tomy

Born on 28.may 1940at 6.30 PM in Chathayam Nakshatram.I am the middleman of the family as I have two elder brothers two younger brothers one elder sister and one younger sister had my early schooling in St Marys school Cheruvally where i was a VIP so to say because Appachi was the manager of the School and had terrific clout in the school and in the church administration..After copleting class 5 i have joined St Georges High School Manimala and passed out from 10th in 1956. I was a member of the School Football and Volleyball team. I did my PUC in Sacred Heart College Thevara and later joined Layola College Madras for my graduation. I was a regular member of the College Volley ball, Basket Ball and Athletics Team., and an active member of all cultural activities.

It was during this time China attacked India and occupied large areas and a state of emergency was declared by the then Prime Minister Shri.Jawaharlal Nehru. India was truly ill prepared for a war and we received severe setback on all fronts and in order to meet the situation Govt of India decided to recruit emergency commissioned officers to defend the Nation. I was one among the very many selected after a rigorous selection process at Bangalore and was send to the Indian Military Academy at Dehra Dun. This place was famous for the Military Academy and the Indian Forest College. Most of the Generals and big names in the Defence Forces have come out of this great Academy. After six months of severe physical and mental training in weopenry, war strategies, drill, route marches, mock fights we were commissioned in the Army and i was sent to the Army Ordnance Corps.I became a Second Lieutenant and the first posting was at Dehu Road in the Central Vehicle Depot. It was indeed a great experience. Later i worked in Central Vehicle Depot at Panagar(Bengal) and 17 Mountai Division Ordnance Maintenance Company at Sikkim from where I left the Army after five years and at the time of leaving I was holding the rank of Captain. Govt of India in perhaps one of their weak moments decided to rehabilitate the Emergency Commissioned Officers released from the Army and many of us were accommodated in the Govt Service/ Public Sector undertakings.

I was selected in Indian Oil Corporation Ltd as Sales Officer in 1969 and joined at our Regional Office at Madras. After initial training I was posted at Cochin.

There was a small gap between my release from the Army and induction in IOC and i have chosen to utilise that interim period to get married and on 2.9.1968 I married Leelamma, daughter of P.P.Thomas of Kappil Puthussery in Pulincunnoo. After three years in CochiI was transferred to Trivandrum and continued there till 1980 when I was transferred to Coimbatore

During our tenure at Cochin Priya was born in May 1970. Both Preethy and praveen were born at Trivandrum in May 1975 and June 1978 respectively. After Coimbatore I worked in Cochin, and Madras and later had a short but bright stint on deputation to Cochin Refineries Ltd as the Sr.Manager Public Relations.In 1990 I was posted as Sr.Divisional Manager of the newly formed Division at Trivandrum and in 1960 I was posted to Cochin as Chief Divisional Manager. I was to retire in 1998 and five days prior to the deadline the then Vajpai Govt decided to increase the retirement age to 60 and I had the good fortune of establishing the Kerala State Office of Indian Oil Corporation Ltd and became the first State Head of Indian Oil Corporation Ltd in Kerala ., as Deputy General Manager.

During my Indian Oil tenure I had the good fortune of establishing PR department in CRL, a new Divisional Office at Trivandrum and the State office at Cochin. As DM Cochin i was also selected as the best Divisional Manager in the region and in an All India contest to boost up lube sales I was adjudged the best performer and was sent to Mauritius on a weeks holiday with Leelamma.It was indeed one of the greatest moments of my career. I have retired from IOC on 31.May 2000 and settled down in Kollad, Kottayam

                    Priya is M.Phil (Biochemistry) and on her way she secured first Rank in BSC and MSC from MG and Kerala University. Priya was married to Josson Akkara, an Electronics Engineer, on 21.5.94. They have two sons Joe and Tom. They are in Bangalore.They are in software business.

                     Preethy did her BSC from Kerala University and MCA from Christ College Bangalore with distinction.After MCA she worked with WIPRO at Bangalore and she was sent to US for three months for the implementation of a software programmer Preethy was married to Ajit , a software engineer working in Virginia USA., on 27 May 2000.

                     Praveen the youngest, has represented Kerala Schools Tennis Team, Kerala State Tennis team and was captain of the Kerala University Team when Kerala team secured third place in the All India Inter University Meet.He did his engineering (mechanical) form TKM college of engineering and now has finished his MBA from University of Technology in Sydney and currently working for an IT firm as sales and marketing assistant.

                                                                   Tomy (06-Oct-2003)