While planning my trip to India, Cochin in the state of Kerala, was to be one of the highlights of my southern loop. I couldn't wait to arrive in the city made up of islands on the shores of the Lakshadweep Sea. I googled the images of Cochin and fell in love with the lazy sunsets, fishing nets, ritual theatre shots, and most importantly, the backwaters. Arriving in Cochin, however, everything changed. Cochin wound up being a love-hate point of my trip so far and a big test of my backpacker endurance.
Brian, Laurie, and I arrived in the evening to a city of closed shops and restaurants with nowhere to be found to eat or drink anything. Poor Laurie had trouble using her credit card and was down to her last 50 rupees or so and each new street we turned onto looked more desolate, dark, and forbidding than the last. Eventually, her visa obliged her with funds, and we did find a restaurant that was open (turns out that because of Eid, a lot of the usual haunts were shut early).
So passed our first night in Kerala. The next morning, though, things brightened and we embarked on a full day backwaters experience that took us onto a houseboat in the morning-- sailing around the rivers and island villages south of Cochin-- and then onto smaller canoe-like boats in the afternoon-- penetrating the tiny canals inaccessible to the larger houseboats. The experience was magical. for the first time since leaving the UK, there was silence. The sound of water gently lapping against the hull of the boat and the occassional kingfisher in the trees flapping off to another branch was all that interrupted the silence and that was a-ok with me! On the backwaters tour we met a group of people, some of whom were non-resident Indians from the US and a couple of whom live in Bangalore (or Bengalooru, Jon). This was fortuitous as it was nice to talk to someone from the home continent and also really great for asking all those nagging questions about Indian culture tht had crept up along the way. Example: when asking a yes-or-no question to an Indian here, the usual response isn't a shake or a nod of the head, but more of a rocking motion where the head is kept facing straight but the head tilts alternatingly from side to side. We had no idea what that meant, "Is this the bus for Cochin?" *tilt, tilt*; "Is this dish spicy?" *tilt, tilt*; "Do you have a single room available?" *TILT, frickin, TILT*. Anyway... our lovely new indian friends explained that it means ok or yes.
That evening we joined joined force with our new friends to head onto the island of Fort Cochin (the more expensive and touristy part of Cochin, versus the mainland, Ernakulam, where we were staying and where prices are low and tourists are more scarce). We took the RS5 ferry just as the sun was setting and made our way to the chinese fishing nets to get some fresh fish. Sree, one of the group, procured some great fish from the mongers at the proper market price (invaluable, since we probably would have been ripped off otherwise) and we took it to a little fry shack where they cook it for you. SO GOOD! I'm not even sure what kind of fish it was, but it was white and then fried in garlic and some sort of masala spices and served with lemon. As it was, this was just the entree part of our meal. Our group headed back to Ernakulam and checked out the popular restaurant 'Fry's' for a proper Keralan culinary exerience. Our hosts ordered up an array of Keralan dishes for us to try (the things the NRI's missed most after moving to the states) and we feasted on someting called appam-- a flat, moist, rice pancakey thing that you dip into various dishes, like chana masala or curries or whatever. We also tried another dish (don't remember the name) that involved a coconutty rice roll thingy that you eat as rice with the same curry or masala dishes as the appam. The appam was FABULOUS, the roll thingy, not so much-- but... nothing ventured, nothing gained.
The next day, Brian and Laurie departed for some time in Goa and I stuck around Cochin to check out Fort Cocin a bit more. I wound up making friends with the new guests that took on Brian and Laurie's room, a Scottish couple, Elizabeth and Kevin. We made plans to meet up in the evening for a ritual theatre performance of the traditional art form of Kathakali, and I made my way to Fort Cochin for the day.
To be honest, Fort Cochin proved to be a big let down for me. It was jam packed with the staring category of people-- actually, it was jam packed with the selling-stuff people too. I have never felt less like a traveller and more like a walking dollar bill. I literally had people following me, practically chasing me with wares and it was exhausting. The staring and photo-snapping was incessant too. I understand that I look different from the 1 billion people in India, but to follow me round and take photos, or to just stare unmercilessly, keeping me under 24/7 surveillance for every move i make, is just plain rude i my books. Some people will come up and ask for a photo, and I appreciate that they ask. But then, if I say no, they just keep on focussing the camera, and I've had to obstruct their view of me on more than one occasion (Am currently considering going burqa-style as an experiment in evading the photo snapping..... thoughts?). I even met a group of male students who wanted me to give them my dead father's ring "so we can remember you", even after I had said that it had belonged to my father who was deceased. Pfft!
Anyway, the staring, photos, and incessant selling put me in the foulest mood and really put me off of Cochin (especially after reading about how laid back it supposedly was). I showered away the rage and proceeded to meet Elizabeth and Kevin for the show. The show was fascinaing, if a little short and simple. We arrived in time to see the performer applying his bright makeup (the dancer takes on the likeness of a god and acts out stories from the great Hindu epics in an intricate full-body sign-language-- very cool concept!). Normally these performances last all night and are composed of many performers. Our show only featured one man depicting one story.. a bit disappointing, but worthwhile nonetheless.
So ended Cochin... at 2:30AM the following morning I woke up, headed out and caught a 4:30 train to Kanyakumari.... the southernmost tip of the subcontinent where the Bay of Bengal, Indian Ocean, and Arabian Sea meet. Kanyakumari has proven to be the highlight of my trip so far, and by a huge margin.... but getting there involved another epic adventure and test of my endurance. More on that next time...
Thanks for reading, guys!!
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