Kozhikode is where I grew up and I can vouch that I know it like the back of my hand. There is no nook or corner in this city that I have not cycled or driven by. And that makes the frequently asked question "What should we not miss in Kozhikode?" all the more difficult to answer.

It’s not always about the food. It is about where you had it from and who you had it with. Everybody knows Kozhikode as the best food destination of Kerala. But rarely do they realise that its not just our food that makes it so, its the combination of many factors. People here are warm and welcoming. The city is outlined by beautiful beaches and the food is something that goes right into your heart to stay there forever. Anybody who has come to our city for a bite, be it as big as a biriyani or as short as a 'cutlet', it becomes their favorite food memory.

Hospitality starts from the very moment you step into a city and I am extremely proud of our autorickshaw 'chetanmaar' (brothers) who line up outside our railway stations and bus stands, ready to welcome everyone to a memorable experience. I have always believed that these auto drivers, who take their profession as a passion, are the heart of Kozhikode hospitality. It is just a normal thing that they are more than ready to drive us around without complaining about those numerous impromptu turns we make them take.

Few days back, my wife took a train to another city and as soon as she got out of the railway station, she got into an auto. Habitually she said, 'Chettaa, I have three stops to make before reaching my destination' to which came the rude reply 'You can choose one place from among those stops or else you can get out.' She thought it was just a cranky old man and took another auto, only to meet the same fate! She was shocked beyond belief. She called me and fumed, 'No wonder Kozhikode's got the Best Auto Drivers of Kerala award!'. After that experience, she has always been careful to choose just one stop per auto ride whenever she was outside Kozhikode.

And when talking about this beautiful city, how can I not talk about our beautiful beach. A teenager hurting over an unrequited love story, kids chasing the playful waves, friends enjoying the classic ice 'orathi', couples spending quality time with each other, the elderly gathering to talk about life -- Kozhikode beach has seen it all from the beginning of time. My most favorite part of our beach is the broken bridge, though. As a child I never thought of it much. But now, whenever I see the broken bridge, it is a reminder that not everything in life needs to be perfect to be beautiful. Some things in life can be broken, yet wholesome. Search for 'Kozhikode beach' on Google and this broken bridge pops up, looking beautiful and classic. And I hope that nobody thinks of repairing this bridge, ever.

And now for the best part. Food. Talking about the food of Kozhikode is like diving into a bottomless ocean. You don't know where to start and you don’t know when to stop. Not just that we have some amazing connoisseurs in food making, but we also have equally passionate newbies who do total justice to these veterans. The success of everyone in this business is the acceptance they have for each other. To understand this you just have to step into Bombay Hotel on a Friday, and you will find almost every table there occupied by other restaurant owners of Kozhikode. For most of them, Bombay Hotel was a major part of their childhood, and having a restaurant of their own today is not going to change this tradition.

So how did it all start? What is the history behind this beautiful culture of ours?

Google will tell you that it all started with the cordial trade relations with various countrymen centuries ago that instilled hospitable nature in people here. But I believe that we were always hospitable to begin with, and hence such trades happened in the first place. Imagine if a trader had entered our land and said, "We want three different spices from your land" and he had been told "You can just choose one spice from them or you can get off our land?" (Pun intended). He probably would have taken an about turn and never come back. Therefore, I strongly believe that the people of Kozhikode always had a built-in hospitality button which was kept ON for guests from any part of the world -- race no bar, religion no bar.

And to this day, we see it in every home here. A guest is an honorable person in my house, even if it is my 12 year old daughter’s friend who has come home to play. Just the way I was a guest at my friend’s place whenever I went there to pick him up for cricket after school. His mother might have said a thing or two about how we were wasting away our time, but not without some 'Chaya' (tea) and 'Pazhampori' (banana fritters) to go with it.

So next time you are in Kozhikode, make yourself at home, have the best biriyani of your lifetime, enjoy some salty sea breeze, take an auto ride and stop at every beautiful thing you see. For this is indeed a second home to anybody who visits us.