Musings of a Kannur Karan

After two political murders at Kannur last week , some trollers, print ,visual and social media activists are busy making fun of Kannur and Kannur-kars .Some have gone to the extend of saying "Take Kannur and give back Pok " .We Kannur-kars has taken it only as joke from a ‘ bunch of Jokers’.
We Kannur-kars are proud of our rich heritage, tradition , history and political past which is unparalleled by any other district in Kerala . This northern district has contributed immensely to the nation building . The first great resistance against British invasion came from the hills of Kannur district under the leadership of Pazhassi Raja who fought tooth and nail , when other princely states in Travancore- Kochi were busy signing pacts with the invaders for making their chairs and beds safe .. Tipus malabar conquest was resisted by our people and was not able to make any inroads here.
Kannur or cannanore had a rich and diversive history. When the foriegn travelers who came here for business wanted to settle here, our forefathers were magnanimous in giving not only the land to stay but also lands for erecting their places of worship . Later they gave their sons and daughters to them in marriage.. History says there were about 3000 foreigners families settled here in early 7th century AD. Kerala’s only muslim royal family " the Arakkals" had their head quarters at Kannur City. It is said that the Hindu Kolathiri princess was saved from drowning by a Muslim youth . , Kolathiri King gave his daughter to him in marriage,also large areas of land in Kannur, Lakshadeep and Male was given to his daughter . Thus Arakkal dynasty came into existence. Our forefathers may not have asked the religion of strangers , today we also don’t ask any stranger about their religion, caste and subcaste unlike malayalees in some places in Kerala .
Thalassery in Kannur district is the land of 4 C’s : Circus, Cake & Cricket and Communists . Thalassery is cradle of Indian circus. It was here where the first circus school was started by Keeleri Kunjikannan . Cricket has it orgins in the grounds of tellicherry. It was Lord Arthur Wellesly who introduced cricket in this part of country in 1850. English cricketer Colin Cowdrey's father was a tea planter in Thalassery, where he used to play cricket in the 1890s. Wikipedia says Cowdrey played in Thalassery during the British regime. The birth place of Communists party of India is at Parapuram in Telichhery Kannur where they had their first national meeting.

 Kannur is the birth place of two of the most powerful chief ministers of Kerala. Sri K Karunakaran and Sri E K Nayanar were the most post popular Chief ministers in the last 60 years of Kerala. Kannur-kars has contributed highly to the field of education and science. This land has given birth to the renouned botanist of India E.V Janaki Ammal whose contribution to the scientific world has opened a new branch of science called Cytogenetics . She was the first Indian women to get PHD. It is said that Janaki Ammal on invitation of Jawaharlal Nehru returned to India in 1951 after resigning her job in University of Michigan , to reorganise the Botanical Survey of India (BSI) and retired as Director-General of the BSI.
Kannur-kars has left their mark in all the fields . One cannot forget the contributions of umpteen no of kannur-kars who have adorned the Indian Jerseys in football ,hockey and athletics. Remebering the late former Indian captian VP Satyan from Chokli who led India India to a Gold medal in 1995 , in an era when cricket was given maximum importance in India . The contribution of Kannur Sports schools in making PT Usha as the "queen of Indian track and field’ will not be mentioned by our media . But we Kannur-kars are proud of her as she is India's 50 Most Illustrious Women in the history of India. Legal luminaries  known for their humane verdicts and stood for the poor and the downtrodden like Justice V K Krishna Iyer , Justice V Khalid, started their practice in courts of Kannur. Kannur contributions to arts literature are immense , and this list will not end if I start mentioning all.

Calling Kannur as a ‘unsafe place’ seems to from the dreams and fancies of the people who has not come to Kannur or who doesn’t know anything about Kannur or the people with some agenda .. Im yet to meet a person who had come to Kannur and called it a "unsafe place". If you are talking about the political murders. Yes it has happened in certain places in Kannur.. Those getting killed are only those are involved in previous crimes. No common man is affected till date . They are foolish enough to die and kill for their ideologies and no common Kannur - kars will support it. Its not Kannurs problem . More political mururders has happened in other parts of Kerala than in Kannur in the last 2 years. If the politicians can control their ‘warriors’ this problem can be solved easily. Those who are not convinced that Kannur is a safe place , please do a google search and research about Keralas crime records and see which place in Kerala is 'Unsafe' and also check where your place/district stands in murder, rape, kidnapping, dacioty, robbery, theft, burglary ,arson , dowry death, sexual harresment etc

Kannur is going for a big change. The face of Kannur will change with the opening of Kannur International airport in 2017. For those who are not aware of the past aviation history of India , The first aircraft The DH83 Fox of Tata Airlines landed here in 1935, October 29th in Kannur cantonment grounds before any aircraft had touched any other land in Kerala.

We Kannur -kars are passionate about what we have, and are our proud of our legacy. Our dreams have no boundaries as we march forward without fear and the head held high .

Dr Faizal CP