Efforts needed to preserve the unique socio-cultural identity of Kuttichira

Kuttichira, a predominantly Muslim settlement in the coastal region of Kozhikode, holds testimony to the city’s trade relationship with the Arab world.

Built around centuries-old mosques, the region comprises hundreds of families who still keep its unique socio-cultural identity at different levels. The last vestiges of its physical expressions—the ancestral homes and a number of household articles—are vanishing and efforts to set up a cultural museum to preserve them failed to bear fruit.

After a few decades, no one would believe that more than 100 members of a family in a matrilineal descent system lived in a single tharavadu at a time, says Hassan Vadiyil, a veteran journalist and a member of a prominent family in Kuttichira.

Six kitchens for a single house may sound like a bit of an exaggeration. But that was what some of these colossal houses had at a time. “Some of them even had three domestic wells around them,” says Mr. Vadiyil, who had first hand experience of the entire socio-cultural practices and customs that were part of life in Kuttichira.

Ramsy Ismael, member of CIESCO, a socio-cultural organisation based at Kuttichira, had a good collection of a number of artefacts related to the cultural life of Kuttichira. They included a decorative cap used by the groom on the wedding day and even furniture used during special occasions like wedding. “But many of them have been lost,” says Mr. Ismael.

Most of the families at Kuttichira have now left their joint families migrated to the Middle East. “Members of the new generation have been completely disconnected from their glorious common past,” says Parappil Muhammed Koya, writer and historian, who has an entire title ‘ Kozhikkotte Muslimgalude Charithram,  written on the lives of people in Kuttichira. “Documenting and preserving at least the valuable remnants of this remarkable culture is a necessity,” he says.

At least one of the traditional homes in the area could be purchased or taken over on lease by the tourism department to be converted into a museum which can house whatever is available to tell the story of Kuttichira to the future generation, says Dr. Koya.

“That can also become one of the most valuable tourism attractions of the city if materialised,” he says.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Kozhikode / by Jabir Mushthari / Kozhikode – August 14th, 2015