The Cochin Diaries - Day 2

The day's plan was to head out to Fort Kochi. Tharian was free since it was Good Friday and his day off. We decided to go soon as we were done with our breakfast. 930 was fixed as the time of dep. 

Now Tharian had been on a health and weight loss journey and has dropped an admirable 10 plus kilos in the past few months. I did not want him or Marina (who had both done a 10k recently) to change any of their routines and practices thanks to our visit - but he said he was ok with whatever we were up to. In my chat with him he told me a few things he had started doing on his weight loss journey - a brisk walk (heart rate must go upwards of 120 he said) for about 90 minutes on an average, portion control and being careful about what he eats (light breakfast, no carbs dinner, no sweets, nothing our of a packet and stuff like that) but mostly portion control. He told me he eats mindfully, chews properly (32 times is what I remember someone telling me), and I decided to adopt this practice. So eat healthy and mindfully, exercise, hydrate and rest. Thanks Tharian - this was one of the more useful conversations we had. Hopefully it will show some results for me as well.

Road to Fort Kochi

Since A was feeling a bit down, we decided to split up - Tharian, me and Sanjana went ahead to do a recce. Tharian's plan included having a drink at one nice fancy place which is why he wanted Sanjana to come along so she could drive on the way back (this is what she suspected, else why would he wait 15 minutes for her?). Anyway having resolved that issue amicably we three headed off. Tharian decided  to show me a bit of the neighbourhood like the Thevara jetty (where he would go fishing after dropping Sanjana off for her music classes - I did not know he could fish - I looked at him and his survival skills with new admiring eyes after that). Also all that music training seemed to have had a good effect on Sanjana because I could hear her humming and singing and she sings really well! Sanjana played some nice music, very drive friendly, Punjabi stuff.

Interesting - but didn't

After Thevara jetty which I mentally decided I should come back one morning by walk (which I never did), we went across the bridge to the Willingdon Island, the largest artificial island in India, claimed from the Vembanadu lake as part of a 1936 plan to build a modern port at Cochin (the Cochin Port itself has some great history). The plan was commissioned by the then British Governor of the Madras Residency and the man who envisioned and executed this port was one Robert Bristow after who there is a road named somewhere there. The Willingdon island houses the Port of Cochin, Kochi Naval Base, the Southern naval Command, Custom House etc.

Jew Town - The Paradesi Synagogue at the end

Now the whole place is full of islands connected by bridges and Water Metro. Tharian drove right up on empty, wide, tree lined  roads to the place where the iconic Taj Malabar was on Willingdon Island. On the way we passed the Katari Bagh, named after Admiral Ram Dass Katari from Hyderabad, who had studied in Mahbub College and Nizam College and lived in Sainikpuri, Hyderabad, the first Indian Chief of Naval Staff. It felt good to see a Hyderabadi connection there. 

Closed

After the drive around, we headed to Mattancherry and parked near the Jew Town. We walked up and down the Jew Town street, to the 400 year old Synagogue which was shut thanks to GF, peered at the many shops selling antiques. There are two types of Jews in Cochin from what I gather - the Malabar Jews who have been here since the days of King Solomon (970-931 BCE) and the Sephardi Jews who were religiously persecuted in Spain and Portugal and came to India in the 16th century. They were given land near the Mattancherry Palace by the Rajas of Kochi in 1524 and built the Paradesi Synagogue in 1568 (after the first Synagogue they had built in the 4th century was destroyed by the Portuguese). The Paradesi (foreigner) Synagogue at the Jew Town is the oldest active Synagogue in the Commonwealth. After Israel was made into a nation in 1948, many Cochin Jews left for Israel.

Colour coded car

Antique shops

Paintings in the Post Card Hotel

The Jew Town street is a photographers delight and naturally everyone was taking selfies and pictures. We ducked into an ancient hotel, run by the Post Card group, which the manager said served only local food etc, and had some coffee, fresh lime and stuff.

Nice vibe

The Godfather - and S

Refreshed we headed out again and found that the Mattancherry Palace which was next on the list was also shut due to the Good Friday holiday. We checked out the gates and walls carefully, saw a digital de-addiction centre by the side (sounded very interesting but didn't dare go in), a sign that said Koonan Pilgrim Centre, retracted steps, got back to the car and drove to the Fort Kochi area which is about a couple of kilometres from there.

The poster - Koonan Pilgrim Centre

Very interesting initiative - wonder what they do

At Fort Kochi there are no signs of a fort as one might normally expect (thanks to the Dutch who destroyed all that the Portuguese built diligently - why would you destroy a fort?). But there are walls, bastions and stuff if one looks carefully. Originally named Fort Manuel (the Portuguese ruler then I think), Fort Kochi has the distinction of being the first European Fort on Indian soil. Fort Kochi is named in the top 25 tourist destinations in Asia to visit by National Geo - so that leaves a mere 24 after this.

Trees of Fort Kochi

Now how the Portuguese were allowed to build a fort in Kochi is an interesting story. Vasco Da Gama landed first on Indian soil in Calicut in 1498 and opened the sea route to India (I have to reconcile how the Chinese and Arabs were already doing business here and Vasco gets all the credit). Soon after another Portuguese General Afonso de Albuquerque landed in Kochi in 1500 I think, and he helped the Raja of Kochi defeat the Sampoothiri (Zamorins) of Calicut. In return for his military services the Raja gave permission to build Fort Emmanuel and pretty soon realised he was relegated to being a vassal to the militarily stronger Portuguese. Obviously the Portuguese came with a serious agenda and were not here to make friends - they quickly seized control and started religious persecution and conversion (Jews and Syrian Christians) to the Catholic faith that they followed.

St Francis Church (CSI) - 1503

Peeping into the church

We stopped by at the St Francis Church (built in 1503) by the Portuguese. Vasco Da Gama died in Kochi in 1524 on his third visit to India and was buried in this church before his remains were taken back to Portugal in 1530. It was also one of the few Portuguese churches that the Dutch did not demolish - perhaps because it was  such a pretty church - they simply made it into a Protestant church. Fort Kochi or Cochin is the only state in India to have the distinction of being ruled by three foreign powers - the Portuguese (1498), followed by the Dutch (1683) and then the British took control (1795). Amazing how they went about it in a foreign land. Also one realises that the three main kingdoms - Travancore, Kochi and Calicut were not on very friendly terms which made it easier for the seafarers.

The Portuguese were rather aggressive in their conversions and were not too tolerant about other religions (as has been explained in the building of Mattancherry Palace which was an appeasement for having destroyed a temple). Looks like the Portuguese wanted everyone to be Catholic, and the Dutch wanted everyone to be Protestant. Catholic Churches were either destroyed or converted into Protestant churches and so on. One source says that the Dutch were more focused on trade and money and less on the religious angle that there was some relief for the locals (other sources feel otherwise). In fact there is another story of the Coonan Cross or the Great Oath of Bent Cross (1653) when the persecuted people took an oath refusing to submit to the Portuguese - it loads the dice against the Portuguese. There's a memorial of some sort on the island.

Santa Cruz Basilica

Too hot - picture got cut off at the top

Anyway, the St Francis Church was open and they were having some sort of a service but did not let tourists in - barricaded at the door. We took pics, wandered around and and decided it was time to pick up the tickets for the Kathakali show in the evening. The sun was really beating down on us so we did not really appreciate the Santa Cruz Basilica in the right spirit. It was a magnificent structure built by the Portuguese in 1505 (shut down due to Good Friday). It is one of the thirty four basilicas in India and one of nine in Kerala. Beautiful structure. Tharian tried to get a peep in but the doors and windows were tightly shut.

The Kochi Folklore Odeum - Must visit

We walked further in the hot Sun, found our place finally, bumped into an auto driver who convinced us that we should see the air conditioned version at the Kochi Folklore Odeum which was just a few hundred metres away, dropped us off there for a minimum fare of 30 bucks. You have these nice autos all over Fort Kochi that way - giving you the tuk tuk experience.

We booked tickets for the Kathakali show which was between 5-7 (5-6 pm we can watch the make up part, 6-7 pm was the actual show), followed by two other short shows - Theyyam and Kalaripayattu. We booked ourselves for the Kathakali and felt quite triumphant at our achievement.

     

Searching for drink and bread

Trees and the Vasco Da Gama Square

Now, hunger pangs and thirst pangs were making themselves heard, so we walked back to where we parked and went to the nice hotel there which I forget, very famous apparently, which showed in a half hour waiting line (also, no beer thanks to Good Friday). There was another Pandhal which we decided to skip, and then went to find this quaint pub, Francis pub, passing by some more lovely restaurants along the way, Kerala House and this and that. Francis Pub looked like something we would have loved to get into, but unfortunately it was Good Friday and they were shut too. Doors were not opening an inch despite banging on them. Now things were getting desperate. 

Kashi Art Cafe

We walked down to the Vasco da Gama Square which is where the famous Chinese fishing nets are, a park, and some old parts of Fort Kochi - the famous Old Harbour House and other such landmarks. After checking one other place which would not serve beer (Good Friday again) we decided to go to Kashi Art Gallery on Burgher Road (there's some significance to this Burgher - something to do with Dutch ancestry) which was also rather full. But by now we had not energy left so we just plonked ourselves on the first available seats, got our lime juice and food and sufficiently rejuvenated, walked back to the car.

Fort Kochi has these lovely old trees, huge, like I never seen before. its delightful. There's so much to do, so many delightful pubs, restaurants to visit, that it will take a long time to really get a hang of this place. The beach, the nets, the museums (Indo Portuguese Museum, the Mattancherry Palace Museum, Maritime Museum and so much more). We decided to head back home, and come back in a couple of hours for the Kathakali program. Like I said - I did get the lay of the land in this trip so hopefully I can do a more efficient job next time.

Interesting building 

Back home, A was up and was good to go and we all rested a bit and headed out at 5 to the Kochi Folklore Odeum. It was an old home I am guessing, rejigged into a lovely hotel and created this little place for these performances. The Kathakali show was very nice, we watched the elaborate make up session half way, then there was a demo of the various movements the artists do and their expressions, what each colour signifies for each character, and then watched a small portion of a play where a demon tries to fool Indra into marrying her. The entire show was very enjoyable. Kathakali, a dance-drama from Kerala, combines storytelling with dance and music - the music and sound added a fascinating element to the dance - just two musicians and young man on the drums and the singer with the cymbals But they cooked up a storm.

Demonstrating the various rasas 

Interacting with a member from the audience

Play going on 

So much so that we decided to stay back and watch the other two shows also - Theyyam and Kalaripayattu. Theyyam, dance of the gods, has elaborate costumes, face paint and aggressive dance movements. The performer would reach up into the audiences space at times, screaming. Combined with the light and sound effects, it could be a traumatic experience for a child or someone with a weak heart. 

Theyyam - dramatic beginning

The light and sound effects were quite good

Kalaripayattu, the ancient martial art form from Kerala, requires rigorous training and the performers, a band of four muscular ad fit boys, displayed vigorous exercises, their expertise with weapons like daggers, sticks, spears and swords including the dangerous urumi). Both very intense experiences.

That done, overwhelmed by an evening full of intense cultural experiences, we headed to Seagull for dinner - decided to walk it - past the famous Brunton Boatyard property. There was a college of management, an active sports club named after one of their deceased members with music and carrom games and activity. Very nice.    

Another church on the way to Seagull

Seagull was right on the edge of the waterfront and we had a lovely meal served by a very attentive waiter. I got my parotta and beef fry wish fulfilled and so all was well.

That was a lot for one day, so we crashed out.