Things I Miss About Calicut

There are a few things that I really miss about Calicut. The order has nothing do with the importance of these items; it’s just the order in which they came to my mind.

Paragon Biryani: There is nothing like it. It's special right from the aroma that fills the whole area to the taste that grows on you. They have this special date pickle to go with it. This pickle again is something that is not readily available everywhere.

Street book stores: There are these book sellers who spread their ware on the streets. They have this irresistible offer of “Pick any book for Rs.10”. It is a fact that most of these book are just pulp, but if you have time and patience enough to search and sort through the junk, you may come up with some real good finds. I got stuff like “Raisins in the sun” from one of these shops. Those shops are too good. Sunday shopping for us invariably included a trip to those shops. I miss them like anything. 

Ice Floe: This is the small fresh juice and ice cream place located at the corner of Focus Mall food court. Their fruit salads are simply too good. When we were just acquaintances, when we hadn’t discovered the common interests, likes and dislikes of each other, Anju and I used to drop in at this place for a fruit salad with Vanilla. Later on it became one of our favourite haunts and from then on, birthdays meant ice cream from Ice Floe, New Year meant bigger ice cream from Ice Floe. Now, I miss that place like anything. And I miss it more when I think of the two idiots I left behind having ice creams at Ice floe.

Indusree: Indu… well I really do not know what to write about this one. We come from different backgrounds, do entirely different kind of work, and don’t even have common interests or anything. The only thing that brought us together in the beginning was love for food. We used to roam around sampling food from almost all available places in Nadakkavu from Salakara to Choco Tree, Ojin being our favourite. Ojin was on the verge of issuing us a “Gold Membership Card” when I left Calicut. I miss her, one of the best companions I have ever had in life.

SM Street: No shopping experience in Calicut is complete unless you take a trip to SM Street. There are shops, shops and shops there. You can shop for clothes, footwear, accessories and most of the stuff is reasonable priced.

My crazy roomies: I have been staying in hostels for more than 5 years when I moved in with these weirdos. Never before and I’m sure never again will I get roommates like these two. Staying with them is what you call once in a life time experience (not many can take it twice). Achu the romantic kiddo and anju the cynical auntie would never look anything like the terrific combo that they actually are. The numerous shopping trips, eating outs and parties we had were too good to be forgotten. I miss this crazy pair more than anything else in Calicut.

Calicut Beach: It is definitely not one of the best kept beaches; there are times when it does stink. In spite of all this, a walk along the beach on a lazy Sunday evening is one of the best experiences that you can have in Calicut.

Autos of Calicut: You may wonder what is special about a rick or a rickshawalla. They happen in all cities. But in Calicut you have some of the most fair and well behaved rickshawallas. No fight over the fare, no taking the longer routes, no misbehaving in rickshaws in Calicut.

Well there are many other places and things and memories like all the silly things that we used to do, all those places which serve real good food, all those silly messes we got into and our anecdotes like "Varkey's", "Irish Coffee", but then each of this is another story, for some other time.

I miss all these and much more about Calicut. It was one of the best places I've ever stayed.