Thottungal Babu

2026 October 11th There are small lagoons attached to Beypore River which is also glorynamed Chaliyar. ചാലിയാർ. That is the vernacular word. Glorification is magnification. Politicians magnify, because they are the continuation of Old Chiefs and Kings and Chieftains. Priests glorify and they originated from Old monks. In fact Kings and Priests were a two-in-one system. Take translation of Chaliyar back to vernacular and it is  ചളിയാർ. And our lexicon ശബ്ദതാരാവലി of Sreekanteswaram G. Padmanabha Pilla says us that ലളയോരഭേദം. [ Page 1768] It does not give any illustration. In fact, I find the change in the letter presents opposite ideas or objects.  Take the examples. നില cannot be നിള; വള cannot be വല; കല cannot be കള; again കലം cannot be കളം; and the precious മുല cannot be മുള. It is our way. Magnifying everything - From GDP to PDP. But I found the maxim true in പുലിമുട്ട്, It can be പുളിമുട്ട് too. But I do not see any tiger or tamarind to break the water; in...

The old name of present day Kerala was Malayalam, meaning the land between of hills and sea. This name was originated out of the perspective of people from the top of the hills. In their perspective, the land was at the bottom of the hill lying between the hills and the sea. Aalam (ആലം) is an archaic word meaning sea or ocean as per page No. 289 of Malayalam lexicon named  ശബ്ദതാരാവലി compiled by Sreekanteswaram G Padmanabha Pilla. The etymology of the word is not known. There is another word അളം which also gives the meaning "sea" or Ocean. This word also is archaic. Many of the toponyms of Malabar have "al" or "alam" as their prefix. Example: alamkod (ആലം കോട്), Aluva, (ആലുവ), Alathur (ആലത്തൂർ ), Ala (ആല) Most of these places are not far away from the coast. As per the lexicon "ലളയൊരഭേദം", both the syllable are acceptable or are used interchangeably. There are more than seventy toponyms on the coast of Malayalam with the prefix "aala...

The first word that came out of his mouth was Achachhan (അച്ചച്ഛൻ).  This may be because of my continuous association with him from his sixth month onwards.  By this time his mother had joined a private company.  She leaves home by eight o'clock and returns by around seven o'clock.  Since COVID period, she would touch him ony after her bath. His father was in Kalpetta and used to come home once in a week.  His grand mother had always been after her daily chores.  Even then his second word was Achamma   (അച്ഛമ്മ).   Now he is nearing his second birth anniversary. Now he speaks, combining two or three words. Nannu lam venam (നന്നു ലം വേണം) meaning I want water. He is running his toy car. His grandma is sweeping the floor. When he reaches behind her he says, 'mari nikk achhamma, meaning, move away grandma.  He points to every thing and asks 'athentha?'  When he is on the ladder placed on the closet to pooh he raises finger at the ...

Updated 24/04/24 While we have been digging for the ancient harbour of Musiris, we overlooked Musiri in our neighbourhood.  Musiri has been there, for centuries on the northern bank of the river Cauvery. Taluk, district and panchayath town are only revenue divisions conceived by chieftains and leaders as village grows to town and so on, to address the pressure on them. Now Musiri has grown into an assembly constituency, and one among 245 assembly constituencies of Tamil Nadu.  Villages by the same name are found elsewhere in Thanjavur and Namakkal Districts of the state. Another Musri is in Andhra Pradesh: Visakhapatnam District, Dimbruguda Taluk, Arma Grama Panchayat. Again, Musri is a locality in Vellore town.  Musri may be a corruption of the word misri by which the Arabs called the Egyptian agents in Alexandria who were the intermediaries in the Greco Roman spice trade spanning a period from 2nd century BCE to 5th century CE. The diary written by an unknown merchant '...

Updated on 29th February 2024. My Godrej Refrigerator had been working silently, but with a low rumbling accompanied by the ring tone of a theatre bell followed by a rest and silence. I thought it was the compressor of the machine. The compressor was a speciality. It came with ten years' warranty.  But this warranty turned out a false promise. I bought it from Nandilath G-Mart, Calicut, vide their invoice No. CLT 1- 1902407282 dated 28 -09 - 2019, and its model RD EPRO 205 TAI 5.2/209 190 Litre Direct cool After working continuously for 1213 days out of its warranty of 10 years the machine stopped working on the night of 23rd January 2024. I reported the matter to the service technician of the company's authorised service centre at Calicut who once came to rectify a minor complaint with the machine.  Then, it was the draining of water through the the door into the floor, instead of it getting collected in the container meant for it, behind the machine. The technician came and ...

 കോഴി തലയായി വരുന്ന ഏറെ സ്ഥലങ്ങൾ കേരളത്തിൽ ഉണ്ട്.  അതിൽ പ്രധാനിയാണ് കോഴിക്കോട്.  ജില്ല തിരിച്ചപ്പോൾ ജില്ലയുടെയും താലൂക്കിൻ്റെയും പേരായി.  ഈ പേരു തന്നെയാണ് കോർപറേഷൻ എന്ന പ്രാദേശിക ഭരണ കൂടത്തിനും. ഈ വേർതിരിവുകൾ ഇല്ലാത്ത കാലത്തും കോഴിക്കോട് ഉണ്ടായിരുന്നു. അതിൻ്റെ അതിരുകൾ പടിഞ്ഞാറു കടലും, കിഴക്ക് കുറെ കുന്നുകളും വടക്ക് കോരപ്പുഴയും തെക്ക് കല്ലായി   പുഴയും ആയിരുന്നു. കോഴി = മലയുറവ്,  A spring originating from a hill. കോഴിക്കോടിൻ്റെ അപരൻ കൊല്ലത്തും കൊല്ലത്തിൻ്റെ അപരൻ കോഴിക്കോടും.  പൂയ്യപ്പള്ളി പഞ്ചായത്തിലാണ് കോഴിക്കോട് എന്ന ഗ്രാമം. കരുനാഗപ്പള്ളി പട്ടണത്തിൽ നിന്ന് ഒരു കി. മീ. പടിഞ്ഞാറ്. കോയിൽ കോട്ട ലോപിച്ച് കോഴിക്കോട് ആയി.  ചരിത്രകാരൻ്റെ fiction. സ്ഥല പുരാണം പറയുന്നവരും അത് പിന്തുടർന്നു. കല്ലായി പുഴക്കും കോരപ്പുഴക്കും മീതെ പാലമില്ലാത്ത കാലത്ത് ഉണ്ടാക്കിയ ചരിത്രം. എന്നാൽ കോഴി തലയായ ദേശങ്ങൾ വേറെയും ഉണ്ട്. ഏതൊക്കെ? കോഴിപ്പിള്ളി - വരാപ്പെട്ടി ഗ്രാമ പഞ്ചായത്ത് കോഴിപ്പിള്ളി - പാലക്കുഴ ഗ്രാമ പഞ്ചായത്ത്  രണ്ടും എറണാകുളം ജില്ലയിൽ. കോഴിക്കുന്ന് - മുളം കുന...