ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THALASSERY

Known as the land of three ‘C’s (Cake, Cricket and Circus), Thalassery is a commercial city on the Malabar Coast in the Kannur district, Kerala, India. It was formerly known as ‘Tellicherry’ and this is the place where the three ‘C’s was introduced in the history of India during the British rule. The place is bordered by the districts of Kasaragod, Kozhikode, Wayanad, Kodagu (Karnataka) an also by Mahe, a small town, which now forms a district in the Union Territory of Puducherry.

 Thalassery has an area of 23.98 square km and approximate population is around 100,000. It is situated 2.5 m to 30m above the sea level. The latitude of the place is 11.7533° N and the longitude is 75.4929° E. Thalassery is a good tourist place to visit and is the best shopping place for spices, dress, etc. The spices of Thalassery is famous the world over.

In the 13^th century travelogue, ‘Books of the Marvels of the World’ or ‘Description of the World’ written by Rustichello da Pisa from the stories told by Marco Polo, an Italian explorer, describing Polo’s travels through Asia between 1271 and 1295, speaks about Thalassery and also mentions about the spices thus:

 

“There is in this kingdom a great quantity of pepper, and ginger, and cinnamon, and turbit, and of nuts of India. They also manufacture very delicate and beautiful buckrams”.

     Apart from this, Thalassery is also very famous for its cuisine – especially the tasty spicy mouthwatering non-vegetarian Thalassery Biriyani (in the local dialect, ‘biri-yaa-ni’). Unlike other biriyanis, Thalassery biriyani uses Kaima/Jeerakasala rice. Thalassery Falooda (a fruit salad cocktail) – a regional variant of the Persian dessert, the spicy non-vegetarian snack Arikkadukka (Stuffed-in-shell mussel, steamed and fried), Kozhi-kkalu (a veg snack made of sliced and fried tapioca), Muttamala and Muttasirka -- a traditional sweet made using egg, Unnakkai (Unnakka, Kaai Ada) -- a spindle-shaped sweet dessert made of plantains, the sweet Param-Pozhi (Banana fried in oil with a covering), etc are some of the special cuisines of Thalassery. 😋😋😋

Arikkadukka

Kozhikkalu

Param Pozhi

Param Pozhi

Unnakaya

Thalassery Dum Biriyani

Muttamala (Noodles like sweet with egg)

 Visit Thalassery soon to taste all these. Yummy!😋😋😋😋😋😋😋😋😋😋😋😋😋😋😋😋😋😋😋

  

HOAX HARTHAL IN KERALA -- REALLY THOUGHT-PROVOKING

Dear Friends,

What to believe? What not to believe? ☹️☹️☹️ I was utterly confused from last night till today afternoon when I realized the truth. I believe many of you might have asked this question to others or at least yourself, last day or today morning if you happen to read the Whatsapp message about the so-called “Janakeeya Harthal” or the harthal called by the Social Media for the first time, here, in Kerala. The message said that this harthal will be held today without the support of any political party or organizations and it aimed to bring justice to the murdered girl in the Kathua case and to protest against the government. As per the information given in one of the messages, this will be a 24 hour harthal (12 am to 12 pm), today, the 16^th of April 2018. 

One of the messages was too much sensitizing the public emotion about the Kathua Incident and asked the public who are humane to join the protest today for the same, thus making the protest a major success by gaining the attention nationwide. It also said that: “Kerala will realize the power of Social Media once again.” The so-called rules of this innovative protest include all kinds of transportation including the KSRTC and even the Two-Wheelers and forcing all shops closed. It also said that: “Anyone who violates these rules will be considered, by the wise public, as human beings devoid of the humane attitude.”

Apart from this, I also received other message which reads: “Fake news about harthal circulating via Social Media” and later it was followed by another message which says the former news was fake. I googled about the same, enquired with my friends and colleagues, searched in news channels but . . . there was not even a single word of this protest except in the Whatsapp and Facebook. 

Today morning while travelling, I was amazed to see all the shops in Thalassery closed. I asked the lady who sat next to me in bus: “Is there any harthal today?” I repeated the question to a couple of my friends too, who answered: “No”. Today afternoon, on my way back to home, I saw some bus with a notice pasted in the mirror: “Justice for Asifa – This bus will stop running now”. Yet, there are some who is still not aware of today’s harthal. 

I wonder whether observing harthal here, in Kerala, could bring ‘justice’ to that poor murdered girl? Why our people are so obsessed with harthals and strikes for every issue? Why don’t we think of any novel kind of protests? Why don’t we think of those minority groups (daily wage earners) who really suffer due to strikes and harthals? Today’s was the THIRD hartal we had in Kerala. We already had approximately NINE state level harthals in 2018, till date. Last year, by celebrating a harthal on the 16^th of October, 2017, records say that we, Keralites have crossed the 1OOth strike last year. 

I am apolitical when I say this. It is true that I too enjoy when I get a day off. I do agree that it is a way of protest and if successful it can bring about good results solving certain issues. We, Keralites are highly literate. We are well aware of the rights and the freedom enshrined to us by our Constitution. We do support most harthals if that is for good. And, we are well known for our powerful civil society. 

Yet, today majority of us . . . the most literate Keralites, especially the youths became great fools due to this PRANK FAKE MESSAGE, the idea which originated in the mind of some ‘Intellectual’ or ‘Mad guy’. Whoever it be who created this hoax message, it is wrong in the eyes of law as this hoax harthal call over Kathua incident triggered tension in our state. Yet, I do consider it as an eye opener too. It showed us the great influence of Social Media in our daily life. We believe the news circulated through it without any question about its validity, truth or fakeness. We often receive hoax messages through Whatsapp and Facebook. Some of us do share it with others even without checking its truth. Thus, the fake news is circulated on a cyclic basis. Will there be an end to it? Though there exists some cyber laws which prevent the spreading of wrong messages, it still happens. 

I too had some experience of receiving the hoax message. But, I share it only after checking in the google to ensure its truth. Last day too I did this. But, there was no such news. I was greatly confused when my students told that today was harthal. My experience in the town (Thalassery) too enhanced my doubts. I did not believe the news only because of my previous experience of hoax message. So, I went for work today. I thought I was befooled as I believed there was no harthal. But now, I am very happy that I was not befooled as now the news came that: “Hoax harthal call over Kathua incident triggers tension in Kerala”. 

Yes. . . as said in the Whatsapp message, this hoax harthal was successful in one sense as it proved the power of Social Media. It also proved that many of us are mere slaves of Social Media.

I request all my readers to think twice before believing what you read in Social Media and also recheck the validity or truth of such messages or news you receive via Social Media before sharing it with your friends, relatives, colleagues, etc. Let us make sure that we all do this from next time if we receive any hoax message. Also, do your best to prevent the circulation of hoax or outdated messages. Let us all join hands for all good cause. Let this incident be an eye opener to all of us. Let’s act wisely from here onwards.

Hoping for the best,👍👍👍

Sai Varenya.

 🙂🙂🙂