Padoor - The Place

The legend goes that Padoor acquired its name from the combination of the Malayalam words “Padam” (paddy land) and “Ooru” (neighborhood). The name thus means the Place of Paddy Fields.

True to its name, the village used to be interspersed with paddy fields (lowlands), placed between the corridors of inhabited coconut estates (elevated lands). It almost looks like the elevated lands were man-made landfills of then originally existing paddy fields.

To cap it all, the lowlands of Thanneer Kayal (which used to be opulently cultivated rice fields) provide the boarder to Padoor at the east end.

Padoor is locked between the paddy field stocks of Thanneer Kayal at the east and the inland waterway of Canolly Canal in the west.

Thoyakkavu lies to the south and Thirunelloor (Peringadu) to the north. The boundaries on both these fronts are separated by canals; the smaller Thannolli Thodu and newly broadened Irrigation Canal - that hooks Mullasseri to the Peechi Irrigation Canal network at Elevally - respectively.

The Pulikkakkadavu Bridge (built across the Canolly Canal) is now providing a direct access to Engadiyoor and Vatanappalli Panchayaths. The Pulikkakkadavu – Mullasseri Road touches the Thanneer Kayal and goes eastwards to Mullasseri. This road traditionally remains our main gateway to the district’s larger highway networks. The road from Thoyakkavu to Idiyanchira was built during the 1960s is now served by a regular bus service.

The village, for most part, is a level land –immensely arable and with accessible stock of potable groundwater - in contrast to the coastal areas not very far to the West and the hilly areas of Mullasseri towards the east. Perhaps a notable exception is the Akkara Madu, a small island (at the north western end of Padoor) in the Canolly Canal. The area still lacks a permanent arrangement for drinking water availability.

The main crops of the village are paddy (rice) and coconut. Most of the paddy fields that were scattered (but curiously joined through small lines of canals for the ease of rain water passage) throughout the village is now filled up or converted to construct concrete dwellings. The Thanneer Kayal was in disuse until recently but the cultivation is slowly beginning to recreate. Coconut farming, however, is more or less standing its ground.