Thalanadu
Encyclopedia
Thalanadu is a Southern India
n village, situated in the eastern part of Kottayam district
in Kerala
, between Vagamon, Moonnilavu and Teekoy
hill area, enveloped in greenery with a clean and unpolluted atmosphere. It is a small panchayat in Poonjar Thekkekkara Village, but quite long, stretching about 25 kilometres including Adukkom reaching up to the Vagamon and Munnilavu Panjayahthu area, at about three thousand and five hudrad feet above sea level. This place is known for its agriculture and landscape. It is full of hills and valleys in the middle of which flows the Meenachil
river (made famous by Arundhati Roy
's novel, The God of Small Things
).
, jackfruit
, etc., found in the Western Ghats
region growing profusely besides coconut
, latex rubber
, arecanut and other crops. It is a very fertile area. Here most of the people are farmers and they cultivate rubber, elachi
, ginger
, cardamom
, clove
, nutmeg
, turmeric
, pepper
, cashew
and other spices. Considerable variety of medicinal plants also grow here which have been used in making the traditional home remedies. Most of the people are Christian
s, Muslim
s and Hindu
s. The literacy rate in this village is above 90% with very less unemployment recorded. There is a voluntary job training institute named TIES established in 90's is the best example for the peoples dedications towards the development of the village. This institute provided free training for thousands of young people there to get a job in the Government public sector. Their fraternity within people makes this place graceful.
system was introduced. There is only a moderate level of political activity, hence hardly any social divisions over politics
. There are three Temples, one church and a Mosque in this place.
has a heavy rainy season and mild summer. Summer rains are not infrequent. With hills in the backdrop it never gets very hot, and the climate tends towards windy and cool. This weather makes the soil good for all crops.
circuits in Kerala.Ayyampara has a huge rock formation whose top is a flat expanse running into hundreds of acres. It is a place with many cliffs, a cave and panoramic views. People also visit this place in the evening to enjoy the cool breeze and see the sun set. Ayyampara is one of the main tourist destination in this place with big rock mountain three thousand and five hundred feet from the Sea level. Its more than 100 acre (0.404686 km²) of rocks with temple and church on the top of it, getting more attention from tourists. Rolling hills and hillocks dot Thalanadu in abundance but some places are very steep. Many tourists come to experience the beauty of raining and Greenishness on the way to vagamon. Both the river and the flat land are flanked by hills. Plantations such as Rubber and other cultivations showing the developments of this area. The origin of meenachil
river is starts from here.
Picnickers often come to Adukkom another place in this Village. One is the Marmala waterfall
in the Meenachil river where water cascades down from the hill over a rocky slope.
The nearby Illickan mountain
rises steeply to a height of more than three thousand feet, from its top with views extending up to 75 kilometres to the Alleppey port on a clear night. In the season tourists camp on its top. There is only one entry and exit point to the top. Legend has it that its rocky top is believed to have a mythical pond where the Neelakoduveli grows, a wonder plant that assures you perennial prosperity if you can collect its leaves when they flow down through the river Meenachil once a year.
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n village, situated in the eastern part of Kottayam district
Kottayam district
Kottayam is one of the 14 districts in the state of Kerala, India. The district has its headquarters at Kottayam town, located at 9.36° N and 76.17° E. According to the 1991 census, it is the first district to achieve highest literacy rate in the whole of India...
in Kerala
Kerala
or Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions....
, between Vagamon, Moonnilavu and Teekoy
Teekoy
Teekoy is a Southern Indian village, situated in the eastern part of Kottayam district in Kerala, between Vagamon, Erattupetta and Thalanadu.-Geoography:...
Geoography
Thalanadu is a typical Kerala village, which is a mixture of the features of both midland countryside and the MalanadMalanad
Malanad is the hilly regions of Kerala, India, especially the Malabar region and high ranges of Kerala. It includes small hilly regions also. Kerala is divided into coastal areas Theera Desam, midlands Idanad, and high ranges or Malanad. In Kerala approximately 15 km eastwards from coastal...
hill area, enveloped in greenery with a clean and unpolluted atmosphere. It is a small panchayat in Poonjar Thekkekkara Village, but quite long, stretching about 25 kilometres including Adukkom reaching up to the Vagamon and Munnilavu Panjayahthu area, at about three thousand and five hudrad feet above sea level. This place is known for its agriculture and landscape. It is full of hills and valleys in the middle of which flows the Meenachil
Meenachil
Meenachil is the name of the north-eastern region of Kottayam district in Kerala, south India. The name originates from Meenakshi the Dravidian goddess. Palai is the main town in Meenachil. The arterial river of the district is also named Meenachil...
river (made famous by Arundhati Roy
Arundhati Roy
Arundhati Roy is an Indian novelist. She won the Booker Prize in 1997 for her novel, The God of Small Things, and has also written two screenplays and several collections of essays...
's novel, The God of Small Things
The God of Small Things
The God of Small Things is the debut novel of Indian author Arundhati Roy. It is a story about the childhood experiences of fraternal twins whose lives are destroyed by the "Love Laws" that lay down "who should be loved, and how. And how much." The book is a description of how the small things in...
).
People
Large scale settlement in Thalanadu began more than 85 to 90 years ago. It has resemblance to a tropical rain-forest area with all kinds of trees like teakTeak
Teak is the common name for the tropical hardwood tree species Tectona grandis and its wood products. Tectona grandis is native to south and southeast Asia, mainly India, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Burma, but is naturalized and cultivated in many countries, including those in Africa and the...
, jackfruit
Jackfruit
The jackfruit is a species of tree in the Artocarpus genus of the mulberry family . It is native to parts of Southern and Southeast Asia. It is the national fruit of Bangladesh, . The jackfruit tree is believed to be indigenous to the southwestern rain forests of India...
, etc., found in the Western Ghats
Western Ghats
The Western Ghats, Western Ghauts or the Sahyādri is a mountain range along the western side of India. It runs north to south along the western edge of the Deccan Plateau, and separates the plateau from a narrow coastal plain along the Arabian Sea. The Western Ghats block rainfall to the Deccan...
region growing profusely besides coconut
Coconut
The coconut palm, Cocos nucifera, is a member of the family Arecaceae . It is the only accepted species in the genus Cocos. The term coconut can refer to the entire coconut palm, the seed, or the fruit, which is not a botanical nut. The spelling cocoanut is an old-fashioned form of the word...
, latex rubber
Rubber
Natural rubber, also called India rubber or caoutchouc, is an elastomer that was originally derived from latex, a milky colloid produced by some plants. The plants would be ‘tapped’, that is, an incision made into the bark of the tree and the sticky, milk colored latex sap collected and refined...
, arecanut and other crops. It is a very fertile area. Here most of the people are farmers and they cultivate rubber, elachi
Elettaria
Elettaria is a genus of one or two species of cardamoms, native to southeastern Asia from India south to Sri Lanka and east to Malaysia and western Indonesia, where it grows in tropical rainforests.-Species:...
, ginger
Ginger
Ginger is the rhizome of the plant Zingiber officinale, consumed as a delicacy, medicine, or spice. It lends its name to its genus and family . Other notable members of this plant family are turmeric, cardamom, and galangal....
, cardamom
Cardamom
Cardamom refers to several plants of the genera Elettaria and Amomum in the ginger family Zingiberaceae. Both genera are native to India and Bhutan; they are recognised by their small seed pod, triangular in cross-section and spindle-shaped, with a thin papery outer shell and small black seeds...
, clove
Clove
Cloves are the aromatic dried flower buds of a tree in the family Myrtaceae. Cloves are native to the Maluku islands in Indonesia and used as a spice in cuisines all over the world...
, nutmeg
Nutmeg
The nutmeg tree is any of several species of trees in genus Myristica. The most important commercial species is Myristica fragrans, an evergreen tree indigenous to the Banda Islands in the Moluccas of Indonesia...
, turmeric
Turmeric
Turmeric is a rhizomatous herbaceous perennial plant of the ginger family, Zingiberaceae. It is native to tropical South Asia and needs temperatures between 20 °C and 30 °C and a considerable amount of annual rainfall to thrive...
, pepper
Black pepper
Black pepper is a flowering vine in the family Piperaceae, cultivated for its fruit, which is usually dried and used as a spice and seasoning. The fruit, known as a peppercorn when dried, is approximately in diameter, dark red when fully mature, and, like all drupes, contains a single seed...
, cashew
Cashew
The cashew is a tree in the family Anacardiaceae. Its English name derives from the Portuguese name for the fruit of the cashew tree, caju, which in turn derives from the indigenous Tupi name, acajú. It is now widely grown in tropical climates for its cashew nuts and cashew apples.-Etymology:The...
and other spices. Considerable variety of medicinal plants also grow here which have been used in making the traditional home remedies. Most of the people are Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
s, Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
s and Hindu
Hindu
Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...
s. The literacy rate in this village is above 90% with very less unemployment recorded. There is a voluntary job training institute named TIES established in 90's is the best example for the peoples dedications towards the development of the village. This institute provided free training for thousands of young people there to get a job in the Government public sector. Their fraternity within people makes this place graceful.
Culture
Thalanadu is a rural village with a hilly touch. It has a dominant rural culture, People join together for celebrating the annual festivals, rituals and feasts in church and temples etc. Women are not just housewives. They too join public life especially after the restructured Panchayati RajRaj
Raj and Rajya mean "royalty" or "kingdom" in many Sanskrit and Hindu languages, and may refer to:- Indian history :*British Raj, the British Empire in India...
system was introduced. There is only a moderate level of political activity, hence hardly any social divisions over politics
Politics
Politics is a process by which groups of people make collective decisions. The term is generally applied to the art or science of running governmental or state affairs, including behavior within civil governments, but also applies to institutions, fields, and special interest groups such as the...
. There are three Temples, one church and a Mosque in this place.
Climate
Thalanadu climateClimate
Climate encompasses the statistics of temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, wind, rainfall, atmospheric particle count and other meteorological elemental measurements in a given region over long periods...
has a heavy rainy season and mild summer. Summer rains are not infrequent. With hills in the backdrop it never gets very hot, and the climate tends towards windy and cool. This weather makes the soil good for all crops.
Tourism
Thalanadu is naturally perched by its location in one of the busiest touristTourism
Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".Tourism has become a...
circuits in Kerala.Ayyampara has a huge rock formation whose top is a flat expanse running into hundreds of acres. It is a place with many cliffs, a cave and panoramic views. People also visit this place in the evening to enjoy the cool breeze and see the sun set. Ayyampara is one of the main tourist destination in this place with big rock mountain three thousand and five hundred feet from the Sea level. Its more than 100 acre (0.404686 km²) of rocks with temple and church on the top of it, getting more attention from tourists. Rolling hills and hillocks dot Thalanadu in abundance but some places are very steep. Many tourists come to experience the beauty of raining and Greenishness on the way to vagamon. Both the river and the flat land are flanked by hills. Plantations such as Rubber and other cultivations showing the developments of this area. The origin of meenachil
Meenachil
Meenachil is the name of the north-eastern region of Kottayam district in Kerala, south India. The name originates from Meenakshi the Dravidian goddess. Palai is the main town in Meenachil. The arterial river of the district is also named Meenachil...
river is starts from here.
Picnickers often come to Adukkom another place in this Village. One is the Marmala waterfall
Marmala waterfall
Marmala waterfall lies a few kilometres away from Erattupetta, in Kottayam district, Kerala, India inside a private estate. It is exactly 7 km from Teekoy rubber estate. From here a private vehicle can take you further 2 km after which the road is not motorable...
in the Meenachil river where water cascades down from the hill over a rocky slope.
The nearby Illickan mountain
Illickan mountain
Illickal Mala, located in Kerala, India, measures approximately 6000 ft. above sea level. Numerous mountain streams in this peak, flow down to form the Meenachil River. Tourists must trek 3 km to reach the summit of the peak....
rises steeply to a height of more than three thousand feet, from its top with views extending up to 75 kilometres to the Alleppey port on a clear night. In the season tourists camp on its top. There is only one entry and exit point to the top. Legend has it that its rocky top is believed to have a mythical pond where the Neelakoduveli grows, a wonder plant that assures you perennial prosperity if you can collect its leaves when they flow down through the river Meenachil once a year.