Historic Alleys

Malabar & Istanbul – Late 19^th Century

Two things made me pick up this topic for study. One - the fact that Sayyid Fadl spent his last years in Istanbul, a city I love, and two -the remark made by his recent biographer WC Jacob. Jacob was kind in mentioning a couple of my earlier articles on the Cherman Perumal in his book and remarked - That the myth is still relevant today, even in far-flung exotic locales such as North Carolina, is evinced in online blogs and amateur history sites. The blogger going by the name Maddy who is an electrical engineer in North Carolina maintains the blog Historic Alleys: Historic Musings from a Malabar Perspective. Well, Jacob, I doubt if anybody in N Carolina is interested in the Perumal, or Malabar, it just so happens that this Malabar history enthusiast who has written scores of articles on Malabar, lives in N Carolina, just like you are a resident in California. But your studies on Sayyid Fadl are top-notch, and I had the pleasure of reading all of them.

The princess among hill stations and the many stories it hides.

I will always remember the hill station and the few times I have visited the place. At that time, I did not know any of these stories, and other than visiting the few important tourist spots and wandering around the lake, we just lazed it out. It was while researching the story of the so-called escape road from Kodai to Munnar that I got deeper into the history of this hill station and learned so much more, along the way. So, I will first start with the escape road and then get to the other aspects.