THRISSUR - MY HOMETOWN: PART 3

 Here comes another part of the story of my hometown. Here, I want to focus more on the geographical features of the city area. 

As said in the first part, Thrissur, the cultural capital of Kerala, is located in the exact centre of the state, around 300 km north of Thiruvananthapuram, 80 km north of Kochi, 120 km south-east of Kozhikode and almost the same distance south-west of Coimbatore. Geographically, it is placed 76'15 East of Greenwhich and 9'5 North of Equator, and is located in the Torrid Zone of the Earth, like the whole South India. The whole city is situated around a hillock called 'Vrishabhadri', where the mighty Vadakkumnathan Temple stands. In fact, there is another story that the word Thrissur actually comes from 'Vrishabhadripuram', meaning 'the city on Vrishabhadri. But, the idea which I told in the first part is the popular one. The stunning Swaraj round in the city is built around this hillock and Vadakumnathan Temple. Thus, no one coming here can pass without at least having a glimpse of Vadakkumnathan Temple. From this setup, we can easily conclude that Thrissur was one among the most well-planned cities in pre-Independent India, but its present condition is very poor. I will talk about them in detail in another part.

While coming to geography, Thrissur is mostly located in the 'Idanadu' (Midland) region of Kerala, being neither high range nor coastal area. I say mostly because there are parts like Kole fields in the western side of the city, and areas like Vilangan Kunnu, which are exceptions for this. Puzhakkal river, a small river of only 30 km length passes through the northern and western suburbs of the city. Also called as Thanikkudam river, it is famous for the flooding which submerges the idol of the famous Bhagavathi Temple in Thanikkudam, a village located around 10 km from Thrissur towards the north-east. Other than this, there are numerous smaller streams flowing through various areas of the city, most of them draining to Puzhakkal river. The city is also famous for many ponds, which once existed as the sources of drinking water in the city, and are now famous for entertainment activities like boating. 'Vadakkechira' (Northern pond) in the northern side of the city and 'Padinjarechira' (Western pond) in the western side of the city are examples for such ponds. As said earlier, most of these ponds were built by Maharaja Rama Varma Sakthan Thampuran, who is known to be the father of the modern-day Thrissur city. Among these, Vadakkechira, presently owned by Cochin Devaswom Board, recently emerged as a boating centre of the city. Padinjarechira is owned by Vadakke Madom (Northern monastery), which is one among the four monasteries established by the Divine Sage Adi Shankaracharya in Thrissur, and is the place where the arattu (ritual bath) of various temples in the city, like Paramekkavu and Thiruvambadi, are conducted. Other than these two, there existed two more such ponds, namely 'Thekkechira' (Southern pond) and 'Kizhakkechira' (Eastern pond). Unfortunately, both of them have ceased to exist. It is sad that despite the existence of such water bodies, the citizens of Thrissur city have been unable to fully use their potential in clean drinking water, and have to depend upon a dam 20 km away from the city, which in turn is another major attraction of the whole district.

The Kole fields of Thrissur are to be given special mention in the list of geographical features of Kerala. These fields, located around 1-2 ft below sea level, form one among the rare regions in the whole world where rice is cultivated below sea level.  As Malayalis, it is very significant that two such regions exist in Kerala, the other being Kuttanad. In fact, around 40% of the total rice cultivation in Kerala is concentrated here. It is also the area where most of the migratory birds coming to Kerala thrive along, being a part of the Central Asian Flyway. Areas like Pullazhi, Puzhakkal, Ayyanthole, Nedupuzha, Kanimangalam, Palakkal, etc., are famous for the breath-taking view of Kole fields. Having an area of around 13,33 sq.km, it extends till Chalakkudy river in the south and Bharathapuzha in the north. It is also the mouth of three rivers - Puzhakkal river, Kecheri river and Karuvannur river, which then turn to a single river called Enamavu river, which then flow to Chettuva backwaters and finally to Arabian Sea. Thus we can say that  Unfortunately, this is also one among the most threatened areas in the city, mostly due to the extension of Thrissur city. Especially Puzhakkal has now been notorious for various real estate activities, which has been made by filling the various wetlands. The most famous among them is Sobha City, built exactly on the erstwhile field area, near the Puzhakkal river. While I am not against such projects, there needs significant way to address such issues before going for them. Even if then, there needs special methods for restoring such lands, because it is crucial for the future of humankind. Hope everyone understands such situation.

While coming to the case of Thrissur district, it is the fourth-largest district in Kerala, both by area and by population. Spanning around 3,032 sq.km in area and with a population of 3 lakhs, it is spanned with all the three landforms of Kerala, starting from the mountainous eastern parts of the district to the mighty Arabian Sea in the west. It is bounded by Palakkad district in the eastern and northern sides, Ernakulam district to the south and Malappuram district to the north-west. It is special as being the only district in whole Kerala through which both Periyar and Bharathapuzha, the largest rivers of Kerala, flow through, though only for a short distance. Chalakkudy river, which flows around 70 km through the district, is the longest river in the district. Kecheri river (51 km), Karuvannur river (46 km) and Puzhakkal river (30 km) are the other major rivers in the district. The famous Athirappally Falls, which is the highest waterfall in whole Kerala, is located at the south-eastern tip of Thrissur district, around 63 km from the district headquarters. Popularly known as 'Indian Niagra', it is well-known for being the shooting spot of various films made in Indian languages. Other major waterfalls include Vazhachal (Near Athirappally), Chapra (Again near Athirappally), Marottichal (Around 10 km away from Thrissur city), etc. Thrissur is also home for many famous dams, the most famous among them being Peechi Dam located 20 km away from the city, which serves as the main source of drinking water in Thrissur city. Opened in 1957, it is one among the first dams formed after the formation of Kerala state. Other major dams include Chimmini Dam (Near Varandarapilly, around 30 km away from Thrissur), Vazhani Dam (Near Wadakkanchery, around 25 km away from Thrissur) and Poomala Dam (Near Wadakkanchery, 20 km away from Thrissur). The proposed Athirapally Hydro-Electric Project, which caused wide protests among environmentalists and locals, was also to be made in this district, near the Athirappally Waterfalls, but was later abandoned. 

Thrissur generally has a tropical humid climate, like most of the state of Kerala. The summer here is very notorious, especially in the recent times when global warming has reached its zenith. The temperature here has reached more than 40 degrees during summer months. But, after a horrible summer, there comes heavy rains in the month of June and continuing until the end of August. Though generally not causing much damage, due to the various real estate issues which I already said here earlier, it has deliberately caused severe devastating incidents during 2018 floods. Areas like Chalakudy in particular witnessed the worst effect in the whole district during the incident, when the Chalakudy river, which was also notorious for constructions made by filling the banks, changed its course and flowed around 7 km away from its present course. In recent times, the rain has gone even beyond October, thus merging both South-Western and North-Eastern monsoons. Annual rainfall is around 3000 mm. After the rains come a windy season. Since Kerala state does not have a definite winter season like North India, we cannot experience very low daytime temperature, and thus there is no need to wear woolen clothes. This dry, windy season coincides with the Malayalam month of Vrischikam, which overlaps to the English months of November and December. Traditionally, this lasts till mid February, but in recent years, it has been reaching only till mid January.