Calicut: A queen by herself

In the past 6 months, ever since i moved to Chennai, i have been travelling a lot between Calicut and Chennai. The railway station at Calicut never seemed so beautiful until i moved 660 kilometers away from her. Added to the distance it was the wait for one month and a journey of 12 hours in the 3rd class compartment of the Mangalore Mail, in which cockroaches where the smallest animals you could find. 

As each day passed, the beauty of the queen so far away seemed to increase. As the train entered the station, the board having the words Kozhikode in English, Hindi and Malayalam was a sight by itself. Early morning 4'o clock, a city still wide awake. I could see those shops and tea stalls still running their business. People who are driving about within the city, the lorries that pass by occasionally. By 5 half the city was up and heading for the prayers. While on one side, i could hear the devotional songs from the temples, and on the other the prayer from the mosque. 

In which other place do you have a very old temple and a mosque on two ends of a single road hardly 200 meters apart, a single project that was implemented to preserve both these monuments... 

Whenever i travel to Calicut from Chennai, whatever be the means of transport, even if the 3rd class mentioned above, or the journey with Gokul where we got the back seat in a bus and got fully drenched (inside the bus), never seemed a struggle. But it was always a pleasant journey. But the return journey, bidding adieu to Calicut and coming back to Chennai, even if its in the 1st class compartment, has always been a struggle.

But i still find it strange that Calicut still is not famous like Chennai or Delhi or Mumbai or Kolkata inspite of the fact that she was the first city in India which gave a passage to the English into India. She was the one who changed direction in which India was headed. Of course she didn't welcome the invaders with her hands open. 

I know when i write these words, wherever i may be, i'm still a person from Calicut and if i settle down, it will be at Calicut. If you ask the question why, the answer is simple... i'm in love with that place...