Tall men make a difference wherever they go. And they did here as well on Saturday when 40 of them gathered at a private hotel near the collectorate as part of the third district annual meeting of the Tall Men Association (TMA).
Heads of the passersby turned as the TMA men, all of them six footers and above, chatted with their friends and posed for photographs. “Our height is our pride. It is a gift from God,” one of them says.
Tigrees Antony, TMA State president, said it (TMA) was the first collective of tall men in the world. Formed 13 years ago with its base in Kochi, TMA has spread its wings across Kerala and beyond. It has members in other States too. We have an invite from Jharkand to form a unit there, Mr. Antony says. The TMA has currently units in Thrissur, Ernakulam, Kottayam, Alappuzha, Palakkad, and Malappuram districts. The Kozhikode district unit was born on Saturday with Sailesh Nair as president, Anupam Anand as secretary, and Jayachandran as treasurer. Anupam Anand, with a height of 6-foot and 7-inch, is the tallest in the Kozhikode unit. Nishad, six-foot, five-inch, is the tallest in the Malappuram unit. But it is 50-year-old P.M. Kamaruddin from Pavaratti, Chavakkad, who stole the show here on Saturday.
When Saranya Murali, a standard VI student of AUP School, Malappuram, came forward to offer him a bouquet of flowers, the contrast became inescapably striking. Standing tall at seven feet and two inches, Mr. Kamaruddin is reportedly the tallest man in Kerala. Even tall men jostled to get a photograph with the tallest man. Kamaruddin displayed exceptional patience and cool and obliged to everyone’s request for a photograph. “We are very happy that we have an association like this,” K. Hakeem, a member of the TMA in Malappuram, says. The TMA has 3,500 members in the State. A minimum height of six feet is the membership eligibility.
The TMA is engaged in charitable activities. We are planning to expand our activities, Mr. Antony says. The Tall Men Association Executive Force (TMAEF) provides celebrity security, crowd control services, and various other manpower services, including parking assistance, he says. The tall men of the force, in navy blue uniforms, usually steal the show wherever they go, he adds.
