With the death of my grandfather, his son Thommachen became the 'Head' of the family. Thommachen was a business man, well reputed in his business in bananas and plantains. He owned a fleet of canoes and shipped the bananas and plantains to Cochin. All the bananas and plantains came to him from the eastern land and he was the sole collector and distributor. He was considered to be one of the wealthiest men in Changanassery. He always moved with a battalion of workers and supporters. He was very generous and committed to any cause. But his belief in any cause was unshakable. My father initially felt that he was a victim of those unshakable beliefs, but later realized that everything Thommachen did was for his own good and benefit.

Thommachen considered his youngest brother Kuriakochen, my father, as his own son and raised him accordingly. He never wanted Kuriakochen to feel the loss of his father. My father always feared him. He remembered Thommachen with reverence and respect. One night during 1970, I heard my father shrieking and crying in sleep. When I rushed to his bed, I saw him trembling in fear. I gently woke him up. He said, he had a bad dream, Thommachen chasing him with a cane. Thommachen was dead thirty years by that time. Such was my father's fear for his brother.

Thommachen was alcoholic. He spent money lavishly in luxury and for entertainment. His word was the rule and his thought the philosophy. He guided his supporters or his supporters guided him. He was a generous contributor to charity and church. The large hanging lamp in the St. Mary's Cathedral belonged to the family and was donated to the church by him.

Thommachen married twice and had children in both the marriages. But he loved Kuriakochen more than his own children. He knew that he may not live longer to pass the mantle to his children. He saw in my father, a man of determination, courage and hope. He wanted Kuriakochen to take up that mantle and seek a new world for the future generations.

Thommachen died of a massive heart attack at the age of fifty.