Young Women's Christian Association, where memorable moments were made
There is also an exhibition of old photographs and memorabilia at the YWCA Hall, beginning on August 8.
Thiruvananthapuram: It was a room facing the old Indian Coffee House, one that’s no longer there, but missed heavily by those that lived in Thiruvananthapuram in the 1960s and 70s. Molly Makil was excited to get the precious room. Her family knew Dr Mary Poonen Lukose, founder president of the Thiruvananthapuram chapter of the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA). More than 50 years later, Molly is excited like a little girl, remembering the many moments that made her days there so memorable. When she heard the Thiruvananthapuram chapter of the YWCA was going to celebrate its centenary, she made sure she would come, once again to that place that she says gave her the sweetest memories in life.
“It was the first time I was staying in a hostel. The year was 1964, and I had come to join the University College for my MA in History. What I loved about the hostel was it gave you enough freedom, and had the necessary control. And then there were the friends I made… so many of them,” you can hear her excitement in little gasps of air, on a phone call from Kottayam. The home she left to do her Masters in the capital. If back then Molly was homesick, it must have faded in the long conversations she had with those new friends. “We were all from different colleges – I was in the University College, others in Women’s and MG, Law College and All Saints. All of us would go together for movies, there’d be some 30 of us. I remember watching Prem Nazir’s Shakuntala, Murappennu, Bhargaveenilayam and all. Then there were the Sunday evenings listening to the shabdarekha (sound) of movies on the radio, that we’d all gather together to hear.”
She even remembers the 25 paise worth poori masala that a boy called Martin would go buy for them from the Coffee House. Many, many others like Molly would be excited to take part in the centenary celebrations that began in Thiruvananthapuram on August 16, 2016. A year later – August 16, 2017 – would mark the centenary. “At first we gathered to discuss what to do, how to celebrate, what project to take up. So then we formed a centenary committee to oversee the celebrations and Rani Sarah Thomas became its convenor,” says Reana Thomas, current president. Jacob Punnoose, who is part of the Advisory Committee, suggested a project of giving educational scholarships to 100 girls. “So then the next question was how to raise funds for the project,” Reana says. There came a finance and fundraising committee headed by Lizzy Thomas to put together entertainment programmes, lucky draws, etc to raise funds. They also decided to bring out a centenary souvenir and put Prabha Joshua in charge of it.
So Prabha and her team went through years of Minutes-of-Meetings preserved since the very first meeting that took place on August 16, 1917, at the VJT Hall, chaired by Mrs Arthur Parker, wife of the missionary Rev. Arthur Parker, and attended by Nina T Brentnall, sent by the National YWCA. It’s after that Mary Poonan Lukose took charge, and went on to preside for 55 years till 1973. They found a lot of details from the records kept by the predecessors. “It was a meticulous way in which the women worked – newspaper cuttings, pamphlets, old invitation cards, were all pasted in log books. They are torn and tattered now, but I think we should restart it,” Prabha says.
The first hostel was a dilapidated building, a rented one in Nanthencode, with eight girls, Rani says. Land was purchased in 1922, and three years later, there were 75 students. In 1927 the building that stands today at MG Road, Thiruvananthapuram, was opened. In 1957, a hostel for non-gazetted working women was started at the government’s request. And after that, a working women’s hostel was built at the General Hospital junction. The newest building is the senior citizen’s hostel built opposite the student’s hostel, for the elderly. “But there are women of all ages staying here,” says Chandralekha, doing her PhD. “I came from Perumbavoor to Thiruvananthapuram in 2010, from a nuclear family. But then I made so many friends here, who became very important to me. I was a Maths student, switching to Economics, and on the verge of giving up when a hostel mate, Neelima, encouraged me to stay.” Now, she stays with women as young as 18 and as old as 80 and feel a lot at home.
Decades may have passed between them but Molly and Chandralekha seem to attach the same meaning to their hostel days: lifelong friendship. For retired professor P.O. Mariamma, who stayed from 1966 to 1968, it was everything nice, peaceful and spiritual. “I used to lead the prayer songs. I was the student’s president too. So when the girls wanted to go out to the Shanghumugham beach, our matron Mary Kochamma would say, if P.O. Mariamma takes you, you can go.” Memories were rewound on August 12, at a reunion for everyone who stayed at the hostel through the years. There is also an exhibition of old photographs and memorabilia at the YWCA Hall, beginning on August 8. And on August 16, 2017, they’d all go to the VJT Hall where it all began, and celebrate their century in presence of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Dr Kiran Bedi, and others.