Orphans of Mundakapadam

When talking about his uncle, George Cheriyan becomes emotional and teary eyed. It was he who imparted many a virtue to his nephew. Georgekutty continues:

"Valiyappachan had very little exposure to English in school. He knew that all the treasures in history, theology and literature where in English. This made him to study English on his own. George mentioned to me how Valiyappachan sought the help of the three sisters of Thankakuttan sir in learning to read English. After school he would go to their home and read the books in their presence asking them for help in proper pronunciation and usage. His interest in reading was so profound that by the time he was able to get access to the books of the famous English authors, he made it a point to read them from cover to cover. " les miserables" was among the books that touched him and influenced him. " Learn, Reform and Transform" was his moto. For him learning was the corner stone for reformation as well as transformation. As a model teacher, he influenced several generations of students in school. As a social reformer his influence spread over differing socio economic and religious groups and all age groups. George's fight against social evils like untouchability and cast system hit the core of the society.

He mobilized the youth against the social evils like alcoholism. His hard work to educate the general public regarding basic health care and public health went a long way in preventing wide spread epidemics of infectious diseases. George took upon himself to go from house to house in times of epidemics to collect detailed data regarding number of cases and their mode of spread in the community. He sought help from the authorities to get immunization of the villagers and educated the villagers as to the need for adequate immunizations. Cooperative banking was another area of interest for George. As mentioned earlier, most of the villagers were able to carry on from day to day. But in times of medical or social emergency, they often lacked funds and went in to deep debts by borrowing money at very high interests. By getting enough villagers to take membership in the cooperative society, George and his friends organized the first ever cooperative bank in Mundakapadam."