The Christmas Island Revolt - 1942

And V.E. Mathew of Ka-su-ma-su I am almost sure that many of you would not have heard this story, barring a few living in Britain and Australia, those who peruse newspapers and old WWII stories carefully. This happened at a remote locale in the Indian Ocean, some 250 miles south of Java, named...

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The Breast Tax and the Upper Cloth Movement

Nangeli’s story, is it true? A considerable furor seems to have been created by news reports detailing the legend of a lady named Nangeli who once lived at Chertala in Travancore. Some based their stories on the oral testimony of descendants of this hapless woman following which a few of my friends...

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The Anchal Service

The ancient postal services at Travancore, and Cochin As a child I loved the many trips to our local post office. At Pallavur, the old post office was situated next to the temple and I had first introduced it when I wrote the story of Ramnath and ‘a pack of cards’. Whenever I went to Pallavur for...

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