Mythri home for the elderly in Chalappuram, the first of its kind in the district, will no more be part of the city’s heritage, as it has been moved to Thirunavaya in Malappuram district.
The new P.P. Kunhunni Nair Memorial Mythri Mandiram Elder’s Home is located in an ancient building on seven acres of land at Kanmanam in Valavannur panchayat. Unlike at the congested building that used to house the home earlier, the inmates of the Home now have enough space for their activities that include a live vegetable garden, skill development centre, nursing teachers’ training institute, Vanitha Vedi and school, all under the Mythri umbrella.
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It was a prolonged hospital stay, ailing from cancer that prompted P.C.C. Raja, the custodian of the home and also the founder to realise the hardships faced by the elderly and to start a home for them to make optimum use of their experience and skill in a creative manner.
Thus Mythri home for the elderly was founded in 1993 with his uncle P.C.K. Raja as trustee, industrialist V.K. Eradi as Managing Trustee and former Supreme Court judge late Balakrishna Eradi as patron.
It first functioned in a house granted by the judge’s family, before moving into the congested building in Chalappuram in 2010. The new vast plot of the Home was contributed by the wife of P.C. K. Raja.
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The elder’s home mostly functioned on sponsorships from friends and relatives while the relatives of the inmates too contributed often. In the more than 20 years of its existence, the home has seen around 6,000 inmates.
“Most of them were thrown away by their children, while some chose the old age home voluntarily,” Mr. Raja said.
29 funerals
He said he had conducted 29 funerals and six post-death rituals for the inmates who passed away while staying at the Home.
Mr.Raja believed in putting the skills of the elderly to creative use even after retirement and found their contributions valuable for the other concerns of the Mythri Trust like the skill development centre.
In the new incarnation, the Home will have a lot more facilities and activities planned for the inmates like ‘Ramayana Sabha’ and ‘Aksharamythri’ to encourage their artistic talents. It is rather an Elder’s Village, Mr.Raja said.
The Home can be contacted on mythrimandiram @gmail.com