Navy honours patriotic grandmother and her kids; Veteran sponsors new houses

The Indian Navy's Kochi-headquartered Southern Naval Command on Wednesday organised a motivational tour for a group of children from Thrissur in Kerala. As part of the Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav festivities marking 75 years of India's independence, the group of 15 people, including seven children, visited the Kochi naval base where they interacted with personnel, their family members and others. 

The group got the invite from the Southern Naval Command after their video, in which a grandmother and her children are seen hoisting a tricolour in front of her house in Chepur at Kerala's Thrissur district on Republic Day, went viral. Even though she is not well educated, what really inspired the Navy to honour her was the effort to instil patriotism among the children.

During their 4-5 hours stay at the Kochi naval base, the group got on board INS Magar, a landing ship used in amphibious operations. The Navy demonstrated different types of platforms, weapon systems and gave the group a tour of the naval museum.

"The video of humble poor family celebrating Republic Day in front of their house had inspired us to do this. The school teachers had asked students to celebrate Republic Day at their houses with their elders. So they celebrated and shot a video that went viral on social media," Kochi-based Defence PRO said. 

Asianet Newsable reached out to former Indian Army officer and film director Major Ravi (R), who was instrumental in coordinating the group's visit to the Kochi naval base and getting their houses renovated.  

How did you get to know about the 70-year-old lady and her children hoisting the flag before her house? 

So many forwards keep coming to me. I got the video of this lady hoisting the flag with children in attention and full discipline mode on January 26. In the video, I saw a two-year-old kid who was very excited about the whole thing, showing her patriotism even though she does not know what it is. I thought these are the people and generation whom we should encourage. 

I also saw that her grandmother was teaching all the children ethics and patriotism in her own way. She is not that well-educated. You will find a lot of educated people who are always talking against the country. Considering the kind of situation that is prevailing in the country, you suddenly find an old granny teaching the right things to her grandchildren... I tried to find out her address. 

How did you reach out to them? 

In the video, the school name CNN GHS was highlighted. I asked my assistant to find out the details about this video. The next morning, I got the contact number of her daughter-in-law. 

What was their reaction when you contacted them? 

When I spoke to her (daughter-in-law), she did not believe that I (Major Ravi) had called up. She said why Major Ravi would call me up? I had to convince her.

When I asked about the house covered in a blue plastic roof, she said it was her house where she stays with her children. Out of my patriotic feeling, I said that the house will have a pucca roof. We will do the whole thing. They were not believing it. I sent my contractor to get the estimated cost of building the roof. 

What kind of assistance did you extend to them?

I discussed this with one of my friends about the video. I informed him about my decision. He said we will raise funds for them. We shared the bank account details for collecting funds. In between, we also found that the two-year-old kid’s house is also not a pucca and her father is also poor. Then we decided to build two houses. Today, the work has started for two houses at a cost of Rs 16 lakh. They could not imagine. 

Tell us about their visit to the Southern Naval Command

Yesterday, they all came to see the warships and naval assets; they were crying. All the kids were overwhelmed. The Indian Navy organised this to encourage the public. We should encourage such children. Now, these kids will get inspired to join the Army and armed forces. They will not fall off the track and do commit wrong things. Otherwise, these days, we do not know where such children end up -- some get into drug trafficking, extort cut money and all. That is the reason why we need to create this type of scenario to support these kids to come up with patriotism in their minds. 

What is the deadline for the construction of houses?

By May 15, we will make both the houses and give it to them. I also told the contractor that there should be a permanent flag hoisting podium so that the practice of hoisting the tricolour on August 15 and January 26 continues. Let the generation continue this ritual at their houses. Their neighbours will get inspired as well. Let us start from zero; it will become 100.