Its influence on the city’s inhabitants, writers, and a new book by Nadeem Naushad
This little, but busy street in Calicut still has a tremendous influence on the inhabitants of Calicut. A street which came into being just over two centuries ago, has as people of Malabar will agree, an everlasting allure on those living in Calicut or visiting the city center. Let’s take a look, see how SK Pottekat picturized it, and also get to know what Nadeem had to say about it in his recent book on the street.
It is difficult to pinpoint when the street came into being.
Old maps of the area - the first were created by Pietro Della Valle around 1623
and this did not show a thoroughfare nor did the descriptions mention one
existing. The present street lies within the boundaries of the ancient
Kottapuram (Zamorin’s palace) complex and with the gates being manned, the
possibility of shoppers and visitors in ancient times is quite bleak. None of
the later accounts by the French, the Dutch, or the English in their early
records mention a street other than the big bazaar area. From a topographical
overview, it cuts right through the ancient Padinjare Kovilakom or Zamorin’s palace,
so it would have come into being only after the demolition and dispersal of the
palace ruins, the sale of the land to others and resettlement. Thus, it is relatively
clear that this happened after the disintegration of Zamorin’s authority and
power base following the 1766 invasion by Haider Ali of Mysore. It took quite a
few decades before the British took over the Malabar administration and the
Zamorin’s (the Valia Thamburatti) family who held title to the lands in the
area started to divest them, following a drastic drop in revenues. It could
thus be concluded that shops sprung up in the mid-19th century, on either
side of a new street connecting Huzur Street to Palayam, called Camp Bazar
Street (now SM Street) by the British.
Another input has it that the trading street was situated just
outside the palace walls, with traders encouraged by the Zamorin and
popularized by Gujarati merchants trading in cloth and sweets, as well as the
Parsis, but this is not tenable as the SM street cuts through the palace area (see
attached map – the black square roughly depicts the Zamorin’s palace area-
Kottapuram) and building. The building of the Parsi (see author’s article on
Parsees of Calicut) fire temple on SM Street dates to the early 19th
century, though the community had been around since 1670. All these make it
clear that the street took its form in the 19th century after the
British had solidified their administration structure in Malabar. The general
contention that the Zamorin invited Gujarati sweet vendors to set up shop at
the so-called SM street, as some writers allude, is potentially erroneous.
A look at the Mananchira area – 19th century
Now, let us take a look at some early accounts
1828 Bombay records - The site of the old fort is
still to be traced in the northern part of the town, with its ditches, which
are now crossed by one of the public roads (SM street?), on each side of
which are portions of this site converted into fields and gardens. The two
portions and the architrave of the original gateway of this fort, remain erect,
though every other vestige of building that was within it is demolished, and it
is beneath this framework, which more resembles gallows than the gate of a
fortress, that the Zamorins are crowned, and most other ceremonials of state
performed.
Was this street that crosses through the ruins, the so-called
SM street? If so, that could be the original camp bazar road. At its end, near
the palace ruins stood the Pattalapalli, or mosque for the ragtag Ali Raja
Mopla army and Tipu’s soldiers.
Ward Survey 1840 - The nuggarum or town consists of
one very extensive street (SM street?) of bazaars, about three-quarters
of a mile in length, some have upper stories, and many narrow cross streets
lead from the main one….A beautiful reservoir of fresh water of about 200 yards
square with flights of granite steps, both useful and ornamental, is almost
surrounded by garden-houses towards the E. On the N. W. of it is the
Collector's cutcherry, an upper-roomed house. To the E. of the reservoir is a
small parade (ground) for the detachment stationed here, also the sepoy lines
and a stone reservoir (muthalakulam), in figure, an octagon, has a
flight of granite steps all around, but the water is not drinkable.
In 1851 Richard Burton visiting Calicut mentions -
The bazaars appear to be well stocked with everything but vegetables and
butcher’s meat, these two articles being as scarce and bad as the poultry; fish
and fruit are plentiful and good. The shops are
poor; there is not a single Parsee or European store in the town so that all
supplies must be procured from the neighboring stations. While
Burton specifically mentions stores, the Parsee Anjuman was of course situated
in the center, and much later the Hirjee ice factory came into being.
Circa 1900, Mission records - Almost all subsequent descriptions make it clear that the roads are palm-lined. They also mention a bazaar full of shops (the Valia Angadi or big bazaar). By the turn of the 20th century, the houses on the East side of the tank, i.e., the Kizhakke kovilakom of the Zamorin had been converted to Police offices, the Girl’s school, and the Civil dispensary.
The 1908 map of Calicut, an extract reproduced below, shows
the Camp Bazar Road, though it Is not named so in the map (see red line). What
is important to note is the Parsee Dharmasala. (See picture/map for details)
Pic - Calicut town 1908 (Mission archives)
We get to hear of the shops in the last decades of the 19th
century, plus mentions of the Camp Bazar Road and the Halwa Bazar, signifying
the arrival or establishment of the sweet shops across the old Collector’s
office the Huzur Cutchery.
If you recall my article about Calicut in the 1880’s you
will note - There is a fine tank in the centre of the town, enclosing about
four acres of water, with flights of stone steps all around, and four carved
archways, which have been partially destroyed by some Goths, and the material
carried away to build houses. These Indian tanks are the great institutions of
the towns and villages. Round the tank, the official bungalows and Government
offices form a wide amphitheater, with graceful palms scattered everywhere, and
filling up the background of the picture with a waving sea of plumes.
In the afternoon I made an expedition into the town on
foot, not much caring about any more buggy riding after yesterday's
proceedings. The road is something like a Devonshire Lane, with high red banks
on either side, but the clumps of bamboo and palms spoil the comparison.
Occasionally there are European bungalows standing back from the track in their
compounds, where little white children are often to be seen playing about,
attended by ayahs and menservants. Further on there was a native street (SM
Street?), with little open shops on either side: one shop devoted to sugarcane
hung up in bunches, and seeds and pulses exposed for sale in open vessels;
another to earthenware chatties, and another to tinware.
How Camp Bazar Road became the Sweet Meat or SM street is a
stuff of legends. Some say the red or black halwa exhibited as slabs resembled
meat and thus it got termed (by a health inspector who tested it) sweet meat.
Eventually, it became known as the Mithai Theruvu of Calicut. Interestingly,
the Halwa Bazar or Halwa Street was the one connecting Big Bazar to Kuttichira.
Talking about meat, the slaughterhouses were situated in West Hill and the
Moplah areas in the West and South.
The street became the meeting point for the people of Calicut
and ever since, people have been congregating at or near SM Street for
government or legal business, or when they wanted to while away spare hours (sora
parayan). Be it friends or relatives, be it meetings between lovers or
meetings to quickly discuss a business, the people of Calicut ambled across to
the environs of SM street. SK Pottekat was the first to write several stories based
on the street and its people (The Story of a Street – Our theruvinte Katha). In
gratitude, the people of Calicut put up a statue in his honor at the mouth of
the street!
Like many others, our little college gang of friends did
exactly that, we used to be at the Park restaurant off Mananchira either smoking
or drinking faludas, hanging around Kidsons, playing Table Tennis at the
P&T club, or drinking a cup of tea at Paragon. But there was another very
interesting place youngsters desired to go if they had the cash, which was
incredibly rare. It was to either sup at the Queens restaurant (set up and run
by two unemployed postgraduates and proudly stated so on a board behind the
manager’s counter!) or wait for a few more hours to see the cabaret they
hosted! Eagerly waiting for the lovely Michiko or Sumiko who danced around to
live music and cast away their clothes…
Maharaj’s (Krishnan Hegde who learned the craft from the
Gujarati named Maharaj) halwa set the standard in those days, and one must note
that the Calicut Halwa is very different from North Indian Halwa and Arabic
Halwa. It is also quite different from the Sesame ‘helwa’ but is somewhat
closer to the Turkish Lokum. The Karachi Halwa or Bombay Chandu (though made of
corn flour and ghee) halwa is quite similar, but tougher and sticks to one’s
teeth. The varieties you get in Calicut and its sweet & soft texture wrung
out of coconut oil and maida are unsurpassed. Wheat, plain red, mixed fruit,
mixed nuts, pineapple, coconut, badam, walnut, pistachio…so many varieties can
be found, though, in the old days, it was a black, wheat, banana, or the plain red
koyikodan halwa.
As time went by, it became a shopping street, with many
Gujarati cloth shops and knick-knack shops, kitchen utensils, and of course,
restaurants. The Radha Theatre and Arya Bhavan completed the ensemble and so
from morning till night, the street was abuzz with shoppers. But that was for
the normal visitor, onlooker, or passerby. The street had a life of its own,
behind the shop facades, and for the many who depended on or lived on or around
the street, life did not stop even after the shops closed. That is where
observant fiction writers like SK Pottekat and Nadeem conjured up lovely
stories.
For a long time, the street was not paved and proved to be incredibly
dusty. Water spraying was the only way out and it was only in 1936 that it got
asphalted and paved. Oil lamps dotted the side of the street and if you recall,
I had mentioned them some years ago.
What we miss are the news hawkers that Pottekat used to
write about, the man shouting at the top of his voice that day’s important news
- the one who was selling the Mathrubhoomi – those days the daily evening
newspaper. The Anjaneya Vilas Brahmins and Modern Hindu Hotel are gone, but the
public library existed in the corner and still does. Hawkers were selling and
yelling about all kinds of things and well, like in London’s Hyde Park, there
were people also exhorting about religion and politics in that very corner
where Pottekat’s statue now stands serenely looking on into the street which he
so beautifully described in Oru theruvinte katha.
That was also the time (this was earlier - Pre-40's) when
there was no electricity distribution, and one left the locale before it became
too dark. There were lamp posts with kerosene lamps, and the fascinating
chapter by ARS Iyer explains – “In those days the lanes and bye lanes were
not lit well after dark, and we normally make it home before it gets too dark.
The lanes which we normally take as shortcuts to reach home were dotted with
lamp posts with only kerosene lamps encased in a glass container as electric
streetlights were a rarity in those days. A municipal worker carrying a tin of
kerosene, a few wicks a cleaning cloth, and a ladder on his shoulders would stop
at each of these posts to fill in kerosene in the lamps, change the wick if
necessary, and wipe clean the glass case of the lamp. He would light the lamp
by sunset every evening which would burn throughout the night giving light to
people to walk safely. I have often watched these men at work fascinated by the
clockwork regularity with which they provide the lights to the common man.” Adv
Seluraj tells us that this kerosene was imported from Britain, and called Kurangenna
(monkey brand oil), after the trademark monkey on the cases.
One should also not forget the relentless effort of Malabar
collector William Logan to try and create a botanical garden in the area where
we have SM Street these days. His idea was to acquire a seven-acre piece of
land for this purpose, but it did not quite pan out due to the arrival of the
railway and the resulting increase in land prices. Even when Logan changed his
plans to have a much smaller one-acre garden, the idea did not get approval
from his superiors. Logan incidentally was the person who decided the location
of Calicut’s railway station (the Chaliyam railway station lost out in the
bargain) upon what once was the route of the dried-up Robinson Canal or the Bazar
Canal, so you can see that one idea of his nixed the other! Nevertheless, his
failure did not harm the city, and people learned to love the street, now paved
and cobbled and for ‘pedestrians only’, much like the ‘old time malls’ in some
colonial cities.
Madhuratheruvu (Nadeem Naushad)
In an interview with Santhosh Elanthur (WTPlive), Nadeem
mentions that it was this shortfall in Pottekat’s famous venture that he wanted
to focus on, by attempting to write a fictional novel with the SM Street itself
as its centerpiece. I knew Nadeem from the time I was researching the great
singer Kozhikode Abdul Khader, for Nadeem had done a lovely documentary on the
singer and written a little book about him as well. This time around, I needed
some inputs on the Mehfil scene of the 40-50’s Calicut, but Nadeem did not have
a copy of his book “Mehafilukalaude Nagaram’ at hand, so he suggested that I read
his fictional venture centering on SM Street. It was time well spent, to say
the least, and it had been ages since I read a novel in one or two sittings.
Needless to say, I enjoyed reading it, for it rekindled memories of my college
weekends and many evenings spent in those environs during the late 70’s.
Set in the 1967-92-time frame, this tale takes you through the life of Abdu, the son of Tailor Mustapha, and Abdu’s coterie of friends, notably the adventurer Baby who leads him through all kinds of wrong alleys. In a very interesting fashion, the book meanders back and forth through the street and the lanes, and settles down to focus on Abdu’s love interest, Devi, working at Rosemary tailoring. The book is complete with hand sketches of the street (Sasi Memuri) and dwells on buildings we do not know very well such as the Huzur Kutchery (the old Collectors office), the sherbet shops, and the mehfil salons and of course the tolling chimes of the Austrian clock at the nearby Ashoka hospital. Nadeem mentions SK Pottekat often, he frequents evenings on the street, holding court at the Northern end, and Abdu introduces us to the Pathan community and the young beauty Nilofer, who then strays into Abdu’s life.
The book is easy to read, sticks close to facts, and keeps
you captivated, touching upon events and incidents of the time, including the
turbulences of the Emergency years. The story does not stray too far from the
street and keeps you close to the shopping mile, his text holds you there,
enough for you to feel the smells and sound of the fascinating street and the
many people who live there, but fail to notice. Nadeem takes you through their
lives, their small desires, joys and disappointments, their life and religion,
and small pleasures like the music from the Mehfil halls.
In his simple way, Nadeem tells you how and why the small
street is part and parcel of anyone who claims Calicut to be his home, his
nadu. Well worth a read. Those who fail to find it may contact
noushadnadeem@gmail.com
Goa, and the Blue Mountains; Or, Six Months of Sick Leave- Richard Burton
BEM archives
Survey reports - BS Ward
Mithaitheruvu – Adv CB Seluraj
Our Theruvinte Katha - Pottekat
Madhura Theruvu – Nadeem Naushad
The City of Truth revisited – MGS Narayanan
CHF article & meeting notes
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