Baby abandoned by mom at Udupi hospital in 1970 is now Swiss Parliamentarian!

coastaldigest.com news network
December 14, 2017

Udupi: Around 47 years ago, a newborn baby was abandoned by his mother at Basel Mission Hospital in South Indian temple town of Udupi. Today, he is the first Indian born parliamentarian in Switzerland!

Unfortunately, neither Nik Gugger nor his foster parents know who is his biological mother and why did she abandon.

As the Basel Mission Hospital could not trace the mother who left the hospital after giving birth to the male child, the newborn was sent to what is now the Nettur Technical Training Foundation (NTTF) campus at Illikkunnu in Kerala’s Thalassery.

Nik was sworn in as member of Nationalrat (Swiss Parliament) in Bern in November this year. He has been elected to Swiss Parliament as a candidate of the Evangelical Party. He is one of the youngest members in Swiss Parliament.

The father of three children still cherishes his association with people and institutions at Thalassery where had grown up as an orphan till a Swiss couple – Fritz Gugger and Elizabeth Gugger – formally adopted him and took him to Europe.

However, he is hesitant to find out his biological mother. “No mother will abandon her child without a strong reason. If I meet my mother now it will be shock to her,” says Nik, who believes in destiny.

“I am proud to be in between the two cultures, the Swiss and Indian culture,” says Nik, who is likely to visit India next year when the 70th anniversary of Indo-Swiss friendship would be celebrated.

Nik started his political career as a councillor in the town parliament of Winterthur, the sixth biggest town in Switzerland, and as a member in the Cantonal Council.

He recalls that his foster father was an experienced social worker who had played an important role in shaping him as a social worker. His social work had given him an opportunity to work in Colombia as a youth worker. He studied at the Center for Agogics in Basel, the University of Amsterdam and also at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences.

Comments

Neeha
 - 
Thursday, 14 Dec 2017

Congratulatioons,  happy to see this

shaji
 - 
Thursday, 14 Dec 2017

Thanks God for blessing you with such a nice foster parents.  Wish you all the best and hope you will meet your real some day somewhere.  

Zakir Husain
 - 
Thursday, 14 Dec 2017

Congratulations!

Charan Kumar
 - 
Thursday, 14 Dec 2017

He would have become president of Switzerland if he had grown up with her real biological mother.

Naren Kotian
 - 
Thursday, 14 Dec 2017

Congrats Nik. God bless u. Now Bunder ka bakras who are busy in gujri business might be thinking why their mothers did not abandon them after giving them birth.

Manjay Sheela …
 - 
Thursday, 14 Dec 2017

Great story. But what I think is Mr Nik Gugger should trace her mom so that I can make a film on his life with additional masala casting ranveer Singh. Ramya krishna will play his mother’s role!

Sandeep
 - 
Thursday, 14 Dec 2017

Great improvement.. Congrats and All the best Nik Gugger

George
 - 
Thursday, 14 Dec 2017

God's grace. God planned something. Congrats brother

WellWisher
 - 
Thursday, 14 Dec 2017

May gods blessings always be with you and good luck.  Now you may want to know your mother / parents. But in temple city Udupi you don't try .  Specialized group may forcefully drag you to accept certain religion hence

be careful on these activist.

Don't forget your mother land culture.

Danish
 - 
Thursday, 14 Dec 2017

We cant say, if the mother had not abandoned him, he would now be living here as a govt employee or IT engineer. See his luck

Kumar
 - 
Thursday, 14 Dec 2017

Now we may see as a follow ups such as motherhood claims, compensation etc

Rahul
 - 
Thursday, 14 Dec 2017

Proud moment. Great to see this. Congrats

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coastaldigest.com news network
May 20,2020

Mangaluru/Udupi, May 20: The twin districts of coastal Karnataka today reported seven new coronavirus cases. Six cases were reported from Udupi district and one from Dakshina Kannada.

All the six new coronavirus patients in Udupi have been admitted to Dr TMA Pai Covid hospital.

With the new case, 22 confirmed cases of coronavirus have been reported so far in the district, including a one death. Three have recovered, and 18 are active.

55th case in Mangaluru

The new coronavirus patient in Dakshina Kannada is a 40-year-old woman from Neermarga near Mangaluru.

With this, the total number of cases in Dakshina Kannada has risen to 55 out of which 33 are currently active.

The woman had travelled from Rajajinagar in Bengaluru along with her son to Mangaluru on May 10.

Sources said that she was residing in two houses at Kudupu and Kuttikala.

She was suffering from Asthma and respiratory problems. She was admitted to Wenlock COVID hospital on May 17.

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News Network
July 16,2020

Belgaum: Canon, Epson and Nikon reside in a house named "Click" in Karnataka's Belgaum district.

The newly built house of photographer couple Ravi and Krupa Hongal, which resembles a giant DSLR camera, has not only enamoured locals but has become quite a sensation on social media.

The three-storied camera-shaped house located in Shastri Nagar is an expression of passion and love for the art of photography of the couple whose children- three boys- have all been named after the iconic camera brands.

Their names ''Canon'', ''Epson'' and ''Nikon'' feature prominently on the house whose exterior resembles a camera. Just like a camera, the building has a glass window shaped as a viewfinder and another as a lens. It sports a wide film strip, a flash and even a memory card.

The walls of the house walls and its interior have graphics related to photography.

"I have been photographing since 1986. Building this house is like a dream come true. We also named our 3 children-Canon, Nikon and Epson. These all are three camera names. I love the camera and hence named them on camera companies name. My family were opposed to it, but we remain adamant," photographer Ravi told media persons.

Karnataka: A photographer couple, Krupa Hongal&Ravi Hongal, has built a camera-shaped house in Belgaum. Krupa (pic3) says,"It's a dream come true. We also named our 3 children-Canon,Nikon&Epson." Ravi (pic4) says,"We borrowed money for it&also sold our previous house."(14.07.20) pic.twitter.com/8Mkh1JOUk1

— ANI (@ANI) July 14, 2020
The photographer says the couple had to borrow money from relatives and friend for constructing the house. "We also sold our previous house to build this house," he added.

Krupa said that it was their cherished dream to build a house like a camera.

"My husband is a photographer. It was our dream to build a house like a camera. We planned and built this house. We feel like we are living inside a different world, inside a camera. I am very proud of my husband," she said.

Canon, their elder child said, "My friends used to ask me whether it was my real name. Now, I tell them yes, photography is my father's passion and hence he named me Canon."

On social media, the picture of the unique shaped house has been shared widely.

"This is called love for the passion," said one user on Twitter.

Another user commented: "A camera-obsessed photographer from India builds a camera-shaped house! 49-year-old Ravi Hongal has spent over $95,000 building the 3-story house, which looks like a camera in the town of Belgaum in India."

The family seems to be indeed living a picture-perfect dream.

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News Network
April 1,2020

Bengaluru, Apr 1: The state government has identified five districts, including Dakshina Kannada, as 'cluster zones' or 'Red zones,' to prevent the spread of Novel Coronavirus.

The other four districts include Mysuru, Uttara Kannada, Bengaluru and Chikkaballapur.

Mangaluru has been under strict lockdown, as it is close to Kasargod in Kerala, which reported many positive cases and is also one of the 'hotspots' in the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) list.

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