VISITS TO THE BROADWAY AND ERNAKULAM MARKET

The Broadway is twenty-five feet wide. The side streets were narrow with pot holes, poorly lighted and dirty. The roads were without proper drainage facilities. All the buildings were crowded, close-together, lacked windows, and ventilations. They were either single or double storied with tiled roofing. Concrete buildings were very rare and they were badly maintained. Hand pulled rickshaws moved either side of the vibrant road. Ernakulam Broadway was the commercial hub.  Guna Shenoi for steel and pipes;  Alappatt and Geeri Pai for Gold Ornaments; Chackolas for clothes and sari; Gosris and Chakkiat for hardware, Mampilly for medicines; V.T. George for provisions; K.P. Varghese for rice and pulses wholesale; Koluthara for kerosene and petrol. The most popular Baker was Cochin Bakery for cake, bread and cookies. In spite of the absence of luxurious surroundings, the people were not without means of enjoyment. Menaka, Padma and Lekshman were the three talkies which used to show the latest movies, one of the   means of entertainments in town. By the end of the show the talkies looked like a smoke house due to the continuous smoking of cigarettes and beedis inside the hall.

We had a stroll through Ernakulam Market, which was teeming with life. People were coming and going; canvassing and bargaining; shouting and buying a variety of things including vegetables. Bullock carts and trucks and hand pulled carts jammed the traffic every Monday and Friday, which were the market days. On our way the aroma of varied fried and roasted food stuffs wafted us.

The scenario changed suddenly and drastically at the northern side of market area. We snaked our way through the crowded street on the market canal side occupied by petty street hawkers and fish vendors. The stench of garbage and of the dirty pond adjacent to it reeked of decayed fish and vegetables. Health and hygiene in this area was totally neglected by the Municipality. I always wondered why our Government and Municipality did not take the initiative to design and construct a beautiful market place or shopping mall by demolishing all the dilapidated sheds.  Health and hygiene are very important. Proper drainage and sanitation facilities would help the municipalities to clean the clogged drains. A yearly cleaning before the rains would definitely bring down the mosquito menace.  

Excerpts from

MEMOIRS

An autobiography

by

Joseph J. Thayamkeril

Lawyer, Kochi, Kerala, India.

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josephjthayamkeril@gmail.com