Calicut
Looking under the overlooked
-Aastha Mehta
I had the chance of visiting Calicut in the winters of 2018 on a college trip and i must say that it was an unforgettable experience. Here's my story of how i explored the city and found things which i can never find anywhere else.
I had the chance of visiting Calicut in the winters of 2018 on a college trip and i must say that it was an unforgettable experience. Here's my story of how i explored the city and found things which i can never find anywhere else.
While packing my bags i made sure to check the weather because in
my experience the weather of kerala can change any second. It was funny how i
was walking under a bright sun and after 5 minutes it started raining! I got to
know the weather was pretty warm so i packed all my summer clothes in December.
What an irony!
Our bus journey began from bangalore and i slept peacefully
through the night, waking up in between to see the landscape outside. We were
living just 500 meters from the beach is what i heard. I was pretty excited to
know what the city was about.
We got a brief about Calicut from a man named Vinod, who was madly
in love with the city. He had a sense of pride on his face when he started
talking about Calicut and with utmost enthusiasm he said "Calicut
or Kozhikode was an important port on the coast of kerala and had a lot of
trade going on. It was known as the 'city of spices' for being an important
trading point for spices like pepper (which the Europeans used to preserve
meat). Vasco da gama was the first to enter this place through the sea,
opening a sea route for trade. It was one of the earliest cosmopolitan centres
of the world..." he went on about the rich history of the
city.
An old workshop indusrty |
Walking down the famous S.M street, (S.M for sweet meat which was
sold there), I noticed
how the people were eager to sell their goods. The city
is famous for its halwa and the cotton fabric Calico which must have derived
its name from Calicut. The street was full of colorful garments and colorful
people, trying on new kurtis and sarees in shops or bargaining for cloth. While
i was walking, i noticed several people making a 'chhu chhu' sound
so as to grab my attention. It was a funny way of inviting someone into their
shop and as i entered while giggling at what they were doing, they were equally
happy to get a customer. I looked at a few kurtis, trying to
explain the shop owners the kind i wanted. I thought of trying some and they
directed me to a small fitting room. I had a heavy backpack on my back and i
didn't know where to keep it. The shop lady assured me that i can keep it
outside the fitting room and nothing would happen. I went inside with a little
doubt, being in a new city where people barely know the language i speak. But
when i came out my bag was just as i left it and i smiled. 'The people of
Calicut are very trustworthy', the phrase was actually true. I
realised how the people here are always eager to help, sometimes it works like
a reflex mechanism, as soon as they see someone is confused or looking for
something, they come to help. Most of it is genuine, rather than for a profit
motive.
S.M street |
Kuttichira at night |
Calicut is very famous for its food culture. There is beef
available on every corner, in any small restaurant. The last place I saw beef
being this popular was at Mcdonalds in Paris. Even in new delhi, you only get
beef in high end restaurants or fancy hotels. But the reason why Calicut has a
lot of non veg is due to the Islamised food culture. Islam in kerala
assimilated with the local traditions and Calicut thus developed a hybrid
culture.
I got to know a lot of restaurants in the city. Most people eat
non vegetarian, biryani, fish, or rice with some sort of curry are popular. Now
a few Arabian restaurants have popped up near the beach, with authentic food. I
relished the kerala parotha at almost every meal, experimenting it with kerala
style duck or lamb chops or chicken stew. Whatever dish I ordered for 8 days in
Calicut, was equally delicious. I don’t think that this was by luck, the food
here never tastes bad! There is a tradition of always taking tea when one
visits a house in Calicut. Apart from this I took a walk along the beach in the
evening one day, and saw little stalls giving fried veg pakodas and some sort
of fried clams which had two shells with the edible part in between. Other
stalls have preserved mangoes, radishes etc. in vinegar in large mason jars along
with watermelons. One can find these on various corners in the city.
Miskhal Mosque |
Most of the architecture in Calicut doesn’t involve the use of any adhesive or nails. It’s amazing how the structures stand sturdy till date. Each element has its own strength and is put together to build a magnificent mosque. As I sat there, making a few sketches, I thought of how even humans, who have their own strengths, work together to make something marvellous in the same way.
After this, we went to Muchundhi mosque, the second oldest in
india. It’s beautifully carved and the ceilings are even decorated with the traditional
calligraphy. We went into one such shop which had calligraphy artwork.
Muchundhi Mosque |
Calicut was the place where Islam wasn’t imposed on the local
population as a religion. The people in Kerala gradually accepted the coming of
Islam, and even the Nair community was involved with the Arab traders.
Matriliny was prevalent in kuttichira and the houses were controlled by women. Men did not have rights on property. We went into one such house. It had a veranda or a courtyard constructed in
traditional style with sloping roof and pillars. The entrance had steps leading
up to a door with a curtain, beside a large window which could open, behind
which there was a flat sitting area, more like an elevated floor. The old lady
of the house told us that the men who visited could not come inside the house. They
had to sleep outside in the sitting area, including the husband. It was very
different from what I had seen before. The parda
was there to separate the area of women from men.
After this long day in kuttichira we retired to our hotel rooms. Every
night I used to head out for dinner, wanting to try something new. I didn’t find
any difficulties in locating the Calicut special food or any other unique
cuisine as it was everywhere. But there was only one thing to worry about- how
would we get an auto at 9:30!! As weird as it sounds, Calicut used to shut down
by 10 pm. There were very few autos and the streets were mostly empty. One night
we were thinking of actually walking back to the hotel as there was no auto!
People have praised the autorickshaw drivers of Calicut. Yes, it
is true that they are the kindest and very helpful but at night the local
drivers retreat to their homes. Their jobs are taken up by the migrants. One evening
an autodriver did not switch the meter on and demanded for double the money. When
we declined he got angry and started shouting at us. This does not usually
happen. The autodrivers always used to turn on the meter- a thing you will only
find here and in Mumbai now. I had to go from mananchira lake to the east hill
to the beach one day. I called for an auto (after 4 days we were now trained to
catch autos in seconds) and asked him to take me to a museum on the east hill. On
the way I was trying to tell him the way. I experienced a language issue in the
city because most of the population only speaks Malayalam. People know a little
hindi and english. So I used to mix whatever words I knew together so that the
auto waalas could understand it. I even resorted to sign language once. He asked
me where I was from and was eager to know what I was doing in the city. We were
talking on the way and he suggested me some places to eat. This was the usual
pattern with the auto drivers. All of them were keen to know why we were in the
city and used to talk to us. The auto drivers are usually seen as impolite or dangerous.
But the people here were different.
Ansari Park |
I thought of this while walking back. I noticed a shop selling lottery tickets. 'Wow, i only saw this in movies' i exclaimed. As i walked i saw that alot of shops sold the lottery tickets. This must be a good entertainment for the people of Calicut!
Mananchira pond was the source of all water once. Across the pond,
is the CSI church, a very important protestant church. It is based on German
architecture.
Sketch from the road opposite CSI church. |
In the middle of our trip, we were asked to research on one thing
that we would like to know more about. I always liked being in churches and
noticing how grand their architecture was. So I decided to do my research on
the churches of calicut, their architecture and their influence along with the
history. I visited many churches to learn about this.
The Christian missionaries
including the Basel mission set up churches in calicut. Christianity never
separated itself from the local culture and adopted ways according the local
culture. For example,
I saw all bibles translated in malyalam. One of the churches did not even have
any English bibles, the prayers were recited by the father in the local language.
St. Mary’s church had an actual diya stand which is used in the hindu
tradition, with a cross on top. I made many more such observations. The father
of the church explained to me that the orthodox churches do not have an idol of
Christ or a statue. Only the golden cross is there. He also mentioned that the
mangal sutra was adopted in Christianity which had a cross on the chain. Things
like these show how a religion that came from outside, assimilated with the
local traditions.
St. George Orthodox Cathedral |
century.
My evenings usually went by watching sunsets on the beach. Apart
from the calicut beach I discovered the varakkal beach which wasn’t crowded. I used
to take a walk along the beach, observing the sea.
Sand art by me. |
The place had a serene
landscape and I could forget all my worries of the day. The smell of the salty
sea and the sound of waves would bring me at peace.I used to have my own
little adventures in Calicut. One evening we decided to go at the end of the
mampuzha river where it connected to the sea. The sight was one to behold! I was
standing on rocks, a sandy beach to my left and a rocky one with the river to
my right. From that small point, I could see the coast of Kozhikode.
I met a small boy, Shoaib. He was watching me sketch by the rocks. I gave him a pencil and paper so that he could also draw. He was hesitant to take it first but then he quickly drew his house and his friends and wrote Shoaib Class 3. I knew then that he goes to school.We could not communicate through language as i did not know malyalam but could understand each other through drawing!
The Kallai
river is also an important one. The bridge has seen many romantic movies being
shot there. Earlier, when someone used to do something wrong in the Zamorin
tradition, that person would be sent to the other side of the river. Along the
river was a huge trade for wood. Timbre trade was very popular. There are still
wood workshops in the area. Today, it is prohibited to cut the trees along the
river as people realised the destruction they were causing and after many
protests the government banned it.
We learnt how a tree is rooted and takes whatever is around it. It
only absorbs the things beneath it and gives back in return to the soil. There are
similarities between both humans and trees. Both grow upright and multiply. Sometimes
it seems like a competition between the trees and the humans, as to who would
conquer the place. But humans being mobile, usually destruct the entire area. And
if they abandon a place, the trees take over. This seems like a constant race
and makes me wonder more about the survival of the fittest in new aspects. Even
though calicut is a small city which is not much developed and there isn’t much
tourism, I realised that if you want to find beauty in a place you just have to
look for it.
Beauty comes in many forms. A significant memory of my trip was the
beautiful craftsmanship of the artisans at Sargaalaya. This arts and crafts centre
is located an hour away from Kozhikode. The most interesting thing about the
place was that the finished items were kept for sale in different rooms, and
behind those were the workshops where artisans were producing those articles. We
could actually see the process of how the final product was made. I think that
is very important in art and design. How you arrived at something equally
matters! I saw the working of a powerloom, artists painting canvas, beads,
cane and bamboo, clay, pottery, jewellery making, metal work etc. It was an
enriching experience to see people with great skills.
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