Chungam, Kottayam

Chungam is a small junction in Kottayam town in Kerala state, Southern India. The junction borders the Meenachi river, which is one of the medium range rivers, but well known through Arundhati Roy's famous book The God of Small Things. Most of the events in the book took place in Chungam. Aymanam village, which is mentioned in the book, is about three kilometers away from Chungam. The oldest college and school in Kerala and India are here. The road that pass through Chungam is an alternate route to reach Kottayam Medical College.

Etymology

Chungam is the Malayalam equivalent of tax. So all the locations where tax was collected came to be known as Chungam; indeed Kerala has a number of places with the same name.

Education

The CMS College and the CMS College Higher Secondary School; both around 200 years of age were built by the Rev. Benjamin Baily of the Church Missionary Society, London. They were built with the generous help and assistance of Col. Munroe, the then Resident of the East India Company, and HH Rani Gauri Laxmi Bhai, the reagent queen of the erstwhile Travencore state.