“SHANGHAI ALIAS MALAPPURAM”

most cities in india dream of one day becoming “Shanghai” – the heart of chinese economic miracle. they all dream of a future where skyscrappers and expressways will replace slums and gutters. it’s not what we palakkad-an’s dream of , we just want to be the next malappuram the fast developing Shanghai to the north .

why is our district the most backward ?. is having a 70 hindu population the reason? or is it that we are supposed to be always the picture perfect valluvanadan villages for the mollywood? what ever the reason , we the people of the district are the only ones to be blamed.

yes i am envious of malappuram , envious of the pace at which they have rushed past the economic stagnation of the 80s , envious of the kind of leaders they elect and the say they have on the way the state is run. the infrastructure development is astonishing, almost all the major roads are rubberized and broad , they have some of the best hospitals in the state , shopping malls and hangouts are world class . you have MLA s fighting to better the achievements of their predecessors , ministers promising medical colleges , political parties fighting for the ‘right number’ of ministers. wow…

your neighbour to the south , us , we are proud of being the largest district( by area) , for being the hottest region and many other trivial stuff , and ya for being the most illiterate district and the one with the worst sslc results. our leaders don’t care and we care less, hence we elect anyone who runs on the “party ” ticket . green or white we will always vote red , hence we shornurites voted a lady whose track record as sreekrishnapuram MLA was shameful with huge majority . yes it is true that we don’t have the “vote bank” or the gulf ” black money” but at least we could elect someone capable , can’t we? . iam not a communist hater or a congressman , i still believe that the best MLA kerala has ever seen is mr v.sasikumar of perinthalmanna , but the cpm in our district always field weak candidates , congress is no exception but mr c.p mohammed of pattambi is a clear exception.

the infrastructure in the district is dismal , we are in dire need of a good hospital ,the two major railway stations urgently need a face lift . education sector needs critical attention , we cannot afford to be the worst in this knowledge era . protests wont work , actions needs to be taken , if not we will always remain the laughing stock of kerala.

ODIYAN

our valluvanad was one of the final frontiers of western civilization.a land of immense beauty lived upon by mysterious people with strange  traditions and practices . where kalari was a way of life for the menfolk and their women the most liberated of their contemporaries . that world which existed till forty years ago now lives in the stories that grand mothers tell kids , many of them renegated as fables.

odiyans were the assassins of the time. they were hired by the nairs of rival families , mainly hailing from panar,pulayar and choklear communities, were feared for their extreme physical stamina and powers which could be matched only by mantrikans(powerful magicians).

the powers

the odiyans used to apply an oil obtained from the a killed human fetus  on their ear and assume shapes that they desired. they never changed into that object but the person seeing them had such a perception. they would assume shapes of bulls , cats , even rocks and when their victim approaches he would be killed instantly. but here there was a problem, if they took the shape of an animal like a bull ,the bull  appeared three-legged or tailless so that a person who is careful could understand what he was seeing and act accordingly. there is a story about a mantrikan who once returning home at night saw two bulls,he soon realized the trap and tied the two together and took them to a riverine and washed their ears  . the next second he saw two naked men standing in front of him.

the oil

the oil the odiyans used was made from unborn fetuses. their targets were women in their first pregnancy.during the day they would give some signs while working in the houses of their victims and in the night these women would walk unconscious in their sleep to the odiyans , who would split them open with sharpened knifes made of bamboo and took the fetus out. the women walked back home as  nothing happened only to die in their bed. in the morning everyone would assume the cause of death to be natural as the wounds in the belly would have gone by then. the fetus was hung from a pole so that a special fluid would be drained from it.the amount was so small that it would last only for a handfull of odi tricks.

what happened to them

with the modern education, the western lifestyle and more importantly the emancipation of panars and pulayars there were no takers for this tradition.so it died out without revealing many of its secrets like many other Indian traditions.

VALLUVANAD DISTRICT

valluvanad was one of the early administrative divisions of the Chera kingdom.it once stretched from the Arabian sea to the attapadi hills and from nila up to melattur.the area passed through various hands including samuthiri and tippu sultan,intermingled with years of self-rule. under the british most of the region came under valluvanad taluk of madras state.post independence and with the creation of the malappuram district the region was split up among the palakkad,malappuram and thrissur districts.

a new district of valluvanad could be carved out of these district owing to the following reasons:

1 the immense size of palakkad district.to get to palakkad one have to travel nearly 70km from the western most parts of the ottapalam taluk

2 nearly 36 lakh population of malappuram district

3 cultural similarity of ottapalam,perinthalmanna and mannarkkad taluks and their differences with the rest of palakkad district.

4 ottapalam taluk in itself has a population higher than wayanad district,and the fact that nearly 40% of palakkad district resides there . but this region is far away from the district hq

the district of valluvanad will be composed of as i said earlier – ottapalam,perinthalmanna and mannarkkad taluks, together with parts of talapally taluk and parts of ponnani taluk. the proposed district will have a population of over 20 lakhs and will be financially viable as the region has many important towns like

ottapalam(pop 50,000)

shornur(pop 45,000)

perinthalmana(44,000)

which are municipalities

and others like

mannarkad(pop 44,000)

cherpulassery(pop 30,000)

pattambi(pop 24,000)

the district headquarters could be either at perinnthalmanna or ottapalam ,though ottapalam have better infrastructure including a kendriya vidyalaya.

the mannarkkad taluk must be partitioned so that attapady region remains with the palakkad district and the subsequent creation of an attapadi taluk, can bring about development to the region.the border regions of talapally taluk like thiruvilluwamala and cheruthuruthy  could be added to the district .this is mainly because of the cultural affliction of these areas to the erstwhile valluvanad.

the bifurcation of malappuram and palakkad districts is the only way forward as malappuram’s population explodes and palakkad remains far away from its most populous taluk.

RAINS TO CONTINUE FOR TWO MORE DAYS

heavy rains that lashed the region yesterday

the rains which started on the Friday is to continue for at least two more days this is according to the met department.STRONG WINDS and THUNDER STORMS are expected in the evening hours.the flood like situation on the banks on BHARATAPUZHA that i reported yesterday have receded .the government have promised the immediate reconstruction of the mulathara regulator.but still the low lying areas are on a flood alert as the parambikulam aliyar dam is  near its DANGER MARK  and the shutters may open at any time.

NILA OVERFLOWS IN NOVEMBER

the breaching of the MULATHARA regulator yesterday have caused flood like situation in the lower streams of nila.the river was at its furious best at LAKKIDI,SHORNUR and PATTAMBI.continuous rains in the tamil nadu side of the ghats have made the PARAMBIKULAM ALIYAR dam to open its shutters,causing excessive discharge downstream,which washed away the regulator dam.major disaster was averted as the whole incident occured during day time.

breach at mulathara regulator

the people in the region were facing acute water shortages due to the delayed onset of north east monsoon.the rains pouring down since friday evening have brought relief  in this respect and also have helped to bring down the mercury level.

SHORNUR

it was one of the largest towns in kerala during the British times,a railway terminus that connected Malabar with travancore and kochi ,the “MANCHESTER” of kerala .now, 60 years after independence, half a century from its hay days what we see is a town trapped in the aura of another age.near by places which were villages when it was a town have now grown into towns and it have become a village.the growth of this town never took off in the post liberalization era ,at the same time the industrial sector declined . what remained of its past glory was the railway station which went into decline with the establishment of the line bye passing the station.

the thing i like about this valluvanadan town is its laid back nature,it is never crowded like PATTAMBI or OTTAPALAM . the NILA now a stream still have its beauty.standing over the old KOCHI BRIDGE on a November or December evening seeing the sunset makes you yearn for the times when time flowed at a slower pace.the old kochi bridge (now closed) is far from architectural wonder but blends with beauty of the scene.the pump house with its rustic feel and the trees swaying in the wind makes the view more pleasurable.
down the road is the RAILWAY BRIDGE which provides you a glance into the past glory when the steel highways meant more for the place.the railway station which got a face lift recently still have the architectural touches of the RAJ,its tiled roofs have stood the test of time .on the other side of the tracks is the old railway maintenance shed.it used to be the workshop for steam engines and was the main employer in these parts.a few meters south east from there is the old railway platform which was in use when shornur was cherumannur.
the main town markedly lack any modern buildings which have come to define valluvanadan towns of 21st century. two storied tilled shops which are a rarity these days fill up the town.the bus stand one of the first of its kind in the region stands tall at the heart of the town.the shornur sbi building is another important land mark.st Theressa’s convent school one of the prestigious in the region is again like the rest of the town,reminder of the past.the MAYILVAHANAM workshops for green,red buses line the road towards the north of the city.most of the old buses with their rusted body tells the tale when they were the only mode of valluvanadan transport.
shornur will be the only town in kerala where forest cover is so visible.whether it be near the METAL INDUSTRIES or the polytechnic. KULAPPULY may be called the new shornur as it has slowly transformed itself from a bus stop on way to shornur into a small town in its own terms.the new bus stand ,built with high expectations never delivered.(you still have to run behind palakkad buses in rains).i don’t like the new buildings coming up there which eclipse the beauty of the place.it seems kulappuly is slowly transforming itself into its brother up north-cherpulassery whose general plan makes no sense.
a drive on the state highway whether onto the palakkad side or the pattambi side is scenic especially near the sanjeevani hospital.
shornur can be made into a tourist attraction mainly for domestic tourists who would like to get the feel of their childhood days.

PERINTHALMANNA – TOWN WITH BIZZARE TRAFFIC RULES

PERINTHALMANNA the largest town in VALLUVANAD is known in the region for its specialty hospitals ,jeweleries and eccentric traffic rules.for an average Joe it is always confusing to get around the place as the traffic rules change every now and then . the new sets of traffic rules implemented a few months back is still to sink into the people.

according to the new rules buses from the calicut road are to take the bye pass road near the PRESENTATION SCHOOL and go around the ALSHIFA hospital to reach the ooty road and then south to the main junction.that is for a small stretch of 500m one have to travel nearly 2km encircling the town.the bus stand for the PATTAMBI,CHERPULASSERY and MANNARKAD buses were shifted from the MANAZHI stand to the bye pass stand and NILAMBUR and KARUVARAKUND buses from bye pass stand to the manazhi stand.what this meant was the focus of traffic jam shifted from calicut road to the ooty road especially in front of MOULANA hospital.

the fact that the buses have to circle the town means they have to ply at high speeds through the awfully narrow BYE PASS road and the ooty road.i have been once in such a bus which was running at 80km/hr for sure(legally max speed is 60km/hr) which narrowly escaped from hitting a car.buses stop in front of moulana hospital allow the passengers to disembark where no bus stop exist,this usually causes jam.the pattambi and cherpulassery buses are to cross directly from the ooty road onto the pattambi road,which means they block the road till they get signal to cross.

though it is a fact that the new rules have greatly reduced the congestion on the calicut road but have created a new mess on the ooty road.to this i would like to ask the muncipality and traffic police to make the ooty road and bye pass road ONE WAYS , this would ease the congestion to a great level.