Mahé is situated where the Mahé River joins the Arabian Sea. Though situated closer to Kannur town in the North and Kozhikode District in the South of Kerala, it is a Union territory, part of Puducherry. This place had some colonial fights in the 18th century between the British and the French and finally became a French territory in 1785. Even after India got independence from the British, Mahe remained a part of France until 1954. Some Keralites were fighting for the liberation of this small town from France after the independence of India. The present-day scenario is entirely different. It is still a union territory, under Pondicherry, in the heart of Kerala, filled with liquor shops. Fantastic developments. I made a trip on Christmas day 2023, just to see this Union territory, which belongs to Pondicherry, why it remains a union territory until today.
I have no political answers, or religious answers
or any historical answers. However, I would say, I did not see any French
citizens, did not see any uniqueness of French Colonial rule, did not see any
unique French architecture or, any religious affinity to Christianity. As per
the census of 2011, the total population is 41,816; Hindus 66.8%, Muslims 30.7%
and Christians 2.29%.
I took a train going to
Kannur from Thrissur at 645am. It was a passenger train a few years back, but
now labelled as Unreserved Express. The fare was reasonable now (must be dead cheap when it was a passenger), though it stopped
every 10 minutes in unknown stations. The train reaches Mahe at 10.55 am
(though 190km) running at a very low speed/h. There are faster trains
also. Not all trains stop at Mahe, one has to get down at Thalassery (which is 10
away from Mahe) and come back to Mahe. The Mahe Railway Station is outside Mahe Union Territory, in Kerala,
but walkable or, hire an available autorickshaws to reach the town.
The train journey was
an enjoyable one, for almost 4 hours. The train was less crowded from Thrissur
to Shoranur and from Kozhikode until the end (somewhat full between Shoranur to
Kozhikode). Travelling on the train, one can see many rivers of Kerala flowing to the Arabian Sea. At many places the rail route is near the riverbed or sea. First, the train crossed the Bharathappuzha
River just before Shoranur Junction. It was a beautiful sight, though there was
less water in the river. Bharathappuzha starts in Tamil Nadu, runs more than
200 km, and joins the Arabian Sea at Ponnani. The train runs on the banks of
Bharathappuzha from Shoranur to Kuttippuram and beyond (nearly 30 minutes).
Another major river the train crossed was the Kadalundi River (Kadalundipuzha) after Parappanangadi and Vallikunnu station. Parappanangadi is famous for the Royal Families that ruled Kerala. Now Parappanangadi remains a small village or town. There is a Kadalundi Bird Sanctuary (seasonal birds) and mangroves where the river flows into the Arabian Sea. It seems, from November to April many birds come to this sanctuary.
The train also crossed a river before Faroke
station and the Chaliyar River after Faroke station. Chaliyar River was used to ferry timber from Nilambur (near the Western Ghats) to Kozhikode until prohibitions
on tree felling were implemented. Korapuzha after Elattur Station was another
site where the road bridge can be seen very closer to the railway. Before reaching
Vadakara station, the train crossed the Kuttiyadi River and finally,
Mahe.
What I saw in Mahe was, it is filled with liquor shops. I heard from the people who were loitering near the liquor shops that there is less tax and liquor is cheaper compared to Kerala (since it is a Union Territory). But there is a cliché. One cannot buy liquor and bring it to Kerala (even for personal use); drink it and finish it in Mahe itself. This may be the reason, I saw some drunkards wandering everywhere, some were lying in the parks. Though there was no official check-post for goods smuggling from the Union territory, any police officer could catch you if you carried liquor bottles and, arrest you; generally, they do not do this but will take the liquor bottle and loot you. There are two kinds of liquor mafia. One who smuggles liquor and sells in Kerala for their living, out of poverty. But there is another mafia, rich goons who control the liquor world under the cover of political power and money power. I read in the newspaper reports some stories of this. However, I don’t understand the logic behind, why a person is not permitted to carry for non-commercial use?
The main road of Mahe (part of NH66) is congested and crowded with vehicles. The NHAI is preparing to make it a toll road soon. However, it might take 2, or 3 years. Therefore, people can travel now without paying toll tax to the Central Government; of course, on the crowded, broken, narrow roads. Better take the Indian Railway and save your time, energy, petrol and hard-earned money (if it is hard-earned?!!).
The Main attractions of Mahe are two things. One is, St. Teresa's Shrine, built in 1736 and another is Tagore
Park and the adjacent River Walk.
Regarding Theresa’s Shrine, it is situated on the side of the main road, very close to the Mahe City Junction. There are a lot of stories about the origin of the church at Mahe. It seems to me, that the ancient European sailors were pious humbugs and carried some statues believing that it would protect them on their voyage. Also, people are good at narrating stories about the origin of churches and pious places. I heard one story in Tamil Nadu by the European sailors about the construction of the Vailankanni church. The church is flourishing today as a big money-making centre. Similarly, Mahe church has some stories. Wikipedia narrates these stories: A ship that carried one Saint’s statue in the ship, stopped in the sea due to some engine failure. The crew believed that the Saint’s statue was destined for this place. The ship's engine failure was taken as an omen to start the place of worship. The sailors kept the statue in the present church at Mahe. There is another story that narrates that an angler caught the statue in a net in the nearby sea and thus the church originated. Today during the festival in October, people from Mangalore, Kerala and Tamil Nadu visit here in big numbers.
Whatever the story may
be, I spent some time at St. Teresa's Shrine and checked any remnants of the
past seen in the building. Nothing caught my eye except the thought of the
traffic jam the church might cause during festival days in October. We can fill
the coffer of Minister for Road Transport & Highways Nitin Gadkari and ask
him for a toll road soon (currently he is doing it all over India, even making
the state roads under his hood) to avoid the maddening crowd at Mahe.
Having these thoughts
in my mind, I walked to visit the second attraction in Mahe, the Tagore Park
and the adjacent River Walk. The sun was very hot, though it was December, I
was sweating and found it difficult to walk in the sun. However, I reached
Tagore Park and relaxed for some time. The River Walk would be an ideal
place in the evening to see the sunset. There is a small light house at the southern side. I sat for some time, relaxed fully and
came outside the park looking for lunch.
After lunch, I was not
able to stand outside because of the heat. So, I took a bus to Thalassery. I
reached Thalassery bus stand within 15 minutes and wanted to visit the
beach and fort there. Since it was hot, I just took a walk around the bus
station, saw one bell tower and settled there until the 430 pm.
I had a booking for a bus from
Thalassery to Thrissur, as there were no unreserved direct trains there, also,
no tickets were available for the reserved trains. Therefore, I booked a bus
that had 2 x 2 seats, instead of the traditional 2 x 3. I booked the bus just 2
days before my travel.
The bus reached Thalassery bus stand at 5pm (30 mts late),
and the seat was convenient. Even more, the co-passenger in the adjacent seat
was absent; I used both seats for myself until Kunnamkulam (25 km from
Thrissur). As per the timetable, the bus would reach Thrissur at 845 pm. The
other buses take more than 6.30 hours to reach Thrissur. The bus came from Kannur to Thalassery half an
hour late (around 5pm) and reached Thrissur at 1230 am, taking almost 8 hours.
However, the trip to
Thalassery and Mahe gave me many new insights.