On the way to Velankanni this month, my brother-in-law met a young man in the bus. They spoke to each other and my BIL asked him what he does. He said he works in the software field and my BIL told him that I work in the same sector. He asked my name and place. Then he told my BIL that he knew me. He said in fact a major shift in his life happened because of me. This guy was working in the city market for daily wages, roaming around doing several jobs. Then one day, he saw an article in Mathrubhumi daily, Thrissur edition, and the story moved him. The story that was published back in 2006 featured me on the second page detailing about how I was transformed to be a web designer from being a goldsmith. He told my BIL that he went to learn computers after he read the article and now he has an IT job that helps him earn a good living.
It was Umechi who thought that M-Pod (the Malayalam podcast) needed more attention for the effort I was taking and print media would be helpful. She brought me along to Surendran sir who was the chief editor of Thrissur edition of Mathrubhumi. When he heard about M-Pod, he sent me to a reporter to talk about. While taking notes, the reporter asked me what I do and how I came to learn computers. After I told him the story, he told me that he would like to change the nature of the article. He asked me if I have any problem in mentioning that I was a goldsmith. I said I don’t have any problem with mentioning the past but I didn’t want it to look like a personal promotion and would rather be happy if more people came to hear about M-Pod instead. He said the story could be inspiring to many people and M-Pod will definitely be the focus. I think that reporter’s name is Retheesh M B. I should thank Umechi, Surendran sir and Retheesh for this article.
It makes me so happy to know that there is this one person who was inspired by my life and it got his life changed. 🙂 Here is the article that was published in Mathrubhumi daily in 2006. The title reads something like, “Joseph’s world of computers glitters more than gold“.