An old, unpretentious building that has been very much part of the cultural landscape of Kozhikode will become history on Thursday. Neelagiri Lodge, which has played host to some of the greatest names in Malayalam literature and cinema was built by a man well known for his sense of humour, is about to be demolished.
The two-storeyed, blue building on the Annie Hall Road, across the railway station, was established by Ramdas Vaidyar more than eight decades ago. “There is no option but to bring down the building, as it is no longer in the best of conditions,” said his son Manoj Kaloor, an Ayurveda doctor. “Like most of Kozhikode, I too feel sad that the lodge is going to disappear from the city’s landscape.”
Among those who stayed at Neelagiri were writers O.V. Vijayan, Vayalar, Kakkanadan, Malayattoor Ramakrishnan, Vaikom Chandraeskharan Nair and Perumbadavam Sreedharan and filmmaker Adoor Gopalakrishnan.
Vaidyar had once conducted a function to honour the washing stones at the Muthalakkulam ground, “for still surviving after listening to the countless speeches by politicians.”
He had advertised his lodge as a place for ‘miserable stay’. “When I asked him about it, he told me that the lodge was also for people who were miserly,” said senior journalist Ravi Menon. “He also used to claim that his was the only temple-attached lodge in the world.”
That is no empty claim, though. There is a temple for the goddess right next to the building. Vaidyar's sense of humour could still be felt at the lodge. There is a signboard – near a part of the building with low roofing — asking people to walk with head lowered in respect of the sun in the east.
