KOZHIKODE: ‘Neelagiri Lodge,’ the lone ‘temple-attached lodge’ of Ramadas Vaidyar, a cultural hub of an era that contributed to filmdom, literature and music, will be a memory soon. There was a time when a stay at the lodge and a ‘sitting’ with its legendary proprietor known for his wits were considered essential for being counted in the intellectual circuit of Malabar. The family has now decided to demolish the building to construct a new one. In its golden days, the ‘who is who’ of the cultural spectrum of Malayalam had made a beeline to this simple lodge and cherished the company of the late Ramadas Vaidyar, known as the emperor of sarcasm.
Those who frequented the lodge included Ramu Kariat, Prem Nazir, Adoor Bhasi, Thikkurissi Sukumaran Nair and Vayalar Ramavarma. The poet penned many of his favourite songs, including ‘Neelagiriyude Sakhikale’ (Pani Theeratha Veedu), while staying there. According to Manoj Kaloor, son of Ramadas Vaidyar, among the literary figures, Kakkanadan, O.V. Vijayan, Thakazhy Sivasankara Pillai and Perumbadavam Sreedharan were the favourites of Vaidyar.
Former district collector U.K.S. Chouhan climbs a coconut tree.
“The building was there since the time of my great grandfather Neelakantan Vaidyar who died 50 years ago. We are not sure of the exact year in which it was built,” he said. “Now many portions of the building are irreparably damaged. There is ‘no go’ but to demolish it for which procedures are at its final phase,” he added. Throughout his life, the wit and wisdom of Vaidyar had enriched the cultural arena of the region.
A rebel who laughed at the existing customs and traditions, Vaidyar had instituted the ‘Miss Ugly Contest’ as a parody to the ‘Miss World Contest’ and launched a coconut climbing academy as a solution to the acute shortage of coconut climbers. The locals still remember a humorous incident in the 1980s when the then district collector U.K. S. Chouhan in his shorts struggled to climb the coconut tree as Vaidyar insisted that the collector should inaugurate his academy by climbing a tree himself.
