Socio-cultural Processes and Livelihood Patterns at Tirurangadi - CDS

Feroke to Parakkadavu (along which the National Highway was constructed), Chettippadi
to Poorappuzha, and from Tanur to Chemmad. The introduction of the modern motor
traffic necessitated the construction of metal roads. We have already seen the first car
used by M.K.Haji in Tirurangadi. People remember the first bus introduced in the area, a
vehicle with a ‘nose’, driven by a coal engine, creating sufficient noise to bring potential
passengers from their houses. People also remember the first driver in the area, a man
named palla (‘pot-bellied’) alavi, who was known as an ‘expert driver’ able to take his
vehicle along non-metalled bumpy surfaces, which would be transformed into slushy
pools during rainy seasons. Palla alavi, as well as other early drivers were respectable
individuals, who had access to respectable homes in the area, as they were the first people
to use the bus. The drivers were also sources of information as they visited the nearby
town every day with a daily quota of respectable folk, and had the opportunity to gather
‘news’ from the town. Later, a regular bus service began to operate from
Calicut to parakkadavu. However, regular bus traffic began to develop only much later
that too only after the Panampuzha Bridge, and then Parakkadavu Bridge linking
Munniyur to Chemmad was constructed. People from Thenhippalam and Munniyur did
not go to Tirurangadi except on special occasions to settle Government matters, as the
katchery was located there, and this traffic substantially increased when bridges were
built across Kadalundi River.
Other changes
Other’ modern’ facilities did not appear on a wide scale in Tirurangadi in the immediate
post-rebellion period. There was a post office and a sub-registrar’s office at Tirurangadi,
a munsiff’s court at Parappanangadi. There is evidence for an attempt to create a
waterway (or a canal?) connecting Kadalundi and Ponnani Rivers, which was apparently,
completed around 1857, the part constructed remains to this day under the name