A Day Playing Tourist in Cochin

Yesterday, the parents and I rented a car and driver, picked up Jenika at her home, and headed just a short way south to visit the bustling tourist haven known as Cochin. The Cochin area is comprised of several small islands and narrow peninsulas, as well as the mainland city of Ernakulam, a large, very modern, quite Westernized city where Jenika and I have often gone for a day of good shopping and even better food.

But yesterday we avoided the busyness of Ernakulam and spent all of our time on the island of Fort Cochin, the part of Cochin where most people come to play tourist for a day or two. There, we visited St. Francis Church, which, constructed in 1503, is said to be India’s oldest European-built church. It is also the site at which Vasco de Gama was buried following his death in 1524. His remains have since been taken to Lisbon, but his plot remains inside the walls of St. Francis church.

From there, we went to see the cheena vala, or Chinese fishing nets. The big nets require at least four men to operate their system of counterweights, and Mom and Dad had a good time helping some fishermen bring in a catch. Once that work was complete, we simply walked along the water for a while, figuring out as we went the best ways to politely turn down the men and women coming at us from every angle with something to sell. We were, in fact, more interested in doing our shopping in Jewtown.

Jewtown is the area around the Pardesi Synagogue. This synagogue was originally built in 1568, was destroyed by the Portuguese in 1662, and rebuilt two years later by the Dutch. It is a simple structure, which, from the outside, doesn’t appear to be much to see. But inside, it is decorated with beautiful chandeliers, hand-painted floor tiles brought form China, and an ornate gold pulpit right in the center of the sanctuary. We didn’t spend much time there (we had shopping to do), but it was definitely worth seeing.

Once we had seen that, then, we were off to the Dutch Palace, about three blocks of shops away. It took us a couple hours to walk those three blocks, but we were set on souvenirs by the time we reached the palace. After visiting this old palace, which has been turned into a museum, we headed for a lovely, late, and much-needed lunch back at the site of the Chinese fishing nets. And, with bellies full, we headed to our next event, the Kathakali performance, which turned out to be the highlight of the day.

Kathakali literally means story play, and the performance is just that – the playing out of a story. This is not just any old play, though. Kathakali is done in dance form, to the loud music of several drums, and, rather than speech, facial movements and gestures are used to convey the meaning of the story. Beautifully dressed and made up, the men who perform in these “plays” are incredibly skilled, and, for nearly three hours, we sat in a trance, watching those gestures and facial movements as we tapped our feet to the sound of the drums.
By the time it was all over, the sun had set and we were longing for our beds. After a light dinner, we headed on home, the sound of Kathakali drums still ringing in our ears as we fell into our beds for a long night of rest. What a day!