Change

The first thing that hit me when I came back to settle down in TVM a few years back was the change to the ‘city’. The TVM I grew up in was a large village with one important ‘high street’. If you wanted to purchase anything, the shop to go to had to be on either end of M G Road – either in Palayam or more likely near the Chala end. The main places to go to relax were near LMS (Museum, Kanakakonnu). Trips to ‘far away’ Shankumukham, Kovalam etc. by bus were rarer.

 The biggest change I noticed now was the change to the Plamood – Kesavadasapuram stretch. Today you can get everything from a needle to a car from the shops that dot this stretch.

 Though we get our provisions from the locality we live in, we still miss going to some of the old landmarks – these shops are still there but I wonder whether they are thriving. Some memories from my adolescence –

 

-         Good Morning store at Palayam – this shop probably marked the start of the ‘city centre’!

-         We always used to buy coffee from Shankers at Pulimood – there was a friendly salesman with a quick wit and sharp tongue!

-         School books and stationery religiously purchased at the beginning of the school year from Academic Book House (Pulimoodu)

-         Plastic items from Ibrahims in Chalai. The smells and sounds of Chala had a fun element then. When I ‘revisited’ the place in the 21^st century, the stench was unbearable!

 Question about the last point – has Chala changed or have I? With time and progress is it just the city that has changed or have I also changed? I agree that the physical aspect of the city has changed (development of the Pattom stretch as a case in point) but in the case of Chala – the change is really in me!

 Incidentally Shankumukam seems to have got nearer (just a short drive away)!

 After ranting on about nothing in particular above, I want to end with a nostalgic fun memory – the fondest food memories of TVM are the times my father took the family out for dosas at ‘Dasarataram’ near the Secretariat. If I am correct this small restaurant was renamed as ‘Shree Ram Sweet Shop’ and now it does not exist. There is some other shop in it’s place.

 Probably it is just a case of ‘those were the days’ but the memories of those ‘paper roasts’ and ‘rocket dosas’ are that they were the best I have ever tasted!