Photos: Antonio (Tex) and Kellie Teixeira; (from left) Kellie, Meera, TS Sreeni and Tex
By
Shevlin Sebastian
In
May, this year, Australian restaurant owners Antonio (Tex) and Kellie
Teixeira came to Kerala with their family to enjoy the Thrissur
Pooram. They stayed at the Neelambari resort at Arattupuzha (15 kms
from Thrissur). The resort owner TS Sreeni was much taken up by the
fact that the couple had adopted three children.
“The
girl Mkhaya was from Ethiopia, the elder boy, Locklyn is of
Philippines origin, while the younger boy Jun Yung is from Vietnam,”
says Sreeni.
Soon,
a friendship developed between the Teixeiras and Sreeni and his wife
Meera. Says Tex, “Sreeni and Meera cared for us so much.”
So, it was no surprise that when they heard that the resort had gone
under six feet of water, following the Kerala floods, the Teixeiras
offered to send some financial assistance.
“I
replied that I could manage, but they could help many of the poor
people whose houses had been washed away,” says Sreeni. But he did
not hear from them for a while. Then on Thursday (October 11), he got
a Whatsapp message from them.
Tex
and Kellie are holding a fund-raising dinner on October 23 at their
‘Lemon and Thyme’ restaurant at Queensland for the villagers of
Arattupuzha. It is titled, ‘From our village to yours charity
dinner’. The meal is priced at 50 Australian dollars.
The
menu is Indian. So, the entrée item consists of vegetable pakoras,
beef and vegetable samosas, with spiced mango chutney. In the main
meal, there is a choice of North Indian lamb and potato curry, butter
chicken, and coconut pumpkin pie. All meals will be served with rice,
chutney and naan.
“As
for the dessert, it will be banana fritters with sweet yoghurt,
saffron and pistachios,” says Kellie.
She
pauses and says, “We are expecting a very good response.”
Sreeni
smiles and says, “Their heart is in the right place.”
(The
New Indian Express, Page 1, all Kerala editions)
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