‘From the Tile Factory to the Altar’ “Ottukambaniyilninnu Altharayilekku” by Fr. Davis Kuttikkat..!

Now Reading: (personal)

‘From the Tile Factory to the Altar’ “Ottukambaniyilninnu Altharayilekku” by

Fr. Davis Kuttikkat..!

Devassy Chettan was locvingly called 'Dessiettan'.  An elder brother is always addressed as Ettan in Malayalam.  Nd Dessiettan was the way we little children around him always addressed him in the times of old.  Then the set up was a School where we were twelve to fourteen children around the big boy Dessiettan, spic and span in charming white dothi (Mundu) and white shirt.  Always ready to help any of us in need and when not helping us, would be doing some other serious errand from the Head Maser Manager of the School. That was Dessiettan in those days.  We children never knew why he was there or what his role was as were there to study well and in English medium.

The book in hand was about him, sort of a biography-cum-auto biography.

There are many books one read, but when a book enthuse us or help us to lead our life the purity’s way, one will quickly feel it.  One such book is the autobiographical book written by Fr. Davis Kuttikkat.  From time to time we all hear about the divine call to some one or the other in our surroundings among our friends or relatives.  Then they go for a pre-Seminary period, a Seminary period coupled with both general studies and theology and assorted studies and at last come out as fresh young priests.  All that interest us, enthuse us to an extent, no doubt.

But Fr. Davis’  story is different.   When one reads it he will be cleansed of his sins.  In another way to say is it will enthuse any one in the Christian way to live a better Christian life. Fr. Davis was called by God directly from childhood.  He had seen God in the eyes of his parents who used to make ardent prayer at the little prayer stand at home and it was common in the previous decades for all in the families in Kerala, to get together for the family prayer.  Also he was advised by his mother to live in purity and simplicity which he took to heart in those little years when the family was in utter poverty and in turmoil to make both ends meet.

His eldest brother who was looking after the household (after the death of his father) put him in various jobs from bonded labour to hard work in other companies including his job in the Tile Factory where he met with Father Jenesius as his says, being the leader of the Catholic Labour Association.  That leadership sat with him for a while as he was a very very devoted Catholic Prayer warrior without knowing it himself.  The Father enthused him so much he approached him to become a priest.  The Good Father gave him a letter to meet the Head Master cum Manager of a would be great School called St. Joseph’s Model Boys School of Thrissur where we met.

We were all like the pebbles in a turbulent river, without knowing it, and rolled over and over again, all of us!  We met again after a while in Thrissur me back to my household and studying for Pre Degree when Dessiettan in his usual spic and span white, with his unfailing smile, enquiring of me and my situation.  Offering to help me to get one concession or the other he took me through various organizations, guided me with the concerned application form filling and also coming with me to meet the heads of the organizations most of whom he knew personally. Then again we rolled on and I was thrown over to Delhi after trying a few other jobs and I lost contact with Dessiettan for a while.  I came home once in an year and at times met Dear Dessiettan at a bus stop or a busy intersection in a priestly cassock, and I raised the address to Brother Davis.  Then I heard he became a priest and congratulated him for that without knowing the pains he had taken, the rolls he had taken as a rolling stone in a turbulent river.

Now he had become Father Davis Kuttikkat.  Great to say that a congratulate him.  But when we heard the story of his pains and troubles, the bottle necks he had to pass through, many of them put in front of him by the Church authorities themselves, many a time not knowing the resilience and perseverance of Father Davis Kuttikkat.  For  knowing all that one has to read the bio-auto-biographical he has published in the name of ‘Ottukambaniyil Ninnu Altharayilekku’ (From the Tile Factory to the Altar) in Malayalam (for the time being until its English version comes out).