How Kerala, first child of American couple got the name

Kottayam: The first sight of Kerala brought tears of joy to Kerala's eyes! Confused? Kerala, who will turn 16 after 16 days, is the daughter of US citizens Robert Morehouse (45) and Catherine (46), who named their first child after the southern state in India, when they developed an affection for the place and its people.

Robert and Catherine first arrived in Kerala back in 2008 as part of their PhD research on the Syrian language and Carnatic music. At that time, Catherine was a student at University of Maryland and Robert was a researcher at Catholic University in Washington DC. During his research on Syrian Christians, Robert heard about SEERI (St Ephraem Ecumenical Research Institute) at Kottayam in Kerala. Soon, Robert contacted Fr Jacob Thekeparampil, Director of SEERI, and received the opportunity to travel to Kerala along with Catherine.

When the couple returned to the US in 2009, Catherine was carrying and gave birth to a baby girl on November 17 that year. Robert and Catherine did not have any doubts on selecting a name for their first child born in America – it was the Indian state of Kerala.

The couple later became parents to three more children – Caleb (13), Sivana (13) and River (9). All members of the family now reside in Jerusalem. Kerala, a class 11 student in Jerusalem, accompanied her father when he recently visited Kottayam for the 40th anniversary celebrations of SEERI and it was an emotional experience for the youngster.

Meanwhile, Robert and Catherine said that ‘palappam’, stew, ‘pidi’ and chicken curry were their favourite Kerala dishes. They also said that they could never forget the taste of other delicacies such as ‘porotta’, beef, ‘payasam’ and ‘sukhiyan’. Relishing Kerala ‘sadya’ with ‘pani’ was another memorable gourmet experience for the American couple. Their first child, Kerala, too has been inspired by the food habits of the residents of the state – she loves eating by hand.

Robert said that another aspect that attracted them to Kerala was the warmth of its people. “My favourite word is ‘matha maithri’ (religious harmony),” said Robert, stating the word in clear Malayalam.

Incidentally, during her visit to the state, Catherine was inspired by ‘Shingari Melam’ a percussion performance by an all-woman team during the inauguration of a shop in Kottayam and got trained in ‘chenda’, a percussion instrument, under Lali Kumar at Chengalam in Kottayam.