Kottayam Pattanam » Features

Inspired by Naalumanikkaattu

Aravind Jose T. — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 18:35:13 +0000

It was in January 2011 that Naalumanikkaattu was opened. A first-of-its-kind. The great amount of care and attention given to its maintenance and good-going have paid off greatly. The place is now frequented by at least a couple hundreds people, especially on weekends. The idea was fresh, very practical and the execution was flawless.

Goodness inspires. There are now two more spots in Kottayam that are inspired by the change-of-air Naalumanikkattu offered. Kalathilkadavu Puzhayorasahyanam along the Kodoor River on the Devalokam – Kolladu road (view on map) and Aattutheeram along the Meenachil River, between Cherppunkal and Mutholy, on the Ettumanoor – Pala highway (view on map). These are not as elaborate as Naalumanikkattu but are good little open places for some leisure.

Kalathilkadavu

There are about 6-8 benches here, along the roadside towards the bridge. There is an open park for kids with swings & see-saws, a locally-run hotel that serves snacks & drinks and an ice cream counter. The view get more scenic towards sunset.

Aattutheeram

The Aattutheeram project on the Cherppunkal – Mutholy stretch is a kilometre long beautification of the highway. A passionately maintained garden runs along the road on both sides and it instantly improves the feel of the trip. Even the routine, boring commute will feel better as you pass by. Extending the project, there are now few benches along the garden that overlook the Meenachil River with faint & foggy view of mountains far away.

The All-New Anand

Aravind Jose T. — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 10:58:36 +0000

The 7 months it took for the renovation is completely justifiable. The all new Anand is in a class of its own. An elegant class. Every detail has been re-thought and executed nicely. The phrase, of Multiplex quality, is often used to describe the new Anand and that is not wrong. Maybe it’s even more than that. This is far-advanced than many multiplexes.

There are 2 classes: Platinum and Gold.
Platinum class relates to the traditional Balcony and the ticket price is Rs. 120/-
The old main entrance is now the entry to Platinum class.

Gold class relates to the First Class and the price is Rs. 70/-
A new entrance near the Abhilash gates is built for the Gold class.

Reservation is enabled for the Platinum Class and is offered at the counter near the gate of Abhilash.
Online ticket booking/reservation is available for Anand, Abhilash and Asha theatres at TicketNew.com

View from the Platinum Class

Premium fabric seats and non-slippery carpeted floor with lighted steps

Platinum Class entry

The cafeteria serves coffee, tea, soft drinks, pop corn and snacks

A 40″ Samsung LCD mounted in portrait orientation — Digital poster wall!

The exterior. Gold Class entry towards the end.

This Supermarket Stays Open 24 Hours

Aravind Jose T. — Sun, 06 Mar 2011 18:28:11 +0000

This probably is the only supermarket and independent cafeteria that stay open round-the-clock in our district. And it definitely is the only supermarket that provides a homely and calm ambiance.

Location: Opposite Kanjirappally Taluk Hospital (36 km from Kottayam)

Phone: (04828) 201 578, 201 579

The air conditioned complex houses the neatly & sensibly organized supermarket and the mini-outlets of Third Place and Cafe Coffee Day. Plush couches, multi-channel music and TV along with a supermarket + cafeteria combo is definitely a “first-time”!

There is ample car parking space and restrooms which make this a perfect stopover place, while travelling on N. H. 220 (K. K. Road). Store 24 is undoubtedly the new nightlife icon of Kottayam.

Fish Galaxy – Public Aquarium, Now Open

Aravind Jose T. — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 19:04:56 +0000

The Kottayam Aquarium is located adjacent to the Municipal Jubilee Park, Nagampadam. After Naalumanikkaattu on the Manarcad – Ettumanoor bypass, the public aquarium is a wonderful addition to the gradually-increasing list of leisure spots.

Location: Adjacent to the Municipal Jubilee Park, Kurian Uthuppu Road, Nagampadam.
Working Hours: 11 am to 7 pm – Monday Holiday.
Tickets: Rs. 20/- for adults and Rs. 10/- for children.

The air-conditioned aquarium houses a huge variety of magnificent fishes and amazing marine biomass. This project is aided by the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana and is executed by Kottayam Municipality in association with Matsyafed. There is sale of aquariums and accessories too.

In addition to the spacious parking area inside the compound, there is ample space on the Kurian Uthuppu road side too.
Club the Aquarium and the Jubilee Park for an evening; it will be a great family evening.

Photos

Night Dine-outs

Aravind Jose T. — Sun, 20 Feb 2011 16:27:18 +0000

More and more eateries are being opened and almost all of them stay open late into night. Commuters will be gone by then, roads will be drive-able and the air will be cooler. Not all fun ends with the sun.

Favorite Pizzeria (Till 10 pm)
200 meters from Kanjikuzhy on the Puthuppally road.
Pizzas, Pastas, Sandwiches
0481 2573501, 949 519 5362
Favorite was recently featured by The Hindu - Read the article.

Chicking (11 pm)
Between The Windsor Castle and Manorama printing unit, Kodimatha.
Fried Chicken
0481 326 2323

Thir3d Place (11 pm)
Manorama Junction – Chelliyozhukkam Road
Gelato, Semifreddo
0481 2565614

DFC – Dallas Food Court (11 pm)
[View photos of DFC at our Facebook page]
Adjacent Hotel Aida
Fried Chicken and Arabic Grill
0481 60 66 66 2

12 to 12 Barbeque & Fries (12 am)
Shastri Road

Arabian (01:00 am)
Opp. Kalpaka Super Market, adjacent Municipal Office Complex
Multi-cuisine

Wheels (11 pm)
Plantation Corporation Junction, Kanjikuzhy
0481 2578145

Bar-be-que-inn
Kanjikuzhy and S.H. Mount

Anand (09: 30pm)
Central Junction
Vegetarian

KenChik Fried Chicken (11 pm)
Kalathilpady
0481 3242520

Naalumanikkaattu – A Promising Place to be at

Aravind Jose T. — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 17:58:00 +0000

Naalumanikkaattu is an in-house tourism project by the Manarcad-Ettumanoor Bypass Residents’ with technical support from Tropical Institute of Ecological Sciences (the same people behind the Butterfly Garden). A stretch of the bypass has been worked upon and transformed into something like an open park. Benches are placed along one side with tress planted in between. Paddy fields extend to both sides. The already-wonderful landscape will get even greater once the trees grow up. This is indeed a great start.
Also read: Inspired by Naalumanikkaattu, two more similar projects at Kolladu and Mutholy

Location: 2.5 kms from Manarcad Junction (on the Manarcad-Ettumanoor bypass)
(View on map)

Christmassy Kottayam

Aravind Jose T. — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 17:07:05 +0000

View the 15 Photos at Facebook

Movie-Going Getting Revamped

Aravind Jose T. — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 16:52:23 +0000

Yet Another Update

(10/11/11)

The Dhanya Remya twin theatres at Kottayam will open on 11th Nov. 2011 at 11 am.
View the location on map
Also read: The all-new Anand theatre

Updated Info

(08/09/11)

In the past few months, there have been a lot of changes in the online ticket booking situation. This update addresses those changes.

The ticket-booking site mentioned in the original post – HousefullCinema.com – appears to have stopped functioning.
Online ticket reservation for the all-new, renovated Anand theatre, Abhilash and Asha are available at TicketNew.com
(thanks to Sakthivel Palaniyappan for tipping about the new site in the comments)
The twin-theatre mentioned below isn’t open yet, but is expected to launch this year (2011) itself.

–Original Post–

Twin Theatre Complex

The new twin theatre complex by Mini Muthoot near Govt. Ayurveda Hospital, adjacent to the BSNL Administrative office at Vayaskarakkunnu is nearing completion. The base structure is almost completed. It’s expected to be opened by Christmas / New Year (note: It will open at 11th Nov, 2011 as given in the update).

A view from Govt. Model High School

The view through a window at Anupama Theatre

Online & Mobile Ticket Reservations

This is great stuff. All our five theatres now support Online & Mobile ticket reservations. Out of them, Abhilash, Asha, Anand & Anashwara are powered by HouseFullCinema.com (Read more about HouseFullCinema.com and the procedure/working here and here). It was such a breeze to be in for the First-Day-First-Show of Anwar at Abhilash!
Update: HouseFullCinema.com’s services for Kottayam theatres are paused for the time being. It’s expected to be back in action by next month (April 2011) or so.

Anupama Theatre is maintaining their own reservation system.
It’s currently through SMS. The format and details are given below:

UPDATE: HousefullCinema.com now provides online reservation for Anupama theatre too.

HouseFullCinema.com supports online payment via Credit Card / Debit Card / Netbanking.
Anupama Theatre’s system doesn’t include payment. Payment is to be done at the counter.

Louis Philippe and Van Heusen opened. Town expands.

Aravind Jose T. — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 12:39:02 +0000

Factory outlets of Louis Philippe and Van Heusen are now open.

Location:
Left, road side, Thannickalpady. (Just before St. Antony’s Motors on the way to Vadavathoor)

Being a direct factory outlet, fresh stock and frequent offers are expected. Talking of offers, they’re running humongous launch offers on everything. Here’s the breakdown -

Louis Philippe

30% off – 1 item
40% off – 2 items
50% off – 3 items and more
Flat 70% off on Suits/Blazers above Rs.5000/-
(which means, you pay just Rs. 6300 for a suit worth Rs. 21000)

Van Heusen

Buy 1 Get 1 Free
Varied other offers upto 50% off
Flat 60% off on Suits
Flat 50% off on Blazers

Even though the new municipal town limits haven’t expanded along the K.K. Road (it’s expanded along the M.C. Road, towards Ettumanoor side and Chingavanam side) the business landscape of Kottayam is already expanding along the K.K. Road side too. These outlets are the first among the very-possible multitude of commercial centers.One main reason for brands to setup stores away from the central town is their need for space, both structural and parking space.

Isn’t that how every town gets bigger!

Onam – Styled Internationally

Aravind Jose T. — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 10:43:04 +0000

It’s always the interplay of cultures. Local brands try styling themselves internationally and international brands apply local flavor to themselves. In Kerala, Onam is the greatest occasion for this interplay.

While the local brands focus on NRIs, the global brands focus on RIs wearing and sporting the traditional feel. Lee and Wrangler are two such magnificent examples from this season.

Lee was always great with local visualizations and this year’s is probably the best from them or any brand, for that matter.