Kerala Stories

T hirty kilometres north of Thrissur in the southern Indian state of Kerala, close to the Nila river (also known as Bharathapuzha), is the small town of Cheruthuruthy (also known as Vallathol Nagar). This is the home of Kerala Kalamandalam, an art and culture deemed university dedicated to preserving and furthering the traditional art forms of Kerala. Started in 1930 by poet Vallathol Narayana Menon and his associates, Kalamandalam offers training in a range of performing arts such as Kathakali, Mohiniyattam, Thullal, Kutiyattam, Carnatic Music, Mridangam, and Kerala percussion instruments like Chenda, Maddalam, Timila, and Mizhavu. A residential institution that democratised the performing arts by opening admissions to students from all walks of life, Kalamandalam offers a Day with the Masters guided tour in which visitors are taken to the various classes being held in the campus. Over a three-hour walk around the large campus, you get to sit in on a wide range of classes from differe...

Temples, a church, a dance and performing arts university, a wedding, an ammama, appams, and quiet flows the Nila. The Swaraj Round, located at the centre of Thrissur town in central Kerala in southern India, is said to be among the largest traffic roundabouts in the world. About two kilometres in circumference, it encircles 65 acres of the Thekkinkadu maidan. Within the maidan, the Vadakkunnathan temple sprawls serenely over nine acres of well tended lawns and walkways within four imposing gopurams facing the north, south, east, and west. Vadakkunnathan temple, together with the Thiruvambady Sri Krishna temple on Shornur Road less than a kilometer to the north and the Paramekkavu Bhagavathi temple to the east just across the Swaraj Round, are the three principal temples that participate in the annual Thrissur Pooram, one of India’s largest and most colourful temple festivals. A short walk from the Swaraj Round, in the middle of busy streets and lanes, the white walls and towers of th...