87.TAMILNADU (2). Around Kanyakumari

March 3, 2017thebluedrive Leave a comment

Leaving behind the fort at Udaygiri, we move towards Kanyakumari via Suchindram and Kottaram, small but important places on the coast. The landscape of this area is quite interesting and beautiful. It is green all around and the granite boulders of the last hillocks of the western Ghats add a touch of glamour to the place.

Our night halt is at Kanyakumari but before we close the day we find time to look around the place. It is all too familiar. We have been here before. The place attracts a very large number of visitors. It is billed as the place where three seas meet. The Arabian sea, the Indian Ocean and the Bay of Bengal. It is not easy as that but let us concede a point to the tourist establishment of the place so that they can earn their living. We do not intend to spend a lot of time here. Just to take some pictures and move on.

The two memorials in the sea are now easily visible. The first and the older one is for Swami Vivekananda, and the taller and the recent one is for Thiruvalluvar. Going by the geography, Thiruvalluvar has a better claim to the rocks, being the son of the soil who did not go to Chicago, US, which Vivekananda did and called there everyone ‘Brothers and Sisters’ which is incorrect. Anyway, everyone in India loves Swami Vivekananda and nobody knows what he did or said except for what I have just said.Not many know Thiruvallavuvar.

Apart from the Memorials on the Rocks, temples and the church continue to function from the shore. They are doing brisk business like the hotels and lodges around.

The Lighthouse at Kanyakumari is easily accessible. It is on the roadside. If you are reading this blog, you would have noticed that we make special efforts to visit lighthouses on the coast. It is not that we are studying their functioning or the technicalities. They serve to make sure that we do not miss many places along the coast.

Fort.Vattakottai. Heard of this? Even if they did, most people will casually mention that this was a Dutch fort. No, sir. It was not. It was built by the Travancore kings with the assistance of their Dutch (or Belgium or Flemish) prize captive De Lannoy whom we met in the last post. The Travancore state’s emblem is very much at the entrance.

Vattakottai means ‘circular’ or round.The shape does not seems to be round. However, this fort ranks among the best of the seaside forts of India. One should walk around the fort which projects into the sea and has a good view of the waters all around.

The insides of the fort are well-maintained and clean. You can have very nice view of the seas around. I believe it is the Arabian sea or the Laccadives Sea, not the Indian Ocean and certainly not the Bay of Bengal.

Inside the fort you wil find this ‘windswept’ tree, as they call it in Bonsai. I am not sure if this shape is caused by the winds.

‘Windswept’ Neem Tree.

When in Kanyakumari, please make it a point to visit this fort. Not many people do. Not even 5% of the tourists visiting Kanyakumari come here.

Having done with the Fort we move on to another place in the vicinity, driving through the beautiful landscape.

Manakudy is a seaside place which is said to have been badly affected by the 1974 cyclone which destroyed Dhanushkodi.

Manakudy is on both sides of ‘lake Manakudy’ which actually is an estuary and on both sides of it you will find a number of pretty churches.

St Thomas Church

Cross this bridge and a mangrove forest and you are into the western part of Manakudy.

The western part has a long beach and th St Andrew’s Church. By the time we are here, it is midday and it is very hot. You can see it in the pictures below. We decide not to proceed further up north or north-West and return back to Kanyakumari.

People going up to Kanyakumari please note something important. Most of the people go and see the rock and the memorials and move on. You are missing a land of exquisite natural beauty.

In this area around Kanyakumari you will find this interesting species of bird called Openbill or Openbilled Stork. The shape of his beak has been subject matter of study by many eminent biologists including the great Sir Julian Huxley.

Openbill Stork

ThWe are almost dome with the places around Kanyakumari and our next stop is Thiruchendur which is in Thoothukudi diustrict. We drive through the district of Thirunelveli without a stopover. I said almost because we have decideed to drive upo north of Kannyakumari and two more places which have come to our attention at the last moment.

The first one is a market. Thovalai Flower Market is one of the biggest in Tamilnadu and a major supplier of flowers to consumers in Kerala. This little village is at the foot of a hill and is a very interesting place.

Thovalai Flower Market.

We are delayed by an hour or so and miss the auctions. This could have been a bonus, although we would not have understood the language in which the auction takes place. The market deals with the loose flowers brought in by the farmers in early morning ( or perhaps the previous evening). Later on the other, related activities take place. Here are some of the lots already purchased and awaiting packing and despatch.

The packing material is fabricated on-site and is completely natural and enviornment-friendly, fully bio-degradable. Our enviornmentalists and the establishment should recognize, honour and encourage these traditional methods before plastic replaces them.

Apart from the loose flowers there is also a substantial ‘making’ activity on-site. Garlands of various sizes, types and colours.

Just outside of the markets are the retailers. Here you can buy one or two to felicitate the local politician on his son-in-law’s birthday.

The type of flowers traded here amazed me. The flower below, you must have seen, grows wild all over India and is supposed to be the one to be offered to Maruti or Anjaneya. It is actually being commercially sold!!

We now have to drive back towards the coast and move towards our next stopover which is Thiruchendur. We move accordingly. A few kilometers on the road, I see the signboard for a Christian shrine. As most things are written in Tamil and most people around do not speak any other language, I have to manage with the visuals.

We take the right turn as directed in the signs and end up at a place called Kottar and to the Cathedral of St. Francis Xavier.

And here I come across the Dutch guy called De Lennoy once again. Eustachius De Lennoy was a Dutch East India Company army commander whose forces were defeated by the Travancore kings and he was taken a captive. Later on the Travancore kings appointed him the commander in chief of their army. You will find his grave in the Post No 86 of this blog. Now, this guy has another dimention to his personality. He was a devout Christian and converted the locals to his faith. One of those converted happened to be an official of the Royal Court by the name of Neelakanta Pillai. Records show that the Royal Court did not like this at all and Mr. Pillai was put to death for the crime of sedition. In course of time Mr. Pillai became the Blessed Devasahayam Pillai who is a step or two away from being St. Devasahayam Pillai of Kottar. I am sure I will benefit from this unplanned visit in the remaining part of my life. Mr. Pillai has been credited with a number of miracles.

Before I close this post I would like to make a candid confession. When I saw the above picture I thought it was Jesus Christ of Nazareth. When I was driving back I started wondering if I had at anytime seen JC in chains. On Cross, yes but not in chains like this. That led to further reading. I must thank Mr. S C Kumar (9842184558) for the above catchy painting.

Text by Suryakiran Naik

Pictures by Suryakiran Naik & Veena Naik

83. GOD’S OWN COUNTRY – 11. Ashtamudi Lake

February 18, 2017thebluedrive Leave a comment

In the last post, we passed by the lake and proceeded briefly to Kollam for the sake of convenience of the narrative. The Ashtamudi Lake deserves its own Post. So, we are back here. Ashtamudi Kayal is what they call it in Malayalam.

A bit of geography and history would be in order here although this Blog does claim to be a technical one.

River Kallada and a few other smaller rivers discharge the waters they bring from the Western Ghats into a lowland area abutting the Laccadives (Or Lakshadweep now) sea which is a part of the Arabian Sea. The lowlands form a very complex ecosystem of lagoons, channels, backwaters, islands and creeks. This system is generally known to us as ‘Kerala Backwaters’ which with their more complex resorts and spas and Ayurvedic Massages establishments are a major business. Most people don’t realize the immense historical, social, political and economic significance of this system. This lake with its elder (and larger) sister called Vambanad up north form an amazing ecological universe. The beauty of this whole system is that it is navigable for over three districts. It has a length of 241 Kilometres with 41 rivers, small and big, discharging the waters they bring from the upland western Ghats to make it a mixture of saltwater and freshwater which has produced a few hundred Ph Ds in Marine Biology.

Our brief in this post is the smaller portion of the system called the Ashtamudi Lake which terminates at Kollam in the south. Before me, among the important people who came here was Ibn Batuta the Moroccan traveller in the 14^th century. Between Ibn Batuta and myself, there was a remarkable Englishman who came here at the behest of East India Company of London.

Col John Monro came here as the EAC’s ‘Resident’ after the local kings played into the hands of the White Man and surrendered their sovereignty. This Scotsman is widely revered in the region. He worked on the lake, reclaimed some lands as island which are named after him- Munro Island. Among other things that Munro did wad to dig a narrow channel on a part of the land so that it could be in communication with another part. The eastern part that you see in the map below is the place through which the National Waterways No 3 passes and connects to the northern part of the system. The encircled area is the one that connects the Munro Island area to the eastern side of the lake.

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It is on the bank of this narrow channel that we stay the night at the place called Roomi’s Nest. Roomi’s Nest has rooms on both sides of the channel. If you want to go from one to the other, you go up along the narrow path lining the channel, cross the bridge and come down again. Very complex for a hotel.

The difficulties and smallness of the place is compensated for by the very co-operative nature of Roomi and delicious food cooked by his wife.

Entrance to Roomi’s Nest

Now what do you have in the lake? Many things if you have the time and the inclination. Unfortunately for us there is a feast going on that day at the Church and most of the resident fishermen of the area being Christians have excused themselves, leaving us with very little fresh fish. We were counting on three species of clams and one of oysters. We could not get any of the famous clams.

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We start the morning on the boat owned by Roomi. He joins us with his crew of two and there we go exploring. It requires a license for the skipper of the boat to operate it on the lake. It applies to all motorized boats.

The houses on the shores of the lakes are colourful. It should be fun to live so close to the water although it may have its own difficulties , like the mosquitoes, the falling coconuts etc.

The Chinese Fishing Nets are here on the western side of the Munro Island, but not many.

Among the economic activities one can observe on the islands is Goat-rearing.

Cows are seen but not many.This cow seems to be enjoying herself.

There is a weed which grows along the shores of the lake and I was told is liked by the cows.

Rearing ducks appear to be an activity quite common all over Kerala and Ashtamudi lake is not an exception. It is quite interesting to see roadside shops in the state selling three types of eggs- the common hen eggs, larger Duck eggs and the smaller, spotted eggs of the Japanese Quail which is called Kad of Kada here.

Coconut farming is a natural occupation of the people in Kerala and this lake area is not an exception. Processing of coconut was not noticed, neither did we see anyone selling green coconuts.May be it is done at places in the lake that we did not visit.

Fish farming, particularly the rearing of the Pearl Spot or the Karimeen is a lucrative business. We visit a farm where they raise the fish.

The fish are in the net. The net is puled out to show to the customers. If you dont like, the net goes back to the water with the fish remaining alive.

Roomi flatly refusesd to pay the asking price which he called exhorbitant for what was on offer.

We could notice a Saw Mill on the lake shore indicating timber logging as aneconomic activity.

There are no school buses here or one has to go a longer distance to catch the bus. Taking a boat to the school is a better option for many of the students.

Student awaiting arrival of boat to school.

Ashtamudi means eight-coned. The lake is a maze and requires transport systems to match.

There are the crossings from one side to other on small country boats.

And also the larger motorized boats for the larger vehicles.

It looks like these houseboats are also used for transportation of people and goods.

Churches and temples are aplenty along the lake shores. Devotional music can be heard.

The sport of angling is prevalent on the lake.

Angler with his fish line under a railway bridge on Ashtamudi lake.

What is more interesting is that it is also practiced by young women which is rare. It was heartening to see woman anglers.

Fish is sold along the lake fringes in small country boats. The sale transaction is done with the vendor in the water and the customer on land.

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Fresh fish off the nets.Premium Quality.

There are a few islands in the lake apart from the larger Munro island and 43 species of Mangroves are supposed to be growing in the lake system which make growth of a large number of fish species.

As many as 57 species of birds have been recorded in the lake area, Among the most visible are the Cormorants who reside here in large numbers and constantly enrich the water with their dropping for the fish to grow on.

There were Kingfishers of course and the Terns and Bee-eaters.

River Tern

Roomi’s nest has a few residents. The White-Throated kingfisher has his holes in the sand banks. The Black-rumped Flameback Woodpecker also nests in the coconut palms.

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Text by Suryakiran Naik

Pictures by Suryakiran Naik & Veena Naik

82. GOD’S OWN COUNTRY – 10. Alleppey to Kollam

February 17, 2017February 18, 2017thebluedrive Leave a comment

We leave Alleppey and move southwards to Kollam. We don’t intend staying in Kollam town but still would like to be as close as possible to Ashtamudi lake and the inland waterways. We need to do a couple of other places along this long road and it might take another halt before Ashtamudi. When in Kerala one has to be prepared for a lot of things including a lot of confusion.

The road from Alappuzha ( Alleppey) down south is narrow as most Kerala roads are. The traffic is horrible. The bus drivers appear to be trained to reduce the population of the state. I have somehow survived to write this post.

On the way we see this Shiva temple where the Lord has been provided with State of Art lightning for making Him visible at night.

The temple is modest but has a sizable along the highway.

The first major attraction we go to see on this stretch of the coastal highway is the Krishnapuram Palace at Kayamkulam. This 18^th century palace built by the Travancore Kings and is a miniature replica of Padmanabhapuram Palace and now doubled up as a Museum.

Krishnapuram Palace

The palace is well-maintained but the same cannot be said about the exhibits of the Museum. The most famous of the exhibits is Kerala’s largest (154 Sq. ft.) mural painting ‘ Gajendra Moksham’

Gajendra Moksham, Mural painting.

The Kayamkulam Double-edged Sword is also on display here.

Kayamkulam Double-edged Sword.

If you are a philatelist with interest in ‘Indian States’, you would know what Travancore Anchal is. Here is something very important representing the famous postal administration.

The simple beauty created by the Kerala’s woodworkers is here to see on a large-scale as in other palaces and temples.

Here is the place from where the King would descend to the pond for his bath. I find the gap a bit to narrow for a king to enter through unless he liked crawling.

We make a stopover at Ochiara as we find a fairly decent hotel on the highway from where we could visit of couple of other places and stop for the day. As a matter of caution TheBlueDrive after sunset.

After some rest, we start again late in the afternoon for Azheekal Beach which is close to the very complex Kollam-Kottapuram waterway.

I meet here someone who could have been a long-time friend. No, we are not mutually intelligible but that is fine. Language is not a pre-requisite for conversation; in fact, it is a hindrance. Not understanding each others language prevents quarrels and fights.

They are constructing a bridge between Azheekal and Valiyazheekal which will help my friend.

Until the bridge is completed he has to take this boat across to his home at Valiyazheekal and pay Rs.10/- each time.

Azheekkal is an extremely busy fishing harbour. We stop at the bridge to take some pictures of the incoming boats at the end of the day.

And then reach the Para Brahma Temple at Ochiara at the end of the day to pray for our continued existence in spite of the driving techniques of Kerala bus drivers.

The next day is again spent in the maze of Kerala roads. We are looking for Kovilathal Lighthouse and are not able to get there. We decide to go to the Ashtamudi Lake at a place called Roomi’s Nest and explore the lake from there. This helped. Roomi’s Nest is owned and managed by a Gulf-returned entrepreneur by the name of Nizar Roomi. About this place and the Ashtamudi lake a little later, in the nest post. As of now, Nizar volunteers to take us to Kovilathal Lighthouse. We have spent quite some time to locate this place. For Nizar, it is not a problem. Nizar takes the driver’s seat- a first for TheBlueDrive. Kovilthal is an interesting place. The Lighthouse is right on the beach.

The views from the Kovilathal lighthouse are brilliant.

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Roomy has been a professional photographer and want to try some on us from the top of the Lighthouse, despite the low light.

The compound of the Lighthouse has a colourful display of Whale-bones that they found nearby.

The sands of Kerala in this area contain some Rare Earth elements which are strategically important minerals which can separated from the sands on the beach. And the beauty of it is that the sand left behind is very white as against the black sand before the separation process.

We also have a look at Kannakathu Devi temple before we retire for the day. This temple has a complex history which Nizar explained to me. On a certain festive day even males are required to dress like woman to enter the temple.

Devotees who are desirous of having offspring offer replicas of cradles here to the goddess to help in the process. This is not the only place of this type in India. In this Blog we have already described another temple in Gujarat offering the same services.

Here, allow me to jump a bit ( about 12 Kms) and go to Kollam for a brief visit to a Lighthouse and a fort and then return and do a detailed tour of Ashtamudi lake.

The Lighthouse at Kollam is a major attraction. For one, it is close to the the sea and it allows visitors, and it has a lift. What else do you want?

The views from this Lighthouse are really good. It attracts a large number of visitors largely because it has a lift.

The city of Kollam can be fully viewed from here.

In this area, called Tangasseri , just before you reach the Lighthouse there is another important monument. In the year 1518 AD, 20 years after our friend VDG landed in India, the Portuguese built a fort here. This is known as St. Thomas Fort. It is is in bad shape but is being worked upon.Hope it comes back to life and survive.

In the next post we will take an interesting tour of Ashtamudi Lake.

Text by Suryakiran Naik

Pictures by Suryakiran Naik , Veena naik and one by Nizar Roomi.

80. GOD’S OWN COUNTRY – 8. Ernakulam. Kochi.

February 12, 2017February 14, 2017thebluedrive Leave a comment

It would have been easier for everyone if the district would have been called Kochin instead of Ernakulam. But, no. Goad’s Own Country does not follow the ordinary rules. For everything there is a reason and there is a history.

I started the previous paragraph to write about Cochin. If I had written it as Kochi in my school days, Mr. Pillai our geography teacher would have thrashed me for wrongly spelling his hometown. That was in 1970s. Cochin became Kochi in 1996.

Kochi is often called the Queen of Arabian Sea. It came into prominence from 1341 AD onwards when the then major port north of Kochin called Muziris was destroyed in a major flooding. Remember this place ? this is where St Thomas landed from the Middle East with the message from the new Messanger of God? Here we are talking of 14^th century when the sea route to India via Cape was not discovered. However, the city was known to the Romans, Greeks, Jews, Chinese and Arabs of course. The first three were using a combination of land and sea routes. The guy called Vasco da Gama who used the exclusively sea route around the came much later.

We (No, Vasco is not with us these days) start early morning from Ernakulam and start exploring the district from the northern side. The first stop is Santa Cruz Cathedral. Majestic structure with an imposing view as you approach it.

Santa Cruz cathedral

Idols are aplenty around. Beautiful.

Vypin island and Cherai beach follows.

A lot of history must be hidden in the islands of Ernakulam district. A lot.

This is the place from where you start seeing the Chinese Fishing Nets. Why from here? I dont know but I will write a bit about these nets a little later.

Vypin Island has a small beach and a nice little Church.

But the place is dominated by the CFNs, I mean Chinese Fishing Nets. The CFNs that you see in the picture postcards are located on the Vypin island but the shot from the opposite side , Cochi town. Let me add a picture here from Vypin proper.

Chinese Fishing Nets

Pallipuram Fort is the northernmost place in Ernakulam. To the north is another part of history – Kodangallore-Muziris Axis.

This place was built by the Portuguese in 1503 and is now considered as the oldest surviving European built structure in India. Congratulations, Pallipuram. it was owned by the Portuguese, the Dutch, the English and the local Kings at various times in history. It was taken over by the Indian government not from the British but from the Travancore kings.

It is not easy to visit this place. That explains why it is not on the Tourists Menu. It takes the grit of TheBlueDrive to find such places and actually visit them, not post the borrowed pictures.

It was risky to park the car on the extremely busy and very narrow road. There is no option.

It is to the credit of Kerala Dept. of Archaeology that the fort is still in good shape.

The creek is very close to the fort. As usual there is no information available at site but the lady who was cleaning the place showed us what appears like an underground passage that perhaps led to the creek waters in the past.

Our next stop is the Vypin Lighthouse. If you are allowed to visit only one place in Kerala before you are executed, opt for the Top of Vypin Lighthouse.

Here is why:

Water is everywhere , so are the Goads.

The lighthouse itself is infested with young people with their Android phones taking ‘selfies’ with their friends .The reason for the popularity of the lighthouse ? it is among a very few in India which has a lift. TheBlueDrive with average age of 60 climb most of them with or without lift ( for the benefit of the Americans, Lift means Elevators). Anyway, from the outside the Lighthouse looks like this.

Cochi has so much history that there is very little place for anything else. The Mattancherry Palace. ( Cameras not allowed inside, so very little can be shared).

The Cochin Fort abutting the beach.

You walk along the beach and find a place called ‘Gunnery’. Logically it should have been a part of the Fort and inside the ramparts.

And then a few meters away something the Dutch are famous for in India- Cementaries.The Dutch cementaries are the best European resting places in India. I can say this the benefit of having seen most of them.

How can I ignore the 511 years old Santa Cruz Basilica?

Heart of Jesus Church.

On the Mattanchery side is the Jew Town which is a bazar but still has the old buidings including the Synagogue. They no longer allow you photograph inside the Synagogue but I still have the ‘negatives’ of the film of the previous visit when we used to use ‘film’ for photographing. I need to go back into my archives and find them.

The Synagogue

The fear of the dead is inversely proportional to the time elapsed from the date of death. The recently demised invoke more fear than those who died in the distant past. The people of Kochi are closing in on the Jewish graves. They are not likely to be here for long.

Kochi has at least three Museums. The Mattanchery Palace Museum and the Indo-Poruguese Museum do not allow photography. The third museum is the Maritime History Museum of Indian Navy. If you want to uderstand the Maritime history and the major players on the western seaboard of India, a visit is to this museum is a must.

Apart from the major players the museum allows us a peek into the types of boats and vessels used in ancient times.

Apart from this the exhibits trace the history of Indian Navy and also the European fortifications on India’s coast.

Thed details are beyond the scope of this blog. Suffice it to say that a visit is recommened.

There are many other aspects of Ernakulam/Cochin life which need to be writen about. To limit the size of the post I will be merging them with other places as we go along as many of the aspects overlap. The Chinese Fishing Nets and the Fish Sellers of Kerala are aming them.

Please allow me conclude this post here.

Text and Pictures by Suryakiran Naik

79. GOD’S OWN COUNTRY – 7. Thrissur, Chalakudy.

February 8, 2017February 11, 2017thebluedrive 1 Comment

In the previous post, we had covered most important coastal parts of Thrissur district. What we did not touch on was the city of Thrissur.

Thrissur or what was earlier known as Trichur is called the cultural capital of Kerala. It has a number of religious institutions and was once a major centre of Hindu religious education. It is also important for some Christian denominations.

The town appears to have been built around a temple complex with huge grounds which serve as grounds for numerous socio-cultural activities. It is also the ground for the annual festival of Pooram. All those decorated elephants that you see in the tourist brochures are from here. The festival relates to Shri Vadakkunathan Temple which is the most important shrine in the city.

It is an imposing temple and nicely maintained.

Peacock feathers are still sold openly in the compound of the temple.

The area around the temple is used for various activities like practicing for group dance.

The people seating here in small clusters are not gossiping. They are playing Chess.

There is a second temple on the backside of the main temple here. It was late and I could not gather the details.

If you have interest in them the compound sports a few species of birds. Here is a Tree-Pie and a Barbet.

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The skyline of the town is dominated by the Basilica of Our Lady of Dolours has the tallest church building in India. It belongs to the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church and dates back to 1814, 200+ years old.

Thrissur also has a Chaldean Syrian Church which belongs to the St Thomas Christians who trace their origins to Thomas the Apostle who came to India in 58 AD.

Thrissur has a couple of Museums. Even the small towns in Kerala sport a small museum. The Keralites appear to chrish their past of which they are justifiably proud. We had to skip the museums for paucity of time , except for the museum at Sakhtan Thampooran Palace. It is a small museum and could have been skipped in favour of the Museum of Art.

The place was actually a fort and some signs of the same are still visible in the noise of the Bus Station on the opposite side of road. The Palace is in solid teakwood and a beauty in simplicity, characterestic of Kerala.The contents of the museum has not much to write home about.

Thrissur town is not located on the seashore but the district has a few beaches. Snehatheeram is one of the newly developed one. Getting to the beaches on the seaboard from the highway is a challenge. At Snehatheeram beach, this restaurant roof is made entirely of the Coconut leaves, a rarity these days.

TheBlueDrive is a coastal journey and we have avoided the temptation to drive some distance towards the hills which are greener and cooler, especially in the Western Ghats. An urge to do some forest birding takes us to Chalkudy which by itself is not far from the coast but the Ethirapally falls that we visit are.

If you have been watching Indian movies, especially the Soth Indian ones, you will have seen Ethirapally falls.

To reach this place one has to do quite a bit of descend and then a steep climb.

The forest area of Vazhachal is quite extensive and has waterfalls at three places. Two are not as spectacular as the one above.

On the way is the Thumboormuzhy River Garden with a hanging bridge.

The hills of the Western Ghats are spectacular and beautiful but are outside the scope of our present travel programme which is cover the entire coast of continental India. May be another time.

Our objective in coming to the hills was to do some birding. We stayed at Chalakudy in the plains and drove into the hills which took time and consequently we did not have the best of the birding time. That is not to say we did not see anything at all.

The Hill Mynah, not a easy bird to come by was there to welcome us.

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My old friend Scarlet Minivet was perching high up in the canopy.

The Black Capped Kingfisher, normally found near the sea was not expected at the high altitudes but was found enjoying himself in the cool stream waters.

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The Racket-Tailed Drongo had the insects on the newly opened flowers of Silk-Cotton tree to feed on.

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The Pond Heron,proabably the commonest bird in India after the House Crow was seen enjoying himself in the flowing waters.

We return to our base at Chalakudy and have a late lunch. At the restaurant on the highway we find some ‘Cutlates’, which we decide against and go in for ‘Meals’.

The digression is not over. We have to get back to serious work now. The next stop is the great historical city of Cochin and the district of Ernakulam of which it is a part.

Text and Photographs by Suryakiran Naik

Additional Photographs; Veena Naik

78. GOD’S OWN COUNTRY – 6. Malappuram & Thrissur.

February 8, 2017February 11, 2017thebluedrive Leave a comment

TheBlueDrive uses, as far as possible, the headquarters of the districts travelled along the coast as the place to spend the nights. Sometimes the district place is not convenient for the stay or it is far off the coast and, a town closer to the coast is chosen. In fact, this journey started from the district of Kutch and the district HQ are far off the coast and we stayed in a Gurdwara in a Village Panchayat area. Later on, in these travels we have had opportunities to spend the nights in very small places. Here is another one.

Malappuram our next district’s HQ is not on the seashore and our limit is 30 Kms. from the seashore to prevent ourselves straying all over the country. The obvious choice is Ponnani. ‘Pon’ in Malayalam means gold and Ponnani probably means the land of gold. The entire west coast of India seems to have been engaged in trading with the rest of the world in the past and was rich. Signs of the same are found in many places.

If you want to get out of Calicut district made famous by the great Vasco da Gama and others, you need to cross the bridge on the river Ferok. If you have the time and the inclination, please walk along the pedestrian bridge along the main narrow vehicle bridge. It will allow you some nice views of the river and the Tile factories along its banks.

We drive along an amorphous and highly confusing road called Tipu Sultan Road. Some stretches of this road are a pleasure to drive on. It goes on and on along the coast and we end up at a place which we thought or expected would have a bridge to cross over to Ponnani beach. We find, not surprisingly, it does not exist. The geography pf the place looks like this on the Google map.

We end up on the beach at Padinjarekkara. Nice place. One has to pay to enter it. One can see the beach at Ponnani on the opposite shore not very far. The boats are plying in the creek. They might be taking people (not cars) on the opposite side.

The boats here practice the fine art of towing other boats. One can see the Ponnani Lighthouse from here.

After this we back to the highway and return to the opposite (southern ) side. This takes us about two hours of driving. We enter Ponnani, a modest town and find accommodation at a nice hotel. It is a surprising place for such a small town.

Although Ponnani was once a part of the ancient trading network, not much is left of the distant past. One extant monument is the Ponnani Valiya Pally, a masjid built in 1518 AD by Shaikh Zainudin Makhdum who apparently was a rich Arab mechant.

Please note that by 1518 AD the Portuguese were already establishing themselves in the Malabar coast. The Arab trade seems to have continued simultaneously amid the politics and the wars.

The masjid is built the old Kerala architectural style. Some scholars believe that these old masjids of Kerala were built in the principles of Buddhist Chaitya Vastu, In this blog we have visited 4 such masjids earlier and this is the 5th. More to come.

As non-muslims are now allowed in the masjids, there is no question of an Atheist being allowed. Logically I should not have been allowed within several kilometers of the site. I had to confine myself to some external pictures.

At the rear the masjid has a water tank which resembles one associated with temples in many parts of India.

The next place we visit is the Lighthouse which we had seen from across the creek earlier. This is a nice structure.

The town has another modern Masjid with Minars. It looks good but lacks the charm of the old Valiya Pally.

Opposite this mosque is my favourite place, the Fish Market

We come across this broad and flat silvery grey colour fish for the first time here. You would probably not find it in the northern parts. This is perhaps a resident of the Laccadive Sea.

Ibrahim insists that he be photographed with his stock in trade. He tells me the Malayalam names of all the fishes he sells. Unfortunately I have misplaced my notes.

We decide to leave Ponnani after tasting the soft kernels of Tala (Borassus) palm. They are delicately soft but not sweet. each fruit has 4 of them neatly packed inside.

We leave Ponnani and enter the district of Thrissur (ex-Trichur).

If Kerala is God’s Own Country, the district of Thrissur (earlier known by the anglicized name of Trichur) is God’s own private Resort. God and His Prophets has sent their emissaries to this district with alarming regularity and consistency.

To start with, Lord Krishna has an abode in the Holy District of Thrissur located at the town of Guruvayur. This place is considered as the most important of all the Vaishnavite sites in Southern part of India and has a huge number of visitors. Just about everyone who calls himself Hindu rushes to this temple.

It is a nice temple with a huge number of shops selling a huge number of things, mostly made in China. Can you imagine China benefitting from the Vaishnavite branch of Hindu religion? I salute them. I mean the Chinese. I will not be surprised to see a Chinese-made idol installed here in course of time.

There is hall showing all ‘Avatars’ of Lord Vishnu in idol forms.Here are 4 of them.

The administration the temple has the temerity to ask an old friend of their Lord to dress in a particular way and deny permission to take in his cameras. Worst of all they ask me to remove my shirt. That I refuse to do. I discard the Dhoti and become normal again.I have some decency still left in me. I know how and when to meet my old friend. I am not at the mercy of the temple authorities. If your customer service is not good I move on to the next place. At the next place I find St Thomas who does not impose a Dress Code and such silly restrictions. His ‘security’ does not ask you to remove your shirt.

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Let us move on. The greatest advantage of Hindu history, Hindu religion and Hindu Gods over the others is that they are undated. When you talk of Jesus Christ or Prophet Mohammed, there is a specific date as reference in AD or AH. That gives them away. They are pinned down to history. Has anyone asked about the year of birth of Lord Krishna? Try asking it. You will get answers ranging from ‘before the beginning of the universe’ to ‘before the beginning of time’, ‘Long long time ago’, ‘you dont know these things’ etc. People however know the day of the birth in the lunar calendar.

As Christians don’t have this advantage with reference to their Prophet they are stuck with a big problem. St Thomas the Apostle came to Kerala in 58 AD. He founded a Church or a Cross here and established 6 other churches. St Thomas was the direct disciple of Christ. If he established the Cross here in 58 AD , he would have been quite old by that time but he still had the energy and time to establish 6 others.

I am not here in the God’s Own Country to get into these silly little controversies.What St Thomas did is not short of a miracle. It is not easy to travel in Kerala and Tamilnadu even now and St Thomas did it around 2000 years ago and also established 7 churches. It is said that his place of landing (by boat of course) is Muziri which in turn is supposed to be somewhere near Kodungallur. A replica of the boat is found here in Palayur,

The church compound at Palayur we are referring to also has a museum and statuary displaying some incidences in the Saint’s life which include ‘pacifying’ an elephant and a tiger.

Anyway. St Thomas installed a cross opposite Marhaba Chicken Centre. This is claimed to be the first Christian establishment in Asia.

Here is the Cross:

Unmistakable Kerala woodwork all around and the stonework to support it. Perfect ventilation. No complaints. Thank you, sir.

Here are the other related structures:

I have referred to this place as a ‘Church’ although officially it is St. Thomas Archdiocesan Shrine.

The place where St Thomas is reported to have landed is called Muziri. It is said that this was the greatest port in ancient times and a busy trading place where people from Egypt, Middle East and Europe (then Roman Empire) visited. In Kerala they even organize a Muziri Festival. The problem is nobody knows where Muziri is or was. It is speculated that it was around the place called Kodungallur.

Welcome to Kodungallur. Here we find what is claimed as the first Mosque or Masjid in India and 3rd in the world.

Cheraman Juma Masjid is claimed to have been set up by Malik Dinar a contemporary and a follower of Prophet Mohammed and also a rich merchant. That makes sense as Prophet Mohammed himself was a merchant. dscn0025

dscn0024 I must confess here that the management of the Masjid was good to me. Despite my telling them that I am not a muslim and not likely to be one, they allowed me to go inside. No, not with my wife of course and not inside the sanctum.

About this Masjid and a few others in Kerala and one in Tamil Nadu, I would be making a separate post as there is a lot to be written about them.

So let us now move to another place in Thrissur district. How about a Jewish Synagogue?

It is here, the oldest Synagogue in India.

At a place called Mala, the Malabar Jews established the oldest surviving Synagogue in the 11th century. Jews are much older than the Christians and Muslims but the Synagogue is not. Secondly the Synagogue is not in use since 1955 when the Jews decided to migrate the Israel.

Despite their absence, the place is kept is neat and clean but does not have space around it. This is what the urban congestion does to the old monuments in many parts of the world.

Now you should have some idea about why I am calling this district the God’s Private Resort. And remember we have not even reached the district Headquarters of Thrissur. There is more Thrissur to come but allow me to stop this post here.

Text &Pictures : Suryakiran Naik

Pictures : Veena Naik

76. GOD’S OWN COUNTRY – 4. Calicut..Kohikode.

January 30, 2017April 24, 2020thebluedrive Leave a comment

If you say ‘ Calicut ‘ today, even in Kerala, people would look at you with patriotic eyebrows raised. The name has been changed, man. Kohikode (pronounced kohikod by the touts at the bus stations looking for passengers) would be a more acceptable nomenclature. However, if you are a student of Indian history and more precisely colonial Indian History, there is no way you could have escaped the town Calicut. This town and the area around has seen all those those bearded White Men with their sailing ships descending by the dozens on the pristine sandy beaches. And before that the bearded Arabs in their Dhows and before that the bearded Romans coming in for the spices? and in between the Africans (not bearded. Have you seen a bearded African?) brought along by the Arabs. Just about everybody came here except perhaps the Eskimos.

TheBlueDrive is a travel diary, not an expedition to explore the history of the country. We therefore need to be humble and stick to our brief (without foregoing the right to record and comment on what we see). What we see is mostly the following:

Fishing Harbors. Lighthouses. Seaside Forts. Temples, Mosques and Churches (with an occasional Synagogue thrown in) , Food, plant and animal life, more particularly Bird life, Monuments not attached to any religion ( which is very rare in this country) and a few other things that one sees whilst travelling.

KOHIKODE (Calicut) seems to have a little of everything and much more- a very distinctly superior air of historical importance.

We start on 1^st of January from a disastrous celebration of the New Year at Mahe and drive down southwards to look at a fishing harbor at Chombal in Kohikode district. A protected fishing harbor and quite a busy place, despite it being 1^st of January.We have a look around and check on the retail prices. The prices are dictated by the fish species which works against the fisherman. If a trawler has a bumper catch of the low-value fish like the red one below would be a disadvantage as compared to another one which has a lean catch of high value fish.

It has a monument to Fishermen. I don’t remember having seen any such monument except one at Alibaug in Maharashtra where we have a woman selling fish sculpted. It is unfortunate that the birds have been misusing the monument. They do it everywhere.The fisher folks deserve a better deal than these small monuments.

The Google map shows a small island called Chombala Rock Island. The fisher folks did not seem to have any knowledge of it or could not understand what we were talking about. We decided to drop the subject after some discussions.

We move on and drive south with a view to have a look at Kunjali Marakkar’s place which is at Iringal with a complex geography created by the River Kuttiyadi meeting the sea and creating several islands at its mouth. This would be extremely helpful in honing the navigational skills of the Marakkars. But for us , things are not made easy by the winding roads and the crossings of Indian Railways’ track.

Kunjali Marakkar is a title, not the name of a person. There were four of them. The origins of the followers or these seafarers are shrouded in mystery but were probably Arabs or Egyptians who had settled down around Kochin. The Portuguese drove them up north to Calicut where the Zamorin, the Samoothiri Raja welcomed them in the kingdom and made their leader the Admiral of his fleet.

The museum is maintained by the Department of Archaeology of the Kerala State. That explains too many people there and very little content.

Of late, there are many public places have been disallowing photography inside the premises. This establishment is one of them and we do not have pictures of what is displayed which is not much.

Indian Navy has erected a monument in respect of the Marakkars on the premises.

Notwithstanding the poverty of the museum in terms of contents, this small museum has a small garden with a number of beautiful flowering plants which are not deprived of the privilege to be photographed.

The people at the Museum are very friendly. They have a small function arranged ( perhaps to celebrate the new year) to which a couple of local political leaders are invited. We are asked to join. A cake is cut and when long speeches in Malayalam start We excuse ourselves and proceed to the Kunjali Marakkar mosque, of course after eating our pieces of the cake and having the tea.

Here one should remember a few things. The Zamorin was a Hindu King, the Marakkars were Muslims. Their alliance was one of convenience which did not last long. The Zamorin aligned with erstwhile enemies including the Portuguese. The alignment fell apart but the Marakkars continued fighting the Portuguese. The last of them is said to have been captured by the Portuguese and beheaded in Goa. I need to learn more about it but the young man at the museum showed me this picture as as the reference for Goa episode in this part of the history.

History in depth, as I said earlier, is not the brief of this travel. However we keep on driving into history. The mosque of the Marakkars is close by the Museum. It is not very difficult to reach it but unfortunately there is not much information available. I repeat for the nth time that we Indians are not good at recording and preserving our past. No, not at all.

Anyway the mosque looks like this:

By now we have seen almost all the olden mosques ( 500+years or older) ,and this must be the northernmost built in the Kerala architectural style without the Arabic Minars.

This does not appear to be the original construction, especially the roof which has the Mangalore tiles which appeared on the scene much later in the history.

More about these early mosques of Kerala and Tamilnadu in a later post.

Now, we want to have a look at the mouth of the river Kuttiyadi as it is preparing to drain into the Arabian ocean. And here it is. This is beginning of the beauty of Kerala backwaters, just the beginning:

At the place where the river meets the sea, the waters should be rich in minerals. The banks of the river are farmed for large quantities of shells for commercial use.

Whilst on the coast and before we get back to the Highway, we decide to have a look at the Cuddalore Lighthouse. We are mis-directed to several places on account of our not understanding Malayalam and even those places were beautiful even in their collapse.

Now we move on we with great difficulty on the narrow winding roads and somehow reach the Cuddalore Lighthouse passing an Islamic Academy on the way.

The lighthouse is closed and we can take some pictures from outside the gate..

I have decided to become a Buddhist with immediate effect because that entitles me for a rebirth. Modern religions like Islam and Christianity do not offer this facility as of now. They should have a re look at their policies. There is a big demand in this sector.

My application for becoming a Buddhist will be accompanied by an application for employment at a Lighthouse. I guarantee you there is no better employment than that. Take my word for it. I am saying this after visiting a very large number of lighthouses. These guys enjoy their life! Ask them what they do the whole day!!

We move on or drive on, to be precise. We pass by the road to Payyoli, P T Usha’s hometown and reach Calicut. Payyoli Express- do you remember?

By an error we booked ourselves at a hotel which is far away from the city. This happened because the same hotel has another property in the city. The place where we are put up is quite far from the town and nearer the airport.

This place is supposed to have a Bird Sanctuary nearby which led us astray. Birds in Kerala are called berds. Please note. You should not be surprised as even the God is called Goad, to rhyme with boat and Goat. So the God’s Own Country should be Goad’s Own Country, to reflect the reality.

So the first thing we do after check-in in is to go for the Berd Sanctuary. It is located on two sides of a railway track and there are hardly any berds there. Instead we find the boys collecting shellfish which is a better way of spending time than watching berds. You can also watch the Fiddler crabs in the creek.

What next? Lighthouse, of course. One should have proper knowledge of places where one seeks employment in the next birth and therefore a visit is a must.

The Lighthouse we reach is called Beypore Lighthouse. Its location is not in Beypore. Beypore is across a creek and one needs to drive quite a bit to reach there. We will do it tomorrow.

We start the second day from the old Calicut town. These towns are typical. They have history written all over. Calicut (Kozhikode) port-side has that charming character. Very narrow pre-motorcar streets, each having its own purpose or trade which has now become redundant.

We are looking for the very old Masjids located in the old town. Using the Google map we drive into a street which can be used by one car at a time. We stop the entire traffic with everyone cursing us.In desperation we drive into the compound of a house by the roadside. Once we are in, the owner assures me that there is no way I can drive the car back on to the road.Impossible!!! We have to cut it into pieces to take it out.

I put together all my driving skills and expertise to move around. The entire mohalla of this Muslim locality has gathered to watch the fun. The kids are keenly watching. At last after about 20 minutes of acrobatics we get out of the place and drive back on to the main road. Once on the main road, it is a simple drive to the Masjid. Lesson: dont trust the Google maps to much at the micro level. The map does not know the one-way streets, the closed roads, the bridges which has recently collapsed etc. We have, in the last 5 months of travels , faced all these.

Now the Masjid or the Mosque. Actually there are three of them.

The first one is the most famous and the biggest. It is called the Mishkal Mosque, named after the person who built it. Nakhuda Mishkal was an Yemeni merchant who had settled down in Calicut. ‘Settled down’ can be interpreted as having a ‘family’ here. If you are surprised by the nationality ‘Yemeni’, you need to do a bit more of reading on the subject. The Hadramaut coast of Yemen has had a long connection with India.’ Hadramis’, as they are called have formed part of the armed forces of a number of Indian kings and princes, not necessarily Muslims. Their employers include the Gaekwads of Baroda and and , hold your breathe, the Peshwas of Pune.

Let me get back to the matter at hand.The Masjids. Here is the Mishkal Mosque.

Kerala is perhaps the only place where the local architecture prevailed over the one which followed in the wake of the new Gods and new beliefs from the west. The influence of the temple architecture is unmistakable here. The absence of the minars is a Fashion Statement.

And here we meet Mohammed Ali.

‘ What are you looking for?’ he.

‘Old Mosque, the Mishkal Mosque.’ I

‘Come let me show it to you’

He takes us back to the place and brings us back to the pond which is opposite the Masjid and which I thought is a part of the Masjid complex.

. ‘This is much older, older than the mosque.’ and continues.

‘But there are two more masjids, older than this one’

‘Really?’

‘Yes. Let me show them to you since you have come all the way from Pune’

It so happens that these Masjids follow a chronology in their history. The one we saw was built in the 15th Century AD.

There are two others in the same locality one each built in 14th and the 13th century. The problem is not much is known about them. The first one was built by Nakhuda Mishkal. The other two might have been built by other Nakhudas. ‘Nakhuda’ in Arabic means the captain of the ship which most of the time doubled up as the Owner of the ship and the trader as well.

Here are the pictures of the Kattichira Jama Palli (14th Century) and the Muchundipalli ( 13th century), respectively. I am not able to comment on them except that their architecture is one hundred per cent local and has no Arabic influence except perhaps in the location of the Mihrab and other essentials inside the Mosque.

Muchundipalli here. It is difficult to get an overview of these monuments as they are in the densely populated areas.

The subject of these Masjids will recur in this blog as it is an integral part of the history of coastal India. For the time being let me thank Mohammad Ali for taking us to the two other masjids which we would not have seen but for him. He is a retired accountant and works as an amateur guide here. He does not have a cellphone.

From here we move on the more contemporary places. The Kohikode beach which has a number of young people and many things to eat. The boys in the picture below asked us to send their photographs to them and gave us incorrect e-mail Ids.

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The things to eat include Quail’s eggs.

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And it also has a lighthouse. I am not sure if it is functional but it seems to have been painted recently.

We come out from here are advised to visit Kappad beach. Kappad is known as Kappadkadavu and is the place where the great Vasco da Gama of Portugal is supposed to have set his feet for the first time on the Indian soil. We did not find any signs of it, neither did we find any reasons for him to land at this place. He or his fleet might have just been blown away by the winds.

In this search for the past we did not find much time for the present of the city. We had to move on after visiting a temple in the city.

We had to give a miss to the two of the museums in the town as they were closed on the days we were in there.

Calicut’s people are very enterprising and intelligent. They are also very innovative.

Text & pictures by Suryakiran Naik – suryakiran.naik@gmail.com

& pictures by Mrs. Veena naik

75. GOD’S OWN COUNTRY- 3. Thalassery, Muzhappilangad & MAHE

January 26, 2017April 24, 2020thebluedrive Leave a comment

It is 31^st of December and we have planned to celebrate the New Year at Mahe which is a part of Union Territory of Puduchery but is surrounded by God’s Own Country. Before we reach Mahe we have two other places to visit within Kerala.

The first stop is a beach and a great novelty. Muzhanppilangad is called a Drive-In beach. Here you can drive your car on a 4 Kms long beach by paying Rs. 30/-. There is no time limit specified but there is speed limit of 20 Kmph. This is made possible by District Transport Police Commissioner’s order No. 420/16.

It is a pleasurable experience to drive 4 Kms. on the wet and firm sand by the sea and enjoy the breeze.

There is no extra charge for posing for photographs. Police however do make rounds in their jeep perhaps to enforce the speed limits.

At the southern end of the beach there are a few rocks close on the beach and the Hammer& Sickle can be seen there. The fishermen seem to be unfazed by the drivers and carry on their activities.

At the southern end it is an out and out fishermen’s beach.

The fish caught here use saloon cars for transport to the market.

The beach has some birdlife.

Thalassery Fort is the second stop stop. Thalassery was known in colonial times as Tellicherry and the British East India Company built a fort there in the year 1708. It was meant to be used to make the British presence in Malabar Coast firm in the face of opposition from native Kingdoms. This was achieved by 1792 when Tipu Sultan ceded the Malabar coast to the British. Compared to Bekal Fort and St. Agnelo Forts in Kannur district, this is a smaller one but was perhaps strategically more important, historically.

The fort has ‘dwarpals’, the sentries which are more often found on the gates of Hindu temples. Here they are very obviously Europeans, going by their dress and footwear.

The fort is located in the middle of Thalassery town and hence has many visitors. To the credit of Archaeological Survey of India, the fort is maintained clean and neat.

Behind the fort and closer to the sea you will find a nice little church perhaps built in the colonial times for the use of the fort’s occupants.

On the western side of the fort we found a Lighthouse which appears to have been abandoned.

Not far from there I found this curious metal object. I could not understand the reason(s) for it’s existence.

Could it be a sentry post? It has a roof. It is decorated, so it is not meant for prisoners. Just a decoration at the gate? but it is not at the front entrance either.

By lunchtime we hit Mahe or what is also called Mayyazhi. This used to be a French colony and we expect some good time on the New Year eve. There is none. It is total disappointment. The official celebrations organized by the District administration started at 5.30 pm and ended at 9.30 pm. They had invited a singer (solo) who sang like it is the end of the world, not the year.

When you book a hotel for the 31st of December with a name like ‘Paris Residency’ in a past French Colony , with a facade like in the picture below you have some expectations.

What would you do if they tell you that their restaurant is closed!!!! Car parking is on the roadside and there are no good restaurants around!!! And that is exactly what they did.

We dont believe the hotel manager. There is something wrong here and we decide to walk around the place.

It is indeed a small place. I dont understand what the French gained by retaining this place so long. Currently the only beneficiaries of its status as an Union Territory are the liquor vendors. For a population of 42000 ( 2011 Census), this small town has 72 liquor outlets. Most of the consumers appears to be the motorists passing by and the people from surrounding areas of Kerala which has a partial prohibition in place.

There is a small park and a walkway along the creek or the river which meets the sea nearby. Not a real beach but OK for an evening walk.

There is a Lighthouse on a small hillock by the side of the walkway. The visiting time was over by the time we reached there and hence had to take a picture from afar.

When we ask the hotel manager about the ‘French connection’, he says there is none here. No old buildings, no old houses or anything remotely French. I believe him now. The only thing he suggests we should have a look at is the Church which is located bang on the highway. It is a nice little chruch. It was late we did not have time to find out more about it.

There is a Bus-Stop shelter on the mian road which looks like from the colonial days but no. It is of more recent origins.

The best saloon for men in the Union Territory looks like this? well, I could be wrong.

Disappointed, we walk towards our hotel ( with the restaurant closed) worried about possible starvation on our 33rd wedding anniversary. On the way we see a stall selling fish and we start salivating. We peep in.

Green mussels!!!!!!!!!!!!

I shout out with joy which is short-lived when the fish vendor says that they are not offered in the restaurants.As if sent by God the man to the left in the second picture above who has come to buy fish volunteers with some information. There is a restaurant at the end of the road, opposite the park which sometimes have them on the menu.God bless him.

Our joy returns when the restaurant confirms that they do have the mussels and also chicken Shwarma to go with it. We order some of both to be delivered to us at Paris Residency.

On the side of the walkway, there are some interesting inscriptions. One is about the story of lovers Dasan and Chandrika who have now become dragonflies and live on the Velliyan Rock in the sea. I am sure they must be eating the Green mussels.

Text and Pictures : Suryakiran Naik

74. GOD’S OWN COUNTRY- 2. KANNUR

January 25, 2017April 24, 2020thebluedrive Leave a comment

We start from Kasargod early in the morning with the intention of reaching Kannur after visiting Ezhimala which we are told is a very beautiful place. After a totuous drive along the narrow winding roads along the coast on the Valiyaparamba stretch of the coast, we reach Ezhimala. We face a barricade which smells of military. Yes, it is. Navy. This is an academy. Whom do you want to meet? who is your person inside? None.

One of the many suppliers/vendors at the gate advises me that unless you have ‘sombody inside’, you will not be able to enter inside. Try Ezhimala mountain the other side. Another dangerous drive along the narrow roads leads us to this 41 feet Hanuman.

The images below represent local deities.

Kannur was earlier known as Cannanore. Hope this rings a bell. Cannanore has a mention in many a historical record. Travellers in the past appear to be fond of this place for various reasons, spices being a major one.

Cannanore has monuments like forts, churches, mosques etc. to show for the arrival of the foreigners. We will visit them shortly. Let us start with a temple which is much much older.

This important temple which is pre-Vedic or Pre- Aryan which beats the Europeans by many centuries. Parassinikadavu Muthappan Temple on the banks of the river Velapattanam before it meets the sea is a very important pilgrimage place with extremely dangerous road curves as you descend on to the seashore to get into the temple.

The river-side temple celebrates two mythical deities -Thiruvappana and Vellattam. They are offered Fish, Meat and Toddy on the festive days. Efforts are being made to present them as the manifestations of Shiva and Vishnu. It will be an extremely difficult attempt. The presence of dogs’ images in the temple are something very difficult to explain in the traditional Vedic terms. Photography is prohibited inside the temple, not only this but in most of the temples. That makes things difficult for someone to look at things critically.

The exteriors are on the lines of other temples of Kerala but the small shrine inside this is not. Images if this canine are prominent.

People wash their feet in the river which is BEHIND the temple.

Look at the deities closely. Both are male.

It is claimed that Cannanore was historically the third largest town after Bombay and Karachi on the western seaboard of India. It traded with Arabs, Romans and whoever mattered in trade in those days. We do not find any signs of the earlier visitors but the Europeans have left behind their marks.

The Fort of St Angelo. 511 years ago Fransisco de Almeida, the Portuguese Viceroy of India built this fort. A nice place to spend a few evening hours now. I guess it waas very imprtant for the European imperialism in those days.

The design of the Watch-tower recurring from the posts on this blog from Diu southwards. There are guns still around, the new high-rise buildings providing the background.

The local king is also honoured a short distance away.

The statue of Kerala Simha was inaugurated by a mere Colonel. The newly built masonry wall of the Portuguse fort would have been inaugurated by a central Cabinet Minister.

The town has a lighthouse by the beach. I understad that they also have a Museum. As ususal we are late and can neither go up the lighthouse or see the museum. So there we – to the beach after a brief look at the Lighthouse.

We are welcomed by the food stalls.

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It is tempting. The sheer variety of items- fruits, vegetables and what not served in the same plate. People enjoy here not only this vegetarian fare but also something immensely diffrent.

Do you see the people in the pictures enjoying the evening on the beach?

You would surely be wondering what they are carrying in the bags. here is what they have:

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The Green Mussels which grow atached to the rocks in the sea. It is a delicacy for about 4-5 months starting from December onwards on the western seaboard of India. This shellfish is available in the markets of Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka and Kerala ( and perhaps of Tamilnadu) but one can imagine the joy of extracting them from the rocks on the seashore. You might fiond them in the markt a day later but cooking them fresh from the sea is a joyous thing. The people carrying the bagfuls were overjoyed.

Kannur beach seems to have other joyous things. This is one of the beaches were kite-flying is in vogue. At Rs 50/- one can buy and fly a kite here.

Lovely.I am into the practice of kite-flying ( corporate or otherwise) so I move into the more familiar territory.

Kanur has had a large number of leaders in the past leaning towards the left.They and others leaning towards right or the centre had one shortcoming . They were not immortal. When they died, they had to find a last place and what better place then the seaside?

Consequently the whos who of the north Kerala’s politics lie under the sand with the green mussels under them and the kites flying over them.

All markings are in Malayalam. I am looking for the one of A K Gopalan out of genuine respect for the man. I look around without success, walk back towards where people are sitting, find two young men who could speak English and they bring me back to this.They actually get up and walk with me to the place. I dont know if they were respecting my age or the legend of AKG. I hope it is the latter.

It does not give any indication that he was a communist, A K Gopalan !!!

A few lines and pictures about the Kerala’s left today in the later posts. They are painful.

KANNUR was once part of the ARAKKAL kingdom. This was a Muslim dynasty which followed the Malayali principles of inheritance. Consequently the region could have a reigning Queen and it did. The Kingdom or the principality to be more accurate was created by the Kunjali Marakkars. We will come across them later on.

I think the history of Arakkal is a subject which has not been done justice to by Indian historians.It has plenty to speak about. Not many people know that that the Lakshadweep Islands were owned by the Arakkal kings until the British deprived them of them under a sleek and deceptive typewritten document.

When you are in the area please make it a point to visit the modest museum housed in the old palace. It will tell you how the British subjugated the native Indian rulers one by one and built the British Raj.

The Malabari system of Matrilineal descent allowed the Muslim dynasty to have a ruling Queen. What more do you want, you feminists??

I would have liked to close this post with the district of Kannur but we have two more things to look at and this post is getting too long. Please allow me to stop here and pick with the other places in the south in the next one.

Thanks for reading.

Text and pictures : Suryakiran Naik

Pictures by Veena Naik

73. GOD’S OWN COUNTRY- 1. KASARGOD.

January 20, 2017thebluedrive 2 Comments

TheBlueDrive is a journey along the coast of India. When you come to Kerala you find that most of the state is along the coast. Out of the 14 districts 9 have a coastline and one is so close you can throw a stone into the sea from there.

The state starts with the district of Kasargod. This was earlier a part of the District of South Canara ( which is now part of Karnataka). Later on it was detached from Karnataka and added to Kerala. This was part of reorganization of states on linguistic basis. History has now left Kasargod district to grapple with Malayalam. In the past, it has had speakers of as many as five languages- Kannada, Malayalam, Konkani, Tulu and Beary.

When you cross into Kerala from Karnataka you don’t feel that you have done that. There are no check-posts, no barricades, no men in uniform as one would expect whilst crossing a state boundary especially a boundary between a state having no prohibition and one having partial prohibition. This is perhaps because of the fact that the coastal road is not considered important by the authorities.

A few kilometres into the Kerala territory and you start feeling the change. The north Kerala buses are painted artistically and carry a wide variety of colours and designs on their bodies. In the restaurants at lunch time water served is hot. (this might have started somewhere in southern Karnataka), the newspapers are in Malayalam, God becomes Goad to rhyme with Goat or Boat.

For most part, Kasargod is a mixture of Karnataka and Kerala.

The first monument of Kerala’s first district is at Kumbla or Kumble. I have no clue if the Cricketer has any association with this place. It has a fort which is now on the roadside. It might have been on the seaside which is now about half a kilometre away and is separated by a railway line. The fort is not visible when you drive down. Ask for the Maruti temple. The fort is close by and does not show any signs of life.

The fort was constructed by Kaladi Shivappa Nayaka who also was involved with two more forts in this area which we will look at in this post.Kasargod has a long political history and has been visited by a number of foreign travellers in the historical times. Among them is the Portuguese traveller Duarte Barbosa. The Arabs also seem to have been travelling to the places in the district.

Anantpadmanabhaswamy Temple at Ananthpura is another major landmark in the area. The temple is surrounded by water.

North of Kasargod town there are some more landmarks. The chief among them is the Bela Church, the oldest Roman Catholic Church in the district.

Kerala has its own distinctive style of temple architecture.The Madanantheshwara Siddhivinayaka Temple at Madhur is a fine example of this style.

Unfortunately the temple is under renovation and some of the woodwork is being replaced by stonework.

The temple is worth visiting for the sheer beauty of its architecture.

Not far away from here is an old palace called Maipady Palace. Not a very maginificent one but beautiful in its humility and modesty. It belongs to the Kumbala kings.

Let us move to the south of Kasargod town. The major attraction is the Malik Dinar Mosque. One of the oldest mosques in India and constructed in the local archetectural style with no ‘minars’ which are typical of Arabic style.

Malik Ibn Deenar is believed to be a merchant who had travelled to India for trading as well as propagation of Islam. About him and similar Mosques you will see more in this blog shortly. What should be noted here is that the surroundings of the mosque are being modified to make things grand and ‘Arabic’.

Hope the interiors and the artwork is not changed to make it ‘grand’.

There are three other forts in the district and we will briefly touch on each.

The first one is within the town but one has to take some local help in locating the place. It is not easy to approach. The fort is overlooking the creeks and is called Chandragiri fort. It is a 17th century creation of Sivappa Nayak.

The views from the fort are beautiful.

The second fort is the more majestic and well-maintained one at Bekal. Shivappa Nayak created this in 1650 and is a major tourist attraction to-day.

Bekal fort has its major part jutting into the Arabian sea and it has a beach down below.

The last of the forts in Kasargod district is called Hosdurg fort. It was built by Someshekhara Nayaka of Ikkeri at a place now called Kanhangad.It is almost gone, only some few traces remain. The major part is occupied as a school and a playground.Not much is known by way of history either.

Kasargod has a number of temples. It also has a pretty lighthouse and a beach.

On the eating front one cannot fail to notice pickled raw Mango and Gooseberry ( Avala) being sold wherever you go. There can be other things like slices of Pineapples and other sour things added.

We end the travel within the Kasargod district here and start with Kannur district in the next post.

Text by Suryakiran Naik

Pictures by Veena Naik & Suryakiran Naik