This is where the father of Malayalam literature (Thunchathu Ramanujan Ezhuthachan) taught and spent better half of his life. Here one can find the original stylus which Ezhuthachan wrote the Malayalam Ramayana, a Hindu epic. Legend says that the whole Ramayana in Malayalam was recited to the author by a parrot so that he could compose tirelessly without having to stop in between.

The literature park designed according to traditional Kerala architecture, has a beautiful bronze statue of the parrot and larger version of the Iron stylus and the palm leave in with which he wrote the epic. The Nox Vomica tree with bitter leaves here has lost their sour taste to sweet wisdom.

This park holds annual get together of writers from various languages on the day of ‘Vijayadasami’ a day auspicious for ‘letters’. The park also has a traditional open air theatre, and a well equipped language library. For those looking for inspirations to write in a calm and serene location, the park has small and simple cottages to stay.

Tirur puzha:

Half a kilometre away from the Thunjan Parambu is where we embark on to the country boat in Tirur Puzha (Tirur River). Formed by tides from Arabian Sea, this river with dotting islands flows along the ‘Vettathu nadu’ (Kingdom of Vettam) known for its stories and legends.

This river flows through the banks of Thunjan Parambu, Vettam, Thalakkadu, (the land of skulls) Thalekkara and Poocha chira padam (the field that King of Vettom donated to a family that fed thousands of cats for many generations) before joining the estuary in historic Ponnani. Like many other rivers in Kerala, this river is also under threat due human greed. A make-shift regulator-bridge, that was initially planned in early 70s, has now been given the green signal by the government without any thought. The bridge will stop the flow of water and convert this beautiful river into another waste dump. We hope that increased flow of visitors to the river would give second thoughts to the Government action.

Country Boats:

These boats were previously used traditionally for transporting fine sand and coconut husks to different locations. (In River Nila, most of the boats are used for illegal sand mining). A slump in the local economy and falling market prices along with the ban in sand mining has hit the boat owners and workers. We believe that by hiring these boats from them instead of owning our own boats, for ferrying tourists, we could give them an alternative souce of income. In places where there are illegal sandmining, we use those boats to ferry our guests which in turn gives them a dignified job and decent income to live with.

The Cruise:

The cruise starts from Ettrikadavu, near Thunjan Parambu and ends in historic Ponnani where the Tirur river joins the River Nila before emptying into the Arabian Sea. The simple and rustic country boats move from island to island, giving glimpses of local life, rare mangroves and birds. Our guests are served welcome drinks made out of herbs ( Nannari) and tender coconuts. Here you see how the local people climb on the coconut trees, how they choose the ‘right’ coconut, how they pluck and cut it.

After a short ride through narrow river, the cruise moves towards places that are full of legends and folklore. Our storytellers will tell you about places, how each places got their names in local languages and how different characters in these legends still haunt our memories.

Coconut processing Centre:

One of the most popular island amongst our guests is the coconut processing centre. Here one see the whole process where the coconuts are used for multi-purposes after dehusking. Its here that you can see how a worker manages to peel upto 2,500 coconuts in a single day of work using his hand! This coconut is then broken to take the sweet coconut water. The coconut flesh is then dried to make ‘Copra’, which is later used to make coconut oil. After peeling the coconut of its skin, these husks are processed there itself to fibre. These are used further to make cushions, mattress, carpets, ropes etc. The coconut shell is later send to different locations to be converted into handicrafts, and even end up as fancy ‘buttons’ on shirts!

The lunch:

After the visit to coconut processing plant, we continue the cruise till the island where we stop for lunch. Before the lunch you can learn a bit about the traditional fishing techniques. Our fishermen will help you throw the net for a catch. The only family that stay in this island will also cook the same fish that you catch. (No worries even if you dont manage to catch much as we will have our stock from the morning catch!) Traditional vegetarian and non-vegetarian Malabar food will be served in plantation leaf and eco-plates made out of Arecanut palms. We make sure that vegetables, fruits and roots we use for cooking are from organic farms from the nearby villages.

After lunch, move around the island, find out from our team about the local struggle to conserve the river. Get into an animated discussion on the pros and cons of the building the regulator-bridge across the river. Find out about the rare birds that we have spotted during migratory season. Browse through the photographs we have taken during the last several years. Meet our photographers and artists.

Ponnani:

The cruise ends in the estuary of historic Ponnani. The name Ponnani derived out of a legend where a golden elephant was made to walk by an upper caste Brahmin. It also means the river that carries gold (Pon = Gold, Vahini = one that carries, Pon+vahini=Ponnani). Listen to these stories from our team. A vehicle will take you for a short drive to the beach where you can enjoy the sunset and swimming. People around are warm and curious. The looks you get as a stranger is normal. Do not get pertrubed. They are not used to seeing tourists so far in this area.