TRIP BACK

RETURN TRIP.

It was time for us to return to Palakkad on the third day, after having spent the two days in Kumarakoom in absolute bliss, good healthy air all around.
We decided to leave early so that we can visit the famous three Siva temples, Ettumanoor, Kaduthuruthy and Vaikom. It is said that it is auspicious to visit all these temples in the same day .

ETTUMANOOR

The Ettumanoor Shiva Temple is an excellent example of the extensive usage of beautiful and expertly created murals in the temples of Kerala. The themes of these murals are stills from the Hindu epics, Ramayana and Mahabharata and the Upanishads and Puranas. Located 12 km north of the city of Kottayam, this shrine attracts devotees and connoisseurs of art alike. The glorious temple architecture of Kerala can be identified as a striking aspect of this temple. The majestic conical gopuram or copper plated roof of the sanctum commands respect and obeisance and is awe inspiring as well.


The present building with its gopuram is supposed to be reconstructed in 1542 AD. It is believed that the great Sankaracharya wrote the famous “ Soundarya Lahiri “ staying in this temple.

Legend has it that Khara (of the Khara Dhooshana demon duo) of Ramayana worshipped Shiva at Chidambaram and obtained from him three Shivalingams and journeyed holding one shivalingam on each hand and one in his mouth. He sojourned at Vaikom, and set the shivalingam on the ground and to his dismay realized that it had gotten rooted to the ground. Kharan therefore installed the other two shivalingams at Ettumanur and Kaduthuruthy. It is believed that visiting these triad of temples in a single day is of great significance.
Legend also has it that Khara installed an image of Krishna in the north western corner of this temple.
The temple: The west facing temple here has a circular sanctum covered with a conical copper plated roof crowned with a kalsam. The mukhamandapam in front of the temple bears two images of Nandi, one of stone and another of metal. Although there is no shrine to Parvati, the rear of the sanctum is revered as Parvati's shrine.
A golden staff, visible from a distance is in front of the shrine.
At the entrance to the temple is a large metal lamp; visitors make offerings of oil and the soot that collects from the burning of the oil is believed to have medicinal value.
The Ezharaponnaana Ezhunallathu is the ten day long annual festival of the temple. It is held during the month of Kumbha (Feb- Mar). On the eighth day of theEzharaponnaana Ezhunallathu, the Lord’s idol is bedecked and placed in a
specially prepared pavilion to the north east of the shrine. Thousands of devotees throng the temple to catch a glance of the Lord Shiva during this sacred festival. The Maharaja of Travancore had once made a unique offering to the deity. He had gifted seven and a half elephants (ezhara pon aana), seven of which are two feet tall and last is one foot tall. These are displayed on this eighth day of the festival.

Kaduthuruthy

Out of these three temples this temple situated exactly 12 and half km from Ettomanoor and Vaikom has not been modernised as much as the other temples.
Another story of these temples is that three Sivalingas were being cariied by a Rakshasa ,two in his hand and the third one in his mouth. The lingam in his mouth was erected at Kaduthururhty ( Kadichu Iruthy which in Malayalam means kept in the mouth) and the other two at Vaikom and Ettumanoor exactly12 and a half km apart, the length of the hands of the rakshasas extended .
In all Siva temples you are supposed to do only partial Pradakshinas . You go initially to the right a quarter of Pradakshina, come back and go clockwise till ¾ of the temple and then come back.
As per some school of thought, Lord Shiva's Assistant "Chandeeswar" sits on the right side of "Avritta" of the temple. He is supposed to take attendance of the devotees visiting the temple and the list is narrated to Lord Shiva during night at the closure of the temple. So devotees first used to go to the right of avritta of the temple and shout their name, gotra and star. (People to shout as "Chandeeswar is believed to be deaf). After completing the attendance ritual people revert to left side to complete the circle. It became a practice in gradual course.

VAIKOM.

Vaikom in Kottayam district of the southern state of India, Kerala, is one of the main pilgrim centres of the south. Famous for the Vaikkath Asthami celebrations in November/December, it is one of the few temples which is held in reverence by both Shaivaites and the Vaishnavaites. Vaikkom’s Shiva is fondly called Vaikkathappan. The Shiva Linga here is believed to be from the ‘Treta yuga’ and considered as one of the oldest temples in Kerala where pooja has not been broken since inception.
The rakshasa who carried the three Siva lingams was called Khara. Another school of thoughts is that the Sivalingam was not carried by mouth but on the neck of the Rakshasa
Kharasura on receiving the Shaiva Vidya Upadesh from Malyavan went to Chidambaram, and did severe penance and Tapasya for the attainment of Moksha. Pleased with his penance Lord Siva granted all the boons he asked, and presented him with three great Siva Lingas drawn out of Him. Assuring that He will ever be present in them, Lord Siva disappeared, asking Khara to worship the Lingas to attain Moksha. When Khara was returning south from Himalayas with the three Lingas, one in his right hand, one in left hand and other by the neck, he felt tired and rested awhile. After rest when he tried to pick up the lingas, they wouldn’t budge. He realized that it was Shiva’s maya and when called unto, the heavens spoke thus, “I shall remain here giving Moksha to whom so ever * take refuge in Me”.
Khara having attained Moksha entrusted the holy Lingas to the custody of Maharshi Vyaghrapada who had followed him invisibly and asked the sage to protect and worship them.

Belief is that the Siva Linga placed by Khara Asura by his right hand is being worshipped at Vaikom, the one in left hand at Ettumannoor and the one by neck at Kaduthuruthy even to this day.
Vyaghrapada Maharshi continued the Pooja in most esteem and devotion for some time and went on pilgrimage.Months and years passed. Sri Parasurama – the Chiramjeevi was going by the sky one day. Seeing good omens alighted here and saw a Holy Siva Linga emerged in water emitting heavenly rays. He could understand that it was the Siva Linga placed by Khara.
Sri Parasurama thought himself that, the holiest and noblest Siva Chaitanya could be a great refuge for the devoted who wish to attain Moksha. He consecrated the auspicious Linga here with His earnest Prayers and recitation of Siva Manthras.

The most benign Lord Siva at once appeared with his consort Parvati Devi before Parasurama. He was so pleased that the Linga was consecrated with the Manthras by Parasurama – the incarnation of Vishnu, his greatest devotee. The kind Lord Siva said to Parasurama, “From now onwards I shall stay here as Shaiva-Vaishnava Chaithanya granting all blisses and Moksha to all devotees”.

Full of joy and gratitude Parasurama performed Siva Linga pooja there for some days. Then he himself built a temple here and entrusted a noble Brahmin of Taruna village whom he taught Pooja Manthras. The Brahmin had learned all the 28 Sivagama and wore rudraksha and bhasma. Parasurama donated the whole temple with Linga to Brahmins and disappeared.It is the belief that the temple and all rites and customs are planned and fixed by Parasurama himself.

By the time we finished these three temples we were hungry enough so that we went to SAROVARAM , my favourite lunch joint at Cochin, and had a sumptuous lunch befor we poceeded to Palakad

PARIKKAI VARUTHATHU

Being vegitarians for was quite tough moong the Christian dominated cumminity of Kottayam. In fact vegetables were a rarity at the markets. Out of these vegs ,light green varity of bitter gaurd was available in plenty .
As necessity is the mother of invention a we discovered many ways of using this vegetables. All of us developed a great liking for this vegetable.
One such recipe is given below, which we guarantee that even persons who hate bittergourd will love
PARIKKAI VARUTHATHU
Ingredients:
Bitter gourd half Kg( Washed ,slit into half, seeds removed and sliced thinly)
Big onions 2 large also thinly sliced
Green chillies 6 to 7slit into half
Oil for deep frying, and salt to taste
Method :
In a large plate mix the cut bittergourd ,onion and green Chilly. Sprinkle some talt and let remain for half an hour. Keep oil in a pan for deep frying. Take handful of the mixture ,squeese out the water and put into the smoking oil and deep fry until dark brwn and crisp. Drain on to paper towel for removing oil.
This is ideal to have with rice and Ulli Thiyal, the recipe of which will follow soon.

KOTTAYAM

During the first day and the second day, we went to Kottayam and roamed around the old place where we used to live,
We saw the house, A2 Indira Nagar,not much change though they have modified the house externally, We saw Deepak's school which is now named as Pallikudam.
Evening we went to the famous Thirunakkara Temple.
Thirunakkara Mahadeva temple is situated 1.5km away from Kottayam Railway Station. Right in the heart of the city of Kottayam ,this Siva Temple built in the grand architectural style unique to Kerala,by the Maharajah of Tekkumkoor. Sri Parameswara is the presiding deity..

Legend has it that a local ruler was an ardent devotee of the Vadakunnatha temple at Thrissur and that he would make frequent trips to Thrissur from Kottayam. Such trips became harder as the king advanced in age.
During one of his trips, he had a dream in which Shiva of the Vadakkunnathan temple told him that he would manifest himself in the Tirunakkara hill in Kottayam.
True to the dream, a plough struck rock on the Tirunakkara hill and blood started oozing out; further careful excavation yielded a buried Shivalingam and a Nandi.
The theme of this legend is seen at several Shiva temples all over the land, where the Shivalingam is regarded as a self-manifested one and not one created with a chisel.
Another interesting fact about the temple is that Nandi, the steed of Lord Shiva is given lot of importance here.
It seems long ago one night some people saw a bull eating their crops. They threw a stone at it and it was injured. Then the Bull ran away. That day that bull which was actually Nandi came in the dream of the king and told him, “You consecrated me here. But you are not giving me any food. What alternative do I have except eating what is available. I am now injured because your people threw stones at me. “ Next day the king
called the owner of the field from which Nandi has eaten and ordered that the produce from the field should go towards Naivedyam for Nandi.
It seems in some years a boil appears on the stone statue of Nandi in this temple. Then the Ayurvedic doctors treat the boil. During the years when the boil appears, it seems some calamity will happen to the people or country. The last time it appeared was in the year 1932.

It was quite peaceful to pray in this huge temple.
We tried to locate the Beeges, the drive in restaurant ,was not there. Amma could not wait to enter Seemati her old joint .And we had some dinner at a new veg hotel. We also went to Baker Memorial pump and met my old friend Unni still managing the petrol pump.
Maaman Mappilai hall was standing as prominent as ever.
Being the first place of posting for me this town has a special love for me and hence some general details of this beautiful place.
Kottayam has its place of honour in the cultural map of Kerala. Kunchan Nambiar, the Father of Thullal, a popular temple art form was supposed to have lived at Kidangoor.
Kottayam stands first in the field of education, mass communication, printing and book publication. The part played by Deepika, Malayala Manorama and Bhashaposhini for the cultural and literary development is of immense significance. There are many printing presses and book publishing companies in Kottayam. D.C. books started publication from here in 1974. Kottayam is the headquarters of Current Books from 1977. It is estimated that 70 per cent of the State's book publication take place in Kottayam.
Late Kottarathil Sankunny, Kandathil Varghese Mappilai, Kerala Varma Valiyakoi Thampuran, K.C. Mammen Mappilai, , Vadakkumkoor Raja Raja Varma, Karoor Neelakanta Pillai, Vaikom Muhammed Basheer, D.C. Kizhakkemuri are dignitaries worth mention. Ponkunnam Varkey,Mahakavi Pala Narayanan Nair, Kudamaloor Karunakaran Nair, Booker Prize winner Arundhathi Roy, film actor Mammootty, writer Vaikom Chandrasekharan Nair, music director L.P.R. Varma and film director Jayaraj are some other notable personalities from the district.

The birth place of MRF tyres, the town which can boost of Mrs . K.M.Mathew's cooking classes ,Kottayam brought back plenty of nostalgic memories for both me and Uma

MANGO CHAMANTHY

Chamanthy is the local Malayalam word for chutney, Typically these are ground in flat stones called "ammikal", which makes it tastier.We are giving below the latest mixie version.

INGREDIENTS.

Cocunut Grated one cup
Raw mango Sliced quarter cup
Red chilly 5 to 6 nos
Sambar onions 4 to 5
Salt to taste, Curry leaves.

Mrthod.

Grind all the above in a mixie with as little water as possible.

This chutney is nice with rice or Kanji and can also be had with iddli or dosa.

Try it

Houseboat at Kumarakam.

After Darshana came and settled in Palghat,we decided to have a holiday away from Pallakad. We zeroed in on Kumarakam. This brings lots of old memories for me and Uma . First posting assoon as I joined HPC,got married while I was posted in Kottayam, Deepak was born here and 7 long years as Sales Officer. Those days we used to go to Kumarakam and stayed in the Baker’s house there ,at 40 Rs per day. This same place has now been converted as Taj , Kumarakam. I took a driver and we left in the morning, reached Kumarakam at around 12 o clock. We were booked at KTDC’s Waterscapes. Being off season there were hardly any body. All the rooms here are made like Machans and are on the first floor. Beautiful rooms and wonderful views from each room. Downstairs they have hammocks for you to relax. As soon as we landed we were hungry and all three of us were in a mood to have typical Kerala food. We went to the restaurant at KTDC and were highly disappointed as they were serving only North Indian dishes, Chapattis, Mutter panner etc. Strange!!. Since we had the car and the driver we took off. Kumarakam has totally changed. There are hotels and hotels everywhere. We saw some wonderfully decorated hotels, but highly expensive. When I suggested visiting TajHotel, both my partners, Uma and Darshana immediately protested as they felt they have not dressed enough to go there. Anyhow finally we found a place where we were able to get what we wanted. Rice, Pulicherri. Thoran, Pappadam etc. After the sumptuous sadya we had a nice siesta in the tree house. Evening we went for a walk, yes even Darshana came with us. We could see plenty of birds all coming home from wherever they go during the day. You can see varieties of beautiful birds in huge numbers flying in patterns in the sky. The entire atmosphere was full of bird chirping.We came back and relaxed for the day. Dinner at KTDC only Day two started with a walk and then we decided to go on the houseboat ride. This was the highlight of the entire trip. We reached the boat around 10’ o’ clock and were stunned to see the houseboat. This was a huge one with three bedrooms, a nice sitting room and a dining table. The boat also had a very modern kitchen with even a microwave. There were four persons apart from the three of us. A driver, cook and two helpers. You will have to tell them what we want for lunch. Typically we decided to have a Kerala Sadya at 1 o clock. Exactly at 10.30 am the boats took off and believe me it was just too good to describe. These are the times when even in people like us poetry comes. The weather was wonderful with sky overcast, gentle breeze to cool you down, birds, varieties of them, chirping and fishing in the lake, ladies washing on the lakeside, men fishing. The boat had a soft violin music being played on the background. We just relaxed and were immersed in watching the beauty of nature of this Vembanattu Lake, Drinking cold beer in this atmosphere was the ultimate bliss. Suddenly we found that the overcast sky became dark and it started poring rain. What a sight! The boat was covered on all side and the rain stopped exactly in ten minutes and we were back to clear sky. One o clock, the lunch on plantain leaves was ready . Sambar, Puliserry ,thoran, mezhukkuvaratti , mango sampanthy these were the main dishes and of course Jaguary payasam as a desert. At 2.30 PM we landed back shore and headed back to Hotel for a well earned siesta. Remaining in next part

RASAKALAN

RASAKALAN



This blogg is a joint one as can be seen from the profile and it was announced that each blogg will contain a recipe of some dishes we would like to share. Rasakalan was one such dish and here it is.
The word rasa in Tamil or Malayalam means "taste", so rasakalan means, a very tasty kalan. Kalan is a very famous curd based curry of Kerala, which is a must for all big functions, like marriage or festivals, like Onam. Kalan and Rasa Kalan are the original pet dishes of Namboodiris (Kerala native brahmins) .They were using only pepper and not chillies. The iyers modified it with the addition of chillies.


Ingredients

Vegetables - White Pumpkin (Elavan), Yellow Pumpkin(Mathan),
Drumstick all cut into cubes-one big cup,
Cocunut - half ( grated).
Sour buuermilk - Half a cup
Red chilly, Mustard, Methi , Cuyrry Leaves Haldi powder and salt.

Method.

In two cups of water, add the cut vegetables , haldi powder and salt and let it cook.
Meanwhile, grind the coconut and five to six red chillies, well. When the vegetables are cooked, add the ground masala and the thick buttermilk and let it boil. Keep stirring, adjust consistency by adding water. Put off gas .Temper with one spoon of mustard, ¼ spoon of methi,one red chilly and a few curry leaves.

Serve with the cooked rice and mezhukkuvaratty( oil fried vegs).

Please try and enjoy

Trip to Trichur

Darshana had already booked for her holiday to Palakkad while we were in Mumbai.Hence both Uma and me went to pick her on 18th June from Coimbature. She landed at CBE and after some refreshments which we had picked up from Nilgiris reached Palakkad in the evening.
To make her holiday complete we had planned couple of trips outside Palakkad. We decided to go to Trichur to finalise our kitchen design for our new house.
Trichur is around 60 kms from Pallakad and is famous for the Pooram festival. Thrissur Pooram is celebrated at the surroundings of Vadakunathan Temple , situated on a hillock ,right in the centre of the city, on the Pooram day in the month of Medom (April-May). Processions of richly caparisoned elephants accompanied by percussion ensembles from various neighbouring temples culminate at the
Vadakumnathan temple. The most impressive processions are those Thriuvambadi Bhagavathy from the Thiruvambadi nSri>Krishna Temple and the Paramekkavu Bhagavathi from Parmekavu temple. The celebrations which last for over 36 hours includes parasol displays . Early morning at around 3' 0 Clock a spectacular display of fireworks begins which lasts for almost three hours. The display of fireworks is a competition between two parties representing the two divisions of Trichur, Paramekkavu and Tiruvuvampadi vying with each other to make their displays grander than the other. The festival terminates by afternoon.
Trichur also is famous because I had studied almost three years here.

It was a very tough job but I was able to navigate and reach this school without outside help. It was a nostalgic feeling of reaching this place after 45 years. The entire surroundings had changed. Darshana was thrilled .
We also went to see the house where I stayed during my student days . The famous house "Gitanchali" is not there anymore but a very modern house stood in that place.We were very easily able to find the house where Uma's parents had stayed , there is not much of change for that house.
My brother Suresh had studied in a "Kundanedavazhi " School which has totally disappeared.
Before we reached Trichur there is a ghat section which is known as Kuthiran hills. In the olden days this used to be tortourous drive and there is a Ayyappa temple there right on top of the hills. We decided to get down at the temple, I was very pleasantly surprised to find this temple also quite prosperous .They have a huge mandapam where I understand every day Annadanam for everybody visiting the temple is performed.
Rest in next.