Alphons Kannanthanam was born on 8/8/1953 in a non electrified village, Manimala, in Kottayam District, Kerala, India. His father was a world war II veteran, who became a school teacher after the war. His parents had nine children; they adopted two more from the orphanage, making it 11 !
He had his school education in the near by Malayalam medium village schools. While the High school head master had warned his parents that he would not make it through the Board examinations in the 10th class, the first miracle of his life happened, and he passed with an incredible 42% marks!

When the celebration were over, he sat by the Manimala river and asked himself the question for the first time: “ why am I born?”. The answer came after a couple of hours: “I am born to change the world with my life”.