KALPATHY

Kalpathy Heritage Village.
Kalpathy is one of the oldest Agraharams(Brahmin Settlements) in Palakkad. It was declared a Heritage Village by the Government of Kerala some years ago the purpose being to preserve the original culture, tradition & lifestyle. Kalpathy is located on the banks of the Kalpathy River, a tributary of the Bharathapuzha. Viswanatha swamy temple (Kundambalam) and the Mandakkara Maha Ganapathy temple are the two main temples situated on both the sides of the Agraharam.
The Viswanathaswamy temple, whose origin dates back to 1425, is a Tamilnadu style temple & the deities are Kasi Viswanathar & Visalakshi. Other subshrines inside the temple are of Vinayakar, Subramaniar, Kala Bhairavar. There is also the Kanaka Sabhai where dancing idol of Natarajar can be seen. This temple reminds of the setting at Kasi hence sometimes referred to as half-Kasi.The famous annual Kalpathy Ratholsavam (Temple car festival) takes place in November of every year here. Kalpathy Ratholsavam is a spectacular procession of beautifully decorated temple chariots drawn through the streets by thousands of devoteesIt is believed that the Manthakara Mahaganapathy temple was established by the residents of the New Kalpathy village in recent times (less than a hundred years ago) to ward off 'Sivadhristi'.
Other side of the Kalpathy Agraharam another Ganapathy Temple known as Shipra Ganapathy also is there.
Kalpathy Agraharam (Brahmin village) in the heart of Palakkad town is being notified as the first heritage village in the State. An area of 22.36 hectares of Old Kalpathy and New Kalpathy, constituting the famous Kalpathy Agraharam,was notified for preservation.
Kalpathy village is famous for its architecture and music and car festivals. The agraharams were established by migrant Brahmins from Thanjavur.The pressure of modern aspirations and altered lifestyle is taking its toll on the heritage value of Kalpathy. Old buildings are slowly yielding way to new concrete structures. To preserve whatever is left, the State Tourism Department had taken up the Kalpathy Heritage Walk scheme.
As we walk down this Heritage Village you can notice and experience many things. For me and Uma this is the main street for walking either to visit the temples in the street or for shopping .
During the monsoon ,mainly in the afternoon ,it was felt necessary to have hot bajji/ bonda and hence we used to walk down the street at 4 o clock and the vendor will sell you banana bhajji/bonda/Vada ,hot taken out from the boiling oil ,accompanied by onion chutney.
The Aiswarya Mess which was adjacent was closed for long and suddenly we found it open one day. This is the most prominent food counter in Kalpathy famous for his Sevai and other snacks. Promptly next day when we were walking we found him selling ada with avial and as this was a new combination we had to try,
For the persons who have a taste for north Indian snacks at the end of the Agraharam road there is a vendor selling Bhel puri and for a Chinese connoissier we have a manchurian selling Brahmin.
The internationally famous ratholsavam is slated to begin on Nov 12 th and we are waiting for that.
Another shop right in the middle of the Agraharam is Café Coffee Day selling coffee Powder spreading the wonderful aroma around so that you feel like having a nice cup of hot decation coffee in a stainless steel tumbler and davarah.
While on coffee let me reproduce what I picked up as I browse the internet, something written on the great south Indian coffee.
COFFEE
“Many of us are brought up in the tradition of sniffing and tasting aromatic Coffee early in the morning. In Northern parts of India and in Kerala, it is ‘chai’ or ‘chaya’. You also have the lighter version of tea – ‘vella chaya’. Old timers would proudly recall Pothan Joseph’s weekly pontification ‘Storm over the tea-cup’, in Rajaji’s Swarajya Magazine. Rajaji used to drink coffee really hot during his daily visit to Kalki Gardens. Dr.Johnson rose to fame in the Coffee Clubs of England in the eighteenth century. Oliver Goldsmith, James Boswell, drama actor Garrick, Admiral Nelson and every one of their ilk were the products of coffee club of the time in England. If late Shri V.K.Krishna Menon had survived only on 20 cups of tea a day even while delivering an eight hour non-stop extempore elegant speech on the Kashmir problem in the UN General Assembly, numerous Iyers and Iyengars in the south begin their day with reading ‘Hindu Paper” and a tumbler full of coffee to provide them focus and inspiration.

Unlike tea, which always absorbs a large quantity of sugar, coffee thrives when the sugar level is low. Coffee always leaves it flavour in the mouth for a long time and hence is served as a last item during snack sessions. If the first cup of coffee in the morning provides the impetus to start the day, the second one, generally an hour and a half later and much lighter, would show that one is in a relaxed mood, if not in laid back one. Puritans would always keep ‘chikri’ at a distance, though many would mix a small quantity of ‘chikri’ to coffee powder, to make the decoction look thicker. Marriage contractors brought about numerous innovations, but they dared not dispense with coffee lest their claims to culinary skills should be questioned.

A few decades back, instant coffee like Nescafe or Bru was unknown. Green coffee seeds would be brought from India Coffee House outlets, roasted at home till they turn golden brown. When the coffee seeds were being roasted, the entire Agraharam ( or gramam in Kerala) would reverberate with the smell. Roasted seeds would be powdered, in hand-held grinder, minutes before the coffee is prepared. Degree of Culture of a South Indian Family could be deciphered from the quality of coffee they offer and enjoy. Often the colour of the coffee had caused commotion in marriages. Coffee in "Kooja" (Flasks were yet to come), would make tedious travels enlivening. Any tiffin session would end, only with coffee. What more, coffee could also be a stand alone serve. If the coffee does not measure upto expectations, even the other serves had to suffer in silence. Rama Iyer’s Café at Kumbakonam boasted of softest idlies in the south and yet Rama Iyer had the temerity to refuse to serve the second plate of idli if one did’nt order coffee, as the coffee in this joint was an apology for a real one. “If every body takes only idli’ who would buy my coffee’, Rama Iyer used to justify his rationing of Idli.

Dignified brahminical families dared not offer tea or other substitutes (no disrespect meant). Offering coffee to "Adhithis" was cultivated as a rudimentary lesson in extending hospitality. If a prospective daughter-in- law's "Bhavyam" is gauged from the way she served coffee, her culinary skills were admeasured from the quality of her coffee. How she mixes sugar would determine whether she is aware of the merits of proportion. The families’ wealth level would be evaluated from the cutleries used. If tea is served in bone china cup and saucer, coffee has to be poured in dabara-tumbler only. Daring to serve coffee in a cup to a tufted Tanjorian is considered as diabolic. If tea is to be sipped, Coffee has to be poured, however hot it may be, without touching the lips, into the mouth and this is a dicta in orthodox families. Many of the Mamas and Atthimbers in South have written Bashyas on coffee, in the manner the great Sankara wrote on the Prasthanathrayee.

It is heartening to learn that today the teenagers and those in their twenties flock to Cafe Coffee Day as the earlier generation gossiped at Ambi's Cafes. We have 24 hours Coffee Houses in Star Hotels where sipping black coffee is the sign of one having 'arrived'. A few days back, tempted by the aroma of coffee and the perfectly sugared and flavoured biscuits they offered, (though costing a fortune), I dared to enter a Café Coffee Day outlet in a fashionable locality at Mumbai, along with a friend when pairs of eyes pierced us to pieces. We learnt to our dismay that we were the only two in the forty plus category. What more, in that heterosexual group, we looked the odd homosexual.

If an apple a day keeps the doctor away, a cup of coffee a day keeps head-aches, milder ailments and frowning faces away. Perhaps, coffee is the only 'hot' drink that doesn't cause but cleanse us of nausea in the morning. Cold coffee, like gay marriages, is an aberration. One may lend it legitimacy, but certainly not wide acceptability.

Coffee shall live as long as semblance of South Indian life in this earth continues. "

Kalpathy apart from being a heritage village has found its way to the latest Shankar Mahadevan hit song “PITCHAVACHA NAL MUTHAL” in Puthiyamugham which is the caller tune in mobils ,for many including me.