KOCHI: A quiet suburban corner in Kochi’s Thoppumpady, Parippu Junction invokes curiosity. More specifically — how did this place get the name parippu, the Malayalam word for lentils?
Naturally, one would assume that it has something to do with food. Perhaps a restaurant at the junction is famous for its parippu vadas? Also, given how the region is a bustling trading centre (or was), it is not uncommon to link its etymology to the trade of lentils.
Well, both these assumptions hold weight. “It is believed that, in earlier times, one family here traded in lentils. That’s how the place got its name,” says Padmanabham, an elderly cobbler in the area.
The owners of the shops at Parippu Junction too hold a similar theory. Though the family’s name differs as to who you ask, they all agree that the name is relatively new compared to other nearby neighbourhoods.
Surprisingly, parippu refers to dried shrimp meat. In the early 1920s, a trader named Azheekal Kochappu, who lived here began exporting dried shrimp meat, also called chemmeen parippu, to Burma (Myanmar).
“The shrimp was processed by boiling the raw meat, drying it in the sun, and packing it into small cans. This method kept the shrimp fresh for extended periods, aiding its export during that time,” reveals A A Joseph, a great-grandson of Kochappu.
Doing so also made the meat look similar to lentils. Hence the name parippu, explains the family member. As the business flourished, it earned the moniker ‘Parippu Family’. Soon, as the area developed and became a junction, it was nicknamed Parippu Junction.
Locals estimate this to have happened only about 50 years ago — in the early ’70s. By then, the dried shrimp business had started to wane.
“The traditional method of processing dried shrimp changed with the advent of freezing technology. This marked the industry’s decline,” says ‘Parippu’ Wilson, a member of the family and a parish clerk of the St Thomas Apostle Roman Catholic Church, also called Santhome after St Thomas. Yet another accelerant was Kochappu’s demise at the age of 55. The trade never really took after his departure.
Today, the area is officially called Santhome Junction, following the construction of the church. Despite the change, many continue to refer to the corner as Parippu Junction, and thus Kochappu’s legacy lives on.