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So we’re in cochin/kochi now. Another one of those enchanting treasure troves Kerala seems to be littered with. Cochin has been a riveting experience, where we suspend both time and disbelief. It’s the languorous waters/backwaters, I reckon, that makes for a very “lepak” milieu. Throw in a good session or 2 of ayuvedic massage, and I think it all makes for a more-potent-than-horse tranquilizer-mix. Nowhere in India/kerala can you find a mélange more assorted than in cochin. With the fêted Chinese fishing nets that line the shore, to basilicas & churches built-razed-then rebuilt by the scores of anglo, dutch, portugese colonials, and the veritable hallowed art form of Karthakali still very much art-of-the-state (haha), its hard for any culture vulture not to adore cochin.
We’re residing on the island of fort cochin, very sweet. In a guest house called Walton’s Homestay. The dude that runs it is very charming, very intriguing. Like an enigma. Check out b’s blog for more on Mr. Walton. But first more on the Chinese fishing nets. They’re an array of monumental contraptions that border the shoreline; allegedly bequeathed by eminent Chinese explorer/admiral Zheng He during his sojourns. These Chinese fishing nets were believed to be
sweeteners to let Zheng He & co. in on the spice trade that was rampant in India at that time, with pepper as the currency/poison of choice (affectionately coined ‘black gold’). Anws, history aside, the fishing nets are a canti-levered (wiki it for meaning haha) apparatus that is a shrewd system of weights and counter weights eliciting nth more than boulders and human mass. How state-of-the-art, how precocious. I was beguiled. They’re a lens into a world past, ancient sailboat trade and diplomatic ties, which are tragically almost certainly blighted by the massive fishing trawlers of today though. What a picturesque tableau, still. Hopefully I catch one at sundown later.
(For a kickass read check this out http://www.time.com/time/asia/features/journey2001/india.html)
Caught ourselves a karthakali performance as well! Was all pumped for it since having first heard abt the mahabharatas and ramayanas back in south asian modules I read. The art form putatively crystallized around the same time as Shakespeare penned his plays. That’s history for you. I think karthakali takes the cake, though. Simply because it’s a performing art medium that has no dialogue or verbose speeches, just convoluted, intricate motions and moments of the eye, head, lips, cheek, fingers, feet,
land before time
what a dreamscapetorso, etc and gesticulations and visages that convey an assortment of dispositions and messages. very exquisite, very phenomenal. We were totally stoked about being able to catch the pre-show make up bits, to going backstage after the performance like groupies in a trailer truck.
Last culture-vulture bit that had me sold: Our guest house owner had entreated us to make a trip down to the Jain temple to catch a dude feeding pigeons on the temple grounds. How beguiling can it possibly get, right? Not like its anywhere as epic as Trafalgar square. I cldn’t be more wrong! At 12, the temple guy bellowed some chant and the opportunistic (or so I thought) pigeons that were hitherto surveying their prospects of a free meal suddenly got in formation and hovered around the temple grounds 3 times (I was told by some devotees it was the birds offering their thanks/prayers for the providence) before descending for the meal proper. It was almost a sinister spectre, the sky turned dark with the cascade of pigeons plummeting, eclipsing the light and the heat for a moment. Like a scene out of a Batman flick, really. The cacophony, then the billowing mass of
primary school science?
do the levers and pulleys jargon ring a bell?? birds in a blanket of black, all sounds pretty surreal, I suppose you have to see it unravel before you la. It was very transcendental, very supra-whatever. Make your way to the Jain temple at 12 if you ever make it to fort cochin! We’d be hanging a couple more days before we do our sleeper train (finally)! That would be massive as well I cant wait to do adrien brody or owen wilson like in Darjeeling Limited!
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