Kannur: Here is a journey in search of family roots—proof that no matter how much time passes or how vast the seas crossed, blood ultimately seeks blood. Suja, the granddaughter of Kunjikannan who arrived in Malaysia a century ago, has come to Kannur in search of her ancestral roots. Kunjikannan and Narayani were the children of Kannur native Pokkan. Kunjikannan was born on November 8, 1906. At the age of 22, in 1928, he travelled to Malaysia via the Madras port. He worked as a supervisor at a rubber estate in Kulim, Kedah. There, he married Karthyayani, daughter of Achuthan Nair. They had nine children. In memory of his sister back in Kannur, Kunjikannan named his third daughter Narayani.

Suja is the daughter of Saroja, the eldest sister of Narayani. Following the trail of inquiry begun by Saroja years ago, Suja’s aim is to trace her grandfather’s family roots. There is another reason too: to understand the circumstances that forced her grandfather to leave home and cross the seas to Malaysia in search of work a century ago.

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A Nambiar clad in Chinese outfit

The children have heard that before the country gained independence, Kunjikannan and his sister Narayani in Kannur exchanged letters. Those rare letters that travelled between the two countries, along with their addresses, have been lost somewhere in the pages of memory. A few days ago, after arriving in Kannur, Suja visited the Kannur Municipal High School, where her grandfather might have studied. But in the school, founded in 1861, the old attendance registers had already been eaten away by time.

What Suja is searching for is this: are there any children of Pokkan’s daughter Narayani, or members of their later generations, living anywhere in Kannur today? She was encouraged to fly here by the confidence that many families in Kannur have roots linked to those who once went to Malaysia, and that she might be able to find the people she is looking for through them. The only guide Suja has is a photograph of Kunjikannan and Karthyayani taken in Malaysia with their family. She hopes that perhaps a copy of that photograph still hangs, framed behind glass, on the wall of some house in Kannur.

Suja is the Director of Program Management at Western Digital in the IT industry. Her husband, Murugan Raman, is an HR manager. They have three children—two daughters and a son.