Day 160 - Melting Pot

Our day began with breakfast by Mama. And by breakfast, I mean a feast of egg and peas curry, fresh papaya, tea, and pappams or maybe apams. I still haven't figured out what they're called, but if a fluffy American pancake and a French crepe had a baby made out of rice flour, this would be it. The middle part is thick and soft, with lacy, crispy edges. We didn't tuck in fast enough, so Mama thought we wouldn't properly experience crispy edges. Her response - to cook two more and insist that we eat them right now. Which made a total of ten pancakes between us. It's like being back in Germany.

Somehow we did manage to roll ourselves into town. Kochi has been a trading center since 72AD. As such, it has always been a relatively wealthy and influential city. Read: much desired by colonists of every variety. On our wanderings, we passed an overturned tree with signboards indicating 'the roots of Kochi'. Pretty much everyone who's anyone has ruled this little plot of land at least once.

Currently, the most visible histories in town are Portuguese, Dutch, and Jewish. Who would have thunk that one of the oldest Jewish communities in the world would be in Southern India? Jews established trade routes with the Malabar coast sometime in the 1st century BC trading frankincense, gold, and myrrh for spices, ivory, and peacocks. In 72AD when the Romans(?) destroyed the Temples and Cities and the Jews were forced to flee, a contingent landed in India north of current Kochi. In the 16th century, when the Portuguese burned that city, the Jews moved a few KM south to Kochi, where a small community survives to this day. The current synagogue in Kochi was built in the 16th or 17th century, though one stone is from the original synagogue built in 72AD! Jew Town, the area around the synagogue has been a trade center (primarily spices) since the first families arrived in 72. And while many of the businesses now have owners with Keralan names, there are some with Jewish names that have been in the same family since that first landing.

Closer to our guesthouse are two Christian churches. The church of St Francis was originally Portuguese, was bombed, rebuilt and claimed by the Dutch in the 17th century, then by the Anglicans in the 18th. It is now Indian. Read up on the history of St Francis church, and it pretty much sums up the political history of the southern half of the country. St Francis' claim to fame is that Vasco De Gama was buried here for 14 years before being shipped back to Portugal. Basilica Maria de la Luz was also originally a 16th century Portuguese Catholic church. From the outside, it retains its somewhat reserved, European countenance. Step inside though, and it's all Indian Catholicism - Polychrome carvings, angels, Jesus lit up in neon - Vegas has nothing on Indian Catholics.

Near the two churches, a short walk down the seawall, lies the Dutch cemetery. It's old and overgrown, but very quiet. According to my guidebook, "All of the crypts have been opened by grave-robbers, and some show signs of being occupied, all the more reason not to visit after dark." The cemetery must have been cleaned up since the book was written, as all the tombs were tightly sealed. We did find an enormous chicken foot - nails and all - curled up on the edge of one crypt though, and some feathers scattered on another...I'm thinking that this chicken did not die of natural causes...

By now we managed to walk of Mama's breakfast, and ate a delicious seafood dinner at a streetside restaurant. While we were eating, a kite (sort of like an osprey) landed on a perch nearby. Apparently he visited the tree near the restaurant for so long that the owners built him a perch near the kitchen where he gets the fish scraps.

After dinner, we watched the last of the sunset of the Chinese fishing nets, and went to a concert of traditional Indian music. As stated before, Kerala (the state which contains Kochi) has been occupied by pretty much everyone at one point or another. In each occupation they have taken the best of that culture and integrated it into their own. Hence, a European violin featuring in a night of traditional Indian ragas.