1 Aug- Sept 2007 Cochin

From the Minutes 2 book: How the Cochin Harbour came to be ChronicleChronicleChronicle All in the family: The Shenoys make TRACING 150 YEARS OF THE CITY’S HISTORY 3 a name in the Cochin Chamber of Commerce and Industry newsletter theatre business

Community watch: The Konkanis have 4 received a mixed response in , but have come up trumps

Walk down memory lane with Tom 6 Peirce, who returns after 35 years HISTORY OF THE LOTUS CLUB Old food: Syrian Reason enough for the stuffy Road. It admitted men and Christian recipes Cochin Club to turn them women, and according to 7 away. Bristow’s account of the time, Meeting of minds Setting up the Lotus Club, “the strictly orthodox Indians which celebrated its platinum were shocked at the idea of History lesson: jubilee in July last year, solved mixing people with age-long Blowing the dust t was probably sent to Cochin from the the problem of meeting people differences of habit and 8 because he had the Madras Presidency to develop with common interests not outlook in such a free-and-easy off the Malabar Ihead of an the port here in the 1920s, only for the Bristows, but also way’. Herald engineer that Robert was denied admission to the for Indians, who were denied But this was not something Bristow was unfazed by exclusive Cochin Club in Fort admittance to most clubs, that the atmosphere at the club problems. Solutions could Cochin, he and his wife, which remained ‘white-only’, could not cure, particularly be worked out for more Gertrude Bristow, encou- long after independence. But over a bridge table or on the than just technical obstacles. raged the idea of a club in members consisted only of the tennis and badminton courts. So, the fact that the Cochin , where they could elite: members of the royal The club, has over the years, Club had closed its doors make the acquaintance of family, lawyers, doctors and sealed its reputation when it to Bristow and his wife did prominent Indians. civil servants. received guests like writer not mean they would have Bristow was a divorcee and The club was started on land Somerset Maugham,Viceroy to remain social pariahs. Gertrude, was English by donated by Maharaja Rama Lord Linlithgow and the When Bristow, who was descent, but not by birth. Varma of Cochin on Warriam Maharaja of Mysore.

KSRTC managing director M.M. Cherian to give the city a feel Double the fun of having arrived. “The corporation had been formed less than a decade back,” remembers Venugopal, who was one of the first ride that gives a sense of romance? Apparently, red conductors on the double-decker, which plied the - Asports cars are what all film-makers would put their route from 1969 to 1975. “And the double- money on. Even trains may be considered to have some Best bus: P.N. decker bus was introduced not for the income that it would romance about them. However, a bus commute is hardly bring, but because it could lend the city a sense of grandeur.” Shivaprasad, one of the ever anything more than prosaic. But all that changes when Cherian, who was a senior advocate in the High Court and a first drivers and you think of the double-decker. Then, buses suddenly seem dedicated CPI(M) member, was roped into the corporation on (right) M.S. Venugopal, to have oomph. a political appointment at the time of the second EMS ministry. the first conductor, pose in In fact, M.S. Venugopal, an old double-decker hand, says front of their ride that the buses were introduced in Ernakulam by the then Continued on page 3 2

FROM THE MINUTES BOOK Port of call The Minutes tracing the genesis of the plan for the setting up of . The participation of Sir Robert Bristow, the brains behind the project, is first logged in the Minutes of April 23, 1920

port service driving the economy Resolved that in view of the constantly Minutes of Special Meeting held on 20th December 1911 of the region. The port’s increasing difficulties of landing and shipping here, the government be at 4:30 PM linkages to different industries advised through the collector of Collector of Malabar gave Chamber like oil refinery, cashew, marine, Malabar to again consider measures short history of what has already taken tourism and shipbuilding are for the opening of the bar at the place in connection with the question extending from their genesis to entrance of the Cochin Harbour and of opening the bar and proposed that he should address the government on progress. that the Chamber hereby expresses its willingness to introduce the landing the subject of an expert being sent out and Shipping Dues Act at this port to from home to study the question…his Meeting held 20th November assist toward meeting the charges expenses to be paid by the Landing and 1911 at 8 AM. which such a scheme would unvolve Shipping Act being imposed on the Present: and that a copy of this resolution be port. Messrs A. Bkeler forwarded to the executive engineer H. Day of Malabar for his information. Meeting held Friday 23rd April 1920 N. Anderson Mr Bell proposed and the Honorary at 9 AM J. Dell Secretary seconded a vote of thanks to C.L. Mowbray Mr A. Campbell, the executive Visitor: R.C. Bristow, Special A. Campbell Engineer of Malabar for the trouble Harbour Engineer The following resolution was which he has taken in connection with …. He would be proceeding to unanimously passed: their question. Ootacamund at an early date for discussion of the subject with the government. He expected to be hen Robert returning for a short time within two Bristow came as or three weeks and for a longer period during the monsoon for examination a young W of conditions at that important time. engineer to Cochin in 1920, it …. He agreed with the proposal that it was a port where ships were old be desirable to call a special meeting berthed offshore. Cargo was of the Chamber to hear what he might loaded and unloaded using further have to tell them after his discussion on the subject with the lighters and the ships were government. exposed to the violent forces of the sea. Bristow was a visionary who foresaw that ports which would OLD STORY take ships alongside the berths were the way to go. When he left Tales tiles tell in 1941 he had transformed Cochin as the safest harbour in ochin’s history is made up of an interesting mosaic of the peninsula, where ships Cstories, like the one about how the Jewish synagogue in berthed alongside the newly got its willow-patterned Chinese tiles. The Chinese floor mosaic was, in fact, brought for the palace. reclaimed inner harbour, There was a lot of interest over it, but apparently, the Jewish equipped with a long array of merchants heard about it and wanted it for themselves. steam cranes. Bristow himself So they confidentially told the king that they had learnt from thought of it as the “finest the Chinese that cows’ blood was mixed with lime to make the harbour in the east.” tiles. The ‘inside information’ had the necessary effect: the palace Thanks to the port, the wanted nothing more to do with the offensive tiles. A Jew industrialisation in Kerala has bought them and now the 1,100 handmade tiles, each one taken place mainly around unique, lines the floor of the synagogue. Cochin, with the an effective 3

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BUSINESS OF PLEASURE

Continued from page 1

He introduced a few new routes Now Showing: from Ernakulam (to Kozhencherry), but it was the double-decker that was his most At a Shenoy theatre interesting effort. Drivers were given special training when the two buses, DD1 and DD8, were brought in, he Shenoys have always The story of the business starts with settled here, got into business, starting because the gears were different. treated the business of Guna Shenoy, who came to Cochin out as hardware merchants in the Charges on these buses were the Tentertainment with the during the exodus of the Gawda 1840s. Nearly a century later, when same as on the regular ones, but utmost seriousness, pioneering the Saraswath Brahmins following the business started dwindling in commuters remember the first air-conditioned cinema in Kerala Portuguese invasion of Goa in the 15th Mattancherry, the hardware sector journey being more comfortable. to perhaps bringing the first multiplex, century. The family, like the majority took a backseat and the family turned Generally, standing was not scheduled to open in 2008-09. of Konkanis who came to Kerala and to building cinemas. allowed. “We used to wait for this bus to Cinema royalty and some real ones: Tamil superstar Shivaji axman, which was opened in travel to the Ernakulam Shiva Ganeshan and other stars at the opening of Sridhar cinema; (bottom) Sri L1946, was the first in the temple from Palarivattom,” say Chitira Thirunal Balarama Varma of the united states of Shenoy stable of theatres. The retired couple Sarla and K.G. and Cochin and Sri Rama Varma Parikshit Thampuram with the inauguration was a royal affair and the Nair, who used to work at the Shenoy family at the opening of Laxman honours were done by Sri Chitira naval base. “Our three-year-old Thirunal Balarama Varma of the daughter used to enjoy sitting on united states of Travancore and the top deck.” Cochin and Sri RamaVarma Parikshit The double-decker service, Thampuran of Cochin. unfortunately, had to be Apart from the regular seating, the discontinued in 1975, when MG cinema hall had a luxury box of about Road was dug up to put in the 15 seats, which were reserved for new sewage pipes. members of the royal family. They Apparently, it was felt that the would inform the theatre in advance roads could not then take the if they fancied an outing to the cinema, weight of the buses. One of the and the luxury box offered them total buses was sent to Thiruvan- privacy. anthapuram, which still has a Laxman was followed up by Padma double-decker service from on MG Road a couple of years later Thycaud to Vazhuthacaud. and in fact, with the coming of AC cinema halls, people stopped going to Laxman, which was closed in the early 90s. Sridar, Shenoys and Little Shenoys, which today are an integral would run to packed houses.” part of the cityscape soon followed, With the changing business, the actors, setting the standard in cinema viewing too, were bound to change. They have in Kerala. Sridar was the first air- now become stars and celebrities. conditioned theatre and also the first “When we were children, we would to install the Dolby stereo sound come home from school to find big system. Shenoys had the first names like Prem Nazir, Satyan, Adoor Vistarama projection in Asia and Bhassi or Sukumari having coffee with Padma was the first with a DTS sound our father,” says Suresh, who lives in a system. majestic, old house on Banerjee Road. The cinema business has seen great “They were not celebrities, they were changes over the years. In fact, it is just ordinary people like us. That almost difficult to believe how the attitude has certainly disappeared.” theatre business has evolved. Tickets Apart from setting up cinemas, the used to cost only “a pittance” and there Shenoys also moved into production were only two shows: one in the and distribution under the Saga EXCLUSIVE TO COCHIN CHRONICLE evening and the second at night. The banner. “The Tamil and Hindi matinee was a 60s phenomenon. industries have changed for the better,” In Kerala, the Shenoy’s have been pioneers in “Audiences, too, are very different says Suresh. “They tell better stories the business of entertainment. Now, plans are from what they were in the 60s and using superior technology. Sadly, the 70s,” says Suresh Shenoy, one of the industry has witnessed a afoot to introduce multiplexs to the state. If present generation managers from the dip in standards since the 80s. Our everything goes to schedule, the Shenoys are family. “In the early days, families industry will have to reinvent itself to would come to the cinema together regain the standing our films once had hoping to inaugurate it in 2008-09. and any Prem Nazir or Satyan film in .” 4

COMMUNITY WISE Wanderers with a whirlwind history

The Konkanis have had a love-hate relationship with the Kerala maharaja’s, but they have always managed to land on their feet

he Gowda Saraswath which they took their name. The first Brahmins, who form the wave of migration began when the river TKonkani community, have became extinct. In the 12th and 13th perhaps had the most see-saw centuries, they moved south to Bihar, relationship with Kerala, as compared Punjab and Maharashtra, and then with any of the foreign communities further down to Goa, making two that have adopted the state as its home. western provinces their settlement. And perhaps it is a tribute to the A little known fact is that the first community, that none of the downs Konkanis came to Cochin as early as in have kept the GSBs, as they call 1294 in the wake of Allaudin Khilji’s themselves, low for too long. In fact, conquest of the Deccan. They obtained as in the rest of the country, members grants of land and promises of of the GSB community are some of protection from the Cochin king, and the biggest names in trade in the state. formed themselves into a community The GSBs seem to have an irony which they named ‘Conkanastha intrinsic to them. As a coastal people Mahajan’. from Goa, they excused themselves The bigger exodus from Goa took place from the rigid vegetarian norms of with the arrival of the Portuguese, who their caste and are the rare Brahmins destroyed temples and built churches who eat fish. Though this dietary in their place. In 1559, about 12,000 quirk does not come without its share Saraswat families fled from their native of guilt. Apparently, there is a custom Salcette district in Goa and settled in where they join the head and tail of Maharashtra, Indore and in the south the fish and put it back in water after in Karwar and South Kanara. chanting a prayer. They first came to Calicut in big canoes, When the GSBs settled in Kerala in but a less than friendly reception from the 15th century, they were bestowed the Zamorin drove them further south benefits available to few other to Cochin and Travancore. “The communities, but they were also Moopans were also a community that subject to perhaps one of the most came from Goa with the Konkanis,” unfair instances of persecution. But says Balagangadhara Menon, former it seems that the community was Ernakulam High Court advocate, who made of sterner stuff and one of the is writing a history of the Konkanis in the unchanging characteristics of the Kerala. “They were the luggage carriers temples to their deities and their Dutch and English businesses, and Konkanis in Kerala seems to be their of the Konkanis.” habitats grow around the temple,” says this, by default, gave them great prosperity. The mainstay of a Konkani settlement, Menon. “This is one community who, influence. The most illustrious GSBs were which largely comprises of like the Jews, have kept their customs The Konkanis brought organised perhaps the Nehrus. But to start at Vaishnavites (followers of the Vishnu and manners intact.” business to Kerala, and were the first the beginning, the GSBs were sect), is the temple to the Tirumaldevar, to bring iron trade into the state. They originally from Kashmir and were of which there are three in Ernakulam n Cochin, luck, or rather the also introduced trade in a more settled around the banks of the district today. “Each gothra has a I king, favoured the Konkanis. precious metal: gold. The Malayali mythological river Swaraswathi, from different deity and they construct They were given rights and privileges, seemed to truly get a taste of the good such as exemption from a succession life with Konkani businesses affecting fee, permission to construct brick and a lifestyle change in a people who were wood houses, perhaps because they used to an almost austere life. In 1559, about 12,000 Saraswat families were Brahmins and this was a right Konkanis were the first to deal in the allowed to native Brahmins, and also diamond business and the first to fled from their native Salcette district in Goa to conduct business with foreign introduce an AC cinema in the state, and settled in Maharashtra, Indore and countries. This edict was given in two businesses that they are leaders in writing on copper plates, the first such even today, with Geeri Pai dominating in the south in Karwar and South in Kerala. the former and the Shenoys the latter. Kanara. They first came to Calicut in big It seemed like an environment They also brought in dyers from canoes, but a less than friendly reception conducive to growth, and it is not Tuticorin and introduced the dyeing surprising that the community took industry in the state. from the Zamorin drove them further south to trade with gusto and soon Soon, they took on nicknames that to Cochin and Travancore. prospered. They also worked with the were reflective of their trade, so there Europeans and were managers in are the irumbukarrans in the gp

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CHURCH WITH A HISTORY

Favoured by faith ‘Protected’ structures: The Pallipuram church which was saved from Tipu Sultan’s ven small miracles demolition drive by an E evokes great devotion. The unseasonal mist; Ayyakota, the region of Portuguese watch-tower; (far Pallipuram, about left) and a plaque at the site 5 km from , traces its Christian roots to water level goes down, one might the arrival of St catch a glimpse of the top of the Thomas, the fort lying in the riverbed. When disciple, at the Dutch defeated the Portuguese , which is separated from Pallipuram in 1622, they notoriously razed by the Mullaperiyar river. Apparently, most Portuguese institutions, but Christians used to lead a pilgrimage to north left Pallipuram church alone, Pallipuram, where according to tradition, St apparently because they Dutch Thomas landed when he reached Kerala. needed the support of the local But the church of Our Lady of Snow Christians. (Manjumathavu), which is celebrating its 500th The Cochin king had granted the anniversary, gets its name from a legend that Portuguese permission to start a explains how Tipu Sultan of Mysore was Jesuit seminary here in thwarted. Tipu destroyed many temples during Vaipeencotta. The seminary is his campaign in Kerala in the late 18th century, but when he arrived in believed to have operated the first printing press in south India, issuing a Palliport, it is believed that the Virgin Mary protected the church by shrouding Tamil Bible in 1579. The Dutch converted the seminary at Vaipaicotta into it in an unseasonal, thick mist. Ever since, the church, situated in the fishing a leprosy asylum. The site passed into British hands in 1795. Today, all that area, has attracted thousands of devotees. remains of the old church structures in Pallipuram is the cemetery chapel, And it was not for the first time that the church was spared. The Portuguese, which served as the church in 1823. Ayyakota, which was purchased from who found that Pallipuram housed a strong Christian community, built the the Dutch by the astute Diwan of the Travancore court, Raja Kesavada, for church in 1507. They erected the Azhikode fort or Ayyakota, which served Travancore court, in 1789. It is now a protected monument. as a watch tower overlooking the Mullaperiyar, less than a kilometer from “The 500th anniversary celebrations are on for a year,” said parish priest, Fr here. Thomas Kolarikal. “It started in November 2006 and will go on till this When the Dutch came, they overran Portuguese forts at Cranganoor and November. We have organised a special programme every month. About Ayyakota. The ceiling of the 40-ft high Ayyakota was blown off into the river 1,700 families belong to this parish, and every house will bear a flag this during the Dutch bombardment. Apparently, in the summer, when the year, commemorating the 500th anniversary.”

community, who trade in iron, or the To get even, the Konkanis shut shop, pinnakukarru, who have made money thus cutting of supplies to the palace: in the fodder business. perhaps the first historical record of a And some others They were as astute in business as the hartal. Malayalee was clueless, and even The story goes that Shakthan While the Konkanis have distinguished themselves in business in helped the Cochin king out of a Thampuran demanded the head of Kerala, there are some community members who have earned a name financial crisis by granting him a loan Devarasa Kini, a leading merchant, as for other achievements. through the Thirumala Devaswom. It a kanni (the first thing auspicious sight The most active campaign for recognition of Konkani as an official went to the rebuilding of Cochin in he would set his eyes on when he language in the constitution was waged fromCochin. Prof N. the wake of the devastation that Tipu awoke). Kini was killed and the Purushothama Mallaya, 78, a literary and history scholar, has Sultan caused when he overran the persecuted Konkanis fled to Thuravoor fought for the cause since the early 1960s. It was over a decade later, in region in 1780. and Alleppey. It was only when 1975, that Mallaya’s unstinting efforts were rewarded and Konkani was But money can throw relations off- English power was firmly established accepted as an independent literary language in 1975 by the Central kilter and 1791 is marked by a strain that they returned to Cochin. Sahitya Akademi. in the friendship between the The tragedy in Cochin had made Konkanis and Cochin’s Raja Rama refugees of the community again, but At 59, has the energy and enthusiasm of a 20- Varma, who was also known as did not kill their spirit. Alleppey Pushpalatha S. Pai Shakthan Thampuran. After coming prospered with the coming of the year-old. So, it is not surprising that she was the first woman to obtain to power, he demanded a contribution Konkanis and it was during their stay a two-wheeler license in Kerala in 1975. “I started out driving on my of jaggery from the merchants. They here that the new port was established husband’s Lambretta,” she says. “And that was a scooter with gears; not refused to comply and he arrested a with better facilities. “Wherever there the easy rides that two-wheelers provide today.” She remembers how number of traders and imposed a is money, the Konkanis will go,” says boys used to hoot when she drove past. “But I didn’t care and they customs duty on them in violation of Menon. Fortunately, wherever there finally stopped,” says Pai, who used to be known as ‘scooter amma’. the agreement made with the Dutch. is money, there is also development. 6

TASTE OF THE PAST

Calcutta, where his mother’s family was offered an apprenticeship as a tea has been based since the late 18th taster and broker through the good century. They were in the engineering offices of an old friend of his mother’s, business and his great uncles were he accepted it and spent one year pilots on the Hooghly river, which is training with Thomas, Cumberlege reputably the most difficult pilotage and Inskipp in London before joining in the world. Forbes and Walker in Colombo, having When he was five, he left for England given up a place at Cambridge with his mother. His father, HRG University. Peirce, remained in India and was He came to Cochin in 1960 to join his appointed tea controller for south father and become a director at Forbes, India. It entailed making contracts for heading the company till he left India purchasing tea on behalf of the UK’s with his family a decade later. Ministry of Food. He received an MBE The family has fond memories of the for this work. city. “I lived with my wife and four While working as tea controller, he children in Fort Cochin, in houses Refreshing memories conceived the idea of holding tea built in the early 50s,” says Tom. “It auctions in Cochin. Before the war, was much quieter then, with no hotels south Indian tea was mostly sent to and no tourism. Mattancherry was Tom Peirce, former director of tea brokering firm either Colombo or London for auction. where the action was, with traders in Forbes, Ewart and Figgis, remembers life and work He obtained the backing of Forbes and spices, coffee, pepper and tea.” Cochin in Cochin 30 years back Walker in Colombo, Ewart Macaughy Club was the hangout for the Peirces in London and A.W. Figgis in Calcutta and a small crowd of about 35 British and the first auction was held in 1947. people based here. itting around with old directors, WC Thomas, Mohan HRG Peirce was a bon vivant and, “Work took me to the tea estates, but colleagues, sharing the Thomas and Paulose Joseph. “The apparently, caused a stir in Cochin we also enjoyed a good social life, Sbrew that once united welcome I received has been amazing,” when he swam from Fort Cochin to playing tennis, golf and sailing,” says them, conversation slipped into said Tom, who visited Forbes with his Bolgatty to seduce wife of the collector, Tom, who sold his shares to go home nostalgic mode. It had been over 35 two sons, Robert and James. “It was Murphy. He later married her. But for the education of his children. years since Tom Peirce, the former as if I had never left.” Tom dismisses the story, “I would not “When we were based here, we went director of Forbes, Ewart and Figgis, Indeed, centuries-old ties are difficult be surprised if my father made up the back to England every 18 months.” had walked into his old office in the to snap. Tom’s great-grandfather, story to romanticise himself.” After a few years in London, Tom went Sebrof House building on Willingdon Robert Hodges Peirce, founded Peirce It seemed inevitable that Tom was to to Mombasa, where he helped start Island. Leslie in 1861 and his great-uncle, join the tea trade. He had turned down up a firm of tea brokers called But the years seemed to evaporate like Harry Peirce was an engineer with the a job offer as a tea planter soon after he Combrok, and was managing director the steam in their cups of tea as Peirce Madras PWD, which worked on the had left school, much to his father’s there for nearly five years. shared memories with the present Periyar dam. Tom was born in annoyance. So subsequently, when he WC Thomas, who had trained as a tea broker with Tom when they started their careers, remembers a curious From the old days: Tom Pe irc e personality trait. “He spoke with a with his family in Cochin; (below stutter,” says Thomas. “But that left) Tom, on left, at a tea auction; Indeed, centuries-old ties are difficult to snap. seemed to disappear when he apparently, he lost his stutter when Robert Hodges Peirce, Tom’s great- conducted a tea auction.” It was he conducted an auction; and at a perhaps because Tom was in a career tea-tasting session grandfather, founded Peirce Leslie in 1861 that suited him to the T. 7

THEN... Old tastes die hard

Speak of melting pot. One could almost slice Kerala into regions based on food Cochin Chronicle, a habits, with moplah cooking in the north and the very distinct Christian and Cochin Chamber of Hindu preparations, in central and south Kerala. The prosperous Syrian Christian community, which makes up nearly a quarter Commerce & Industry of Kerala’s population, is centred in the regions south of , Kottayam and newsletter, is printed and . They were leaders in modern education, introduced by European published by the Cochin missionaries in the 19th century. They also took over from British planters and Chamber of Commerce & dominated the plantation economy of cardamom, coffee, rubber, and tea Industry plantations, making them affluent. The cuisine of the 2,000-year-old community blends the Indian and European. In fact, some of the best-loved cookbooks for a generation of young housewives PO Box No 503, Bristow in the 1970s and 80s were penned by Syrian Christian names, like Mrs KM Road, Willingdon Island, Mathews and Mrs BF Varghese and, of course, Thangam Phillip. Here are a Cochin- 682 003 selection of central Kerala Christian recipes. We know this is off-season for pre- Easter recipes, but we decided that the fish moilees and the beef ollarthiyathu are easy enough to find. So, here are some festival specialities. Tel: +91 484 2668349, 2668650 Pesaha Appam Christian families usually make a Fax: +91 484 2668651 (Passover Bread, Kerala Style) cross of palm leaf obtained on Palm Ingredients Sunday and place on top of the Editor 1. Rice Flour (not roasted)- – 1 kg dough, before it is cooked. 2. Coconut, grated – 3 cup Then it is steamed till well done. Anna Mathews AND NOW (Blended) 2. Urad Dal(Uzhunnu)-200 gm Pesaha Bread Sauce Please route suggestions 3. Red or small Onion, White (Pesaha Pal) and feedback to onion, Cumin, Salt - As needed Ingredients [email protected] Roasted rice powder-1 cup Directions: Sarkkara(molasses)-1 cup or Soak the urad dal (Uzhunnu) for a Cardamom powder, Chukku- As [email protected] few hours. Grind the urad dal, red needed Contributions are or small onion, white onion, and the Coconut-1 welcome. If you have any cumin powder separately. Add Sliced banana interesting stories from everything together and mix well. Make a dough (same consistency as Directions: yesteryear Cochin, that for making idli). Mix all ingredients together. Boil it please mail us on the Grease steel plates (You can also in Clay vessel. The tradition is to above address. use plantain leaf if available). use new clay vessel for preparing Shape the dough into medium Pesaha pal. When it get boiled, put round shape on the plate or leaf. in the sliced banana pieces . Men in white

Though women largely still dress to the nines in six-yard saris, braving We made news the heat and crowded buses, men have abandoned the comparatively ochin Chronicle was in the less cumbersome mundus to adopt a limelight with The Hindu (May 3, western style of dressing in the C 2007) and Malayala Manorama (May 5, corporate world. In fact, even a 2007) lauding the debut issue. recent, controversial government “We wanted to do something different to directive that sought to persuade celebrate the 150th anniversary of The government employees to look Cochin Chamber of Commerce and traditional received a lukewarm Industry, and felt the ideal thing would response. The new rule that said be to focus on the city, rather than on the that men had to come to work in Chamber’s activities,” said Jose Dominic, mundu on Fridays was largely president of the Cochin Chamber. “The ignored.. fact that it was so well-received is a real Nowadays, a man in a mundu is shot in the arm.” most likely to be a politician or a The Cochin Chamber would also like to wedding guest. Or probably thank all those who wrote in with someone in the 60-plus age- suggestions and letters of appreciation. bracket. We look forward to your valuable It’s difficult to keep it looking crisp comments on the second ( June-July) and white at the end of a long day, issue. but there is not denying that the mundu has a certain socialist charm. 8

BACK IN TIME News of a newspaper The Malabar Herald, Kerala’s first English language newspaper, tells stories that many have forgotten

ld newspapers go for wriggled out of the situation by Rs 4 a kg and even that revealing the source from whom he Ois after an argument with the had obtained the story, but those were vendor. But John Mampilli’s stock of the times when work ethics were old newspapers is hardly something cardinal. Ittoop lost the case and had that can be sold off to scrap dealers. to sell his properties in his hometown, “I used to have copies of Malabar Njarakkal, to keep the paper afloat. Herald sent by John Mampilli as I was Some things do not seem to change, preparing to write the history of though; like the weather. Cochin Port,” says Dr Babu Paul, Interestingly, there is a news item in former additional chief secretary of the March 19, 1957 issue, which state and writer. “I discovered that the seems to suggest that the heat is archives of Malabar Herald were a real The patriarch and his paper: killing. Under Quilon Notes, it says, treasure trove. I spent evening after Ittoop Mampilli, who started the “The weather here is getting day by day quite unbearable… both man and evening in Mampilli’s place and the Malabar Herald; a copy of the book, Cochin Port: A Queen’s Story, beast are anxious for an early visit from first edition of the newspaper certainly owes substantially to what I Jupiter Pluvius.” It could just be an found in Mampilli’s archive.” item from papers of our current The past can sometimes be a curious ‘globally warm’ times. mix of truth and legend, and what Also, Joseph does not recollect the better than an old newspaper to tell us masthead and a uncomplicated four (Englishman)”, who used to write the reason, but for a while, Diwan C.P. as it is. Ittoop Mampilli, who founded column layout, that stayed untouched editorials. Ramaswamy had the newspaper the Malabar Herald, started his career till the newspaper final run in 2000. It “News was gathered by meeting people banned in Travancore. The paper was as a reporter in Cochin Argus, a sported the slogan, “Independent in coffee shops and medical stores,” a crusader for the cause of the fortnightly newspaper printed from weekly of nationalist outlook”, in the says Joseph, Ittoop’s grandson, who development of the Port Trust, Fort Cochin. 1960s. That motto evolved to, “We managed the newspaper when it was carrying extensive reports on it. It also He resigned from the job over an issue print what should be read,” in the in its last leg. Libel suits go hand-in- covered many issues about the Jewish about his salary and he started the 1970s. hand with the newspaper business, community. Union Press in 1902, which undertook The first issue, which hit the stands and Joseph remembers one that struck “It was a small-town newspaper, but printing work from British firms. It on February 25, 1905, consisted of a financial blow to the Herald. had a name and respectability,” says was in 1905 that he moved on to the four pages and a copy cost 2 annas. In the 1930s, the newspaper published Joseph. “In fact, one of the 12 copies more ambitious mission of launching An annual subscription set one back a story about a doctor who had botched of Robert Bristow’s Cochin Saga, which the newspaper, which was printed at by Rs 4. In the latter years, special up an operation at the government came to India, was sent to Ittoop.” It is his press. issues were printed in colour. The hospital in Fort Cochin. There was a unfortunate that in today’s cutthroat It started out as a tabloid-size paper started out with a staff strength cover-up and the doctor took the world, the small players are written newsweekly with no logo, a simple of three, including a “Negili saipe newspaper to court. Ittoop could have off so casually.

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