Fort Kochi and Ernakulum

Indira is attacked by Holi celebrators on the streets for Fort Kochi.
see all photos »

We left the deserts of Rajasthan and flew to south India, a very different place. While landing we were struck by the large number of palm trees. It was noticeably more humid and even rained a little our first day there.

The biggest and most noticeable difference was the ubiquitousness of Jesus Christ. Kochi had been colonized by the Portuguese in the 1500's as a means of securing their place in the spice trade, and with them they brought their Christianity, which has become the main religion practised in Kerala second only to Hinduism. We arrived a day before the Good Friday/Easter holidays and celebrations were to begin, so there were hoards of catholics about with their crosses and candles in hand. One guy was even dragging a life-size cross through the streets of Kochi re-enacting the march of Jesus during the crucifixion.

all of the dramatic facial expressions and the occasional scream

Avani is less than pleased with the powder on her face.
see all photos »

We spent the first day exploring Fort Cochin, visited a ginger factory, shopped, saw the chinese fishing nets, and enjoyed cold coffee at the Kashi Art Cafe using filtered water, milk and espresso, a little taste of home. It was Holi, the Hindu springtime holiday. Holi is a big celebration in North India where people run around spraying each other with water pistols and throwing brightly tinted powder on one another. In South India, it is minimally celebrated but we happened to pick the small street it was being celebrated in Fort Cochin and Indira and Sean got a faceful of pink powder. It was great fun and we thought Avani would like it (after all, it was pink), but she thought the guys were attacking us and wouldn't be consoled until we washed all the powder off our faces.

A commonplace door lock representing the four main religions of the region: Hinduism, Islam, Christianity & Judaism.
see all photos »

The next day we moved to Le Royale, a super-fancy homestay in Ernakulum that our excellent travel agent, Jenny, managed. They provided all home-cooked meals of Keralan cuisine, and even gave cooking lessons to Indira. Avani really enjoyed playing with Jenny's 10-year-old triplets and watching movies in the special movie theater room. We spent easter there too - we colored eggs and Sean staged an American-style easter egg hunt for Indira and Avani that the whole staff watched.

One of the highlights of Ernakulum was visiting the Kerala Cultural Centre to attend a traditional Kathakali dance. Kathakali ("story dance") is the extremely dramatized presentation of a play based on the great Indian epics of the Ramayana, the Mahabarata and the Puranas. The performers use movement, gesture and overt expression to tell their stories, while musicians and singers help in the background. We started by watching the actors putting on their tons of makeup, a process that can often take hours. Then we watched the performance itself which was riveting. Avani loved it, especially with all of the dramatic facial expressions and the occasional scream which reminded her of some of the Maori dances from New Zealand.

Performers spend hours in make-up preparing for the Kathakali dance.
see all photos »

We really began to appreciate the differences in the south Indian style of cuisine. The sauces themselves were much thinner than in the north. Seafood was a predominant feature with Kerala being a coastal state, therefore we enjoyed fish molees and pepper shrimp. The paneer (cheese) was phenomenal in many of the dishes.