Saturday 9 April 2016
Cochin, India

I hope all my readers weren't bored by yesterday's star-struck blog, but seeing a bona fide Tony-nominated performer on board a cruise ship is quite a rare occasion.  I will have to get all my packing done early tomorrow so that I will be able to enjoy dinner with Prof Ruiz and friends, and stay awake for an encore performance by Ms Andreas.

Although I had set a wake-up call and room-service breakfast for 7:45am this morning, I am awakened a few hours earlier by a loud clap of thunder and some pounding rain.  This is the first rain since leaving Hong Kong so I am not really complaining.  And by the time we are docked, have done a face-to-face immigration meeting with Indian authorities on board ship, and gathered for our tour of Cochin, it is well past 9am and the rain has stopped for the day.

The monsoons don't begin here until June (this part of India gets two Monsoons, one from the Arabian Sea on the west and a later one from the Bay of Bengal on the east), but changing weather patterns bring brief welcome showers in the early mornings at this time of year. Before boarding the tour bus, I stop at a currency exchange booth to obtain Indian Rupees (with no extra service charge).  Of course, having local money in my pocket means that I will make my first souvenir purchase today, albeit a very modest one:  two small hand-made notebooks from Viakerala, a local design shop that represents contemporary Malayalam culture native to Kerala, the Indian state in which Cochin is located.

The tour begins with a mere 20-minute bus ride from the port to the old city ("mere" compared to some of the much longer bus rides I have experiences in other ports on this cruise).  Cochin, almost at the bottom of the subcontinent, is built on a series of man-made islands on the edge of the Arabian Sea. Over the past four centuries, it has been occupied by the Portuguese, the Dutch, and the British.  In fact, Cochin was the first place in India to have commercial contact with Europeans.  It is also the site of a small Jewish community that still has an active synagogue.

ms Nautica Docked in Cochin, India

We make a brief visit to the Cochin Historical Museum, which has a large collection of ecclisiastic relics obtained from various churches in the city--but no photos allowed.  More interesting is a quick look into the basement where the only scant remains of the original Fort Cochin remain unloved in the dark.  We are given some free time to wander through the small museum, when I am approached by one of the attendants who asks if I would like to see some “postcards.”  At last, I think, I will see what the locals look at in the privacy of their dark rooms!  But, alas, he takes me into his private office just to look at some typical tourist postcards. Which, of course, I do not purchase.

 

At St Francis Church we must remove our shoes but may retain our socks to view the inside of the building with its wooden ceiling and large punka fans.  If you’ve seen David Lean’s film version of E M Forster's A Passage to India (or any number of BBC programs), you’ll know that these large fabric panels are operated by “punka wallahs” who sit in the heat outside the building and provide manpower for the fans.

Cloth Fans Pulled by Punka Wallahs

From the church we walk through a phalanx of souvenir sellers to the waterfront, which is really a small fishing village, using rthe ancient methods of Chinese net fishing.

Back on the bus we take a short ride to a 16th-century maharaja’s palace, recently converted to a museum that glorifies the long line of royal personages.  No photos again, but this time the reason is the beautifully preserved frescoes that decorate the walls, and the magnificent teak ceiling and floors.

We are then on our way to another part of old Cochin, still known as “Jewtown,” for the presence of traditional Jewish businesses (at least they used to be) and the Paradesi Synagogue that still holds services for the very small Jewish population and any tourists who care to join them.  What was originally a flourishing community under the benevolent Dutch colonizers has dwindled to a mere handful of families in the present.

Today is Saturday so the synagogue is closed to tourists, but we get a good look at the courtyard and clock tower (the first for a synagogue I believe).  We are given some time to wander the narrow streets of Jewtown.  This is actually the part of town most recommended for those looking for authentic crafts and local fabrics. Although I don't know if many shops are still owned by Jewish families, quite a few display various Judaic symbols and “shalom” signs. I’ve already described my small purchase here.

It's a thankfully short bus ride back to the ship along streets with names like “Tagore Boulevard" and "Indira Gandhi Road,"
because it is way past lunch time (remember I had breakfast quite early).

The web is very very very sloooooooooooooow tonight, so I shall continue the day's blog and add more pictures from Cochin during the day tomorrow, my last at sea.