Tracing history: 100 years to Kerala’s first taste of chapati

While Kerala is celebrating the centenary of the Vaikom Satyagraha, there'a also been an effort to celebrate the state’s association with the chapati

Exactly 100 years ago, in Vaikom in present-day central Kerala, 15 volunteers from the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) established a langar, or community kitchen, and started making soft and fluffy chapatis, perhaps the first time some in the community were being exposed to North India’s ubiquitous bread.

In 1924, the Mahadeva temple was the epicentre of the Vaikom Satyagraha, which marked the dawn of temple entry movements across India. It was at this protest that Sikh volunteers organised a langar that gave Kerala a taste of the chapati. (HT Photo)

The motive of the volunteers, under the leadership of Lala Lal Singh and Kripal Singh, was political and social — they were there to express their solidarity with an ongoing anti-caste movement