OXMAS - WHO WE ARE

 OXFORD MALAYALEE SAMAJAM (OXMAS) is a cultural organisation formed by the Malayalee/Keralites living in and around Oxford. The organisation had its humble beginning  in the 1990s when a large number of this community migrated to the UK as part of UK governments drive to help the National Health Service to bridge the gap on shortages on clinical staff. As time went by, the community in Oxfordshire grew leaps and bounds and so does the membership of OXMAS. Today, OXMAS stands tall as it occupies one of the prominent and largest Malayalee associations in the UK. Its contributions to enhance the ethnic cultural heritage and more importantly to integrate with the British community as a whole has been witnessed by all.  

Malayalee community has its cultural roots in the state of Kerala, India. Kerala is one of the smallest states in the Republic Of India which was formed in 1956 after India gained independence. The name ‘Kerala’ in Sanskrit means the land added on. But the popular version is that it means the land of Kera, the Coconut. It is bordered by the other southern states of India, Karnataka on the north, Tamil Nadu to the east and the Arabian sea to the west. The state has 14 districts and the capital is in Thiruvananthapuram. The official language of Kerala is Malayalam and hence a person from the state is also fondly called a ‘Malayalee’. Kerala has a legislative assembly of 140 states. The state sends 29 members to the Indian Parliament – 9 to the Rajya Sabha (Upper House) and 20 to the Lok Sabha (Lower House). The major religions followed in Kerala are Hinduism (58%), Islam (21%), and Christianity (21%). Kerala also has a tiny Jewish population, said to date from 578 BC when they fled the occupation of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar. oxmas

Kerala’s culture is mainly rooted through agrarian community traditions, interconnecting it with deep rooted religious believes, expressed through the window of almost all of its present/past art forms. The emergence of modern education has also paved the way for more of composite and cosmopolitan way of living that integrates much of western culture in many strata of society. It is an educationally advanced and politically conscious state with much lineage towards the ideal of socialism/welfare state, no matter which party comes to power in the democratic process. Its conundrum of high literacy rates, high human development indexes and low infant mortality rates coupled with low economic output has been dubbed by economist/researchers as the ‘Kerala Model’ of development. 

Kerala is a land of great natural beauty. From the majestic heights of the Western Ghats the country undulates westward presenting a vista of silent valleys clothed in the richest green. Kerala has a large number of natural river systems and among the many rivers that flow across the plains to merge with the Arabian Sea, the Periyar, the Pamba and the Bharatha Puzha are a special worthy of note. Along the coast, sand dunes shelter a linked chain of lagoons and backwaters, which is known in the tourism sector as the ‘Kerala Backwaters’, which houses the famous ‘Kerala House Boats’ for tourists. With the Arabian Sea in the west, the Western Ghats towering 500-2700 m in the east and networked by forty four rivers, Kerala enjoys unique geographical features that have made it one of the most sought after tourist destinations in Asia. No wonder, the National Geographic Channel/Planet Earth has made ‘Kerala’ as one of the 50 must see places in the world. oxmas