I am back in Fort Cochin on my second to last day in India (Hurrah!). I can only say this trip has not been a vacation. It has been a learning experiance in assumptions, in learning how to ask direct questions, enunciating the english langauge well does not = ability to speak english, and many other lessons. In the coming paragraphs, I will try and recap the ups and downs of our trip through the Indian State of Kerala.
May 2nd, 2007 - A night in Bangalore
My mother and I barely escaped the nightmare that was Bangalore. Our delayed flight arrived a little past one in the morning and a nice Sikh IT worker for Oracle named Jaspreet tried to help my mother and I find a safe, clean, hotel near the airport. All the recommended hotels in our Lonely Planet were full and we were left to use of the hotel finding services, which for a nominal fee (500 rupess = $12.00) could alledgedly book a hotel. Now in most countries, when you book a hotel for someone, you make sure the hotel has a room... BUT not in Bangalore. We arrived via Tuk-tuk around 2am and my mother was in bad shape. The fatigue and 10 days of constipation were showing their toll and she was dehydrated. When we got to the hotel, we waited around for 15 minutes patiently while I ascertained that 1) there were no rooms and 2)there was no clean water. Being in an angry state as seems to be the norm for me, I asked, really, demanded someplace to sleep. With our bags in hand, we marched down the street to a sister hotel which had no air conditioning, something else we were promised and had paid for. I decided some sleep was better than none, while my poor mother tried to have a bowel movement and take a shower. On her way out, she slipped owing to the fact the power and water went out, oh and there was not bathmat on a slippy tile floor with multiple levels, hit her tailbone leaving a nice bruise, my acupuncture needles couldn't touch. The next morning we left ASAP after I told the hotel manager that I would pay him half of the expected sum. But, he demanded all of it, we settled on 70%.
May 3rd, 2007 - Arrival in Kochi (aka cochin)
Kochi ( is a city in the Indian state of Kerala. The city is one of the principal seaports of the country and is located in the district of Ernakulam, about 220 kilometres (137 mi) north of the state capital, Thiruvananthapuram. It has an estimated population of 600,000, with an extended metropolitan population of about 1.5 million, making it the largest urban agglomeration and the second largest city in Kerala after the capital. Since 1102 CE, Kochi was the seat of the Kingdom of Cochin, a princely state which traces its lineage to the Kulasekhara empire. Heralded as the Queen of the Arabian Sea, Kochi was an important spice trading centre on the Arabian Sea coast from the 14th century onwards. Ancient travellers and tradesmen referred to Kochi in their writings, variously alluding to it as Cocym, Cochym, Cochin, and Cochi. Occupied by the Portuguese in 1503, Kochi was the site of the first European colonial settlement in India. It remained the capital of Portuguese India until 1530, when Goa became the capital. The city was later occupied by the Dutch, the Mysore and the British. Kochi was the first princely state to willingly join the Indian Union, when India gained independence in 1947.
Looking down over the tropical lush forests and deltas of Kerala, I saw hope. We landed on time to a nice private airport and were immediatly met by our guide/driver Joshy, a person recommended by my mothers friend, Joan, and necklaces of Jasmine Flowers. The air was clean, their was a breeze and I was looking forward to an Ayuverdic treatment and seeing Malabar, the ol capital of the Spice Trade. We made our way the 40km in a nice new big air conditioned Toyota to the Kochi peninsula neighborhood of Fort Cochin. Fort Cochin is where the Portugese, then Dutch, and finally British traders settled and made their headquarters in the Spice Trades. Vasco de Gama was even originally buried here and the town is definately colonial sitting right on the coastline of the Arabian Sea. Joshy had arranged for us to stay at the luxurious Bruton Boatyard Hotel which is a converted Dutch ship building office with ocenside rooms only. The room was stunning, with a huge bathtube and balcony with dolphins swimming as fishing boats sailed by. I though, where is this India in the North? I left my mom to sleep off Bangalore and went exploring.
The Jews of Kerala
May 2nd, 2007 - A night in Bangalore
My mother and I barely escaped the nightmare that was Bangalore. Our delayed flight arrived a little past one in the morning and a nice Sikh IT worker for Oracle named Jaspreet tried to help my mother and I find a safe, clean, hotel near the airport. All the recommended hotels in our Lonely Planet were full and we were left to use of the hotel finding services, which for a nominal fee (500 rupess = $12.00) could alledgedly book a hotel. Now in most countries, when you book a hotel for someone, you make sure the hotel has a room... BUT not in Bangalore. We arrived via Tuk-tuk around 2am and my mother was in bad shape. The fatigue and 10 days of constipation were showing their toll and she was dehydrated. When we got to the hotel, we waited around for 15 minutes patiently while I ascertained that 1) there were no rooms and 2)there was no clean water. Being in an angry state as seems to be the norm for me, I asked, really, demanded someplace to sleep. With our bags in hand, we marched down the street to a sister hotel which had no air conditioning, something else we were promised and had paid for. I decided some sleep was better than none, while my poor mother tried to have a bowel movement and take a shower. On her way out, she slipped owing to the fact the power and water went out, oh and there was not bathmat on a slippy tile floor with multiple levels, hit her tailbone leaving a nice bruise, my acupuncture needles couldn't touch. The next morning we left ASAP after I told the hotel manager that I would pay him half of the expected sum. But, he demanded all of it, we settled on 70%.
May 3rd, 2007 - Arrival in Kochi (aka cochin)
Kochi ( is a city in the Indian state of Kerala. The city is one of the principal seaports of the country and is located in the district of Ernakulam, about 220 kilometres (137 mi) north of the state capital, Thiruvananthapuram. It has an estimated population of 600,000, with an extended metropolitan population of about 1.5 million, making it the largest urban agglomeration and the second largest city in Kerala after the capital. Since 1102 CE, Kochi was the seat of the Kingdom of Cochin, a princely state which traces its lineage to the Kulasekhara empire. Heralded as the Queen of the Arabian Sea, Kochi was an important spice trading centre on the Arabian Sea coast from the 14th century onwards. Ancient travellers and tradesmen referred to Kochi in their writings, variously alluding to it as Cocym, Cochym, Cochin, and Cochi. Occupied by the Portuguese in 1503, Kochi was the site of the first European colonial settlement in India. It remained the capital of Portuguese India until 1530, when Goa became the capital. The city was later occupied by the Dutch, the Mysore and the British. Kochi was the first princely state to willingly join the Indian Union, when India gained independence in 1947.
Looking down over the tropical lush forests and deltas of Kerala, I saw hope. We landed on time to a nice private airport and were immediatly met by our guide/driver Joshy, a person recommended by my mothers friend, Joan, and necklaces of Jasmine Flowers. The air was clean, their was a breeze and I was looking forward to an Ayuverdic treatment and seeing Malabar, the ol capital of the Spice Trade. We made our way the 40km in a nice new big air conditioned Toyota to the Kochi peninsula neighborhood of Fort Cochin. Fort Cochin is where the Portugese, then Dutch, and finally British traders settled and made their headquarters in the Spice Trades. Vasco de Gama was even originally buried here and the town is definately colonial sitting right on the coastline of the Arabian Sea. Joshy had arranged for us to stay at the luxurious Bruton Boatyard Hotel which is a converted Dutch ship building office with ocenside rooms only. The room was stunning, with a huge bathtube and balcony with dolphins swimming as fishing boats sailed by. I though, where is this India in the North? I left my mom to sleep off Bangalore and went exploring.
The Jews of Kerala
The Malabari Jews formed a prosperous trading community of Kerala, and they controlled a major portion of world wide spice trade. In 1568, the Jews of Kerala constructed the Paradesi Synagogue adjacent to Mattancherry Palace, Cochin, now part of the Indian city of Ernakulam, on land given to them by Paraja, the Raja of Kochi. The original synagogue was built in the 4th century in Kodungallur (Cranganore) when the Jews had a mercantile role in the South Indian region along the Malabar coast now called Kerala. It was later moved to Kochi from Kodungallur. The first synagogue of the Malabari Jews in Cochin was destroyed in the Portuguese persecution of the Malabari Jews and Nasrani people of Kerala in the 1500s. The second synagogue, built under the protection of the Raja of Cochin along with Dutch patronage, is the present synagogue. It is called Paradesi synagogue because it was built with Dutch patronage at a time when Kochi was under Dutch occupation, thus the name paradesi synagogue or "foreign synagogue". 
1 comment:
Hello. I'm sorry to hear of your experiences in Bangalore (which by the way, is not in Kerala, but Karnataka).
I hope you had a good time in Kerala at least.
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