Bekal Fort of North Malabar in Kerala is a tourist spot worth seeing. Famed by the veteran Director Mani Ratnam through the sequence of a song in his film Bombay, the spot is a brilliant merge of eye-soothening colors of green, grey and blue. Built by Sivappa Naik of Ikkary dynasty between 1645 and 1660, the Bekal fort stands the challenge of time without even a tremor to the strength of the laterites. Kolathiri Rajas, the then rulers of North Malabar too are thought to be the builders of the fort by some historians. Its authority passed through the hands of Hyder Ali, and Tipu Sultan only to rest under the ghastly dominions of British East India Company. Adorned by the greenery of swaying coconut palms at one end, the monument stretches out into the turquoise blue sea studded with the glamour of fishing crafts. The Fort was built with great expertise and one wonders how they managed to, in an age when no technology backed man power. You need to spend quality time to explore the secret tunnels, a number of wells dug and the nooks and corners of the fort. The walls have several peep-holes where the soldiers on guard would have set the barrels of their rifles. As you walk along the path treaded by the soldiers of the age, a strange feeling of being lost in the past engulfs you, which lingers in you for days.
