George Isaac, who passed away last month aged 95, was a visionary, a groundbreaking achiever and a revolutionary who transformed the lives of those he touched. He was a man of integrity and uncompromising principles. Above all, he was a man of faith.
Many know him as the Rhodes scholar. He graduated from Balliol, the most prestigious college at Oxford University. The other great influence in his life was his primary schooling under his maternal grandfather Rao Bahadoor John Kurian. The foundations for his faith and concern for those less fortunate were sparked by his maternal grandfather.
One of the conditions for accepting the Rhodes scholarship was to use his experiences and abilities to improve the lives of those around him. True to his word he returned home to Kerala where he created Palat.
Prepackaged pickles, jams and curry powders are a staple of the current generation. George Isaac was the visionary behind these phenomena. His business and Palat products were his weapons to bring about revolutionary changes to the society he belonged to.
Palat products, introduced nearly 65 years ago, were originally aimed at women, with the intent to transform the life of an average housewife. It was a perfect combination of pre-ground spices that cut down cooking time considerably. The pickles, jams and squashes he introduced helped a generation of expatriate Keralites to enjoy the 'taste of home away from home’.
Women-centric business
Palat primarily employed women from less privileged backgrounds. This was a time when men of the house drank away the weekly earnings, trapping the family in poverty. Palat gave uneducated housewives the opportunity to attain financial independence.
He was also a pioneer in setting the standard for labour welfare. He constructed clean toilets and bathrooms, and distributed free clothes and free detergents to ensure high hygiene standards and welfare of his employees.
At a time when the gut instinct of an employer was to avoid trade unions at all costs, my father encouraged his employees to study employment law and employee rights, to become organised labour and to set up unions.
He introduced medical care and pension for his employees, benefits unheard of till then in the private sector, thus setting the pace for staff working conditions and employee welfare outside the government sector.
He was deeply concerned about the family welfare and the future of his employees. He firmly believed that if a mother was well supported, she would then ensure the well being her children and thus the future of the family. He had the support of his beloved wife Soosy in his endeavours.
My parents were committed to educating the workers' children and ensured that they had all the basic needs to secure a good education. Staffers were provided with books, uniforms, umbrellas, shoes and baby food. As a result, a generation of children grew up, nourished and well-educated.
His innovations in food manufacturing were also game-changing. He designed and constructed new machinery and set new standards for food quality control. He accomplished all these despite only being formally educated in politics philosophy and economics – a testament to his unparalleled intellect.
The traditionally made pickles would only last for three to six weeks. He pioneered the technology that increased the shelf life of pickles to nearly two years with consistent taste. This breakthrough enabled Palat to sell its products through retail outlets. He developed the technique of preserving ingredients, making seasonal goods readily available throughout the year. His success with vacuum sealing and food canning enabled expatriates to carry Palat products with them on flights without leaking. He collaborated with Western standards agencies, created the first private-sector food laboratory that complied with American standards and became the first Indian manufacturer to export pickles abroad.
Small industries
George Isaac believed that the key to economic mobilisation for the ordinary man of Kerala was through setting up small industries and encouraging entrepreneurship. He persuaded the then industries minister to embark on a venture to set up 100 small industries in each panchayat. He campaigned for women’s industries. It was his brainchild to set up ‘industrial parks’ across Kerala – a collective space for small industries, that will foster growth, by having access to telephone lines, industrial standard electric supplies, clean water and access to transportation. He fostered the ideas of various small industries producing complementary goods, and instead of competing, to create a strong collective through cooperation. He contracted out jobs from Palat to encourage the growth of small industries. He founded ‘The Small Industries Association to foster cooperation and campaign for better facilities and mutual support.
Many of the banking facilities available today for small industries, women were first envisaged and campaigned for by George.
He fought with banking authorities to grant working capital and investment loans to small-scale industries without collateral, but looking at the strength of the business plans. He highlighted the discrimination against women in the eligibility criteria for bank loans.
He campaigned with banks to work in partnership with businesses. For banks to have small industries relationship officers to advise small industries regarding financial management, and provide bridging loan facilities thus ensuring positive cash flow. He pinpointed, negative cash flow, to be the biggest cause of bankruptcy, hence financial advice and support to ensure positive cash flow would in turn ensure the success of small and new businesses.
He campaigned for major commercial banks to issue small credit facilities with monthly re-payments to households to be able to buy essential items like sewing machines. He insisted that banks widen their list of professions that would be allowed to take a motor vehicle loan pointing out it is those on the lower edges of income need a bank loan than professionals like doctors and engineers.
He believed that small credit facilities would transform the economy, by giving the ordinary citizen the option of using his entrepreneurial abilities. A housewife from an agricultural background, if facilitated to buy a cow, through a bank loan, could gain economic independence.
Democracy and the part played by judiciary
He was proud of the Indian democracy and its secular foundations. He believed that the independence and efficiency of the judiciary were key factors to ensure the future of our democracy. He warned and fought against ‘bribery’ corrupting our judicial system. He highlighted that ‘the good health of our democracy’ can only be achieved through, efficient, swift and time-bound responses by the courts to settling disputes. He also campaigned for the introduction of a jury system of piers to strengthen the independence and sovereignty of the judicial system.
A week before his demise, when I spoke to him while he was still in ICU recovering, he had one question for me: “What have I missed in the world while I was out?” This was George Isaac, who had a genuine interest in the world. He went through 4 different newspapers every day till the end. He believed in, ‘the freedom of the press’ to be the health check indicator of a strong democracy. He believed it was the editor’s responsibility to fearlessly raise concerns, and get discussions on critical matters among the citizens of our country.
Unshakeable integrity
His integrity was unshakeable. He was influenced by Gandhi’s autobiography “My Experiments with Truth”. His principle was to never do or say anything that he would be ashamed of. He was devoted to speaking the truth. He would not pay bribes regardless of the consequences. The food inspectors made it their mission to file cases against him, in vengeance and with the intent of dragging him from one court to another. However, he won each of them. In the process, he curtailed the unrestrained power of the food inspectors to terrorise small businesses and proved his products were of the highest quality. However, the legal battles took their toll. His business and personal life suffered heavily due to his uncompromising principles. He would never sell his soul for financial gain.
He had a genuine concern for the well-being of others, especially those less fortunate than him. Once someone advised him: “If there is a pothole on the road ahead is it not better to walk around it than charge straight into it”. Papa did not answer him. However, knowing his character I would say – George Isaac’s concern would be for the others who may fall into that pothole. He would consider it his duty to step into the pothole and fix it for those coming after him.
Pollution concerns
He was one of the first in Kerala to talk about water, air, and sound pollution. Papa fought tirelessly to eradicate the use of “kolaambi” (loudspeakers) from our streets and places of worship.
He was the first person nearly 40 years ago to raise concerns about non-biodegradable plastics and the negative impacts of the fast-growing “use-and-throw”. He warned politicians of vehicle and industry emissions and urged them to manage air pollution. He campaigned for clean public toilets and footpaths when these concepts were unheard of in Kerala.
He fought to keep our rivers clean and bring awareness of the consequences of our rivers being used as sewage outlets. Over 30 years ago he warned us that, the DDT used to kill ants on grass, would find its way to the human bloodstream through cows' milk. He warned us about the unrestrained use of chemicals in the agricultural industry stating the longer-term consequences to human health. He foretold the dire consequences of filling our paddy fields and marshlands for housing and industry. When the 2018 floods devastated Kerala I remembered his warning.
Walk the talk
He was not just a man of words, he also worked tirelessly to improve the plight of those less fortunate than him. He inherited ancestral land in Nattokom, next to which a Laksham Veedu Colony (a colony for poor Dalit families) was built. Soon his land became the colony’s defecating ground. When a normal person would have built high walls to protect his land, George went about building toilets for the colony. First one toilet for every two houses and in time a toilet for each household.
He was a simple man and practised what he preached. He had no regard for amassing wealth or regard for those who did. He chose to build a house with thatched walls on the premises of his ancestral Palathinkal house in Kottayam at a time when such a dwelling would be a mark of poverty. Although he would visit the main house where we grew up under the watchful eye of his mother every day, he would not spend the night in the ancestral home.
The one special feature of his thatched house was the large library, piled with books from floor to ceiling. He also had a wall with two maps – one depicting the history of time, and the other the world map.
A man of faith
Papa’s faith was profound. I have never met another human being who can look past a person’s appearance, wealth and social standing and focus on the person for who they really is. He was someone who had caught the true essence of Christian life and Christ’s teachings. At Palat, 65 years ago Brahmins and Ezhavas worked side by side, earning the same wages. He employed differently-abled persons by creating roles they could do and earn themselves a living.
His concern for those less fortunate marked his personality. He campaigned and worked with the nuns of the poor for a care home for the elderly abandoned at the doors of our hospitals nearly 45 years ago. He foretold the need for old-age homes to be set up by the government. He pointed out that with the rising expatriate communities, a time will come when Kerala will be filled with elderly parents living here with children abroad and living at home with little infrastructural support from the state. Such a time has now arrived; if we had listened to him over 40 years ago, we would have been in a better position to support our elderly citizens.
Even though his faith was grounded in Christianity he made it his mission to understand and find a common ground with other religions. He read and had equal authority over Hindu and Islamic scriptures as he had on the Bible. He believed that religions should compete with each other in showing compassion for the poor.
Apart from Malayalam and English, he could speak in French, German, Swedish, Hindi and Urdu.
Papa attracted friends in high places and with standing invitations few can hope once in their lifetime. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, former US ambassador in India, was not his only friend who occupied high positions of power. At his ancestral home, he hosted the archbishop of Canterbury, two British ambassadors, a German consul and an American ambassador. On his occasional trips to London, I had the privilege of meeting many of his other star-studded friends and having lunch with the master of Oxford. However, he also had very close friends in the lowest of places. In line with his Christian faith, he believed that in entertaining the poor, the widow and the orphan, he entertained angels in disguise. At every opportunity, he chose the company of those less fortunate than him.
He would sit with his chosen friend -- on the mud floor of his thatched house and cherish the lovingly prepared basic meal served on a banana leaf.
A few days after his funeral, a woman spoke to us about my father. Her father was in immense pain and she could not help him as she was poor. In her despair, she said the one face that came to her mind was that of my father. She ran to him. According to her George got up, did not even wait for his driver, drove to her home and took her father to the hospital.
Syrian Christian Succession Act
George Isaac and his sister Mary Roy were both visionaries and groundbreaking achievers. Mary Roy fought for equal rights for women in Christian families. Her legal fight and win was historic and I salute her for her landmark achievement.
My father lost his legal battle. My understanding of my father’s views was that he viewed sthreedhanam as the share of the ancestral property given to a woman at the time of her marriage or to an unmarried woman when she chooses to separate from her family. He fought for not having the new law, which Mary Roy achieved to be applied retrospectively, on the ground that the foundations of several families and family-owned businesses would collapse.
Mary Roy won and George Isaac lost. However, instead of playing them off each other as this country did, for a moment consider the prospect of joining the ideas of these two visionaries. Then a Syrian Christian girl child would have been entitled to wealth on an equal footing with her male siblings and have had access to it at marriage or when she chose to leave her family. That would have put a girl child on the pinnacle. We lost that moment by playing these two great minds against each other rather than seeing what they were truly trying to achieve.
The 'retrospective part', there would be winners and losers both ways and for me simply a matter of opinion as to which was better, depending on who the winners or loosers were in either scenario. The retrospective effect did shake the Syrian Christian community and laid the seeds for the break up of many family-owned businesses. But it also meant wealth flowed into the hands of women in measures that were unprecedented.
The unparalleled privilege of being his daughter
Being his daughter is an unparalleled privilege and challenge at the same time. He brought me up on equal footing as my brothers. He taught me to dive deeper into the problems and question the logic. Identify the cause and not get distracted by symptoms. He taught me to foresee and embrace change. It is a true privilege to have a father who was a walking encyclopaedia and dictionary rolled into one. He carved me out from a block of stone, a chip at a time, to be a person with my own mind. He taught me independence and gained skills to live and chase any dream I may dare to dream. A gift far above any 'sthreedhanam' a father can give his daughter. At a time when the focus was on the male child, papa fought tirelessly for the rights of a girl child.
Ours is a family whose dirty laundry has been washed in public for decades. Just about everything that can be possibly said about the conflict between George and Mary Roy and the Syrian Christian Succession Act has already been said – hence I choose to remain silent on those issues here.
Today, however, I would like to reveal a few behind-the-closed-door facts. My father loved his sister Mary Roy and was immensely proud of her. During their golden years, Papa and Mum would visit Mary kochamma (aunt) at least twice a week. If her health permitted, she would visit Papa once a week with the support of an oxygen cylinder and her carers. They would sit for hours holding hands and singing hymns. My mum looked after Papa with love and care as no wife would do.
Papa was a visionary far ahead of his time. Many have struggled to understand the value of what he has said, there were many who opposed him every step of the way and even called him a fool. However, he certainly was the visionary behind many things we take for granted as the norm today.
He entered eternity at home peacefully, with his beloved wife Soosy at his side.
For me, he lived his life, burning and shining with the might of a thousand stars. Those close to him were at times, blinded and scorched by the fury with which he burned and lived his life. However, the light he spread reached far beyond the reaches of any man I know today and has spread hope and brought transformation to those less privileged than him.
