Indian Origin Swiss Lawmaker Visits "Home Town" In Kerala's Thalassery

Born in Udupi, Gugger was abandoned by his biological parents at Basel mission hospital and was taken to Thalassery, where he lived till he was four years old.

THALASSERY, KERALA: It was a trip down memory lane for 49-year-old Niklaus Samuel Gugger, an Indian origin member of the Swiss Parliament, who was in the port town of Thalassery, where he spent his early years.

Gugger today also visited the campus of Nettur Technical Training Foundation (NTTF) at Illikunnu where his adopted father was a teacher.

Dressed in the traditional Kerala attire of "mundu" (dhoti), the young MP, who was accorded a civic reception on Tuesday, said he was happy to be back in his "home town" where he had grown up till he was four years old.

Gugger was adopted by a German couple, who later shifted to Switzerland.

A short film by Gugger's father on his son's early life was also screened at the function. He later left for Ernakulam.

The MP, member of the Evangilical Peoples Party, is in Kerala with his wife and two children on the invitation of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who had met Gugger during his visit to the Swiss Parliament in May this year.

Born in Udupi, Gugger was abandoned by his biological parents at Basel mission hospital and was taken to Thalassery, where he lived till he was four years old. His daughter is named Anasuya after his Malayali Brahmin biological mother.

Thalassery, a trade hub where the Dutch, British, Portuguese, Arab and Jewish traders had considerable influence in the spice market, is also known as the city of three ''Cs''-- Cake, Cricket and Circus -- as the first bakery in the state was established here and cricket was first played in India. It is also known as the cradle of Indian circus.