Metro Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Delhi
Hyderabad
Kochi
Thiruvananthapuram
Visakhapatnam
The Roman connection
|
Nandu and his interview was a great hit in Italy. And this 13-year-old had the strange fortune to study the same interview in his Social Studies textbook in school the next year. Meet this prodigy.
|
WHEN IN Rome they do not do as the Romans do. Though a doctor, he is a hotelier. Though an allopathic doctor, she practises ayurveda along with allopathy. And their son, Mathew alias Nandu Myladoor, all of 13, has to study his own interview to a children's magazine, given the previous year, as a lesson in Social Studies the next year.
Nandu is no Changampuzha either. What Nandu, a gifted student and a linguist did, was to give an interview to a journalist on integration of foreign students with the Italian culture. Says Nandu, "I gave the interview when I was in the fourth class. When I entered the sixth, my mother bought all my texts. I opened the Social Studies textbook and the first lesson was titled Story of Mathew. I just read it out of curiosity and I found that it was my own story, the interview I had given to Maria Lourdes Mando for the ERRE magazine for children. Imagine my surprise. I told Amma, " See, this lesson is my own story." His mother thought he was referring to the story of Mathew of the Bible!
Nandu was interviewed on his life and times... how he travelled alone to Canada at the age of six to meet his aunt, bought a perfume for his father for $ 50 which was all he had with him and came back and told his mother: "Amma, it is not that I love father more, it is just that I did not have money to buy you anything".
Nandu has travelled widely for his age to the U.K, the U.S, Canada and India. Being fluent in English, Malayalam, French, Italian, and Spanish, he is also the favourite interpreter for his cousins when on travel.
What was the interview about, which so impressed the Education Ministry of Italy that they included it as a lesson? Nandu talks about himself, his experiences in Italy and India, that though familiar with other countries he likes India best. His interview says: "My parents are from Thodupuzha in Kerala. In our garden there are snakes, cows, goats, pigs, cats and dogs. One of the dogs is scared of me, which surprises me. I have never seen a dog, which runs away and hides when he sees a kid. India has elephants. It is fun to travel elephant-back."
When asked to comment on an interesting experience in India he says in the interview: "India has lots of space for the children to play. But what I remember, is a story I heard there." And he tells the story of the clever, thirsty crow which picked stones and dropped them into a pot of water so that the water level would rise and it could sip it."
Predictably Nandu's interview was a great hit. And Nandu too. "I like Italy because it is a land of opportunities. The journalist who interviewed me, Maria Aunty, she came as a poor domestic worker from Africa, learnt privately and studied journalism and is one of the topmost journalists in Italy," he says.
Nandu has already written and passed his Cambridge examination. "I put him for a French course for beginners. The teacher there told me that he is too brilliant for this course and I had to admit him for the higher course," Nancy says proudly.
Mathew's father, Thomas runs an Indian restaurant. He serves Kerala cuisine as well, including kappa and fish. "Actually, we both are cultural ambassadors of India, promoting Indian culture, cuisine, and ayurveda," Nancy smiles.
They are frequent visitors to Thodupuzha where they run a charitable institution called Mother and Child Foundation, caring for orphans, children of unwed mothers and wandering lunatics. "We collect money from everywhere for the Foundation," Nancy explained. Cooking and selling food to collect money or organising cultural shows, inviting even film stars to participate. The Mother and Child Foundation is indeed growing, making it into a place of pilgrimage for visitors from Rome!
LM
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Metro Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Delhi
Hyderabad
Kochi
Thiruvananthapuram
Visakhapatnam
|
