Heritage history: the Nalukettu houses of Kerala

a nalukettu veedu

Tradition is making a comeback amongst millennials today. Fueled by the need to belong and to be part of a heritage there is a widespread revival of age-old customs across India. Coloured by sepia-toned memories and a strong sense of nostalgia, getting ‘back to our roots’ is in vogue, especially among NRIs seeking to buy properties in India.

This heightened longing for the good old days has been instrumental in bringing back many classical architectural styles, and one of them is the nalukettu veedu in Kerala.

Design of Nalukettu

Nalukettu means four blocks and a typical house built in this fashion would be divided into a north, south, east, and west block.

The naalukettu was a typical feature of the Kerala tharavadu tradition, where joint families lived together for generations with a patriarch and matriarch overseeing all their affairs. At the centre of the house is a nadumuttam, which is an open courtyard that served as the focal point of interactions between the family as well as various household activities and festivities. The larger and wealthier families had ettukettu or, the rarer, pathinaarukettu houses featured eight and 16 blocks with two and four courtyards respectively. All of these houses were built following the principles of ancient thachu shastra or the science of carpentry and developed during the 18th and 19th centuries, a time when the Nairs and Namboodiris dominated the society with their power and wealth.

These aristocratic families who prided on their lineage and the name of their tharavadu would build extensive naalukettu homes that would feature a grove with a snake mound to facilitate the popular worship of snakes, a basil leaves plant installation made of stone or brick, and even a pond for the exclusive use of the family. Naalukettus can be sprawling, entirely built on the ground floor or can go up to three storeys high.

- contents shared from internet source.

நையாண்டிப் பாடல்

ஒரு நபரையோ நிகழ்வையோ கேலி செய்யும் நோக்குடன்நகைச்சுவை 

தொனிக்கப் பாடப்பட்ட நாட்டார் பாடல்கள் நையாண்டிப் பாடல்கள் அல்லது கேலிப்பாடல்கள் எனப்படும்.

நையாண்டிப் பாடல்கள் பொதுவாக சமூக சீரமைப்பு நோக்கிலும் வளர்ச்சி நோக்கிலும், அவை மீறப்படும் போது எழும் சீற்றம் காரணமாகப் பாடப்பட்டவைகளாகக் கருதப்படுகின்றன. ஆயினும் இதற்குப் புறம்பான காழ்ப்புணர்ச்சியும் பல பாடல்களை ஆழ்ந்து நோக்கும் போது தொனிக்கிறது.

எ.கா:

1. பொருத்தமில்லாத திருமண சம்பந்தம் ஒன்று பேசப்படும் போது

காக்கொத்தரிசாம்கண்ணுழுத்த செத்த மீனாம்போக்கற்ற மீரானுக்குப்பொண்ணுமாகா வேணுமாம்.கச்சான் அடிச்ச பின்புகாட்டில் மரம் நின்றது போல்உச்சியில நால மயிர்ஓரமெல்லாம் தான் வழுக்கை.

2. அந்நியர் ஆட்சியின் போது அதற்கெதிராக

என்ன பிடிக்கிறாய் அந்தோனிஎலி பிடிக்கிறேன் சிஞ்ஞோரேபொத்திப் பொத்திப் புடி அந்தோனிபூறிக் கொண்டோடிற்று சிஞ்ஞோரேகோண ஆகாண மலையேறிகோப்பிப் பழம் பறிக்கையிலேஒரு பழம் குறைஞ்சதெண்டுஓலம் வைச்சான்வெள்ளைத் துரை

- Text content taken from wikipedia.

Frank Lloyd Wright - American architect of the 20th century.

Frank Lloyd Wright - American architect of the 20th century.

Frank Lloyd Wright was the most influential American architect of the 20th century. He designed private homes, office buildings, hotels, churches, museums, and more. As a pioneer of the “organic” architecture movement, Wright designed buildings that integrated into the natural environments that surrounded them. Perhaps the most famous example of Wright’s daring design was Fallingwater, which Wright designed to literally hover over a waterfall.

Design by Lloyd Wright

Fallingwater by Frank Lloyd Wright. Photography of the exterior.

His work, eventful life and outsized personality have inspired architectural acolytes, documentaries, films, novels and everything from furniture to finger puppets.

Born in 1867 in Wisconsin, his career spanned seven decades, during which he produced 1,114 architectural designs, 532 of which were built. Seven Wright-designed houses remain in Indiana.

As America came out of the Great Depression in the 1930s, Wright saw the urgent need for affordable, well-designed houses for middle-class families. He created designs he labeled Usonian – a play on United States of North America – that he touted as the realization of a democratic, organic, uniquely American brand of architecture. Rooted in his Prairie design principles, Usonian houses possess a similar horizontality, with flatter rooflines, built-in furniture, less expensive windows (no art glass, for example) and carports instead of garages.

- Taken from article written by PAIGE WASSEL Contributing Writer.

This week in history

25 March, 1986

25 March 1986: Princess Diana arrives to the launch of 'Help The Aged' charity's Silver Jubilee Appeal, at Mayfair Hotel in London. The princess has also launched a double-decker bus with information on the charity and a lifeline unit.

25 مارس 1986: اﻷميرة ديانا تصل الى فندق مايفير بالعاصمة البريطانية لندن لحضور حفل اليوبيل الفضي للمؤسسة الخيرية التي تتولى رئاستها، تحت شعار "ساعدوا المسنين". كما أطلقت الأميرة أيضا خلال الحفل حافلة بطابقين توفر معلومات عن المؤسسة الخيرية، وتشمل على وحدة طبية مصغرة لمساعدة المسنين ■

Gold spills on Russian runway

$400m Worth of Gold Bullion falls out of plane's cargo.

Russian news reports say the hatch of a cargo plane carrying precious metals accidentally flew open upon takeoff — scattering at least 3 tons of gold on the runway.

An investigation is underway after the incident Thursday at the airport in the far east city of Yakutsk, according to the Tass news agency.

An An-12 plane operated by the airline Nimbus took off for Krasnoyarsk carrying 9.3 tons of gold and other precious metals, according to a statement from the state Investigative Committee quoted by Tass. Damage to a door handle caused it to fly open and spill some of the metal.

Authorities recovered 172 gold bars weighing 3.4 tons, Tass quoted Interior Ministry officials as saying.

No one was hurt in the incident. Images circulating on social media showed gold bars scattered across a runway.

Florida International University Bridge Collapse.

A newly installed bridge touted as a feat of engineering collapsed on Florida International University's campus Thursday, killing at least four people.


The collapse occurred at about 1:30 p.m., Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Division Chief Paul Estopinan said in a press conference Thursday afternoon.

As of 5 p.m., a minimum of eight vehicles were trapped under the rubble, Estopinan said. Some workers were on the bridge when it collapsed, but officials did not detail whether any of them were among the dead.

A pedestrian bridge collapsed on the Florida International University campus in Miami, March 15, 2018

Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Department personnel and other rescue units work at the scene where a pedestrian bridge collapsed at Florida International University on March 15, 2018 in Miami.

Ten injured victims, labeled as level-one trauma patients, were transported to nearby Kendall Regional Medical Center, program director Dr. Mark McKenney said in a press conference.

One of the patients was in cardiac arrest and another was in a coma with "severe extremity injuries" when they arrived, McKenney said. Those patients were in critical condition.

Eight other patients admitted to the hospital suffered from traumatic injuries such as bruises, abrasions and broken bones but were in stable condition, McKenney said.

A rescue dog and its handler work at the scene where a pedestrian bridge collapsed at Florida International University .

Elephant Crosses China - Laos Border

Watch: Elephant Crosses China-Laos Border, Ignoring Security Checkpoint

Surveillance footage captured a wild elephant crossing a checkpoint from southwestern China into Laos late Saturday and then returning through the same crossing only two hours later.

China Central Television broadcast the video Sunday saying that the elephant crossed from the Chahe border in Xishuangbanna, Yunnan province, into Luang Namtha, Laos, in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Border officers had sent two teams in order to warn nearby residents of the danger, however, the animal returned without incident.

According to Chahe border official named Li Zhifu, the wild elephant was probably looking for food.

"It's winter now and there's not a lot of food in the forests. We often see wild elephants hunting for food in nearby villages," Li said.

"The elephant has returned to the [Chinese] forest safe and sound."

Footage recorded at the border showed the elephant circumventing a barrier and making its way into Luang Namtha, Laos, about 4:30 a.m. local time on Sunday (3:30 p.m. EST Saturday). Officials confirmed that the animal returned through the same route and was last seen entering the forest.