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addition a duck or two was slaughtered and a sumptuous dinner was on the table by the
time the men had a few drinks and pleasantries. They ate to their hearts’ content, had a
good long siesta, thanked Naithy and Abraham profusely before they left. .Children who
came home from school for lunch were asked to wait a few extra minutes as all the rice
was consumed by the visitors. A.V. George was never to forget the hospitality extended
to him and his friends. Incidentally, he lost that election. But Abraham gained valuable
friendship.

Abraham’s withdrawal from teaching did not diminish his interest in education. It was his
ambition to see an English medium school in Kaipuzha. St. Margaret School run by the
Visitation sisters had an elementary school for boys and girls, and Malayalam Higher
education for girls. Boys who wanted to pursue higher education had to go either to
Mannanam or elsewhere. Starting a school needed the permission of the government and
the blessing of Chevalier Tharayil, the most prominent person of Kaipuzha. He was not
easy to persuade, as he himself was not well educated, and failed to be impressed with the
need for higher learning for ordinary people. Besides any idea that did not originate from
him was not worth pursuing. Abraham spent many hours in diplomacy convincing the
Chevalier that a school would bring prestige to the scion of the Tharayil family. Having
obtained his consent and approval, it was a Herculean task to get the permission of the
government authorities to allow a church run school in Kaipuzha. Church authorities
were not convinced that the school was a viable idea. Abraham undertook to prove that it
was. He obtained the necessary permissions , appointed Mr. Chacko Manthuruthil as the
first headmaster of the school, and he himself assumed the arduous task of
Correspondent of the school in the first few years. The local parish priest was the
manager, but Abraham and Chacko ran the school and proved to the skeptics that there
would be a good steady flow of clients to the school. Thus started St. George’s Middle
School in 1926, which in later years became a high school.

Abraham was very much a self-made and self-taught man. What he lacked in formal
higher education, he made up by reading voraciously and discussions with some of his
intimate friends who were highly educated. Mr. Thomas Makil was not only a class mate
of his from Mannanam days, he was his companion, confidant, and, through his efforts,
married to his sister in law. Thomas Makil was a deeply read and thinking person. He
was a lawyer who preferred philosophy and history to dry legal texts. Thomas Makil and
Abraham visited each other regularly and engaged in long discussions on matters of
religion, philosophy, life, and community affairs. Makil was also an adviser to the Bishop
of Kottayam. Therefore his discussions with Abraham were of consequence to the
direction of the Knanaya community. As a result of such prolonged discussions and
planning, Abraham invited a few of his old buddies in high places_ Prof. V. J. Joseph,
Pleader Joseph Chazhikat and Lawyer Thomas Makil- to Kaipuzha to be his guests in
order to chart the possibility of a lay association for the Knanaya community. After long
discussions late into the night, the four decided that they would convene a meeting in
Kaipuzha of the Knanya lay persons for a three day-get-together. Since Abraham Pathyil
was the wealthiest of the group, he undertook to defray the expenses. The convention was
held in the summer of 1938. Bishop Choolapparambil was informed and invited. But the
clergy was hesitant and suspected the lay leadership of possible motives of usurpation of

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