EARLY KOLKALI SANGAM OF UDUMBUNTHALA
ഉടുമ്പന്തലയിലെ
ആദ്യകാലത്തെ കോല്ക്കളി സംഘം:
FEATURED HERE: ONE OF THE EARLIEST
BATON-DANCERS TEAM OF UDUMBANTHALA
These boys are capable of taking the audience
to the hypnotizing magic world of Mapplila songs.
Bahumaanaa...Ibraheem...Adhuhamu
Radhiyallah...
Pathinettu raajiyam bittitha...
Karimbadam puthachchidune...
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UDUMBANTHALA FOLKCHILDREN,
IN THOSE GOOD OLD DAYS,
USED TO REJOICE THEMSELVES
WITH A VARIETY OF ETHNIC TOYS:
PLAVILA KUMBIL / JACK FRUIT LEAF SPOON
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OLAKKANNADA / COCONUT LEAF GOGGLES
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OLA WATCH / LEAF WATCH
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OLA PAAMBU / LEAF SNAKE
* * *
OLA PEEPPI / LEAF WHISTILE
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OLATHIRIPPU / LEAF RATTLE
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* * *
THE SAGA OF
NATIONAL SPORTS CLUB
UDUMBANTHALA 1969
To ENLARGE, CLICK on the images.
NATIONAL SPORTS CLUB
UDUMBANTHALA 1969
Back row: P.Ramachandran, V.Bhaskaran, P.T.Sudhakaran, N.V.Govindan,
Ameer Ali, M. Muhammad Ali, P.V.Yaseen, M.K.Balachandran.
Middle row: Abdul Khader (Akkaar, Punathil), V.Narayanan, Kunhiraman,
P.Bhaskaran, K.Balakrishnan, K.N.Hameed.
Front row: Mallika, M.K.Bhanu, P.V.Nafeesath Misiriya, Pushpa,
M.K.Soumini, N.V.Thambai.
A SPORTS CLUB
THAT PROMOTED
SCIENCE EDUCATION
The National Sports Club took birth in Udumbanthala
way back in 1969.
The club mainly promoted sports like football and ball
badminton.
Besides, it promoted spreading of science education.
Perhaps it was first club in Kerala to promote science
education in rural areas.
Curiously, during a time when women's education was
still in the cradle stage, the National Sports Club,
Udumbanthala, encouraged girls in the village to
participate in the science education programmes
of the club.
Besides providing books and journals on science,
the club sponsored science exhibitions.
N.V. Govindan, Kuttichi,Udumbanthala was probably
the first schoolboy in Kerala to organize a science
exhibition for the rural folk.
The exhibition introduced and explained many scientific
phenomena through charts, models and experiments.
Most of the items featured were conceived
and designed by Govindan himself. Folk people thronged
in large numbers to view the display.
A school boy conducting such a science exhibition was
quite unheard of in those days.
N.V.GOVINDAN, Kuttichi, Udumbanthala
The boy who, single handedly, conducted a
Science Exhibition at Udumbanthala in 1969.
This boy soon started radiating the
light of literacy (Saaksharatha), teaching the
rural folk in Kuttichi to read and write--long
before the people of Kerala even started talking
about literacy programmes!
THE MINI SPORTS CLUB
UDUMBANTHALA, 1976
Back row:P.Ramachandrn,N.V.Govindan,BasheerAhamed,V.Manoharan,
Damodaran,P.Kunhikrishnan, M.K.Balachandran, P.V.Yaseen, Kunhiraman, Kannan.
Middle row: Raghavan, E.V.Kannan, P.T.Bhaskaran, K.Balakrishnan,P.Narayanan,
M.K.Abdullah,Rajan.
Front row: M.Pappan, T.V.Balakrishnan
The club promoted various folk plays like
Kory, Sodi, Kattiyum kolum and Daalum kolum.
But its primary concern was promotion of football.
It conducted "Sevens Football Tournament" on an
yearly basis. Football fans from the nearby villages
used to converge on Udumbanthala maidani to enjoy
the events.
M.K.ABDULLAH, CHERIYA KUTTICHI,
UDUMBANTHALA
A wonderful footballer of yesteryears.
As a left footer, having an incredible speed,
he was a nightmare to all goalkeepers!
ഉടുമ്പന്തലയിലെ
ആദ്യകാലത്തെ ചൂണ്ടയിടുന്ന
കുട്ടികളുടെ സംഘം
RIVERSIDE UDUMBANTHALA:
A TEAM OF
TROLLING BOYS 1969:
P.T. SUDHAKARAN N.V. GOVINDAN
P.V. YASEEN M.K. BALACHANDRAN
In the 1960s and the early 1970s, the four boys
frequented the banks of Kavvayi river angling fish
of all sorts "bringing home something for the curry."
The fish they used to catch included:
CHOOTTAH ചൂട്ട
KURUDAN കുരുടന്
KALLAN KEERAN കല്ലന് കീരന്
ETTAH ഏട്ട
PULLAN പുല്ലന്
IRIMEEN ഇരിമീന്
KACHCHAAYI കച്ചായി
KALLUMEEN കല്ലുമീന്
Besides, at times, other types fish having only
"fun value" get trapped:
KANNICHCHAAN കണ്നിച്ച്ചാന്
VATTITHTHUNTHA വട്ടിതുന്ത
MERINHAL മെരിഞ്ഞല്
Kannichchaan is also known as Maanathukanni,
for its brilliant diamond sparkling on its head.
It mostly swims on the surface of water, and
the fish was always a never-ending fascination
for boys and girls.
Vattiththuntha was another "fun fish" which,
usually gives great excitement for the boys.
The fish has sharp teeth as well as a beautiful
yellow patch on its belly.
വട്ടിത്തുന്ത Illustration: Yaseen P V
The fish can be blown into a balloon and once
caught, the boys usually will never let it go
without playing with the balloon for quite
a while.
Some boys, the really naughty ones,
will "burst the balloon up" by stepping on it--
the poor Vattiththuntha will go B-A-N -G-!
Merinhal was, in fact, a sort of eel and the
"the snake" often turns out to be a nightmare
for the angler boys. It is really hard to tame
the Merinhal and free it off the hook!
Once a Merihal is trapped, the boys used to
yell out aloud seeking help from the elders!
"Ente choondakku Merinhal Keninheee..."
(A Merinhal got trapped in my hoooook...!)
In the bygone years,1960s and 1970s, the Kavvayi
river had plenty of varieties of fish.
Presently, some of them have become extinct and
many became extremely rare to be found.
In the bygone years, the folk children had plenty of
leisure time (having no TV or computer at their homes)
and they found pleasure in roaming about the
riverside.
They playfully watched huge river crabs crawling in
and out of the gaping holes on the river bank.
Sometimes, they would also haul on to the sandy bank
gigantic jellly fish floating by.
The environmental changes and human greed had
grabbed a lot of exciting things away. Those wonderful
things, all those varieties nature offered are gone
beyond the reach of the present generation.
Udumbunthala too lost a lot of its biodiversity
mainly due to the reckless exploitation of nature
by the greedy hands of the so called civilization.
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