Umpteen travels with Yathra Mohan in ‘A Tourist’s Guide to Calicut’

Mohan, who won the Best Tour Guide title from the Government of Kerala in 2009, has now brought out a book, A Tourist’s Guide to Calicut. Commissioned by Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH), the book is peppered with history, facts, figures and interesting stories. Mohan says the book is not just for tourists but also for locals who want to know more about their city.

‘A craze to travel’

Now 74 years-old, the travel veteran was bitten by the wanderlust bug early and undertook a 40-day trek across India soon after graduating from Malabar Christian College. He travelled by road, rail and on foot and, on his return, quit his family business of spice trading to become a full-time tour guide. His fame grew with each trip, as he showcased places in the country, planned new routes and explored unknown retreats. His inimitable style of narrating tales associated with the land, its history, and even offering souvenirs as parting gifts earned him the moniker ‘Yathra Mohan’.

“I had a craze to travel and take people along to show them fascinating places,” says Mohan who, even as a college student, would take his friends on pillion rides to Kuttiyadi Hydroelectric project, 60 kilometers from Kozhikode. These educational and recreational trips became so popular that Mohan began getting requests from schools and corporate for day trips. “It began like that,” recalls Mohan.

‘Understanding of other cultures’

He believes travel to be the ultimate learning; one that enables understanding of other cultures. He offers his first trip as an example. “In Goa, the group was introduced to a variety of cuisines that they had never seen or tasted. There was guitar music and slowly people from the group joined in the dancing. Suddenly the lights went off but it caused no commotion. The guitar played on till the lights came back. People said it was a safe place. Travel removes such preconceived ideas of cultures and places.”

Another first for Mohan was introducing the Valley of Flowers to the people of Kerala. He first went solo in the 1970s with his friend Narayan, another avid traveller. “We prepared for high-altitude travel by jogging and exercising for a month before the trip,” he reminisces, and remembers carrying a canister of oxygen and chocolates on those trips. “The 2×6-kilometre sea of flowers waving in the breeze is an unforgettable sight.”

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The ‘Train Through Chambal’, another route he conceptualised, became very popular with his clients. “It was loved for its landscape and the dangerous tales of dacoits looting travellers in olden days.” He recommends the Bahai temple of sheer architectural beauty. Mohan is invited by architecture colleges to discuss the subject as he has learned about structures after visiting them.

Modern-day travel is luxurious, he feels, but misses out on the core, which is about unexpected meetings, twists and turns. “Today everything is planned. We know the place before we visit it, the food, the tales … there is not much surprise and very little to discover. Besides, there is no interaction between people.”

Mohan’s five must-see destinations “ among many more” are Valley of Flowers in Uttarakhand, Ajanta and Ellora Caves, Jog Falls, Dal Lake and Jantar Mantar.