THE small jetty looks like a downgraded bus stop. People sit on stone benches, lean against the wall and some simply stand as they wait. Their eyes do not restlessly gaze at the other bank of the river nor do they seem to eagerly anticipate the arrival of the boat. There is no sense of hurry or impatience. When you scan around, you see mundu, bedi umbrella, boats, verdant green and the red flags. This dot of a space seems like a fractal version of the larger State, Kerala. The wide Bharathapuzha, which meets the sea a few hundred metres away, fixes the place geographically. The history that has accrued gives it specificity. The name of the town is Ponnani and the place is Palli Kadavu. Palli refers to the mosque and kadavu is the jetty.
Palli Kadavu is the beginning (or end?) of a fairly long street. The mosque that gives the name to the place is something special and could be the reason, apart from the river, to bring you here. This mosque is known as Thottungal Palli and considered the oldest in Ponnani. At first glance, the mosque appears like a large house and a less-informed traveller could even mistake it to be a temple. The pitched roof, clay tiles, the decorative mogapu or front and the finials on the ridge are very regional in their character. There are no minarets and no domes. The call for prayers can be heard from the loudspeakers that are loosely tied to the mogapu.
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