kochi 20-22 august 07

on arriving back in kochi we settled down for a good rest in our “heritage home” guest house, all light with wooden ceilings wooden doors marble floors and a courtyard that we could look out onto from where we sat outside our room. the perfect spot to sit about reading of a long lazy hot afternoon. and perfect for the main appeal of fort kochi. cuz i don’t think anything much ever happens in fort kochi; there are these quiet homes and there are these quiet tea shops, these quiet streets lined by old buildings... a gentle little place to finish up a tiring trip across south india.

so these last few days floated by, us eating our appams and curries and steamcakes and mashed bananas, sipping endless pots of tea and fresh lime sodas, supping beyond our means at the fancy restaurants, walking the streets past old portuguese trading houses and old village-style homes with their sloping tiled roofs, standing by the sea to take in the air and watch the choreographed collection of fish from the chinese nets, taking ferry rides across to get lost in the hustle bustle of ernakulam or to wander up towards sunset at cherai beach, watching the birds hopping about in the garden from the table outside our bedroom.

there were a few more specific attractions of course, aside from the calm and peace of just existing in the midst of all this. the dutch palace down towards jewtown was absolutely beautiful. a lot seemed to be closed off, but it was still full of murals of the mahabharata and krishna lila and other such subjects all with weird shaped women that looked most like men, and lovely wooden carved ceilings. there was also a gallery of portraits of the various rulers of kochi and some odd palanquins and head dresses and swords to fill up a bit more space.

there was also the synagogue over in jewtown. very airy and nice to just sit and take a bit of rest in, with a floor done in blue and white tiles from china, crystal chandeliers and gold pulpit, and lots and lots of glass lamps in many colors. there was a balcony upstairs for the lady folks. but outside of this, there was very little to indicate the community that had once settled here. instead, the streets around the synagogue seemed to be the place for some reason that all the sellers of kashmiri shawls and various antiques gathered, crowding the streets and calling after you to take just a look with frustrating persistence.

kochi was like a breather and a buffer between the running-around and ambition of our trip, and the inevitable return to kolkata. we lazed and lay around and breathed deep. and then when our time was up, we gathered ourselves and our things into a new suitcase, the troublesome tiresome red suitcase that had weighed us down finally having finally broken apart on the way back from alleppey, hopped onto the first autorickshaw that gave us a fair(ish) price, and set off out of the city, out to the airport, to catch our flight back north.