Pani: A Ritual Music

Published on 28/01/2026

On 11-02-1988, when I was marrying Dr. P.C. Rethi Thampatty, a member of Zamorin's family and senior lecturer in commerce at the Zamorins' Guruvayurappan College, I didn't have a stable job except a temporary position as a Malayalam Guest Lecturer in the same College. Later, I worked for barely five and a half months also. For the next 9 years, I was jobless but worked in many roles including in organizational roles like Folklore Fellows of Malabar (Trust) and Folklore Society of South Indian Languages ( FOSSLS).

Later, I worked as PA to His Highness P K Kuttyanujan Raja, the Zamorin Raja of Calicut for the administrative field. T N Krishnakumar, his son, said that his father could only offer a monthly allowance of ₹1000, which was given by the Government as trustee allowance to His Highness. I humbly replied that I was more interested in working than the remuneration.

It helped me to conduct FOSSIL'S 8th All India conference at The Zamorins' Guruvayurappan College on 18-20 November 1999 as a Grand Success. I am thankful to Professor N Bhakthavalsala Reddy, the then General Secretary of FOSSILS.

Since 1989, I've been working as a research Scholar at Government Brennen College as the center, under Calicut University. Dr. T P Sukumaran was my Supervising Teacher on that time. I'd been reading books, writing notes, and publishing articles in various journals in those periods.

One such publication, the research paper "Pani A Ritual Music" in Kerala Calling, a Kerala government publication, in January 1997.