BEFORE LEAP READ THIS BRIEF:

• Its prepared based on my limited knowledge base  and view point.
• Don’t expect any historical accuracy in this write up.(even though i tried to make it maximum fool proof)
• Just consider it as a fun ride.
• Sorry for grammar and spelling mistakes,IF ANY. Please let me know if you find any.

Two  Important Landmark in the history of Calicut.

• Vasco da Gama landed in Calicut on 20 May 1498 .
• Aswajith  born in 1989 November 10 Friday at Calicut medical college. LOl

• Few words about Calicut

Calicut as a Port City came up somewhere in the 13th Century in Kerala India . Population is  3,089,543 (Population Growth 7.31%,Proportion to Kerala Population 9.25%).

Also read :

• 36 FACTS ABOUT MALAPPURAM City.

1: Still Local Domination and Influence:

• When city grows  obviously the local peoples influence and control over the city start to faint . We have similar examples like  Cochin and Mumbai ,where locals are pushed to the back seat by migrants and business tycoons.Its great to see  that Calicut is fully controlled by the local people still and their dominance continue in every industry. Investments are also done largely by local people itself, I think its rare scenario as far as India is concerned.

2: People Always Bragg about their home town Calicut: (Very much proud )

• I noticed Calicut people are over proud about their home town  and culture. They believe that Calicut is the most sincere and loving district in Kerala. There is no other districts in Kerala love their home towns in they way  Calicutains do. You can check bundle of nostalgic videos and social media posts promoting  Calciut published by Calicut people .I believe such stuffs are mainly designed by the large number of Calicut nostalgic people living in middle east.

See even look at me, how much proud I am in writing this article.

3: Famous for Halwa, Chips and Biriyani

READ MY ARTICLE BEST FOODS AND HOTELS IN CALICUT

• Calicut is considered as the paradise of tasty foods and Biriyanis. One of the most luscious experiences is a taste of the local cuisine. Kozhikode has a thriving fishing industry and the sea food is second to none. Kozhikode got best coastal/seafood cuisine award from an all India competition conducted by India’s leading news channel in 2013.  After writing an article about Calicut foods (READ MY ARTICLE BEST FOODS AND HOTELS IN CALICUT) I got over whelming  responds from across Kerala. Even there were incidents likr “a Trivandrum guy chose his first date place in Calicut paragon referring my website with his lover in Calicut”. There are international retail  food outlets like KFC ,US  pizza ( READ ABOUT US PIZZA IN CALICUT).

4: Best Auto rickshaw services in Kerala

•  Auto Riksha is a primary transport system in Kerala . And its employees are considered as the strongest union in Kerala.  It is depended by all classes of people in every day life(poor people to rich people). Most of the time complaints are raised against auto drivers for in-decent behaviours and very high auto fair. And in total Kerala, Calicut auto drivers are considered as most reliable and cost effective.(Based on the survey conducted by Malayalam daily news papers).

 The Tamil Nadu Government had even sent some drivers for training to Calicut under these people to learn how a driver should be.

5: Main income is Gulf remittance

•  Calicut airports international terminal is ever busy with the people coming and going to middle east all the time. Migration to Gulf for jobs started way back in 1970 during gulf boom and it still continues. And gulf remittance is still one of the source of income in Calicut.

6: Head Quarters of Mathrubhimi News Paper

• Founded in 1922.
• Second largest news paper in Kerala with readership of 94,44,000 as per the Indian Readership Survey 2009.

READ DECCAN CHRONICLE IN CALCIUT.

7: International Airport school: (My school)

• One and only airport owned school in Kerala.Airport authority manage the institute.

8: Famous For loving Hospitality Nature(Honesty and hospitality)

• People are different genre and character over all. There are people who are greedy .There are people who are loving and caring. And I believe  surroundings do a great role in defining their character. And Calicut has such a tradition and culture to treat people so nicely .

9: Marriage Ragging:

• I don’t Know how many people heard about Marriage Ragging custom in Calicut. Well its a custom similar to college ragging but podium is different , at marriage function.

Read my article Marriage ragging in Calciut Kerala.

10:World famous National Institutes 

• IIM

Indian institute of management ,World famous central government funded business school is situated in the outskirts of Calicut.

• NIT:

National institute of technology, is central government owned Engineering college in Calicut.

Also read a funny love story happened in Calicut NIT

11: Emerging IT/Software Culture 

Of course Cochin is the IT capital of Kerala. But its true that Calicut city is showing  a good progress in IT/ItES INDUSTRY.

• Two IT parks are under construction in this small town.

And there is around 74 Software/IT companies in Calicut .

READ 74 IT companies in Calicut

12.Kalari in Calicut 

Calicut people are very much conscious about their health. There are Gyms(LARGEST HEALTH FITNESS CENTER IN CALICUT) and traditional Kalari practising people in Calicut.

Kerala born internally acclaimed martial art form Kalari is originally practised in northern and central parts of Kerala and the Tulunadu region of Karnataka. I started studying since my childhood .I recommend this to every one irrespective of caste and age. The mental strength it gives us is in explainable.

3 Styles of Kalari in Kerala.

• Norther style-The most famous internally recognized style with headquarters in Calicut.
• Travancore Style of south Kerala.
• The southern Payattu system is now extinct and the Tamil style of “Adi Murai” is classified as the southern Kalarippayattu

Famous Kalari institutes in Calicut:

• Bhargava Kalari Sangam, Calicut(This is where I practised Kalari)
• Hindustan Kalari Sangam.
• CVN Kalari.-Near Nadakkavu.

If you need to know more about this Martial art please mail to me -ask@jithumpablog.com

13: Mono-rail– Light Metro 

Calicut city is growing and obviously traffic congestion issue became a head ache. Calicut roads are rather very narrow and also reluctance from the public to cooperate for widening the road is  a bottleneck .And now Kerala government decided to bring Mon0- Rail project to bring down the traffic issues facing by the Tier 2 city Calicut.

• Kozhikode is also going to be the first city in Kerala to have a mono rail transporting system.Rail will cover from Meenchanda to Ramanattukara with a distance of 23 km.The total cost of the project will be Inr 33.09 crore.

14: Recent Construction Boom In Calicut

• Kozhikode has witnessed a building boom in recent years. This is particularly evident in the number of malls and buildings built in recent years. I have already explained the undergoing projects in Calicut.

15: Biggest Bus Terminal in Kerala

• The KSRTC bus terminal which is under construction is the biggest bus terminal in Kerala and it is situated in the heart of Calicut. The main building consists of two towers with spaces for offices, restaurants and shops. Having a whopping 30,000 square metre of commercial space. It is a 12 storey  building .

16: Father of White Revolution (From Calicut)

• Dr. Verghese Kurein was the person who played an outstanding role in the development of Amul and he is from Calicut. He was known as the ‘Father of the white revolution’ in India.

17: Film Stars from Calicut(Mollywood)

•  Calicut has contributed many talents  to Kerala film industry . I have published a separate article detailing films stars from Calicut district in Kerala.

35 FILM CELEBRITIES FROM CALICUT.

18: Religious Harmony 

Calciut is famous for its religious balance and harmony. You can see different religious people living together with out any iota of difference. Its rare to see in India.

Religions in Calicut Statistics.

• Largest Community Hindu:50%
• Second Largest Muslim:–41.8%
• Christians--1.3%
• Others -6.9%

19: Is Calicut Gay Capital of Kerala?

•  Its widely believed fake folk story in Kerala that Calicut is the gay capital of Kerala. It was during my college days (I studied in south Kerala) I noticed people in other districts have this kind of funny Misconception about Calicut. The reason is still a mystery. LOL

20 : British constructed Famous Crown Theater

• I do believe that British colonial rule helped India’s development in large scale. Their English education system is the reason for Indians progress in English language communication. Buildings constructed during their period is still important land marks in India. And Calicut Crown is such a construction from them. (Only English movies are shown there). But recently it reconstructed.

21: Foot Ball Craze of Calicutians:

•  It is not cricket sport that excite the Calicut people like the part of India. It is the Football that excite Calicut people more.

22: Salted Fruits,Vegetables and my favourite ice uradhi (Ice Crushed)

LIFE IS SALTED JAR OF GOOSEBERRIES

•  I Have been to many places in the world (India, middle east and Africa), but I haven’t seen any where any one selling salted fruits and vegetables in the way it is in Calicut. Salted Gooseberry and mango bring nostalgia to each Calicutian.

23: Mishkal Mosque (Must Visit place)

• Location :Kuttichira.
• One of the most famous Mosque in kerala built by a rich Arab businessman named Nakhooda Mishkal, nearly 650 years ago
• Unlike other Muslim pockets in Kerala, here two Qazis supervise the religious jurisdiction and ceremonies.

24: Byppor Uru (Boat making in Calicut)- Making secret is still intact

•  The Uru, or “Fat Boat”, is a generic name for large Dhow-type wooden ships made in Beypore.This kind of boats are mainly used by arbs and even now it is exported to Arabian countries.

As an art  form passed down through generations, Uru-making is an undocumented practice still . There are no build plans, sketches, drawings, or blueprints that the makers refer to.  From conception to completion, it is all in the mind of the master carpenter or maistry of a yard, who assigns work to his assistants on a daily basis, so as to keep the secrecy that shrouds the technology intact.

25: Calicut Kalai River

• Kalai 6 km away from Calicut city  river brings nostalgic not only to Calicut people but also to all Keralites. Kalai is famous for Timber business .And It is the Second largest timber trading centre in Asia.

26:Vasco De Gama Calicut Kappad Beach: 

• The fact that put Calicut as important land mark to the world map is ,Legendary traveller  Vasco De Gama set foot in  sandy beaches of Kozhikode. Calicut

27: Lokanarkavu Hindu Temple

• One of the most famous and historically important temple in Calicut with Durga devi as Deity. It is believed to built 1500 years before. Lokanarkavu Temple or Lokanarkavu Bhagavathi Temple is situated at Memunda, about 5 km from Vadakara (or Badagara) in Kozhikode district of Kerala.Historical character Thacholi Othenan was true follower of Loknarkavil Amma.

28 Anti Christ Church in Calicut:

Please read my special article about Anti Christ movement in Calicut.

•  READ about ANTI CHRIST MOVEMENT IN KERALA.

29: Wifi and Ladies only Bus Stop:

First Wifi Bus stops in keralas set up at Calicut.

• Wi-Fi bus shelter project of the Kozhikode Corporation at Mananchira inaugurated recently.
• The bus shelter will have facilities such as FM station, Wi-Fi technology, drinking water, police aid post and surveillance camera.

Ladies only Bus stop:

Location :Perumanna-Kozhikode city route.

Its need of the hour for Kerala ladies to get a exclusive resting room to stay away from anti-social animals . And in Perumanna with the help of public authorities set up a wonderful (Monthly 1500 rent) ladies bus stop.

30: Bangladesh Colony in Calicut:

• Its famous colony near Calicut beach ,this are  people migrated due to domestic violence in Bangladesh.

 31 Gujarathi  School and street in Calicut:

Gujarat School Calicut Location: Beach Rd, Mananchira, Kozhikode, Kerala 673032

• Gujarati community is composed of various social groups like Jains, Saurashtris and Kutchis in Calicut. They are basically business people doing all forms of wholesale and retail trade. There is a Gujarati Higher Secondary School near Calicut Beach.

32. Most Handsome and Vibrant Youth in Kerala:

• It was my friends from Tamil Nadu first mentioned about this after visiting Kerala. then even I started noticing and confirmed it with proud that in Kerala ,Calicut has the most vibrant and handsome men. Do you agree?

33.Palayam Market :

• Busiest market trading centre in the heart of Calicut.

34.Sm Street:

• S.M. Street ( Sweetmeat Street) is a famous street located in Calicut, Kerala, India. It got its name from  large number of sweetmeat and halvah stalls in there. It is reputedly the busiest street in Kozhikode. SM street Roofing project is under pipe line .

Please refer : Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award-winning book Oru Theruvinte Katha by S. K. Pottekkatt.

35. Shopping Malls in Calicut:

• Read about growing Shopping mall culture in Calicut.

 READ ABOUT 10 SHOPPING MALLS IN CALICUT

36: Kallumakkaya or Kaduka (Mussels):

A verity Fish caught from rocks is the  most famous food item in Calicut.

• Kallumakkaya bazar.

It is near Kadalundi. Mainly sell by street vendors. Please don’t forget to negotiate.

37. Our Mananchira Lake:

• Mananchira is a man-made freshwater lake situated in the centre of the city of Calicut.
• Mananchira was built as a bathing pool by the Zamorin Mana Vikrama.

38: Second Best city to Live in India:

• According to data compiled by economics research firm Indicus Analytics on residences, earnings and investments, Kozhikode ranked as the second best city in India to reside in.

Recent trend shows North Indians and south Kerala people floating to Calicut, to lead a retire life. You can see lot of migrants in Calicut Civil station area.I know many personally ,who wish to stay back in Calicut to settle down.Recently one of main Gujarathi-Jain orgin friend married a Calicuatain and settled in Calicut.

39. Tile factories in Feroke:

• It is assumed that Feorke-Cheruvannur is the second biggest industrial area of Kerala after Kalamassery Industrial area Cochin .

Feroke is the cradle of the tile industry in Kerala.. The rapid rivers from the Western Ghats after passing through forests carry the clay which is the raw-material for tiles, pottery and ceramic ware. I Born and brought seeing the vibrant tile culture of Feroke and later I  myself witnessed the collapsing of that industry as well.

40.Jew Street in Calicut

• There does indeed exist a small locality called Jootha Bazar in the heart of legendary Thekkepuram between Kuttichira and Idiyangara. We know that of all the communities which had once strong presence in Calicut, there is no evidence of only two – Chinese and Jews. Almost 200 years later, the Franciscan Friar, Odoric of Pordenone had visited Panthalayini and had this to say about the Jews there and their conflict with the Christians :In Flandrina both Iewes and Christians doe inhabite, between whom there is often contention and warre: howbeit the Christians ouercome the Iewes at all times.

As we walked down from the Miskal Mosque heading south, one road leads east and turns south again towards Idiyangara. There are a few shops on this street and this place is now called Jootha Bazar or Jews Street. Local people had different explanations for the origin of the name. An elderly person said that perhaps the origin could be traced to mothers calling their naughty offsprings children of Jews as a curse. But, why should the name called stick to a place, unless only children of that locality were mischievous. Another ingenious explanation given was that naughty young people of that locality would gather in the Jootha Bazar and gamble and, therefore, the name stuck.

Another person explained that it was just possible that the location of the present Jews Street was once a flourishing market run by the Jews, like the Silk Street, Gujarati Street etc.

It is most likely that the Jewish traders in Calicut belonged to the Black Jews (the original tribes who had been trading from the days of Solomon). The White Jews , descendants of Spanish, Portuguese and Iraqi arrived on the Malabar coast much later in the 16th Century.

41.Calicut Municipal Corporation Stadium:

One and only international stadium in Calicut. Renovation of the stadium is going on. Street vendors are active around the Stadium.

Location : Near New bus Stand Calicut.

• Stadium Actually Holds 53,000 people and was built way back in 1977.
• Stadium holds a unique record of the maximum turn up for a national football league.
• It also hosted the inaugural performance of world tour of A. R. Rahman, the Academy Award–winning musician.

42.Indias Biggest Mosque by KANTHAPURAM:

It is named as “Masjide Asaar”.

• It is a great news for every Calicutians  ,that‘Usthad Kanthapuram’  will set up Indias largest mosque in calicut soon. Surely that will help the people of Calicut where they have some difficulty now during juma prayer. This will also have an Islamic Museum to keep a strand of hair that has been alleged to be that of Muhammad and other holy remains.
• There was some controversy as the rival sunni faction in Kerala, challenged the authenticity of the relic said to be that of Prophet Mohammed.

43.  Vibrant Calicut Railway station with Escalator Facility:

Calicut railway passengers are blessed with a escalator . Cochin was the another railway station which is installed with escalator before.

44. Rivalry and Similarities between  Calicut and Cochin:

• The fact that put Calicut as important land mark to the world map is ,Legendary traveller  Vasco De Gama set foot in  sandy beaches of Kozhikode. Calicut

Cochin and Calicut are the most important and promising to cities in Kerala. If we divide Kerala into south and north Kerala , Cochin and Calicut are the headquarters respectively for them. Cochin as city grown multi-folded in recent years and Calicut is striving to catch up to it.historically Kozhikode has fought bitter wars with Cochin (with some interference by the great Vasco himself) and unfortunately ended up on the loosing side. Both Cochin and Calicut have lot of similarities

Similarities:

• Both have local and English name : Calicut -Kozhikode  –Cochin-Ernakulam
• Both are emerging tier 2 cities.
• Both have harbours.

45.Bike Stunters in Calicut:

• READ BIKE STUNT GROUPS IN KERALA.

46 Love for Music

• Calicut people are passionate about music ,even it is Carnatic, Hindustani classical, instrumental, Ghazals, Malayalam, Hindi, Tamil old film songs . And also It is the birth place M S.Baburaj. Yesudas once said  that nobody could set a Hindustani tune to Malayalam words and phrases like Music maestro Baburaj(Babu Eka). In memory of BabuRaj near Nadakkavu BABURAJ MEMORIAL MUSIC ACADEMY has been set up..

47. Birla Groups Controversial Gwalior Rayon’s.

• During  1963s the industrial house of Birla established a factory named ‘Gwalior Rayons’  (later renamed as Grasim Industries ) at Mavoor for producing pulp and fibre in 316 acre’s of land.An integrated township with schools, hospital, Police station also came up later. Due to environmental pollution issues company has be closed,closure of factory caused loss of employment around 3000 people.

Latest news

Birla Group also has plans to set up a IT Park,  Knowledge City on the Gwalior Rayon’ plot, which will include projects related to nano-technology and cutting-edge research and development and knowledge process management.

48. Management Schools in Calicut :

• READ ABOUT 7 FAMOUS MANAGEMENT SCHOOLS IN CALICUT.

49. Calicut’s Future. (Upcoming project in Calicut) :

• READ ULC CYBER PARK INAUGURATED IN CALICUT. 
• READ FIRST GOVERNMENT CYBER PARK INAUGURATED IN CALICUT.
• Zamorin Tower(His Highness Zamorin named ) along with a garden dedicated to the great Commander of Zamorin’s Navy , Kunjali Marikar. The proposal is to convert 2.5 acers of land owned by revenue department near Manachira.The height of the tower will be 62 m, with steps and lift to reach the view point. Cost of the project is only Rs 3.5 crore.LuLu Shopping Mall.
• HiLite City project.-Rs.900-crore City integrated township project at 16 acres of land at Thondayad bypass. Hi Lite City, consisting of residential and commercial space would require an investment of Rs 250 core. Hi Lite  Mall would be around Rs 350 crore- 1.4-million square feet (1,20000 sq.ft hypermarket, 50000sq.ft department store, 35000 sq.ft.)
• SM street Renovation -(Roofing )-The District Administration recently announced a revised cost estimate of Rs.4.5 crore for the renovation of the city’s iconic Sweet Meat (SM) Street.
• International convention Centre : A multi-crore joint venture between Infrastructure Kerala Limited (INKEL) and Kerala Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (KINFRA) to build an international convention centre lies buried in the heavy undergrowth of a four-acre plot.
• Palayam Market Renovation : To avoid the crowd of  Palayam Market  ,It WILL BE SHIFTED TO KALLUTHAN KADAVU WITH IN 3 to 4 YEARS. 60 CENTS OF LAND IS THERE available AT old theatre DAVISON COMPLEX.