Calicut Halwa

I was born in Kerala but I was brought up in Maharashtra. So I never had an extended stay in my ancestral land Kerala. Only opportunity we had was some visits to Kerala during summer vacation. My parents came from Central Kerala so my experience in Kerala was limited to Central Kerala.I like spending time in nature and wanted to visit Silent Valley Wildlife Scantuary which is in Northern part of Kerala. It is called Silent Valley because one can experience pin drop silence in the forest due to absence of crickets(insect). I made a plan to visit Kozhikode with my cousin who was staying at NIT Calicut.I have fond memories of Kozhikode due two experiences I had over there.

I took a bus from Bangalore to Kozhikode.Around 1 am I was dropped by the bus 3 km away from NIT Calicut. This was my first visit to Kozhikode.There was no one on the streets. I was waiting for an auto to go to the college. After sometime an auto came and we went to the college.After reaching the college the auto driver didn't go back but kept on waiting there. I asked the auto driver why he was waiting outside. He told me that he would wait till someone came from inside the college to pick me up. This was a wonderful gesture on his part. The auto driver knew very well it was not safe at night and if someone didn't come to pick me up I would be left stranded there. After some time my cousin came to the gate to receive me and then the auto driver left.

Kozhikode is famous for its many varieties of Halwa. So while coming back I thought of purchasing small quantity of each variety of Halwa. I visited most famous Halwa shop in Kozhikode. At the shop I was shown and provided sample of all the varieties of Halwa available at the shop.I asked the shop owner to pack some Halwa for me. But the shop owner refused to sell one particular variety of Halwa to me.When I asked for the reason he told me that particular Halwa was old and he didn't want to cheat me. I was amazed at the honesty and lack of greed shown by the shop owner. So just like the Kozhikode Halwa my experience with people in Kozhikode was also a sweet one too.Finally I will end the blog with a quote, "Two things never go out of fashion good manners and honesty".