RAILWAY JAM

railway budget is that part of the year when malayalam newspapers brings out long list of demands  – more trains , railway over bridges , new lines etc . with two railway ministers ( minister of state) we have achieved a lot especially new trains most of which passes through valluvanad . but with no adequate infrastructure ( railway over bridges) these new trains have become burden to the common man.

angadipuram

angadipuram railway crossing sits on NH213 between palakkad and kozhikode  just 2km from perinthalmanna , it is crossed by hundreds of vehicles including buses to calicut , manjeri , valanchery and kottakal . with the introduction of some new trains and the late running of the existing ones traffic jams extending for nearly a km is frequent here , it takes 20 to 30 minutes to reach perinthalmanna from angadipuram . this jam spills over to perinthalmanna especially the speeding buses regaining the lost time getting to a halt at the bottle neck in front of the town mosque and the old bus stand . the  buses which ply this route usually run at over speed either to ‘escape’ a KSRTC or to be on ‘TIME’ this in most cases leading to a nightmarish journey for the thousands who use this route . every time i get stuck there i think why a train which usually run empty have to create such a big menace to so many people , why the hell did manorama run long demand lists which include more trains to nilambur every year ? , does this person who compile the demand list ever seen the sufferings that the people in this region go through due to these new  trains which maximum carry a 200 people .

i myself am a victim of these nilambur road passengers . i am a daily traveler on the valanchery route which in  itself is a nightmare due to the KSRTC -private buses that race each other  , on top of that when the gate closes for the train to pass there will be a backlog of both these buses which competes through the  treacherous hairpin bends after puthanangadi .on my return it takes 40 minutes to reach perinthalmanna from MES ( which used to be a 20 min one) ,the bus to cherpulassery a long distance mayilvahanam from calicut which usually gets late due to the traffic skips cherpulassery stand , making me and my fellow co passengers walk .

wadakkanchery

the level cross at wadakkanchery is the busiest in kerala as far as the train traffic is concerned , it also lies on the main artey connecting thrissur with valluvanad . from my experience whether by car or bus you cannot cross it without being stuck there for one train or in cases two trains . this was such a burden for me and my fellow students who raced during the sunday coaching classes  , as the gate opens vehicles would pour out racing to get to thrissur . once i was stuck there for three trains to pass , when it opened we had 6 buses racing to shornur it was quiet a ‘thrilling’ ride , in another situation our car was almost hit by a bus which was competing with three others . the wadakkanchery overbridge is a work in progress for the last decade , still unfinished .

so the people who write these demand lists must atleast think of the thousands who suffer on a daily basis , and  must first consider the existing infrastructure .  I would also like to request  Mr E.Ahamed  who is hell bend on bringing new trains to please consider these facts  .

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.

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.