I have decided to jump the gun and launch Ormmakal before completion of the site. The blog has been sitting on the back burner for over a year now, and it would have continued to stay that way if I had not forced this launch. It’s not desperation on my part to push an idea, but an attempt to give the idea some wings, and hope for it to take off. Most of the missing content and broken links will be added and fixed as the blog evolves.
What is Ormmakal about?
As someone who grew up and lived mostly outside Kerala, I have always valued all my experiences with Kerala, and those enthralling experiences have resulted in memories which every now and then transform into nostalgia. Ormmakal is an attempt to journey through and share some of those memories, and in the process create a resource on Kerala for everyone who gets nostalgic about Kerala. Ormmakal will be a blog for all nostalgic Malayalees. If you are in a far away land, and longing for Kerala, then this will be the place for you. Other than that core idea, I am hoping the rest of the blog will evolve and take a character of it’s own.
Why is Ormmakal not in Malayalam?
I would have loved for Ormmakal to be in Malayalam; unfortunately my level of Malayalam is probably that of a 5th grader. Other than that sad reason, I wanted the blog to be accessible to a wider audience.
With that little introduction, I would like to invite everyone to ormmakal.com, and hope some of you will share those priceless memories of Kerala that makes us all nostalgic.
12 Comments
:: add your commenton Feb 20, 2007 at 8:36 am | Link
hey there..im excited for the site to be up and kicking!M definitely feeling lucky for having chanced upon this!! i do share your sentiments on being a nostalgic mallu!Although im born and bred in singapore, im dying to find my roots in kerala!! Hoping for a complete blog..oh n u shd quit sitting on it! lol! uve found urself an ardent fan already!!:)
on Feb 20, 2007 at 5:12 pm | Link
Awesome site……I am a mallu and i am pretty thrilled to see what will come up on this site in the future.
on Mar 18, 2007 at 10:26 am | Link
Great site! I plan to return often. In the future, I hope there will be a section on Kerala history. In school I learned a lot about British history, Mugal History, and the history of the various dynasties in North India, but very little of Kerala history. I’ve been trying to get a book by T. K. Velupillai (Travancore State Manual), but couldn’t find it on the web for sale. If anybody can help, please leave a posting.
-IM
USA
on May 10, 2007 at 4:29 am | Link
Great launch. Keep it up. All the best.
I have a site Song of the waves-Parayil A. Tharakan Blog
which contains a lot of nostalgia and photos of Kerala among other things.
For I.M. Medamana I suggest starting with ‘Avasanathe Ezhunnullathe’ by Malayankeezhu Ramachandran that starts with the demise of Sri Chithira Thirunal Maharaja and traces back a lot of history. Perhaps I might do a post on interesting reading on Kerala history.
Abraham Tharakan.
on May 26, 2007 at 12:54 am | Link
THIS is for IM.
The Travancore State manual by T.K. Velupillai may be sent by post if a request is written to
Dr. P.J. Cherian,
The Director,
Kerala Council for Historical Research,
Nalanda, Vyloppilly Sanskrithi Bhavan,
Thiruvananthapuram-03,
Kerala, India.
This is because there is a reference to postage being free during some particular festival period.
Unfortunately I could not find a telephone number for this address.
===================
Lets not count the billions guys,
life is much more interwoven.
on Jun 4, 2007 at 6:49 am | Link
GOOD
Thanks for the links of my Malayalam blog posts.
Visit: http://rubber.wordpress.com
Thank you
on Jun 21, 2007 at 2:45 am | Link
You can contact the Kerala Council of Historical Research(KCHR) directly by phone or email regarding the cost of the book and how to pay.Following is the text of the email I received regarding my enquiry of the book.I shall procure at least Volume I for myself. There are 4 volumes in all.
Attn : Sri. Anand Nambiar
Sir,
We are in receipt of your letter dated 26-05-07. Sorry for the delay in replying.
The cost of Travancore State Manual by Velu Pillai (Vol I) will come to Rs 400 plus Rs. 60 (freight charges).
Kindly note that we dont accept cheques. On receipt of your DD or Money Order in favour of Director, KCHR, we would be despatching the book.
Thanking you,
Yours faithfully,
Administrative Officer
Kerala Council for Historical Research
PB 839, Vyloppilly Samskrithi Bhavan
Nalanda, Thiruvananthapuram- 695 003
Tel: / Fax : 0471 2310409/ 6574988
E Mail : kchr@sancharnet.in / kchrtvm@gmail.com
Website: keralahistory.ac.in
This cost was for delivery to Kannur,Kerala.
on Jun 21, 2007 at 4:30 pm | Link
Thank you, Abraham and Anand, for responding to my query. I’ll definitely follow up on both suggestions.
Meanwhile, Karmadude, please keep the site maintained. You see, people like me are already benefiting.
-IM
on Jun 29, 2007 at 2:04 pm | Link
@IM, Sorry about the slow progress with the site, but things are slowly taking shape. Thank you for pushing me, that will definitely help me going.
Keep the discussions going everyone, your comments and interactions are very motivational.
on Jun 29, 2007 at 2:08 pm | Link
FYI: The picture frame that shows up against the comments is hooked up to Gravatar, so if you would like your custom Avatar to show up, you will have to sign up for a Gravatar id. Make sure to use the same email id you use when commenting.
on Dec 10, 2007 at 12:52 am | Link
Cool dear.. saw this juz now.!
And a cool template as well (Especially the comments profile pic display!)
on May 16, 2009 at 7:24 am | Link
The readers of site are not only second or third generation Keralian living in another country or state. This Keralian may be quite happy with writing Malayalam in English, or even discuss matters related to Malayalam or its literature or any branch of knowledge in English. You will never get the beauty of our language if you write in the so called Manglish. Moreover we are living in the modern world where we may be called upon to explain many things to others who would like to know about our culture. I could not write the history of ancient Kerala in Malayalam in spite of having a website on the subject. Main reason is that the softwares and fonts developed by many people are not suitable for ordinary people. You may be able to write Malayalam, but cannot transmit them to another person who do not have that particular software.
Is there anybody who can develop a font, through which we can write Malayalam directly just like we type English using the normal computer keyboard? We may require 100 and odd characters to be incorporated, at the same time the user should be able to guess what to do for typing a particular character. This can be easily done, but I do not know how to design a font suitable for Windows. Please help
Don Bosco
Leave a Reply