These complaints and suggestions were to be read in assembly every weak and he commented and acted at that very moment.

He was one of the Jesuits who was pretty close to me at that time. I had spent a part of my vacation with him. Once I visited his office, he took a snap of me and my friend. Before he left school, he handed over the snaps in an envelope and shared few thoughts.

It was after meeting him, meddling with his pc @ his cabin, fixing it, some interests in these things grew in me. He encouraged my interests.

His contributions towards Loyola and my life were too much to be put down on words.
May his soul rest in peace.

It was so once in 4th standard that me and a cllassmate, Mathews got into a horrible argument. I don’t remember what it was about, but i remember that both of us were pretty angry.

And we decided to go see principal about it. Two fourth standard kids who thought themselves important enough to let the school principal solve it.

We walked into principals office “faather.. this boy called me this”

And we see Fr. Kuruvilla sitting in his chair and eating “chocos” buscuit.
He asked us to sit down. He opened a new packet of buscuits and gave us half each and asked us to eat it. Three of us sat and ate in silence, after which we were very kindly told that we could go.

The issue was solved.