Anjarakandy, Land of Weaved History
Anjarakandy, when I think about this place the aroma of Asia’s biggest Cinnamon plantation steals my memory. My hometown, Anjarakandy, blended with history, this perspective is somewhat new to me, beyond the serenity of my ancestral home and myth, history beckons my ear to carry the lost nostalgic aroma, which is blended with an eventful history.
Once, the freshening aroma from cinnamon plantation glided through every window of Anjarakndy, and long ago my grandma told me, it’s the smell of ‘Karuppa’. Those are the bygone days, slowly that aroma faded somewhere in the secrecy of night, and the new dawn gifted medical college, engineering college, Dosa centre, Bank, ATM and everything, but the loss is still not measurable. Today people have started to blend with the new trend.
The name ‘Karuppa Thottam’ lingered around me. People were mentioning about Asia’s biggest Cinnamon plantation. I was unaware of the historical blend, every breath of my childhood was flavoured by it, but very lately I was informed that the word ‘Karuppa’ meant Cinnamon. Our senses are really unpredictable, look at me, the aroma of the cinnamon flavoured nights are calling me back to spread them all around. This is not just the story of Asia’s biggest Cinnamon plantation, but the history is diverse. My journey took me through many events and memories, names like Brown Saayip (Murdoch Brown), Anjarakandy sub-Registrar Office, came all along my way.
Long ago when I was taking a walk through the forgotten lanes of Cinnamon garden, where now Anjarakandy Medical College and Engineering College have raised their heads, I remember seeing the ruined bungalow of Brown Saayip, when I showed an interest in knowing these wrapped historical events people uttered his name with an unfettered familiarity that made me even more curious. The only way to know more about him was to see my mentor and uncle Venugopalan Nambiar, he shared with me a personal anecdote, Brown Saayip was a celebrity among the people of Anjarakandy. My uncle still remembers Murdoch Brown’s Tortoise-like car, his Hounds like Dog in the back seat, his Victorian Hat, and cigars between his lips, whenever Brown Saayip passed in his car people saluted him, and he saluted back.
Brown family came to the coast of Malabar Sometime in the 1800s. They settled at Anjarakandy, a small village in Kannur district, Kerala, bought about 250 acres of land here, and started a cinnamon plantation. Till that time the art of registration was an alien thing to the people of Kerala. Though documentation was a practice in royal houses, registration was not a part of people’s life. The thought of registration came to Brown when he was confused over settling down the discrepancies regarding his land, which was bought from various sources. So inside his bungalow, he started a separate room for registration process where he kept the copy of documented lands and resources. And thus he pioneered the system of registration in Kerala. On 5th December 1864 government legally sanctioned the functioning of Registrar Office, and on 1st February 1865, the Anjarakandy Register Office started its functioning. Murdoch Brown served as the first Deputy Registrar. The building of the register office was built on the plot granted by Brown himself on 11th March 1877. The first registration was that of the Randattara Estate, which was bought by Kunnumburath Moose on 21st February 1865. The official stamp papers were stamped by Brown himself till 1877.
Now Anjarakandy Registrar Office is moving through its 150th year. For the past twenty-three years, I have been passing through this mighty threshold without knowing the bountiful history that has been treasured here.
Aiswarya Madhu
