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Ammaachy,

The Cornerstone
Of Our Family

y son Yohan proudly ed approach to life. Her tinkling
Mtells his second grade laughter still rings in my ears.
classmates in Atlanta that his Growing up, I was intrigued
great grandmother is more than to know more about Ammaachy’s
a 100 years old. He informs them, childhood and her life. As a kid,
rather sagely, that this is how life part of my curiosity was fuelled
is - we will all live to be 100 years by learning that she was born in
old, like her, and have the soft- 1918, which seemed like aeons
est, most delicate hands like her. to me! After all, I had just learnt
Ammaachy, as she is known in in school that the first aircraft
the family, is the gold standard flight was in 1903, 15 years be-
for him when it comes to old age. fore she was born. What was life
But then, she is a shining ex- back then in Nedungadappally,
ample for the rest of the burgeon- a small village in Kerala where
ing family too. I aspire to have she lived? I would keep asking
her quiet tenacity and light-heart- her seemingly trivial questions -

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