Kochi, Kottayam & Alleppey

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I took the morning express train from Thrissur to Kochi (Ernakulam) on March 30. My host in Kochi had to work so I wondered around the city by myself which was great. I had lunch at the indiancoffeehouse.com near the Main Jetty, it was the worst food I've had anywhere in India so do avoid it at all cost. I took the ferry to Fort Kochi and walked around a bit, went to the Jain temple and then the Dutch Palace. There was absolutely nothing to see at all in the Dutch Palace except for the mural paintings which were faded in certain parts and in a room that's badly lit. The copies I saw in Thrissur were much better. The paintings are very beautiful. I found it fascinating how the people are portrayed with different skin colour. For example, the 3 wives of Dasaratha all had different skin colour, one light, one medium and one dark. In the mural depicting the masses welcoming the return of Sita, all the people were light skinned except one. Other than the characters that had blue skin (denoting a deity), all the characters were light skinned except for a few with darker skin tone here and there. I asked many people but nobody knew why the skin tones were painted in different colours. I wonder if the colours were meant to show the different races or something else, and whether they are the interpretation of the artist or if the original literature (Ramayana) actually detailed the different races (or skin colours) of the characters.

I also went to the Jewish synagogue in Fort Kochi. This synagogue is only 500 years old but there was another one from the 14th century which is no longer standing. I learned from the displays that King Solomon's traders had contact with people in Kerala in 979 BC and that a Jewish kingdom was established in Anjuvannam in 379 BC (somewhere in Kerala) which is why to this day, Jews are known as Anjuvans in Kerala. I googled about this and it seems that there is no consensus about when the Jews came to stay, one source says that Jews came around 70 AD. In any case, they've been here for a bloody long time and were living mainly in the area of Cranganore but were driven out of there around the 16th century at which point the King who ruled the area around Kochi gave them refuge and so they settled in Kochi from then on. Kochi became known as Jew town. Today, there are only 5 Jewish families left in Kochi and they are all very elderly which means very soon, there won't be any left.

I visited a home for mentally disabled children in Kannur and the sisters (nuns) taking care of them said that most of the children are from Muslim families because Muslims can only marry Muslims, and since the Muslim community has existed in Kerala for over a thousand years, there has been a lot of in-breeding. It is acceptable in the Muslim community for a man to marry his sister's daughter, in fact, it's auspicious. Consequently, a lot of gene abnormalities occur. Incidentally, some of the children looked completely caucasian.

Because of the various origins of Keralites, it is not uncommon to find people with green eyes or hazel eyes. The caste system is rather complicated in Kerala. I googled this and there are over 200 castes and too difficult to talk about here but many lower castes have now become quite wealthy (as many work in UAE), the castes no longer counts for much, it's how much money and influence you have. But it may always have been like this in Kerala. For example, the Ezhava caste are said to have originated from Sri Lanka and were originally farmers, ayurvedic doctors, traders, warriors and craftsmen, and in general, pretty spread out in terms of professions. When the Aryans came, the Aryans categorized them as a people outside the 4-tier caste system, that is, lower than the lowest caste, but the Ezhavans have never really followed the caste system imposed by the Aryans. They make up more than a quarter of the population in Kerala and there have been many famous, distinguished and wealthy Ezhavans throughout Kerala's history. My impression of Kerala is that there is a caste system and people do recognize it but it doesn't really mean much on a practical basis in everyday life because a lot of the scheduled castes like the Ezhava are wealthier than some of the higher castes. Also, people in general, treat each other more or less the same no matter what your caste or position in society so the caste thing really count for a whole lot.

My host in Kochi was a really cool guy but he was more of a cosmopolitan than an Indian. I had so much fun talking to him. One term he told me about from his college days that was so perfect for describing Indians who are more into western culture than Indian culture is "UBI", Unfortunately Born in India. This so perfectly describes some of the Indians I know personally.

I took a bus to Alleppey and then directly to Kottayam. The 3 hr ferry ride from Alleppey to Kottayam was from 11:30am to 2:30pm, literally the hottest time of the day and it was sooooooo slow, stopping every few minutes to drop people off so that I just fell asleep. I tried to stay awake but just couldn't. I took this ferry to enjoy the backwaters but I managed only to see a bit. However, I could not stand being in a ferry in flat water like that. I had to be paddling myself in the water. I was going insane being in the ferry! I have to, have to go paddling in this water, I said to myself.

In Kottayam, my host Jacob drove me around to show me some sites, mostly churches and a mosque. My host was not a latin Christian but some type of Christian. There are many many different types of Christians, and they mostly marry only within their own type of Christian (god! people here just love segregating themselves!). I found it amazing how the churches had so many hindu elements. The paintings, artwork and sculptures looked so much like they were done by hindu artists, it was like being in a temple except the figures were Christ and the disciples, etc. There were hindu lamps and various other ornaments and things that were hindu. The mosque on the outside had carvings and architecture in the style of hindu temples from Maharashtra, and unless somebody told me it was a mosque, I would have never known as there were no symbols or any indication that it was a mosque. My host then took me to his village which is the same village where Arundhati Roy came from (her family's house is in the village). Arundhati Roy lived in this village during summer holidays as a child and wrote about this village in her book "God of Small Things". My host was quite proud of the fact so I didn't tell him that I didn't like the book at all. I read about 1/3 of it and just couldn't continue I disliked it so much. Then, he took me to his house where he lived with his wife and 2 kids. My host looked completely like a Mexican and since they are Christians (Catholics) and had all these crosses, icons and pictures of Christ everywhere, plus the hot weather, I kept thinking I was in Mexico. I had to constantly remind myself that I was in India. But every time I looked at this guy when he was talking, I thought I was in Mexico. He had 2 pet turkeys and when I left, they were leaving as well to stay with relatives in another town so they had to drop their pet turkeys off at his father's place, so all of us plus 2 turkeys were packed into a small compact car--I called this "Riding in Car with Turkeys".

I went back to Alleppey (Alappuzha) and stayed at an ayurvedic massage centre as that's where my host placed me. I asked him if he can get me a boat for a single person (I saw many around) so I can go paddling by myself. After some searching, they got me one on April 3 for the early morning (as people use these boats for work) so I paddled around by myself in the backwaters for about 2.5 hours. I started at Finishing Point, went around the canals all the way around the paddy field (this island that had a paddy field in the middle): from the church to Keraliyam Resort, then eastward all around the paddy field turning south and then west, and then back to the church. Everywhere I went, when people saw me, they would do a double take, show surprise on their faces and then break into a smile or laughter, it was so great to make so many people happy. I got some really funny reactions. Many people asked me "where are you going?" in such a way as to mean "what the hell are you doing?" Some people told me to paddle correctly (they obviously don't know about the J stroke). One guy yelled at me from the other shore, "come! come!" and was very very insistent so I went over. He asked me, as if I'm doing something ridiculous, "how old are you?" I said 44 and he gestured to mean, "oh, then, that's okay." Apparently, it would not be okay if I were younger?! One guy's reaction was "hey, where did you get that boat," thinking that I had stolen it from somewhere. There were a lot of houseboats around and when I passed by one, the guy on the houseboat asked me to go over. He asked me what I was doing, etc. and we chatted a bit. The houseboat he was on was beautiful. He said that it was a very special houseboat and the owner is Italian. They rent it out for 30,000 Rs per day and it sleeps 6, no bargaining, the price is fixed. (palmaverdetours.com) He works as the captain, i.e., he's the one who drives the boat, and invited me to visit the boat. So after I finished paddling, I went back to where the houseboat was parked (at a small island across from Starting Point) and visited the boat. It was indeed very beautiful, even on the inside. The captain also lives on the small island so he showed me around the island and we visited his family and relatives. All the small houses were so well-kept and clean, I didn't see any garbage anywhere. Everything was quite rustic, the fences were all handmade from sticks and whatever materials they could find. The houses and structures were really simple but very clean and neat. I also managed to climb a coconut tree and taste freshly collected toddy, it was so delicious! The paddling around backwaters by myself and the visit to the village on the island made this my best day ever in India!

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Comments

[prashantha venkataswamy]

original literature (Ramayana) actually detailed the different races (or skin colours) of the characters.
hi... different colors meant for representation of characters!!! In terms of spirituality Blue color indicated the great almighty he who thou himself infinity and he is unlimited in spontaneous giver of energy and knowledge to the mankind and himself too is like as vast as like the expanding unlimited size of the SKY!!! So as blue color just indicate ….the giver in Hindu says that he is the Lord Mahaa Vishnu, the human beings have three main characters they are 1) Saathvikas, BLUE (Sky complexion )(only dhal, rice eaters and it is without salt, and without hot(i.e. chilly) as well their behaviors towards society (any Monks, higher Spiritualism) 2) Raasathikas White or yellow (whiter complexion)(fully vegetarians with full of spice and eaters as well their behaviors in society (chief Architecture, planner, Astrologer, Accouter) 3) Taamstikas RED or black (darker complexion) (both above two of them and with non veg eaters (Army ,workers)