Kerala - Kochi   

Chronicling Vyttila

Staff Reporter

KOCHI: From being the end of Kochi to becoming the centre of the city, Vyttila's transformation has been a fascinating one.

The Vyttila Dairy written by M.K. Saseendran, who has closely watched the growth and spread of Kochi, harks back to a time when times were idyllic.

However, that is not to say that the book that makes interesting reading about the history and names of the various localities around Vyttila, pines for what is not.

It is just a guide to what has happened over several decades to a place that was once at the periphery of the city.

Justice K. Sukumaran, in his foreword to the book, has praised the great care taken by Saseendran, now an advocate after his retirement from Government employment, in writing it.

The book deals in detail with the recent histories of institutions and places of worship in Vyttila and the surrounding areas like Palarivattam, Eroor and Ponnurunny.

The author calls his efforts an attempt to prepare a historical sketch of a village that has disappeared forever.

In its place has emerged a busy urban centre through which runs the city's arterial links.

Saseendran draws on nostalgia as he recounts the history of the pokkali paddy fields and the canals, myths and legends that sustained and held together a small community of rural folk.

The boundary of what he calls Vyttila has been set as Palarivattam on the north and Punithura on the south.

The Vyttila panchayat, he recalls, merged with the Corporation of Cochin when the latter was formed in 1967.

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