Chillin in Kochi

We got off the house boat in Appelley (sp?), met up with our fabulous driver, Arumagum, and he drove us to what is now called Kochi or what used to be called until recently Cochin.(I love that India has decided to shake off the portugeese,french, dutch, english,etc.names and reestablish the Indian names-e.g. Mumbai instead of Bombay; Kolkata instead of Calcutta; Puducherry instead of Pondicherry.)

Kochi is right on the Arabian ocean and it is so relaxing at least Fort Kochi(the old part) where we stayed and toured. The city is really a few islands/pennisulas joined together by bridges and it is considered the most cosmopolitan city in Kerala. We only ventured into big city part, Ernakulam, on our way to the airport- we could see all the skycrapers, malls, expensive car dealerships, apartment buildings, businesses, etc. - definitely fewer cows and goats and there are major intersections with traffic lights visible.



The old city is mostly about seeing the Portugese, Dutch and english buildings. It is amazing how many countries came to India to exploit all its amazing resources -there is a big spice trade here.












There was a Jewish population in Kochi for a while, but they are only a very few left(like less than 100). We saw India's oldest synagogue (1568) and some of the oldest European churches, St. Francis Church and Santa Cruz Cathedral. The famous, Vasco de Gama, was buried at St. Francis (1500s) but then his body was moved to Portugal. What was obvious here and different from Tamil Nadu was the presence of more Muslims and mossques. It's interesting because the women wear dark browns and blacks instead of the vibrant colors that the Hindu and Christian women wear.

Fishing is big here and they make use of these huge Chinese fishing nets to bring in the catch, so we checked out the fish markets, dipped our toes in the Arabian ocean, checked out Mattancherry Palace (built by Portugese and given to the ruler in Kochi in exchange for trading rights- traitor!). Mostly we went walking down some tiny steets with great antique shops and craft shops in what they call Jew Town.

We also ran into a group of young girls from the Windsor school in Boston and their teachers; i love how that happens- go half way around the world to meet people who live in your backyard.

We met with a cousin of a colleague who owned our fabulous hotel, Bruton Boathouse, the Cocunut Lagoon and some others. He, like so many others, extolled the multi-cultural way of living in Kochi. He talked about the progress that is being in education (Kerala's literacy rate is 91%!!!)and production has increased tremendously over the years, but there is still more to do. Lots of folks are not employed and according to the Green Planet, they have highest suicide and liquor consumption in India. Go figure? Also he talked about the value of traditional communal oriented living, but also said that as the middle class grows there are ways in which more Indians are moving into the nucleur family approach to life- which has its up and down sides. He was the one who reminded us that Indians use an average of 1000 watts per person of energy every year and we use 12000 per person in the U.S. -so therefore, how important it is that India as it grows and improves it continues to think about managing its footprint on the world (with one billion plus folks).

Also they have an freely elected communist party here-it has been a leading party in Kerala for years. Our guide said that they call them cocunut communist- Kerala style. They supposedly have been responsible for land reform and education, infrastructure improvement, etc.

By the way, in Kerala, the language is Malayalam- So its "namaste" for hello (vanakam in Tamil) and "nanni" (nandre (dree) in Tamil)for thank you. While everyone around us knows 2 to 5 different languages, Tres and i have committed to at least knowing the words for hello and thank you in each state we go to- pitiful, I know, but luxury (or luck)can breed laziness i guess. I remember Tres saying to me when we were in South Africa; the one good thing you can say for those Brits colonizing everything in sight-- the English language is prevalent and we show up around the world and folks know our native language. Of course that doesn't keep us for feeling inept. Mary reminds me that i was a hell of a good Latin student. A lot of good that has done- sanskrit would definitely have been a better idea for India.