A Trip to Calicut(Kozhikode), Kerala - Part I

Hi,

Hope you are doing well. I’m writing on my substack after a long time to post a travel chronicle.

A few weeks ago in mid-March we travelled to Calicut (Kozhikode) for a short vacation.The vacation was really nice and we all had lots of fun. I took quite a few photos in and around the city. In this series of perhaps two (mayb more) posts, I will jot down my impressions and experiences of this beautiful place. Note that there is something unique about Kozhikode which cannot simply be summarized by listing adjectives or assigning it classifications. And this is perhaps true of many old towns and cities with a rich and vibrant history.

So five days are not enough to know much about a place beyond a few glimpses. While writing this essay I cannot say anything definitive except it is a most interesting and vibrant place worthy of many more visits. Perhaps my photos will give some idea of the place, its geography and its people.

The place has a deep association to the Arabian sea on its western front. It is a city which has a deep connection to trade and to tradesmen from far away places. You can see it in the monuments and read about it anywhere its history is mentioned.

The sea also influenced day to day life in myriad ways today. The beach is where a number of locals and visitors from nearby towns and villages would congregate in the sultry to start with and later pleasant March evenings for their iftari.

During the daytime the beaches were populated by all kinds of interesting life, birds, lovebirds, cleaning crews, mussel fishermen, horoscope readers, children, runners, stragglers, vagabonds, hawkers etc. Then there are the estuaries, boat yards, piers, lighthouses, ferries, boats of all manner and sizes, and people organized around them.

A common sight on Calicut's beaches are birds feeding on the beach. There are numerous little egrets lined up on the beach feeding, searching for things washed up with every wave.

And the people. Well the people love their food, as the many food and drink establishments across the city show you quite clearly. There is variety and quality. And the people are true patrons, sharing their love of food with hooka bars, and juice shops, and american burgers, and india coffee house, and cake shops, and traditional keralan cuisine, and arabian cuisine and more.

There are old buildings, and modern ones too. You could look at one corner of the city, at one facade of a building and be instantly transported to the 80s. And at another time you could time travel to the early 19th century. Not surprisingly once you know the city, one realises that everything is well taken care of.

There are small boats, and tiny ones and large ones and ships and again you could see that they are all so colourful and well taken care of. And one cannot help but conclude that the people of Calicut care for their possessions.

While visiting the city of Kozhikode, the word that came to my mind eventually was "harmony". The people and the city are quitely playing a symphony, a musical piece which is soothing to weary Bangalore souls. There was nary a discordant note.

Inside the city we used autorickshaw and our feet to get around. The auto drivers were quiet and dignified always and great ambassadors for their culture. One of them joined us for our boat ride in the Kadalundi bird sanctuary. The prices were reasonable and there was never any dispute. (more on the Kadalundi trip in another post)

Our hotel was a few hundred metres from the main city beach, which is quite well maintained and spans perhaps a kilometre. There are shops, toilets, a broad walkway, numerous stall which open in the evening, there are shady trees, a small stage for performances I guess, and there are benches for seating in various arrangements.

In the evenings people would start crowding on to the beach. Hundreds of cars would be parked along the road, and people would be chatting, and having fun in groups. Many of the groups got their food along to break their ramadan fast. The beach gets quite busy during the evenings, its almost like a fair.

When we walked to the beach in the mid-mornings parts of the beach would be deserted and some place will have one or two shops open and a few stragglers here and there. There were quite a few palm readers, fortune tellers, and a couple of them approached us but we politely declined.

One of the days we went to Paragon for lunch. There was a long waiting time, but we persisted and when we had the food it was well worth it. So much so that my son insisted that we have dinner at Paragon too. In the evening we went to one of their newer branches in a mall. And the food was excellent again.

After the lunch we took an auto to the Beypore beach, which lies next to the estuary of a river. On both sides of the estuary are breakwaters which extend well into the sea. The breakwaters have a path which begins next to the beach, where there is a gate, and shops and a play area, and there is a path several hundred metres long over the breakwaters.

The place had few people as we got in around 4pm in the afternoon. As we started walking on the path people started trickling in. The walk is quite nice and peaceful, and we can see the comings and goings of small and large boats and ships on the estuary.

We spent some time on the breakwaters walking down to the very end of the path and back. There were men fishing with rods in ones and twos sitting along the breakwaters. And I saw this indian pond heron waiting patiently, for the scraps perhaps, right next to one of the fishermen.

There is a lighthouse in Beypore in striking colours, which is visible across the estuary from the breakwater we were walking along. And then some time on the beach playing with the gentle waves. The little egrets were feeding on the beach just like every other beach we visited in and around Calicut.

That's it for part I, hopefully I can finish writing about the rest of the trip soon.

P.S. - This post is also available on my website at https://neolateral.in/a-trip-to-calicutkozhikode-kerala-part-i