How many families are we related to by marriage ?

If we were to see the families that Theempalangad girls have been married into - that would be about 100. If we see the families from which women have come to Theempalangad family by way of marriage, that too would be about 100. Thus there would be about 200 families that are related to us, by way of marriages. There maybe more than one such affiliation or relationship with a number of families and that will reduce the number 200 to an even smaller number.

Many of the members of the family - actually all of us, have a second family we are associated and related to and Theempalangad family is related to - it is called our "Mother's family". In my case it is "Otaplackal" given my dad married my mother, from the Kadakuzha branch of the ottaplackal family, daughter of Mr and Mrs Thomas Mathew.

Every member of the family has a "mother's family" side to them, and it would be interesting to tabulate the relationships and to see who we are connected to by marriage, and thus geneticaly, for that is the make up of the family tree.

Likewise, my Dad's Mother's family is "Olessa" and that brings another relationship into the equation. My dad's brother married from "Plackad" and The sisters of my dad were married into "Thachenkerry" where 2 of them into different branches of the family was done. Also to "Marathinal" and "Karanthanum" families. Our grandfather's mother's family was "Kannanthanam" and one of our great grandfather's sister was married into "Kannanthanam" family. Of the many sisters my grandfather Koshy Geeverghese had, one of them was married into "Karipal" family. There are daughters of Theempalangad family married into families such as "Karippaparambil", "Kadanthode", and where our men have married from "Powathil" and "Thekkekara" families.

I would be amiss if I did not mention the Ferns and the Silas families here, as they too were connected to Theempalangad family by marriage, even if that has been ruptured due to the modern day trends unfortunate in some ways, yet a reality - the other side of marriage or after the marriage called divorce.

My own four sister have been married, respectively, beginning with the oldest to youngest, into these four following families, namely "Polachirackal" "Edassery", "Elamatha" and "Padinjattekara".

So in a brief synopsis, looking at merely the affiliations primarily formed by my grandfather and his wing of the family's affiliation, we see 20 families connected by marriage to the Theempalagad family. This list is not even complete even for my Grandparents wing f the family meaning none of the marriages of the children of T. V. Thomas, Dad's brother are mentioned here, and that is another 7 family affiliations. We will update the list as we get details of family names and further data.

Se how important this information is, and how little we know of each other's family ties.. so much to learn, so much to cherish.

"What is in a name.. A rose would smell just as good..".

Our name just as our family name.. are all mere figments of imagination and identification at best.. even though they take on their own mercurial and magnetic characterizations with our psyche and conscious as well as unconscious soul, mind and body with their numerous interactions by the millions by the day... we take a sort of attachment to our name, names.. family or personal.. good or bad or in between.

Our identity is tied into our name. Nama. We hear it more than anything else. We feel it even in our sleep. We may like it or hate it and we have to recognize that it will have an impact upon us and we must learn to make it work to our advantage and not otherwise.

How does Theempalangad sound to you ? Does it make you happy to hear it used or do it make you cringe, when you hear it ? It may do so at various times, at times good, at times that are bad.. bad and t other times in between.... Like our minds, when we attain a level of higher consciousness become capable of equanimity at all times.. our response to our family name.. ought to be always calm, good, positive and harmonious.

To me "fire" has been thee.. Theee" more correctly to spell it in English, has been the symbol and the root meaning of the word.. and so we are a fire like , fire full , fir(e)y, fire like energy, awake, alive, hot, burning with love, burning with passion for truth, burning with love for God... fire as in holy.. fire as in candles.. fire as in a kitchen that cooks... fire... full family.

Live like the fire.. always.. burning bright, loving, caring, red, warm, bringing warmth to all around us. That is Theemplanagad for me.. ought to be for all of us..

Why When What How

The family - "Why"

It is how we are created

Family first, then Humanity

Earth is our home,

Humanity our real family

Theempalangad a mere unit

Amidst the hundred million families

Here on Planet Earth,

One in a hundred million

In the cosmic plan of things.

Thats why.

The family - "When"

We know that it started 150 years ago

However before that we were "Painum-moottil"

For maybe 1,000 years and before that

Who knows , where and when and what ?

When we came to India and if we are always from here

If we have genes from Syria, Lebanon, China, Africa or

Elsewhere, Europe and much more.. where else

How the ad-mixturing happened and happens

As in all families.. genetic mergers and acquisitions

That is - "When".

The family - "What"

Shall we say... marriages and births, celebrations

Of love and life make the numbers grow.. grow

Bloom and become as the sands on the seashore

Or the stars on the bright lit horizon above

Sky our roof and our mirror, bottomless

Topless of course and space like the universe... just bigger

Better and vaster, even more than the figment of mankind's

Tiny little minds competency to imagine...

It is from where we come.. the family of humanity..

Darwin knew it well... That is "What".

The family - "How"

We better admit, we know not much..

We know so little, except that we are here..

And we know we came from so and so...

As far back as we know.. beyond which we know not much

How coe, where from, when, why and what for.. ???

All questions we have to answer, can answer

If we go deep within ourselves, into scriptures,

Into history, into science, into religions, Yes many and all

We will get to know more.. Not all and everything now..

The family - thats "How".