Lying at about the midway point of Padoor at the waterfront of the Canolly Canal Pulikkakkadavu used to be our main Kadavu (ferry landing station) in the earlier days.
Automobiles reached our village late in the 1950’s. Until then and after so many years it is your foot, or a rare bullock cart. If it is some faraway places or you need to take the woman folk, say for a marriage celebration, the primary option is using the waterway.
In its glorious days, the kadavu witnessed hectic activities. Padoor chantha (market place) adjoined the Kadavu where the traders used to collect and forward finished coir products to important trading centers such as Cochin. Water transport was the main means of freight traffic during those days.
The Pandikasala (warehouse, godown) right at the Kadavu was exclusively used to stock the coir products.
Pulikkakkadavu was then sort of relegated in to a mere canoe station. It was the only place where a regular ferry existed between our place and Engadiyoor to the west.
Other canoe landing places did exist along the length of the canal but not every other landing station was open to all. Some stations were the private properties of certain clans or households. Moreover, none of them did have the luxury of any form of a paved platform as Pulikkakkadavu.
During the 1960s, the Highschools at Engadiyoor were popular with students from the eastern shores of the Canolly. Pulikkakkadavu was the crossing point for pupils from Padoor.
The new bridge connecting Engandiyoor to Padoor has now eclipsed the Kadvu entirely.
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