An ancestral village and its bond with a prodigal son

Madapeedika, a village in Kerala's Malabar region, holds the ancestral roots of corporate patriarch T.P. Gopalan Nambiar.

A country road snakes past coconut groves, the rare paddy farm and homes, both ancient with wooden rafters and Mangalore tiles, and modern with embellishments procured through the money-order economy bolstered from West Asia. This is perhaps a regular vista in any Kerala village linked to a nearby town and Madapeedika is no exception. But this is no ordinary road.

Located in Kerala’s northern parts, popularly known as Malabar, and shoe-horned between the coastal town of Thalassery and the former French enclave of Mahe, now a part of Pondicherry, Madapeedika has a bus-stop fringed by bakeries and provision shops. It is a junction with one road heading back towards Thalassery, another moves to Chokli, the third to Paral and Mahe and the fourth, a bit narrow, leads into the adjoining villages. 

This specific pathway not just tapers into a sylvan landscape but it also guides us towards the ancestral roots of T.P. Gopalan Nambiar, the corporate patriarch, who passed away in Bengaluru on Thursday (October 31). Popularly known as ‘BPL’ Nambiar in this part of Kerala, a nomenclature linked to the firm he headed for a large part, he has always drawn respect and awe from the people of his home-village.

Grandmothers with long memories often recall his younger days as a lad clambering up the little hillock, plucking mangoes and also keeping an eye on cashew fruit in the terraced plantations. Naughty and rooted were the terms they often used to describe a young Mr. TPG Nambiar.

Years later as he grew and evolved and kept Bengaluru as his base while having a BPL factory in Palakkad, the village still remained close to his heart. And it was no surprise when some residents in and around Madapeedika in Kodiyeri Panchayat, got opportunities to work in the Palakkad establishment. As BPL diversified, Mr. TPG Nambiar got busy but he found time to make a dash to his village.

He would drive down from Bengaluru and it was his benevolence that helped the village get a road leading all the way into the hinterland close to the old home where his relatives stayed. “The road that Nambiar built,” is an oft-quoted reference before Google Maps stepped in. Those were days when the Kannur Airport was a distant dream and connectivity was restricted to overnight buses or trains towards Thalassery and Mahe or the odd private vehicle.

However, as age caught up and BPL went through a downswing, Mr. TPG Nambiar’s visits dwindled even as villagers remembered the chauffeur-driven car in which he used to arrive and the help he offered without any fuss. He has departed at 94 but in Northern Kerala, especially around Madapeedika, he would be remembered forever. Like the late Captain Krishnan Nair, who hailed from the same Kannur District, and helmed the Leela Group of Hotels, Mr. TPG Nambiar will remain a corporate hero in Malabar.