Mr. and Mrs.Yuvaraj Muthu graciously let me conduct my interview in their carport, as I suggested a place outdoors. I was in for a treat. Mr. Yuvaraj Muthu and his lovely wife, Usha Chenrayan, shared the fascinating story of their early lives in the village of Puliyur in southern India, their marriage, his education, and his teaching career that began in several other countries before moving here. The most wonderful part of their story was how, both born and reared Hindu, they became Christians and how later the Lord led them to Decatur, Mississippi.
Born June 2, 1971, to his father Muthu Palligudathan and mother Deivanai Muthu, the boy was named Yuvaraj Muthu. These names are not family surnames, as their large community had decided not to carry caste names. The family names would have designated the caste from which they historically would have originated. Mr. Muthu, as a young man, followed Indian tradition by submitting to the advice of relatives and going to another village to meet a young lady who had been recommended to him for marriage and her family. They had not known each other previously, but, after their agreement and much discussion between the families, Usha and Muthu were married three months later.
Usha Chenrayan, of the Maganurpatti village, was born April 20, 1985. Both her parents are deceased, but she has three brothers and one sister. Mr. Muthu’s mother, 72, is still living, and he has one brother and one sister. They all remain in India.
Mr. Muthu graduated in 1994 with his B.S. in Mathematics, from Chennai University, a school in India established by the British many years earlier. He earned his Master’s in Mathematics in 1997, before continuing on to finish with a Bachelor’s in Education degree in 1998. At the time, he was the only one in his community to get his Master’s degree. Since then, more have followed his lead. At one point, he was a college instructor in Engineering in India, and China also offered him a position.
Mr. Muthu and Usha were married in 2001, and they greeted their first son, Kirthy, the next year. Their son Oshiv was born in 2004, also in India. In 2003, the family had moved to the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan, a protected state of India, where they lived for four and a half years. Mr. Muthu taught there before they moved again, for him to teach in The Maldives, a nation of islands in the Indian Ocean in South Asia. Their stay there was for two years. He enjoys traveling to different places, where he says he plants seeds of mathematical knowledge—and of love and tolerance.
For several years, Mr. Muthu had suffered greatly with kidney stones, getting to the point that he told Usha he felt he may die. While in the Maldives Islands, which was a Muslim nation, mandated so by law, he was invited by a fellow teacher friend to a home gathering of a few families of Christians. It was Sunday, and Mr. Muthu was sick that day. The friend told him, “Come, we want to pray for you.” There were about twelve to fifteen people there, and they laid hands on him and prayed. He recalled, “I found grace there.” The prayer began a period of healing, as he has had no more trouble with kidney stones.
He had read some about Jesus, knew who He was, but that was all. He was touched by the love and care shown by the people in that gathering, as they also prayed for one of the members in the hospital after heart surgery. They took up an offering to give to that person. He eventually decided to join the group. After three months a pastor from Germany came to pray and stayed two months, preaching. Mr. Muthu told me, “He suggested to me, ‘I want you to get baptized. More grace would fall on you and your family, and you would bless the world around you.’ I got baptized.”
He thought Usha would be upset, but she had her own background with Jesus. “Growing up, I knew about Jesus. A friend was a Christian. I used to go to church with her. I loved Jesus. I loved the stories about what Jesus did.” Her friend would go to church gatherings and bring Usha back cross rings. Later, her friend Nalini became a nun. Usha smiled, “She’s my angel to take me to Jesus.”
She told Mr. Muthu, “Well, I’m going to follow your path, too. Our whole family will be Christian.” Back in India about a year later they attended a church she thinks was Baptist. She had seen the place she was baptized, in a lake, in dreams she had had for years.
Also, when she got in the water, a sudden storm broke out, a deluge of rain and thunder, which made it even more memorable for her. She says it was like the entire group was baptized.
They moved to Orangeburg, S.C., where Mr. Muthu taught math for three years in an inner city school, He was unhappy and stressed there because of the school situation and told her to start praying.
One morning about four A.M. he woke her up and told her to pray, that he was going to get on the road. He came all the way to Mississippi.
Mrs. Yuvaraj told me, “He had suffered a lot. I am very devoted to God, in fasting and prayer. I fight with God and tell him what I want. I asked Him to let the first place that called him to be the right place, and that, if that was not the place, to not let them call!” He turned off Interstate 20 and came to the Newton County High School, which impressed him. He called Usha to tell her, “There are schools that are doing great jobs.”
Mr. Muthu came in, filled out an application, talked with Mr. Brian Foster, the principal, and got back on the road. When he reached Louisville, he got a call, asking him to come back to talk with the superintendent, which he did. The next call that same day culminated in the Muthu family moving here. Usha commented, “Coming to Decatur is a God’s call.”
Mr. Muthu was employed to teach mathematics at NCHS in 2011. Kirthy was in the 2nd grade, and when he was in the 4th or 5th grade, he told his mother, “Mom, this is home. We don’t want to move. We can’t leave.” The family still resides in Decatur, though Mr. Muthu is presently teaching in Quitman, Mississippi.
The Muthu family visited several churches before deciding that the Decatur United Methodist Church would be their home church. Mr. Muthu said of Decatur and the church, “They have showed us a lot of love.” Usha added, “I don’t know what I would do without them. They make us feel like, ‘You are not alone.’” They are active in the church, school, and community. I for one am thankful this family from so far away has decided to make Decatur their home.
Live for Jesus! He’s coming soon!
You may contact me at lagnesrussell@gmail.com or 601-635-3282.
