My father was an open textbook where everyone could read the principles he cherished in his life.

One Achen (priest) who used to meet him a few times a year for the last many years said,” Your father has left a lot of good lessons for us to follow.” If a person who used to meet him once in a while could influence them, then you can imagine his influence on his children staying with him.

Certainly, his life influenced all the children. Once I overheard his conversation with someone where he said, “My children do not bother whether they have or not, they go out of the way to help”. Though a lot of things could be narrated about my father, I want to share how he was a successful person in spite of all the traumatic experiences he underwent.

1. He gave first priority to God and Godly principles in all his activities. If something was legally correct but ethically wrong, he would close the chapter and do not pursue them.
2. His second priority was “others”. He used to help any person irrespective of caste, creed or social status.
3. His third priority was him. That does not mean that he neglected his life. He also managed his life well.

His working principles influenced all the children.

When I was 4 or 5 years old, I remember him making a small boat for me using a discarded printing plate he got from the press. Instead of buying a toy boat, he made it for me.

As I was growing up, my heart yearned for toys I used to see in the shop while we went shopping. Whenever I ask my dad to buy it, many times he used to advise me to make it by myself. This advice made me spend time doing things myself, follow my inquisitiveness and become a scientist.

Growing up with my father and seeing the way he used to fellowship with missionaries and other Christian workers helped me to set my priorities with respect to mission work. Unlike the policy held by others in some churches, he never created any walls with people from other denominations doing God’s work. Thus, he was involved in many Christian organisations. We had the golden opportunity of sharing our dining table with almost all nationalities who usually visit my father.

I travelled to many places in India and abroad with my father. One day, as we were heading towards London, he showed me Chatten Barracks through the aircraft’s window. That was the place he worked when he was with the Royal Indian Navy and accepted Jesus Christ as his personal Saviour.

While we were staying in England, Mr. Trevor Clark, dad’s friend, took us for a meeting and introduced me to the group. He explained to the group the type of work I intend to do in India. That day, 22 people, including my father, committed me to the Lord for the work. After working 11 years as a scientist in a National Institute, the Holy Spirit reminded me of the commitment. Then I resigned from my job and did not continue working for the pension by warming my chair and without any real purpose in life.  

I moved to a small town near Mumbai, serving the Adivasis and other tribes under the banner of M.E. Eapen Institute of Science & Technology for Community Development (MEEISATCODE). My father was humble, and he advised me to put MEEISATCODE, and not its full name, because he did not want his name to be seen. 

I teach spoken English, music and science to students and render some technical support to the people. I have developed many products and published a few papers here. 

My father always advised me to do something to alleviate the sufferings of people and this kept me away from some of the modern trends of biotechnology. His advice made me search for natural food products that will control diseases. At this moment I want to share that one of his granddaughters, Aneesha, under MEEISATCODE, did a project called Zero Garbage Home, exhibited to the public in her school in 2011. The Chief Officer of the local Municipal Corporation, Mr. Vaibhav Aware, was the Chief guest of the function, and he immediately implemented the project in our Dahanu town. He brought a program “Clean Dahanu, Beautiful Dahanu” and it was a success. In 2014, the new government took the idea and started “Swatch Bharat Mission”. Thus, the start of the mission was from Dahanu and from Aneesha. These stories you may not hear from the public or media because our country gives low priority to ethics.

My dad has influenced my perception of society. When we were visiting England, he was surprised that I was not very excited to be there. 

Later on, I shared with a friend of mine staying there that I had not visited such a poor country in my life. He asked me, Why do you say that? I answered, “I am very sad to see a lot of lonely people in a beautiful country, with none to share their thoughts and burden”. The altered perception led me to perceive the social evil prevalent amongst Christians in Kerala, where new converts are not accepted as brides or bridegrooms in matrimony. Therefore, I advertised three times in newspapers for a Hindu converted girl and one of the senior Brethren got introduced to me through those advertisements. Finally, I married a Hindu convert lady who was a member of a church and attended a fellowship 4 years prior to our marriage. All these perceptions in me were due to the influence of growing up with my father.

I thank God for my father and what I could do for him when he was in Mumbai. At that time, he was in a traumatic condition due to my sister’s sickness. I could be of some help to him during those days.