Far away from the madding crowds, yet, ironically, in its very midst, a 75-year-old establishment, much beloved of citizens, quietly closed its doors. A. Swamy and Brothers of Chala, once the go-to-place for all manner of threads and embroidery paraphernalia and dress material shut shop this past Monday, making it the latest in a long line of old curiosity shops to do so in the centuries-old bazaar, which was once the nerve centre of wholesale trade in erstwhile Travancore. “A. Swamy and Bros. was started by my father and his younger brother, natives of Vazhappalli in Changanassery. I spent most of my childhood in the store and still recall the days when bullock carts plied the bazaar and when our stock used to come via goods train,” recalls septuagenarian V. Narayana Iyer, who owned the store along with his brother V. Anantharama Iyer. “Both my sons have chosen other career paths and there’s no one to run the shop now that we are getting on in years. On top of that business has been rather dull for the past several years thanks to the garment superstores that have popped up in the East Fort area. We really had no option but to sell up,” he adds, with quiet resignation.
The store itself is likely to be pulled down and, reportedly, in its place will soon come yet another of those glitzy garment shops. By no means is Swamy and Bros. story one-of-a kind, it seems.
“It’s happening all along the length and breadth of Chala where the old is giving way to the new. And it’s not only heritage buildings that we are losing overnight but also its very sights, sounds, look and feel, even the way of life of the shopkeepers and their employees, the relationship between shopkeepers and customers and the lives of the families who have been residing in Chala for centuries.
“For example, there are now only of handful of stores left where shopkeepers conduct business the old way, by sitting cross-legged on the floor… In short, we are losing all that falls under our intangible cultural heritage,” says Asha Gopinath, neuroscientist and consultant, GenSci-e-Tech, one of the citizens leading the fight to preserve and protect the heritage of Chala bazaar.
“I am a regular visitor to Chala and I love the ambience. In fact, I shop for most of my provisions here, where traders still sell vegetables by the ‘kooru’ (heap). However, each time I go to Chala, I see that something has been permanently changed. Chala’s very soul is being pulled apart. Somewhere along the way the tradesmen of Chala have lost confidence, when they themselves should be protecting it. I am determined to make them understand and revel in their tradition as wholesalers,” adds Asha.
She and a few others have been urging the Arts and Heritage Commission, a statutory body under the Kerala Municipalities Act, to convene and grant heritage status to Chala bazaar and the 125-year-old Attakulangara school nearby. Over 3,000 people have signed the petition online and on paper against an apparent move to demolish Chala and the school and construct shopping complexes and parking lots.
“East Fort has already been declared a heritage zone and we want the government to include both the school and Chalai bazaar to be declared as part of a wider Fort area heritage zone, which will ultimately mean that we have the law on our side when it comes to preservation and protection,” says Asha.
Shaji Krishnan, co-convener, INTACH [Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage] Thiruvananthapuram chapter, takes up the cue. “Already much of the heritage of Chala has been lost, especially the textile and gold businesses. When INTACH put out feelers among the tradesmen a few years ago, a majority of them were resistant to the idea of preservation, or at least, maintaining status quo, arguing that it would affect their businesses. What we need is a concerted effort on their part and on the part of other stakeholders such as employees, head-load workers, residents of Chala, officials, archaeologists, citizens…to conserve the bazaar. In a country where heritage is vast and official organisations and mechanisms for conservation are too few, sometimes such citizen-driven initiatives are necessary,” says Shaji.
Eugene Pandala, architect and co-convener, INTACH, has assessed the heritage value of Chala bazaar. “Usually, in any old city, new areas are built leaving the old parts intact. So it should be with Chala, given that it is an integral part of Travancore history. Walking through it is still like walking through the annals of time. It’s primitive, even uncivilised, to even think of demolishing ,” he says.
That doesn’t mean leaving the space as it is, prone to fires, congestion and other hazards.
“What we need is sensitive, imaginative interventions that will add value to Chala and tourism and bring money to the city,” says Eugene. The petitioners are thus pushing for sustainable urban renewal taking into account the needs of the people in Chalai and the surrounding areas. For example, they want the entire area to be pedestrianised with only cycle rickshaws and e- rickshaws operating there. “This will reduce congestion,” explains Eugene.
Also, the plan is to provide parking lots for two wheelers and cars of traders and customers at a distance, without damaging any property inside the bazaar.
“Chala of yore actually had a Vandipura, where bullock carts were parked. That could have easily been converted into a parking space, if not for the new building that has come up there,” says Asha.
They also want Chala’s drainage and waste disposal system to be updated, street lighting to be provided and fire hydrants to be reinstated.
Meanwhile, students of Bishop Jerome School of Architecture, Kollam, are working on an urban design project on conserving Chala, which, according to Asha, will be exhibited at Gandhi Park, East Fort, once it is completed.
Through the looking glass
Historian and former journalist Malayinkeezh Gopalakrishnan traces the history of Chala thus:
It is generally believed that Chala was established in the late 18th century by Raja Kesavadas, the visionary Diwan of estrwhile Travancore under ‘Dharma Raja’ Karthika Thirunal Rama Varma, who was nephew of King Marthanda Varma, the architect of modern Travancore. However, Mathilakom records of the Sree Padmanabha Swamy temple talk of a large market place that existed ‘near’ the temple, at least a century and a half before. Apparently, it was in that marketplace that a few items stolen from the temple were sold. So, we know of the market but there are no records of its exact location. Going further back to the 13th century, the composition Ananthapuravarnanam , which describes the capital city in detail, vividly describes a bustling marketplace with a fish market, textile market, provision market and so on. Merchants used to come in ships to trade at the market.
What Raja Kesavadas did was that he expanded the market by buying up the land of one Potti and bringing tradesmen from near and far to settle there. Similarly, under each King of Travancore, Chala is said to have flourished. It cemented its position as the commercial hub of the Kingdom when Diwan Madhav Rao led the construction of the Varkala tunnel, thereby opening up the waterway (known as TS Canal), from Vallakadavu to Shornur , a main railway junction, and paved the way for trade from across the country and beyond.
