Ootil origin from Vaikom

 Our family are from Vaikom not Tirur said my nephew Ootil Manoj.

What !

Tell me

He recounted the migration 300 years back !

Vettathu king was king of a small principilate in Tanur Tirur area and was a vassal to great samorins of Kozhikode .

in the late 1400 to around 1730 

They brought Nair warriors to fight for them from central kerala in Vaikom and gave them land near Trikandiyur Mahadeva shetram 

Our Ancestors got land and house which was an Ootupura or dining hall for brahmins 

Hence thier house name was called  OOTIL House . 

Vetathu Raja blew heat and cold between Samorin and Portugese .

At one time he favoured one at other the second .

This was the norm of vassal states 

Loyalty wasnt a virtue and cohabiting with colonial powers were the routine.

Till time British took over Malabar and Tirur came under Madras Presidency 

Ootil house is thus my paternal ancestral house in Tirur 

 This story says we actually hail from Vaikom in Ktym dt .

The image by AI is by my prompting .

And the family pic shows my dad Mum  with his mother and brother .

And Trikandiyur Mahadeva shetram the gaurdian deity to family .

Today the Ootil house is still there modified into a modern one from its Terracota brown I remember in my child hood

In the land surrounding many lovely houses built by my cousins have sprung up and it can be rightly called Ootil Estates or Ootil Gardens or Ootil colony .

Goa fourth time

 

Goa 

Road to Karwar 

Sterlings 

Beaches,Bars , Bunks ,Buidings ,Bistros ,Basilicas 

in cabs a fleeting glimpse .

Goa needs time and a wheel to explore 

it has a lot to be seen 

Be it in  food drinks folklore people language customs or in the sun sand endless beaches 

Goa where drinks are cheap 

food tasty 

people friendly 

history hoary 

one should come in the monsoon with heavy rains but for beaches now is best 

lie on the sands with an ice cold beer bite into a pakora or a fried prawn 

tuck in a Goan fish curry and rice or pluck out a pomfret fry or a vinegar soaked chicken vindaloo .

Dance to the rhythm of Remo 

be come a Mario caricature

 cruise in its rivers 

watch its sunsets .

Goa is best thing the Portugese left us with ,other than my own Fort cochin

They left so much too in cooking

 the food the language 

the dress the songs the soul .

Goa needs to be enjoyed only with history ,

one has to go back to the 17th century on when Portugese came to India till they were kicked out in 1961 by our Army as they refused to let go .

thats ok 

its in past 

though we cant forget the cruelties they left us a lot 

They left us Goan Indians lovely easy going friendly people .

To me a Portugese afficando staying in Cochin which was once thier colony too having visited Malacca and Macau and finding the strains of thier oneness 

my bucket list is Lisbon itself 

I need to retrace back to from where Vasco da gama centuries back met my great great grandfather the samorin of Kozhikode .

 ( PC.Manavedan Raja of Maankaavu kovilakam was my grandfather )

Goa Sterling VARCA Beach

 

Reached Goa Sterling 

walked into Varca beach close by to chill with an ice cold Beer

Goan Dinner

 

An excellent Goan evening 

We were invited to visit a resort Karma and took some pics there later we went to a Goan reataurant close to Sterling run by a couple .

The food was delicious .

I started of with a Bacardi lime my favourite rum cocktail just one 

Premila had a clear chicken soup 

We had chicken xacuti as starter

Though we wanted Vindaloo we were advised tgat it will be a bit sweet for us instead as suggested we got yellow prawns curry and rice and small fried fish with rava on it crispy and wuth tiney bones 

The rice and prawns curry was yummy 

it was reasonably priced and had an old Goan feel .