The dusk had already fallen on Mananchira. As groups of people spread across the ground were whiling away their weekend in the heart of the city, a small bid to document the heritage and history of Kozhikode began in its demure corner here on Sunday.
‘Koyikkoden Kissa’, a storytellers’ collective of the District Tourism Promotion Council (DTPC) and Kabani - The Other Direction, had a modest launch before a tiny crowd of residents, drawn from different age groups and cultural backgrounds. District Collector U.V. Jose, in a cryptic speech, outlined the intention of the initiative. “Kozhikode has a rich and vibrant history, but unfortunately, we have very few things to showcase. But we have umpteen number of stories about this city. That is why it is important to preserve its history and heritage through stories,” he said.
S.M. Street
Chelavoor Venu, the lead speaker of the day, began his narration saying his tryst with the city began in the late 40s when he visited his relative and Jnanpith Award winner S.K. Pottekkatt. “That was for the first time I was exposed to S.M. Street. On the way, on both sides of today’s Mananchira ground, I could see women coming out of their houses to greet the writer. S.K. was familiar with each and every shop owner on the street. He would stop in front of a shop for around 10 minutes to have a chat with them,” he recalled.
Mr. Venu, one of the pioneers of the Film Society Movement in the State, said he became part of the city in the 60s as a student activist. “Most of the cultural monuments we had then are no longer there now. Like the Hajoor Kacheri and Sathram, which were situated around S.M. Street, an abbreviation for South Mananchira Street,” he said. The street had hotels, book shops, film studios, and art studios, which were frequented by writers, artists, actors, and all sorts of cultural activists.
“There was a Modern Hindu Hotel. S.K. used to say that Nairs ate the food prepared by Tamil Brahmins from a hotel run by Thiyyas. Most customers were Nairs, the proprietors were Thiyyas, and the cooks were from Tamil Nadu,” he recalled. The political scene was markedly different those days as Congress and Communist leaders differed on ideology but joined hands for people’s causes.
“Kozhikode was reluctant to change for long. Now, it is changing slowly. New roads and new buildings are coming up. The inherent goodness is also vanishing gradually,” he said. T.Y. Vinod Krishnan, academic, was present, among others.
