In the year 1985 Mahajan Celebrated its centenary. H. H. Shri S.Ramachandran,the then Hon’ble Governor of Kerala inaugurated the function.. Shri Vayalar Ravi, then Hon'ble Home Minister, Govt.of Kerala and many other delegates from the Gujarati Associations of South India participated in the function.The Mahajan purchased a building to commemorate the event and named.it as Shri.Cochin Gujarati Shatabdi Bhavan,where Sharda Mandir School functions at present.
Mahajan also runs a full fledged ComputerLab. Basic knowledge of computers is made compulsory for the students of all schools. Advance study in Computers is also imparted to the public at a very nominal fee. Apart from education, Mahajan is also conducting various other social, charitable & cultural activities.
Mahajan spends every year over a lakh of rupees as medical aid to the needy members of mahajan and spends overRs.75,000/-as rent subsidy to the deserving members depending on their income and the number of members in the family. Mahajan with the help of other social and religious institutions raised Rs. 2.5lakhs for the heart surgery and of two of our deserving members and for transplantation of kidney in one year for a big amount.
Mahajan also celebrates National and State festivals with equal joy and enthusiasm.Almost every year we present our traditional Gujarati Folk dances and songs in the programme organised by the Bharath Bhavan Society, a Government of Kerala Cultural Organisation. We also present programme during Onam and Navaratri festivals. We. have also organised a two day Gujarat Darshan festival in Cochin with the support of Information Department,Government of Gujarat.An exhibition projecting the industrial progress and potential of Gujarat was conducted. A programme of Gujarati Folk dance was also organized by the artists of Gujarat. Many eminent personalities like Shri.J.P.Mathur M.P.,Late shri Zakaria Sait MLA attended the function. We have also arranged free eye camp, cancer detection and prevention camp and seminar to create awareness for fighting Hepatitis-B.
Another very noble service Mahajan is doing is the blood donation. In this scheme free blood is provided through our volunteer members to all the needy persons in emergency. Mahajan has taken initiative to form three housing society schemes to build houses for their members. This has helped many a member to get a house of his own very economically.
Recently the Corporation of Cochin also recognised the presence of Gujaratis here and their impact on social,financial and cultural spheres of Cochin by naming the old New road as Gujarati Road. Many members of our community stay in this area and there are several temples managed by the different associations of the community members.
Starting in a humble way,our journey of 126 years has taken us a long way. Yet it is rightly said that there is no limit to progress and no peak to success. In this long journey of ours we were lucky to have received dedicated service,valuable guidance and dynamic leadership of many Lion hearted members of our community. Some of the torch bearers of the Mahajan's progress are Shri Ramji Kooverji Pathak, Shri Babubhai jairam Asher, Shri Anandji Malsi, Shri Javerilal Anandji, Shri Mulraj Narandas, Shri Visanji Padamsi, Shri Devshi Bhanji Khona, Shri Kantilal Raichand Mehta, Shri Kakubhai Chakubhai Bhammer, Shri Sursingh jairam Asher, Shri. Bhavanji Shamji, Shri Jagjivandas jamanadas, Shri Manikant P. Shah, Shri Jawahar lal lalka ,Shri Ramesh Jetha bhai,Shri Nitin Parekh,Shri Suresh.J.Vora. These are only a few of them and then there are many more,whose names I am not able to mention due to constraints of space. Mahajan will always be indebted to them.
Tomorrow we shall start from where we have left today. It is said that if you toil today your tomorrow will be happier. We are confident that with all the support and participation from all the members of Mahajan, we can take this noble organisation to greater heights in the years to come.The battle of life does not always go in favour of the mightiest. Ultimately the winner will be the one who thinks he can.