ALAPPUZHA: The tourists travelling to the high ranges of Idukki district usually see the destination board on buses — ‘Balan Pillai City’. In a majority of bus stations in Central Travancore, one can hear the announcements that ‘Bus to Balan Pillai City will leave soon’. The announcements and destination boards will remain, but the man after whom the ‘city’ is named is no more.
KP Balan Pillai, 96, a native of Poonthoppu in Alappuzha, died due to age-related illnesses at his daughter’s house here on Wednesday. Balan Pillai migrated from Alappuzha to Ramakkalmedu in Karunapuram panchayat in Idukki in 1957 and started a teashop on the roadside which later grew into a big business. He also owned agricultural lands and ran a successful tailoring business on the side. Later, the village developed and the junction got his name.
It came to be known as Balan Pillai City. Gradually, the village grew into a mini city and a tourist destination. Later, bus services were started to the city by private operators and KSRTC from major towns including Kottayam, Alappuzha, Ernakulam, Pathanamthitta and other places of central Kerala.
He ran the teashop for more than three decades and returned to Alappuzha along with his daughter in 1988, but the name of the place remained. Malayalam flick 'Elsamma Enna Aankutty', in which the sequence of events takes place in Balan Pillai City, also brought more acclaim to the name though the film itself was not shot in the place.
Many people from Alappuzha had migrated to the high ranges in the 1950s. Viswanatha Ayyar from Mankombu conquered the hills of Kumily and Murikkadi village was renamed as ‘Viswanathapuram’.
Balan Pillai was also a celebrated social worker and CPI activist back in the day. He initiated many development projects in his namesake city and was fondly called by the locals as 'Pillai ashaan'. He leaves behind his six children - Chandran, Vimala, Sreedevi, Ravi, Sreekuttan, and Geetha - along with grandchildren in India and abroad.
(With inputs from online desk)