# How We Built the Kalamassery Archive: Sources and Methods > The Kalamassery history archive was published on 8 October 2026 as a set of pages about the past: factories, colleges, transport, floods, sport, films and the weather. Every page was written to one rule: a dated claim needs a published source, and where sources disagree we show both rather than pick one. This note explains which sources we used, how dates were checked, what we left out, and how to send a correction. - URL: https://ashrafgentspghostel.adserr.com/how-we-built-the-kalamassery-archive/ - Publisher: Ashraf Gents Hostel, Ashraf house, NAD Rd, signal, Kalamassery, Aluva, Kerala 683563, India (+91 90746 23855) - Published: 2026-10-08 · Updated: 2026-10-08 - Topic: History & archive - Cite as: Ashraf Gents Hostel. “How We Built the Kalamassery Archive: Sources and Methods.” Published 8 October 2026. https://ashrafgentspghostel.adserr.com/how-we-built-the-kalamassery-archive/ ## Key facts - The archive pages were published on 8 October 2026 and are written from that vantage point. - Official documents were preferred where available; for example, monsoon onset dates come from the IMD’s 24 May 2025 press release, which annexes onset dates for 2009–2025. - Where sources disagree, such as Cyclone Ockhi’s 2017 death toll in Kerala, the archive gives each figure with its source instead of choosing one. - Distances and place names near the NAD Road signal come from OpenStreetMap data, which is published under the Open Database Licence by OpenStreetMap contributors. - Facts about Ashraf Gents Hostel on archive pages are limited to those in the owner’s public profile; anything else is phrased as a question to ask on the call. ## What the archive is for Most of this website is practical: how to reach a college, where to eat, how much a month costs. The archive is different. It records what happened around Kalamassery, from the industrial era of FACT, HMT and the Periyar factories to the metro, the 2018 floods, the 2023 tragedies at CUSAT and the convention centre, elections, prices and culture. The starting point for readers is the [Kalamassery history archive hub](https://ashrafgentspghostel.adserr.com/kalamassery-history-archive/), which groups every page by theme. We wrote it because local history is easy to lose. News stories disappear behind paywalls, government PDFs move, and memory blurs dates. A page that gathers the dates with their sources is useful to a student writing a project, a newcomer trying to understand the area, or a resident checking when something actually happened. ## Sources we used, in order of preference 1. **Primary and official documents:** IMD press releases, court judgments, commission notices, Press Information Bureau releases and official websites. Example: the [monsoon onset dates](https://ashrafgentspghostel.adserr.com/monsoon-onset-dates-kerala-history/) come from IMD’s own annex and its 4 June 2026 release. 2. **Established news organisations:** The Hindu, The New Indian Express, Onmanorama, Mathrubhumi English, The Times of India, Deccan Chronicle and wire reports. Example: the 2024 cloudburst in [Kochi rainfall records](https://ashrafgentspghostel.adserr.com/kochi-rainfall-records/) relies on Onmanorama and a PTI report of IMD’s confirmation. 3. **Wikipedia, with care:** useful for structured facts such as release dates or match scores, and always checked for internal contradictions. Example: on [Cyclone Ockhi](https://ashrafgentspghostel.adserr.com/cyclone-ockhi-and-kochi-2017/), Wikipedia’s own figures disagree, so we report them separately. 4. **Specialist and organiser sites:** used only when nothing better exists and labelled as such, as with running blogs in the [Kochi marathons page](https://ashrafgentspghostel.adserr.com/kochi-marathon-and-running-events-history/). 5. **OpenStreetMap:** for straight-line distances and place names around the NAD Road signal. ## How we checked dates - **Exact dates only when sources agree.** If a report says “on Sunday”, we work out the date from the article’s own date and say so, as with the April 2012 opening of Startup Village in [startups born in Kalamassery](https://ashrafgentspghostel.adserr.com/startups-born-in-kalamassery/). - **Forecasts are not events.** A forecast monsoon date or a planned opening is not recorded as having happened. - **Conflicts are shown, not resolved.** Some news reports list monsoon onset dates for 2017–2020 shifted by a year; we follow IMD’s table and say why. - **Gaps are stated.** When we could not find, for example, the dates of the 2023 and 2024 Kochi book festivals, the page says so rather than guessing. - **Most pages carry a timeline table** with a Source column, so each date can be traced. ## Sensitive subjects Some pages deal with deaths and suffering: the CUSAT stampede and the Kalamassery convention centre blast of 2023, the floods, Covid-19. On these we keep to what happened, official findings and what changed afterwards, without graphic detail or speculation, and we name people only where they were widely reported. Pages on elections give results only. Pages on companies and pollution attribute every claim (“according to…”) and include official findings. We also avoid adding opinions about the people in our film, sport and business pages; disputes are reported as allegations with their status. ## Corrections We will get things wrong. If you find an error, a broken source link, or a better source for a date, send the page address and the source to the WhatsApp number on the [home page](https://ashrafgentspghostel.adserr.com/). We will check it against the source and, if it holds, correct the page and update the source list. We do not change a dated fact on the strength of memory alone, however well meant; we need something we can cite. Facts about the hostel itself are kept separate on [Ashraf Gents Hostel facts](https://ashrafgentspghostel.adserr.com/ashraf-gents-hostel-facts/). ## Why this matters near the NAD signal Ashraf Gents Hostel is a men’s hostel and PG at Ashraf house, NAD Road signal, Kalamassery, and the people who stay here, students, staff and working men, are often new to the area. The archive is our way of giving them the background a local would have. On the hostel itself we state only what the owner’s public profile says; anything else, such as internet or timings, is for you to ask on the call to +91 90746 23855. ## Frequently asked questions **Where do the archive’s facts come from?** Mainly official documents, established Indian news organisations and Wikipedia, checked against each other, plus OpenStreetMap for local distances. Every page lists its sources. **What happens when sources disagree?** We give each figure with its source and say that they differ, rather than choosing one. **How do I report a mistake?** Send the page address and a published source to the WhatsApp number on the home page; we correct pages when the source supports the change. **Are the archive pages updated?** They are written as of October 2026. Corrections are made when a source shows an error; later events go into new or updated pages. ## Sources - [IMD: Monsoon onset press release with past-onset annex, 24 May 2025](https://mausam.imd.gov.in/Forecast/marquee_data/Special%20Press%20Release..pdf) - [Onmanorama: Kochi rain floods roads, cloudburst suspected (28 May 2024)](https://www.onmanorama.com/news/kerala/2024/05/28/kochi-rain-flooded-roads-hits-normal-life-cloudburst-suspected.amp.html) - [Wikipedia: Cyclone Ockhi](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyclone_Ockhi) - [OpenStreetMap: Copyright and licence](https://www.openstreetmap.org/copyright) - [Wikipedia: Verifiability policy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Verifiability) --- Facts about Ashraf Gents Hostel come from the hostel’s own profile, photos and Google Site; rates are indicative and confirmed on the call. Quoting with a link back to the URL above is welcome.