New Delhi: When a Malayali woman left her newborn child behind at a hospital years ago, a German couple adopted him turning his fate around miraculously. Life of Niklaus Samuel Gugger or Nick will match the story of any thriller. The boy abandoned by Malayali Brahmin woman Anasuya has now become the Member of Parliament in Switzerland representing the Evangelical People’s Party.
Nick was born at 1.20 at night on May 1, 1970 at Udupi’s Lombard Memorial Hospital. ‘Give him to a family that will look after him well’ Anasuya said entrusting him with Dr ED Pflugfelder and walked out of the hospital. That is the only thing he knows about his mother.
The German couple Fritz and Elizabeth came to the Lombard hospital at that time for treatment for malaria. Fritz was a teacher at the Nettur Technical Training Foundation (NTTF), Thalasseri. They adopted the kid and waited for the mother to turn up for two years. A newspaper notification for Anasuya returned no results. Nick carries the newspaper clipping even today.
He grew up as Niklaus Samuel Gugger, a Protestant and became the MP of the Evangelical People’s Party. "Look at the evolution of a Brahmin boy", says Nick. He has the telephone number of Fritz’s former colleague at NTTF Reghunath Kurup on his mobile phone. The Fritz couple left for Switzerland’s Dhoon. They had two more children – girls.
Nick went on to graduate in mechanical engineering, and higher degrees in psychology and management and innovation. He is an acclaimed entrepreneur and delivers talks on innovation and management. He owns the now famous Ayurvedic ginger drink in Switzerland – Zingi.
He entered politics in 2002 and went on to become MP in 2017. He was in Delhi on a meeting of world MPs with Indian links when Rajya Sabha MP Achyuta Samantha was astonished to hear his story. The founder of Orissa’s Kalinga University, Achyuta honoured Nick with a D.Litt from Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology.
He is married to Beatrice from Switzerland. Their first girl child was named Anasuya. They have two sons too – Le Antro and Mi Harabi. Nick has two wishes – bring out a book on his life story and celebrate his 25th wedding anniversary on the backwaters of Kerala. He will be in Kerala this August with family.
Switzerland’s federal legislature is called the Federal Assembly. Its two chambers are the National Council and the Council of States. It meets in Bern.
