Choyi Butler of Cannanore, his hotel, and other stories…
Once upon a time, over a hundred years ago, there lived an
interesting man called Kottieth Choyi. Though many of his time remember the
colorful man who lorded a large family, Choyi Butler, as he was known, was more
connected to his hotel by the sea, in Cannanore. Today a pudding is attributed
to him, and only a few know that he is survived by a large family and that many
of his progeny were illustrious persons. We will meet some of them in this
article, and tread the path he did, for a little while, to understand the times
long gone, of a period when the Englishmen lorded the land and when caste ruled
Malabar. Indeed, Good Ole Choyi was a colorful man, that I can guarantee!
Choyi’s antecedents are not known, but his surname suggests
that they could have come (Choyi in colloquial Malayalam, at that time, meant
foreigner) from a foreign land. Choyi’s were somehow connected to Jogis,
mendicants, etc., so it is not quite clear what this sub caste under Thiyya,
actually did for a living, in the past. He is mentioned in history as the son
of Nadukudi Kaunan (Kannan?), which possibly points to Nadukudi - a place name
in Andhra or at Mannar in Sri Lanka.
In an 1886 court case, Kottieth Choyi filed an appeal contesting
an excessive claim of arrears/damages by the area collector. It appears that
Choyi obtained an Abkari license for Chirakkal and had instead of operating the
arrack/toddy shop under the license, opened more, and sublet them to others. I
will provide a quick brief only since it provides some background information
on Choyi and because the great William Logan was involved!
The license stated - W.
Logan, Esquire, Collector of the District of Malabar, being duly authorized by
the Board of Revenue, hereby license you, Kottieth Choyi, son of Nadukudi
Kaunan, residing at Cantonment, Cannanore, to manufacture and vend arrack and
toddy for the tract specified below in the Taluk of Cherakkel from the 1st day
May 1885 to the 31st day of March 1886, subject to the following conditions and
limitations to be observed by you, the said Kottieth Choyi. You shall sell
liquor under this license in one shop for arrack and toddy combined. Such shop
or shops shall be under your personal management. If you desire to open more
shops, or if the above shops are not under your personal management, you must
obtain a separate license for each such shop. The Collector may, whenever he
thinks fit, direct shops other than those managed by you to be closed, or
permit transfers of shops from one place to another, or direct new shops to be
opened and a sufficient supply of spirits to be maintained in all sanctioned
shops…
Justice Gopalan Nair who heard the original case decreed
that Choyi should pay arrears, and Choyi appealed to the higher court where Muthuswamy
Ayyar presided. The collector maintained that the original licensee was
responsible for running just one shop and had to obtain separate licenses for
any others (Choyi closed some of the shops). Choyi claimed that he could in
effect open more shops and sublet them, and that the many orders to that effect,
were arbitrary, that he suffered many a loss on that account, and could therefore
not pay the Rs 11,433/ levied. It is all complicated, so I won’t get to it, but
Choyi lost the appeal.
Cannanore in those days was quite different. As a German
visitor mentioned - Cannanore is nothing more than a large village of twelve
thousand inhabitants, who live in groups in small houses. Through wide
beautiful avenues with gigantic bread trees, from which long aerial roots hang
down, in an hour you arrive at the old barracks of the fort on a wide esplanade
near the beach, from where you can see the forts and a lighthouse with the
British flag. At the moment, I passed, some English soldiers, who were half-dressed
and stretched out on the ground, were engaged in casting the sun's rays into
the eyes of the passers-by with a mirror, a work which seemed to interest them
very much. The beach was a sandy plain, bordered by coconut trees and
fishermen's huts, where the fishing boats were currently resting.
When one leaves the bungalow to go to the fort, after
passing through some gardens and walking through beautiful avenues, one comes
to a lot of mud huts, where poverty abounds. Then one gets to see the long,
shady avenues, where occasionally in the background of English landscaped
gardens are the houses of the officers, with the names of the tenants and the
designation of their company on the pillars at the entrance. Flowers and
strange plants everywhere, baskets full of climbing plants and colorful hedges,
from which wonderful scents rise.
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We understand from an account provided by his grandson
(Hartland by Hari Baskaran) that the Cheruvari line offspring as well as the
Anglo-Indian mother were not initially allowed inside the ancestral Kottieth
house in Kannur, but after Choyi passed away, the ice was broken, and the two
sets of families came together. Choyi he says, owned all the land from
Payambalam beach to Kanathur Kavu and built houses for his children in large
holdings, where they stayed and reared their own families. He presided over his
large extended family like an ancient patriarch. Choyi’s English wife stayed in
an elegant and spacious house called ‘The Gardens’ situated on the road to
Payambalam beach. Choyi Butler had a very romantic image, or so we understand,
and he was a tall man and of military bearing. The “white” side of the family
flourished and did very well.
Choyi was considered akin to an uncrowned king of Cannanore,
a grand old man who ruled over his mammoth family. The main tharavad home, the
Kottieth House, was a large nalukettu building, situated in a heavily wooded
compound in the choicest location of Cannanore. The homestead was mostly constructed
with wood, except for the outer walls. There was a grand hall upstairs which
the Cannanore Free Masons used as their temple, till they moved to their
premises.
The Madras Railway Co in its 1902 guide states - There is
a very good Hotel in Cannanore called the “Esplanade Hotel” and kept by a
sharp, intelligent Tiyan by name “Choyi”—the traveller will find this little hotel
one of the most comfortable in India and also remarkably clean. Mr. Choyi, of
the Esplanade Hotel, Cannanore, can make arrangements for the jutkas to
Baliapatam and the boat onwards to Hosdrug. The Tahsildar at Kasaragod will
arrange for carts from Hosdrug to his own town, and onwards to Ullal on the
river Netravati, where a boat can be got without difficulty across the water,
where conveyances will be found to take the visitor into Mangalore.
Now we get to the delicious dessert named after Choyi,
otherwise called "Choyi's pudding”, made from ripe small bananas. In North
Malabar, this delicacy was usually served at the beginning of a meal and not at
the end. Bananas were kneaded, the soft pudding was shaped into a round patty, ghee
was smeared over it, sugar liberally sprinkled all over, and finally salty
crunchy crushed pappad was layered on top and the resulting dessert was served
as Choyi’s Malabar Pudding. It has been popular ever since.
Coming to the hotel - An 1889 article mentions that the
proprietor of Esplanade Hotel was K Choyi. The hotel was very popular and the
only well-appointed one of that period, frequented by well-heeled visitors,
especially Englishmen and other foreigners. The Choyi’s seaside Hotel as it was
also called, was built in one of the most idyllic sites in Cannanore, atop a
hill overlooking the Arabian Sea. Choyi did well, the hotel prospered, and he
was soon the owner of much land in the region. The wealthy Choyi sired some 20-odd
children through 4-5 wives of his (you can get a listing from the
Genie site).
The hotel was Choyi’s mainstay. From the 18th
century onwards, it boasted many prime amenities – a mile from the Railway
station, with lock-up garages; private Sea-bathing arrangements; an open garden;
a typewriter on request; babysitting; a small Library; a hairdresser; laundry
..and what not! There were 20-bath attached rooms with 32 beds in all, with hot
and cold running water, and serving European, Indian, and vegetarian cuisine.
Single rooms cost Rs 5/-, double Rs 7/ and meals were an extra Rs 6/-or 7/-.
The private beach was, of course, especially appealing to European visitors.
Among the many illustrious visitors to the hotel was the
famous poetess Laurence Hope - writing from Cannanore to her sister-in-law
Carrie, she mentions it as a cheap and nice hotel, with good food, and a kind
obliging manager. She wonders – How he makes it pay, I don’t know! Choyi
made special arrangements with boats and boatmen for estuary and sea fishing too,
if someone wanted that diversion! Another account mentions - Choyi's Hotel
has been a familiar name for many decades and Choyi himself well known to West
Coast visitors. His son now carries on…Eric Stracey (INA Cyril’s brother) of
the Madras Police relives his memories of happy camps in Cannanore and
family paddles on its lovely beach below Choyi’s hotel (who does not know Choyi’s
– he asks) where we sometimes stayed.
A Harper’s magazine article mentions - Perhaps the
greatest hotel bargain I found was in Cannanore on the Malabar Coast , where I
had my own cottage at the edge of a cliff overlooking the sea for $2.50 a day,
including very good meals. Another review stated – Bags of character in
this super clean old-fashioned complex of bungalow cottages set around a lawn.
The hotel was previously the exclusive British Cannanore club, according to
some old-timers. Upto 1921 it was a hotel frequented only by Europeans.
But things were starting to get a little rough -An article
from 1920 mentions - The situation of the hotel facing the beach was ideal,
but sanitation appeared the one word missing throughout the place. As we had
written to the management and had received their confirmatory reply, we had
expected to find everything spick and span, the moment we alighted. A
disagreeable surprise awaited us, for we were greeted at the entrance by a cow,
who roamed at large throughout the halls and verandah. She mowed as loudly as
she could, giving us a warm welcome in the absence of those concerned, and
inviting us to share with her the wonderfully clean surroundings for which
unwittingly she had been responsible. Whether this beast was considered sacred
or lucky we could not conjecture, but from the way she peacefully roamed about
the premises at her sweet will and fancy she certainly appeared to be the pet
mascot of the entire hotel staff, which by the way consisted of an old deaf
proprietor, an assistant to match, a limpy butler who had his own ideas about
his dignity and an invisible cook, who was an adept in the art of cooking all
varieties of inedible fishes. Though we had heard volumes about Cannanore being
a very healthy station and renowned for its sea-bathing, yet we were
considerably disappointed with the town, which affords no singular sight for
the tourist, except the old Portuguese Fort on the promontory facing the beach.
I was passing Cannanore, driving down after seeing the
Bekkal fort, and going about the St Angelo’s fort nearby. Unfortunately, the
Arakkal Palace was closed to the public, being a Monday, and try as I did, I
could not find the location of the Choyi Hotel at Payyambalam or its remnants.
Some opined it was the Choice homestay place, others said it became the Choice
hotel, and some sent me to the Savoy hotel, but I never found the old Choyi
hotel or its remains, though the Savoy seemed to fit my mental bill, in style.
Still, it was way off the beach and not it.
Choyi during his lifetime, was very active indeed, with many
social causes. He seems to have been the first to start a girls' school in the
area and granted space for it, as well as employing a Gurukkal (teacher) for
the 10 or so students who studied there. He was also involved in community
matters especially the Sree Narayana Guru visit –VK Kunhi Kannan decided to
bring Sree Narayana Guru to Cannanore and consecrate a temple there. The Guru
agreed to it and a committee comprising prominent Thiyya’s including Choyi
Butler, was formed then. Sree Narayana Guru thus visited Kannur in 1907 and
stayed at the home of Kottiyeth Choyi. The Sundareshwara temple construction started
in 1909 and it was inaugurated in 1916.
Now let’s look at a few of his offspring, especially some of
the luminaries. CK Bharatan looked after Choyi’s hotel, after the patriarchs’
death. Considering that it remained with the CK branch, it could be that
Kalyani Amma held the title of the hotel.
Beyond sports, he was a member of many professional organizations
and continued his medical education at St. Bartholomew's Medical College &
Hospital, London, taking his MRCS, DTM & H, and DPH in the U.K. Lakshmanan
was commissioned in the Indian Medical Service in 1925 and continued in
military service up to 1935. He held various responsible civil positions in the
Government of India. He was the Director of Public Health, in Bengal, and
Director and Professor of Public Health Administration at the All-India
Institute of Hygiene and Public Health, Calcutta. He was Director General of
Health Services, Government of India, for six years from 1952. He was the Honorary
Surgeon to the President of India from 1957-58. After retirement from Government,
he joined the Indian Red Cross Society as its Secretary-General in July 1958
and continued in that capacity until April 1969. He was made Honorary Major
General in June 1960 and was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 1967.
KC Kausalya was no less. Kausalya completed her BA in
1910 from the Madras Presidency College, perhaps the first Malayali science
graduate among women or at least the first to graduate in botany. Obtaining a
Licentiate in Teaching in 1913, she joined the Government Girls’ High School,
Cannanore as an Assistant. After her return from England in 1924, she was
appointed Professor of Natural Science at Queen Mary’s College (QMC). Quoting
Savithri Preetha Nair, she was the first Indian woman to visit the
institution as a volunteer worker, Kausalya was at this time pursuing a second
BSc degree at London’s Bedford College for Women (today’s Royal Holloway
College) as a government scholar. The petite Kausalya would spend a year in the
United States, but it does not appear this was in the capacity of a Barbour
Fellow. In June 1933, she would visit the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and
the purpose of her visit was rather than botanical, a direct influence of the
proceedings of the AIWC (1931). Kausalya wished to begin ‘home economics
extension work’ in India similar to that in America. She also visited Redlands
in California, where at a Forum Club meeting held at Beach City (Laguna Beach),
to which she had been invited as guest, she spoke about the customs of her
country. By May 1934, Kausalya along with her young niece, Miss Vimala
Karunakaran were homeward bound on the Hakozaki Maru, heading for Colombo, from
where they would travel by boat and then train to reach Madras.
C.K. Vijayaraghavan who was educated at Madras
Christian College and Law College; joined the ICS, and served in Madras as Asst.
Collector and magistrate, Collector of Tanjore, etc. and became the first
Indian IG of Police of the undivided Madras Presidency, in 1947. He was later
to become the Home Secretary in the Government of Madras. Interestingly the IG
post was first offered to Pulla Reddy who however declined stating that he did
not have the “necessary build” and so recommended the appointment of C.K. Vijayaraghavan,
ICS to the post. He died in 1950.
Many children on the Kottieth Adiyeri and the other branches
also rose to prominence, there are simply too many to recount. Some examples
are Kottieth Anandan, Sub judge Kunhikannan, Deputy Collector Mukundan, etc. So
many of the progeny also shone in the armed forces and in the administrative
services.
People may wonder why I write about such characters, well,
my friends, it is quite simple – they are the ones who rose from nothing to
something, and that is the most important thing in the journey of life, lessons
others can learn from. Choyi in those caste-ist periods in Kerala history, was
placed in the lower rungs of society, see how he and his family made a place
for themselves, in the annals of history!!
NB: The title for this article comes from the mouth of an 89-year-old
family member of the Adiyeri line with whom I had a very interesting
conversation. She told me about the vast family and narrated that in her
lifetime, and family discussions, she often heard of many a thing - starting
with – In the days and time of Choyi Butler.
I wish my friend Murkoth Premnath had been still alive, he
would have recalled and narrated a few more legends, which could easily fill a
few more pages…
References
Chromosome woman, nomad scientist E. K. Janaki Ammal, A Life
1897–1984 - Savithri Preetha Nair
Hartland – The spirit of a family – Hari Baskaran
Obituary Major General C.K. Lakshmanan – TB Association of
India
Family members and friends of the Choyi family may suggest corrections if any under comments and I will gladly oblige. Thanks to Nikhil, Akhil for their help and Tushara and her grandma for the nice conversation.
Photo from http://sreesundareswara.com/Administration.aspx
