📝About Us

Founder  of Rehabilitation Institute                                   

Padma Shri Dr. Mary Verghese (1925-1986)

Young Mary ran to the open gate of the courtyard when she heard the high-pitched cry. The usually crowded road was suddenly deserted. Glancing around, she noticed that the cry emanated from a strange looking man, with a stranger gait: stumps of a hand were bound in rags and his feet were bandaged too. He seemed tragically comical with no eyebrows and flatness where his nose should have been. Mary was suddenly pulled away from the gate by a horrified chedathi, maid, and warned by her fearful mother that it was too dangerous to go outside. Their muttered murmurs of 'pavam leper', 'contagious' and 'outcast' whispered fear and repugnance to her young mind. As soon as the man disappeared, the hustle, bustle and hawkers had returned to the road outside.

For Mary and her seven siblings, life in their sprawling red-tiled home in Cherai village was heaven. Located on the picturesque Vypin Island, Cherai epitomized the idyllic Malabar landscape- peaceful coconut groves, lush carpets of paddy fields, picture postcard homesteads, with a maze of lazy backwaters and small canals. Every hue of green, from emerald to jade and everything in between tinted the scenery, and, out in the distance, as if for contrast, was the brilliant blue of the Arabian Sea. The tang of the sea breeze suffused the air. The nearest city of Ernakulam seemed dusty and detached. The spacious courtyard and coconut groves provided much space and excitement for childhood fun and games- whether racing along the varamb, or trying to out-climb the agile coconut climbers. The cool verandah was a refuge from the scorching summer sun, and from its safe confines they watched the annual spectacle of the dark monsoon clouds rolling in. The large household and extended family made for great conversations, memorable occasions and close familial ties. With an indulgent Amma, and delicious aromas of curries and spices wafting from their plenteous kitchen, there was love, warmth and plenty. Disease, poverty and want were unknown to the prosperous family of Puthisseril Verghese.

Theirs was a devout Syrian Christian household. The day began and ended with formal prayers intoned by her beloved father, Appan. Church, too, was more than a Sunday feature. The rhythms of life and seasons were in tune with the ecclesiastical calendar. Mary loved her church -  its soaring arches and vaults, elaborate altars and intricate carvings, chants and rituals, censers and incense filled her with a sense of wonder and reverence for the ancient traditions of the Syrian Christian Church.

Appan was a respected figure in the community and church. Strict but kind, he was usually busy with matters of his business. Appan was very aware of the importance of education, his own having been abruptly curtailed by family circumstances. Consequently, Mary and her siblings weren't just sent school; they were expected to perform brilliantly as well. Two hours of study, before and after the morning prayers, were part of Appan's exacting regimen. Their report cards would be inspected carefully and Appan's approval would often be tempered with restraint. 'It is good,' he told Mary, 'but let us always strive to exceed our own achievements'.

Mary was both challenged and fascinated by the ever-widening horizons that school and later college education opened for her. With a keen intellect and diligent nature, Mary proved to be an excellent student. Her stubborn, independent streak only motivated her to better her brothers' accomplishments. She often mused what she might become: an engineer, a teacher.... Such ambitions were not uncommon, but they were certainly not the norm in early 20th century India, where marriage, children bearing and rearing was the destiny of most girls. But, then, Mary was not 'most' girls. She did her family proud by standing first in her school in the high school examinations. The prize was Pandit Nehru's autobiography. It revealed her to an India outside her village or even the city of Ernakulam. Mary suddenly became aware of the winds of momentous changes that were sweeping through colonial India, of the cries of nationalism and the pangs of Independence.