WanderingSusan

CRUISING AROUND KERALA STATE FEB. 1 AND 2

The word Kochi or Cochin means “like China.” The Chinese apparently were early visitors here by ship and the fishing net apparatus they use here (we haven’t seen it yet) are remnants of that visit. 1.5 million of the people here are fishermen.

I’m hoping to get an ayerveda treatment/massage at maybe the hotel in Cochin. It’s an ancient medicine, using herbs, minerals and yogic exercises. No side effects. Gives more emphasis on prevention than cures. Has been around for 2000+ years. They use sandalwood paste, and other herbs. Larry demonstrated crossing your arms, pinching your ear lobes and squatting! It will be interesting!

Here we are 540 miles to the equator. To the north, Delhi is 1500 miles. There are 30 states in India; Kerala has 14 districts, along the west coast. The people here are much darker, called Dravidia people - consider indigenous to India; whereas the northerners are Aryan, descendants of the invaders from the north. The Aryans are a socio ethnic linguistic group who invaded India about 1500 BC originally from around the Caspian Sea. They started the caste system; they considered cow as holy. They made up the Hindu mythology.

In Kerala They speak Malayalam language. Hindi always has a line on the top; their language doesn’t, more flowing and curlicues. Root languages are considered Latin, Greek and Sanskrit - all 3-4000 years old. Their language comes from Sanskrit.

After our 3.5 hour flight to Kochi (Cochin) in the SW state of Kerala, we were met by VJ (Vajesh) our guide for this 5 day tour of the south. This is a very different area, with a different language (Malayam) and we’re getting used to VJ’s accent. After a 2 hour bus ride through the city, we arrived at a southern area that has a huge network of waterways. We rode a tuk-tuk through narrow streets to our houseboats.

Barbara, Larry, Mark and I are on one, each with our own bedroom, with AC and a fan!! and a private bath. After lunch on board, we cruised a bit, sitting in a lovely deck lounge, nice breeze and then stopped at a village for a walk. It’s very small, with huge embankments (for when the monsoons come and flood everything!) and rice fields in between. After walking for about an hour, past many basic homes, concrete blocks covered in stucco, we rested back on our decks with a cool drink.

I can’t say I’ve grown enthusiastic over Indian food. Wasn’t too crazy about it when we had ordered it for Doug’s birthday party from Kolam in Newtown. Tonight we stopped at a little fish shop on the bank and VJ bought HUGE prawns for our dinner. So we’ll see! I DO like the Kingfisher beer here and Barbara and I have been sharing one in the evenings.

Today we walked down the path to watch a “tapper.” This is a guy who climbs up a coconut tree and taps, with a femur of a sama deer to loosen the sap, I guess. He had tied coconut rope and part of a shell to make steps up the tree. He was tapping on part of the flower of the tree. Another stem that he had previously tapped and cut, had a bucket hooked on and he poured about a liter of sap into his jug. The one he tapped he didn’t cut - he apparently taps it every day for about a month and then cuts it with this HUGE chopping knife he had around his waist. He dropped a few drops on VJ’s hand so we could taste the clear sweet liquid. It’s called “toddy” but with a long o. Everyone can drink it this way, or wait 3 hours and it ferments and becomes a mild alcohol. We tasted a bit of fresh - it was very mild; we’ll have the toddy at dinner tonight.

After breakfast we all got on one boat (the two couples were on a different boat, with VJ) and we cruised together, learning information about Kerala. This state has a 100% literacy rate, everyone is employed, and people seem to have a pretty nice life, in this lush subtropical growing area. It was surprising to see so many churches an religious schools. This area was settled by the Dutch, Portuguese and English explorers. Vasco de Gama, the Portuguese, died here but his body was later returned to Portugal. The Dutch helped build all these dikes to protect the fields; many of the rice fields are actually below sea level, like in Holland. We walked through one village where they were having a huge gathering, with VERY loud shouting over speakers and music as we got closer. It was a church where hundreds of people were listening to this born-again-type speaker shouting at them. There were portraits and statues of some kind of saint and VJ said it was a local guy/saint.

Boarding our houseboat for 2 days

Relaxing on the deck

This was the other boat.

Rice fields and bank. Learned from the Dutch!

Mahogany boat

Villagers as we walked around.

Fisherman diving for clams.

What a life! Cruising along!

We passed groups of first elementary, then middle school, then high school kids all in different uniforms heading home. VJ said they were from a government school, not a private religious one. I think he said most people were Hindu, maybe 20% were Christian, more than any other area of India.

We passed several groups of women gathered in one house. VJ said they were settling up accounts from their morning working in the rice fields. Looked like a nice social time for women! We also passed a house where maybe 15 children were sitting on a blanket and seemed to be working on homework with one of the mothers answering questions and supervising.