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| Beypore Railway Station at Chaliyam, Malabar t, Kerala. upload.wikimedia.org |
Above image: Chaliyam is a village situated at the estuary of Chaliyar (River Beypore) in Kozhikode district of Kerala, India. Chaliyam forms an island, bounded by the Chaliyar in the north, and River Kadalundi in south, and the Conolly Canal in the east. Saliyam was the home of the Saliya community predominantly weavers in medieval South India. Presently, the Chaliya (Chaliyan or Saliya) belongs to Other Backward Class (OBC) in Kerala........
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| Beypore Railway Station at Chaliyam, Malabar t, Kerala. upload.wikimedia.org |
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| Kozhikode railway station, Kerala .justdial.com |
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| Kozhikode, Kerala, ailmapindia.blogspot.com |
After Land acquisition and laying of tracks, selection of the stations and their locations were the subject of main discussion among the officials. In Malabar, the railway line initially stopped at Beypore, but later extended to Calicut for reasons of easy accessibility to the market, agricultural produce, etc. For the caste-conscious residents of Calicut, the location of the railway station in a busy crowded place became a subject of debate and anxiety. Archival records do show the residents were unhappy over the location of the railway station.
In the 1880s, the entrance gate to the railway station in a busy street became a thorny subject and a contentious issue. Reason: The entry gate was to be set up in the bazaar area, a prime location frequented by people of high castes!! An old Bank - Nedungadi bank (founded in 1899; completed 100 years and merged with PNB) , a famous lane called Cembotty popular for bronze items, made by traditional methods, betel leaves, chewing tobacco, arecanut, cotton, coir, dates, etc and popular shops specialized in gold, silver items, jewelry, etc attracted lots of people.
The main reason for the resentment among the people from different walks of life was the hidden undertow of caste feelings and disparity. Then in this region (now Kerala) the social fabric of the society dominated by Nambudiri was such that the caste factor was a curious, but an ubiquitous vortex. It is obvious the caste sensitive society was regulated to a large extend in the Malabar region by higher caste people Yet another factor was preventing ladies from appearing in public bazaars.
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| caste based reservation. myvoice.opindia.com |
As to the question of how a railway station in a busy area would affect the sentiments of high caste people, the weird explanation given was “the road is to be converted into a thorough fare for all castes without distinctions and the temple situated in neighbourhood of the road will be polluted to the great grievance of a very large portion of the inhabitants of Calicut.”
When the issue was argued in the court of law the presiding judge said, A wicket gate would be provided at one end of the road. ''Railway Company cannot recognise caste distinctions amongst passengers....In consultation with the District Collector, the court observed, ''caste should not determine public mobility.
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| Beypore near calicut, Kerala. famous for boat building |
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| Beypore, Kerala upload.wikimedia.org |
Just like the transient nature of the universe and our unstable roller coaster lives, the old Beypore Railway Station does not exist now and we have to be content with the old photos of the station. Sadly, the building disappeared long ago, leaving only a large fresh water well which was dug for supplying water for the steam engines that had hauled the passenger and freight trains in those days.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaliyam
http://blog.calicutheritage.com/2010/05/calicut-railway-some-more-details.html
https://www.thehindu.com/features/metroplus/tracking-the-change/article5305090.ece
 - its location and caste factors - Colonial era ){kind=link}