Short trip to Kochi

[anshjain97]

I spent the weekend staying in a resort near the town of Kochi, Kerala. A coastal city on the Arabian sea, it is fairly typical of most Indian cities: growing and apart from a few areas, almost identical.

Kerala is famous for being very green and here are some shots from the drive from Kochi airport to the resort, around 25 km.





Kerala has a large Christian population, so there are many churches here.


Next day, we left to Kochi for a day trip. Here is the cityscape from a bit away:


We had to get on a ferry to reach the Fort Kochi area. It was a thoroughly disorganised ferry where cars, bikes, autos and pedestrians stood alongside each other.


After the short ferry ride was over, we drove into Fort Kochi. Random streetview:


Our first stop was the St Francis Church.

[anshjain97]

The church is famous for once housing the remains of the Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama. His tombstone is located here but his remains were shifted to Lisbon.




The old-style fans:


A streetview outside and a street sign. These signs are uncommon in India apart from touristy areas.

[anshjain97]

Continuing on the road...


Another streetview:


And our next stop, the Santa Cruz Basilica.




It was supposed to be open but didn't seem so, so we took a quick look and left.

Our next stop was the Dutch Palace Museum. It is now a museum with displays about the history of Kochi (Cochin) and about the royalty etc.
Entrance to the complex:



Typical of Indian museums, photography wasn't allowed inside.
But here are some photos of around the complex.




No peeing in the museum!


A view of what was near the museum.

[Deleted]

Fascinating -- and the town does not seem to be crowded at all!

[bjd]

"No peeing in the museum" is not very flattering for India's tourists!

How long ago was Kochi Portuguese? Was it an enclave like Goa?

[anshjain97]

Lack of crowds made it feel quite quaint.

Bjd, Kochi was under Portuguese rule from 1503 to 1663.

[anshjain97]

We then continued to visit a Jain temple where I didn't take any photos as it is usually forbidden.

Later, just a streetview of the area.


Our next stop was the Jew Town. Unfortunately, being a Saturday, the synagogue was closed so I only have a picture of its exterior.


A sign also in Hebrew:


More of the main drag of Jew Town. Good place to buy cashews and spices.





Then we left the Fort area for the modern area, part of Ernakulam district. On the way, still in Fort area.




Here is the tollway which leads to the bridge to Ernakulam, across the water.

[Deleted]

I always love the street scenes.

Wondering about Jew Town, though -- I presume that there is at least a small Jewish population remaining in Kochi, but are they of European origin? Mixed? Indian?

[anshjain97]

There are still some Jews in Kochi- but no idea about their descent. The only people I saw in Jew Town looked of Indian descent, except for tourists (who obviously looked like tourists).

[anshjain97]

Now on the bridge, overlooking the sea.


It was a small bridge- only one lane each side. Traffic was pretty heavy.


Here is Ernakulam. Similar to many other Indian town centres- lots of commerce, identical looking buildings and of little interest to a traveller.



Some greenery in the area:



This is a new street sign; because it uses the new name Kochi rather than the old one Cochin.


Our last stop was the Lulu Mall after lunch. Newly opened, it is apparently the largest mall in India.


Pretty much like any other mall in India. Nothing unique or special, just immensely crowded (it was, after all, a Saturday afternoon).


Not the most crowded section.

Well, that's it. Hope you enjoyed it.

[tod2]

Definitely! Most enjoyable indeed Ans

[Deleted]

Yes, very much enjoyed it.

I was wondering what the average Indian (not that you are average, Ansh!) thinks about 'changing' all of the name of the cities like Kochi/Cochin, Mumbai/Bombay, etc. Is it a source of pride to have 'taken back' (?) the names from the English or is it much ado about nothing?

[anshjain97]

Change of names are of course politically motivated. However I've no idea what purpose they are supposed to serve, if any. Native people may like the decision (hence changing the name itself actually occurred).

Many of these have not been successful. While many say Mumbai rather than Bombay, name changes for roads and landmarks in Mumbai have completely failed. Everyone says Victoria Terminus rather than Chatrapati Sivaji Terminus.

Mumbai's major seafront road is always called Marine Drive, rather than Netaji Subha Chandra Bose Road.

[lugg]

interesting report as always Ansh, thanks.

[Deleted]

I was comparing this report with Mark's recent report, and the famous Thai expression comes to mind: "Same same but different."

[onlyMark]

I don't remember seeing this. It seems we covered a lot of the same ground but ansh stayed in Ernakulum. I notice there is also a photo of the Chariot Beach restaurant. It all brings back recent memories whilst I sit here in the cold in Spain.

[bixaorellana]

No idea where I was or what I was doing in July of 2013, but I never saw this extremely interesting report before. Apologies, Ansh!

The area seems quite crowded with churches. Does anyone know if the original Jewish population came in with the other invaders in the 16th century?

Trivia comment ~ I believe those fans shown in the St. Francis church pictures are called punkah (sp?).

[onlyMark]

There were "Black Jews" in southern India in the 12 Century and synagogues were built in the State of Kerala back then. Those specifically in Kochi are believed to have come from Spain in the 16th Century and were referred to as "White Jews". They came after being expelled from Iberia because of a decree made by the Spanish Catholic monarchs. They arrived around the time of European involvement in India but weren't really a part of it. It just happened at the same time.

The strips of cloth/rattan are called punkah, well done for knowing that, and the man who flaps them (by a system of pulleys in this case) is the 'walla(h)', thus whilst doing this job he is the punkawalla. If the same man was doing laundry he'd be the dhobi wallah.
To split hairs a little, there are 23(?) official languages in India and punkah is Hindi and also as Hindi is the official language in only about a third of the States, mainly in the north, then I have no idea at all what they may be called in Kerala or the other States. Probably about the same with a slight variation as it may be a common word between the languages. A bit like aloo (potato) or gobi (cauliflower) being used in most places (at least that I know).

(The keys on my laptop that are for brackets mentioned to me this morning that they felt underused. I thought I'd try and rectify that in this post.)