About the Village

Kummanam is a village in Kottayam district of Kerala. This landscape is on the way to Kumarakom, one of the famous locations for backwater tourism in India, located about five Kilo meters from Kottayam downtown. The Meenachil River and its branches divide the village from its neighboring places. Thazhathangady Boat Race has been conducted here in this river for more than a century. When travel from Kottayam towards Kumarakom the river can be seen after three Kilo meters of distance. The other side of the river is Thazhathangady, which is close to Kummanam. This village can be reached by crossing the Thazhathangady Bridge here. Thazhathangady was the administrative head quarters of the Thekkumkoor and Vadakkumkoor Kings

Kummanam comes under the jurisdiction of Thiruvarpu panchayat, which has eleven wards, and belongs to Chengalam village. There are lots of paddy fields and coconut plantations in the village.Some time back, agriculture farms was the livelihood of the majority in the village, which was a major factor influencing the economy of the people. Food crops as well as cash crops are cultivated here. The most important crop at the low land area is paddy and usually hybrid seeds are cultivated. But due to the climate change, unhealthy use of land, drainage problems etc the people are not able to cultivate paddy effectively. Therefore the new generation is more into works in the city business area. Coconut is the second important crop being cultivated in this village. The area under coconut had been recording a steady decline over the last one decade.

The village comprises people from all religions viz, Hindu, Muslim and Christian and there are temples, mosques and churches. Chengalathu Kavu Devi Temple (Chengalath Kavu) is one of the most famous and major Hindu worship places in the village. Meena Bharani is the mostly celebrated festival in the temple and people across all the quarters of society makes a part of it irrespective of the religion boundary. The 10 day celebration of festivals ends with kumbodam on last day on the Bharani day of Meenam month (according to Malayalam calendar). Though situated in Aymanam panchayat, the famous Hindu Temple - 'Elamkavu Devi Temple' is also considered as a worship place of Kummanam. St. George Orthodox Syrian Church is a major worship centre for christians. Feast of St. George is the most famous celebration, which is held in month of May every year. There mosques in Kummanam, the Thazhathangady mosque (Juma-Masjid) is one of the oldest mosque in kerala and is also famous for its architectural design.

Rice is the staple food of the people over here. Most of the people here are non-vegetarians. There is no great difference in the dietary habits of the people belongs to different religion or cast despite some may prefer vegetarian dishes. The routine dietary in a family consists of breakfast, lunch, tiffin and supper. Rice gruel, called as Kanji, with some vegetable curry and pickles formed the main breakfast until very recently in almost all families. Now this has been changed and replaced by tea, coffee or other beverages taken along with dishes like Dosai, Iddali, puttu, Chappathi and Uppuma. The lunch and dinner mainly consist of rice and fish and lunch is always substantial. The lunch mainly consists of cooked rice of Choru, special curries like sambar, aviyal, thoran, pulisheri, butter milk etc. Parboiled rice is used by most of the people than raw rice and for culinary preparations coconut oil is freely used instead of gingli or mustard oil used in other parts of the nation. Tiffin in the afternoon consists of a cup of tea or coffee and some sweet or delicacy. The supper which is taken after sunset consists either of Kanji or similar items as for lunch. Fish is easily available in the village and makes a common curry for lunch. Being close to Kumarakom, 'Karimeen' is available and availability of spotted fish is a special gift of the backwaters. There are some toddy shops in the village. Toddy is tapped from coconut trees and makes favorite drink of men. Some people prefer other hot drinks as well.

There are anganvadis for kids run by the government in the village. There are no schools or collages in the village but students have access to all levels of educational institutions in the township of Kottayam which hadly 5 Kilo Meter away. There are lots of buses available to Kottayam, and Cochin from here. The Kottayam-Cochin bus route meets the village at some places like Arupara, Illickal etc.

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The content provided in this article is not warranted or guaranteed by me and the words above are from my personal knowledge. I am not liable for any negative consequences that may result from using any information covered here.

For Your Information:
You may visit the following links to find shop for repairing and servicing of your camera or mobile phones.

For Repairing/Servicing Mobile Phones at Kottayam/Kummanam

For Repairing/Servicing Cameras at Kottayam/Kummanam

You can view more snaps of my village at http://arupara.blogspot.com/

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