P. A. Varghese

Who is P. A. Varghese?

P.A.Varghese was born at Cheranalloor, India, in 1950 to Poonoly Auseph, a little known local congressman who did not even apply for the freedom fighter pension. He was married to Elia a selfless hardworking woman who raised 7 children when her husband who was mostly away from home. Being inclined to drinking, he did not save much for the family and Varghese, the fifth child was brought up in utter poverty. He was good in studies and started taking free tuitions for his classmates when he was in the tenth standard and later, after matriculation he joined the petite seminary Ernakulam and then went to the St. Joseph's Pontifical Seminary Alwaye where he got the prestigious award, Summa Cum Laude for 5 subjects. He did not philosophically agree with the doctrines of the Catholic Church and left the seminary during the philosophy course. With the prize money he joined the College of Engineering and continued his engineering studies by taking tuition. During this period he used to help his parents with whatever he could save from the small fees he got for tuition.

He had his primary education in GVHS at Koovappady in Ernakulam District. Though from a remote village, a poor family and studies in a Malayalam medium school, he studied English by himself and was the first in St. Albert's College for Pre-Degree and became the editor of the English section of the Pontifical seminary magazine. He took his degree in civil engineering from the College of Engineering, Trivandrum. He got a good rank in civil engineering in Kerala University and came first in the All India officer test conducted by IBP in 1975 in Mumbai. He joined TKM Engineering College in 1976 as a lecturer. Later, he left the college to devote time for writing and social uplift. He has continued his studies and took MHRM from Pondicherry University in 2003 at the age of 53.