The Untold History

Manu S Pillai is the author of the award-winning The Ivory Throne: Chronicles of the House of Travancore (2015), Rebel Sultans: The Deccan from Khilji to Shivaji (2018), The Courtesan, the Mahatma & the Italian Brahmin: Tales from Indian History (2019), and most recently, False Allies: India’s Maharajahs in the Age of Ravi Varma (2021).

Formerly Chief of Staff to Dr. Shashi Tharoor MP, he has in the past worked at the House of Lords in Britain, and with the BBC on their “Incarnations” history series. Written over six years and researched in three continents, Manu’s first book, The Ivory Throne won the 2017 Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar. For three years, he also wrote a weekly column for Mint Lounge. His other writings have appeared in The Hindu, Open Magazine, the Times of India, Hindustan Times, The New Statesman, and other publications.

Manu is an alumnus of Fergusson College, Pune, and holds a PhD in history from King’s College London.

Rani John is a founder member of The Preserve Alleppey Society set up in the year 2000. She graduated in History from Stella Maris College, Chennai. She has been a resident of Alleppey since her marriage in 1974. She recognised the unique aspects of the place and the underlying history which was getting buried over time.

Rani John was instrumental in crafting the Walking Tour of Alleppey which brought in visitors who would otherwise only do cruises on the backwaters. In 2018, the Society was awarded the Silver Medal for the Best Urban Neighbourhood Operator at the Indian Responsible Tourism Awards. The Society organised the first garbage collection in Alleppey 2001 among other projects.

The combined knowledge of PAS and the research team enabled the archival project that led to the publishing of The Alleppey Story covering the history, architecture and culture of the town. It is the first of its kind and will remain a document of the town and a legacy worth preserving.

Theresa J George, is the founder of Thought Factory Design – an award winning graphic design and brand strategy firm established in Cochin in 2003. She is also the creative director of ViaKerala, a brand that is a culture disruptor in Malayalam visual identity. Apart from industry projects, Theresa leads research into malayalam script and evolution of letterform and its connection to socio-cultural history of the state. She is an international design speaker with particular focus on typography and letterform.

Theresa is a fine arts graduate from Stella Maris College, and is a member of the International Society for Typographic Design.

Blessy John is a co-founder and partner at Urban village studio, Cochin, since 2016. Urban village studio is an architecture consultancy focusing on site-specific and ecologically oriented design practices.

After moving to Cochin over a decade back, Blessy worked with Viakerala, a Kerala-centric design brand, as a project co-ordinator and illustrator. It also gave her an opportunity to dive into studying and documentation of architectural nuances of Fort Kochi. Subsequently, becoming a part of The Alleppey Story research team.

Blessy has also been part of Bhoomi Learning Community for the past 5 years. Bhoomi is an alternative learning space that provides supportive environment for kids and adults to learn and explores one’s interests.

Blessy graduated in Architecture from B.V. Bhoomaraddi college of engineering, Hubli and is member of Council of Architecture