Day 2: Exploring Kochi Contd.....

Next on the list was Vasco House, which is believed to be Vasco Da Gama’s residence. The architecture gives the impression of being very European. Kartik showed us the point where Vasco Da Gama was cremated and we were surprised to see that he was a very short man. Interestingly some years back, his remains were moved to Lisbon. Strange right, it seems foreigners want to take everything back, what is theirs and what is ours.

Other places that we saw were Koder House, Thakur House, Bastion Bungalow, Cochin Club, the Dutch and Jewish cemetery and some more. We were getting hungry by now so we decided to have lunch at the very old “Old Harbour Hotel” in Fort Kochi. Beautiful ambience and well-mannered staff, we liked the place already. We decided to try something different and ordered a Chicken Tangerine with coriander, Kerela style pumpkin with lentils with steamed rice along with cucumber-mint and carrot-gooseberry ‘green’ drinks. The food had a subtle taste with no over-powering flavors.

After the lunch, we decided to go to the “Maritime Museum” to check some old Navy stuff. It was not very impressive, but a funny incident made the trip worth going. I was mistaken as a foreigner as soon as we went, and I couldn’t stop laughing at the security guy’s honest mistake. Anyways, we had out tickets booked for the Kathakali show in the evening so we had to rush back. On our way Kartik showed us the biggest “Pukalam” meaning the flower arrangement that was made for Kerela New Year (Onam) some days back. The sight of it was just splendid. It was the biggest flower arrangement I have ever seen with beautiful colors. Kartik told us about a 600 year old ‘Vitthal’ temple nearby and before we could say yes or anything he asked us “Are you Hindus? I am just asking because only Hindus can enter the temple.” We were shocked and I just couldn’t imagine why people will do that? The whole area around the temple had only Hindu population closer to it. So, as I understood all the three communities Hindus, Muslims and Christians preferred to stay in close communities without bothering each other….. hopefully. The temple was no doubt beautiful but the man-made rules didn’t agree with me so I couldn’t enjoy it too much.

As the sun was ready to set we decided to go back to the home stay to catch a breath, so that we could go to the Kathakali Show. As soon as we reached Beena reminded us that the show started at 5 and we had almost missed the make-up part of the play. I was like Oh God, and we literally ran to the Kathakali centre. We got our tickets from the counter along with a 1-pager in English about the play. As soon as we entered, an artist was still not finished with the make-up. You should see the dedication and how meticulous he was in applying the color with a brush. The color strokes were perfect nothing less and nothing more. He used rice and water paste to stick a paper card over his jaw line to give that crispness to his character. It was over an hour and he was still not done with his make-up and I was wondering wow what patience! Finally when the artist was almost done with his make-up, the main lead (I forgot his name) of the Kathalkali came over to make some rangolis, light the lamps and decorate with flowers. So the stage was all set for the main act. The main lead came over to the stage and explained to everyone about the importance and the history behind this rare form of art. It was so surprising to see that the audiences except us were all Europeans. He told us about the origin of colors, and to my surprise they all use natural colors. The main colors used in Kathakali are red for evil, yellow for females and green symbolizes someone who is has a neutral character (both aspects of good and evil) and that is mostly used for the heroes in the play. When I saw all the colors in the beginning I was wondering what all dyes/ chemicals would have been used to synthesize the colors so wild and fresh. I was surprised to hear that all the colors are ‘organic’ as we call them and are hand-grated on a flat stone with some coconut oil. And then it made sense to me that that’s why the colors look fresh, natural and extremely lustrous. The performance started with the introduction of different mudras and expressions in Kathakali that were very well portrayed. There are like 24 main mudras and 9 major expressions like Sringaram (love), Hasayam (Humor), Bhayam (fear), Adbhudam (wonder), Karuna (pity), Shantam (peace) etc. I was surprised to know that Kerela has special courses in Kathakali for minimum 6 years. The training can go on for 8-10 years and even then it’s difficult to master all of it.

The act began with the drummers starting the percussion instruments know as ‘chenda’ and ‘maddalam’, I could feel the music in me as I was rocking with it. In addition to this the main lead sang some old verses from the Hindu sacred book using ‘chengila’ (gong made of bell metal). It was such a phenomenal and spiritual performance that my mind, body and soul were in a state of trance that I have never experienced. I could feel the power of that music within me. I feel so short of words to tell you exactly how I felt as it is very hard to put that spiritual experience in simple words.
Finally we reached the part what we came for, the main ‘Kathakali’ performance and I was just speculating sitting there what else they will have now. The recital began with two lead characters of the play on the stage and the magic began. We were as much as mesmerized by their performance as we were by the elegance/finesse of their enactment (mudras and expressions together). The whole experience has left a poignant impact on my mind and soul so I can keep on writing about it…… but the blog is already so long.

After this soulful performance, we were still in the state of trance as we walked back to the homestay. Our hosts were waiting for us with an awesome dinner: fish mackrel fry, traditional Kerela style pineapple cooked in coconut milk that tasted so yummy (I will be trying it out soon), along with some other vegetables like raw bananas, yam, cabbage, beans with some rose matta rice and fresh fruits to follow. I was so stuffed so decided to go out for a walk,, talk about the day and plan for tomorrow as we were heading to Allepy in the morning to see Christeena. We were super excited about going there and meeting here grandparents. 

Day 2: Exploring Kochi

Sleeping peacefully after a long time I realized what is it to sleep without alarms and honking traffic. As I got up I saw a bright welcoming sunshine just outside my window. Enjoying the whole scene, I was just wondering what an awesome day and what will be for breakfast? I rushed to Beena's kitchen to see what’s cooking? And to my surprise Beena's husband was waiting for me to make the traditional "puttu" for breakfast because I had requested that I want to see how it is done. I just got my camera ready to capture everything as I was so excited to see the whole process. A very old and traditional bamboo cylindrical mould was mounted on a vessel with boiling water, so that it steam could be used for cooking. It amazes me as to how traditionally simple techniques people use for cooking, no worries about temperature and steam control, no question of overcooking or burning it. To begin with, our raw materials -wheat flour and freshly grated coconut were ready to be used. The mould is removed from the vessel and the wheat flour mixed with salt water and coconut was added in layers to get the perfect texture, taste and size; in just a few minutes our puttu was ready. The interesting part was removing the puttu from the mould, all you have to do is just remove it from the vessel and insert a long slender tail like thing at the end with a gentle push and it is in your plate. Our breakfast table was laid well with puttu, Kerela style channa curry, fresh and juicy fruits like pineapple and papaya and of course banana. So we tried puttu with the authentic channa curry and then with banana along with some honey. We were so full but just didn’t feel like stopping. What a breakfast?

We thought of renting a bike and taking a tour of Fort Kochi, but with the uncalled rains we didn’t want to take a chance. Keeping the rains and the thought that we didn’t even know the way around Kochi, Beena arranged for an auto rickshaw. The driver “Kartik” was very delightful and spoke good English and we started our exploration. We first went to Santa Cruz Balastic Church that was just 5 mins. from the home stay. A huge church with an impressive look, and as you enter you just feels so divine. As you walk down the aisle towards the grand altar just feels as if God is welcoming you with open arms. Crossing the beautifully carved wooden pillars on both sides as you go ahead, just one look at the ceiling will leave you mesmerized. The ceiling was full of pictures from Christ’s life and skillfully carved flowers for decorations, which had more of a Portuguese influence. I guess churches are the only places where you can get the calm you are looking for; it was so quite that I just felt so connected with God at that point. I have never felt so pure, so divine and blessed as I was feeling at that very moment.

Next was the Chinese fishing nets on the Malabar coast that is hard to miss. There were people mostly locals all over the place with giant fishing nets. It works on the principle of balance simple technique yet a bit tricky. There were like 2-3 men trying to place the net, with long three-legged poles constructed out of teakwood and bamboo. 5-6 men trying to balance the poles by adding/removing the weight attached to very thick ropes. It just looked like some pulley arrangement to me, but I was wondering why are they using such an ancient technique to catch fish….why don’t they use some new methods? May be sticking to the old ways is why kerela is called “God’s own country”…as they love keeping their surrounding as God intended it to be.

For obvious reasons they have a very big and popular fish market close by the fishing nets, and to my surprise it didn’t smell at all. Everything was fresh and well laid out that we were very impressed. I looked at each and every type of fish they had from small fish like promfret, mackerel, kingfish to big fish like red snapper and the giant tiger fish. They even had all sizes of prawns and crabs that you could fathom. We also saw the cow ray fish that seemed very elegant. Other things that we checked out along the coast were a giant anchor, some old boilers used in the ships. I definitely shopped for some stone and shell necklaces as there were a hell lot of options and you can imagine how hard it was to shop. ;)

To be continued.....