Cochin is, by far, the most beautiful and exciting place we have been in India. Today we took a four-hour afternoon spice and backwater boat tour. It was just us and a British man who was born in Goa. The tour began with our guide taking us down a path through a small village showing us different spices and fruits. It was really interesting to connect with food in that way especially given our North American tendency to not really think about what things look like before they reach our grocery store. Who knew bananas grew upside down!? The part where you start to peel is where it attaches itself to the tree and then grows upwards from there! We smelled the root of a turmeric plant, the leaves of lemon, ginger, arrowroot, and curry plants, saw the cinnamon on a cinnamon tree (it's just the bark), and played with a freshly cracked open nutmeg shell and it's bright red outer coating that is turned into mace. We saw vibrant green chilis growing on their branches and even young peppercorns clustered together on a vine!
We came to the opening where we met with our wiley Indian rowers and then stepped into the dark, heavy boat that took us to the narrow backwaters of Kerala, winding down the water past small villages. The sun was beaming and the wind was warm. After a little while, we pulled onto shore and watched in amazement as one of the rowers put a rope around his ankles and sprung up a coconut tree. He cut down three coconuts and then climbed down where he proceeded to cut them so there was a small hole in the top of each one. Our guide placed a straw inside each hole and we were all invited to drink the juice from our very own coconuts. The clear, watery juice was not as sweet as I had imagined but was refreshing nonetheless. After we drank the juice, the man who had cut them took them back and sliced the coconut in two and carved out a small scoop from the outside of the nut so that we could enjoy the young, fresh pulp inside. We were unexpectedly met by three village boys who smiled and giggled so much that we had to take their photo. The Brit took a photo on his digital camera and the boys were delighted to see themselves on the mini screen of the camera afterwards.
Last night we were excited to attend a Kathakali performance. Kathakali is the signature art associated with Kerala and is hundreds of years old. Since the actors do not speak, the story is told through a very complex language of gestures, facial expressions, and sign language that we came nowhere near even getting a grasp of. In fact, Kathakali actors have to go through six years of training to learn everything involved. Regardless, the night was incredible and it was easy to understand some of the play because of facial expressions. It began with an hour and a half of makeup. The players sat on stage and proceeded to place layer upon layer of colour, design, texture, and shape on their faces (sometimes with the help of others). It's really hard to explain the level of transformation these characters go through so I have included a picture of one character here (two minutes before the performance they put a small seed in their eye that turns the white of the eye red, hence the bloodshot look). The other half of the performance was a brief introduction to the gestures and language of the play and then a very truncated version of one story was performed. Let me explain. A traditional Kathakali play will be held usually inside a Hindu temple (the stories are from great Hindu texts) and will start at sunset and end at sunrise. That's right, one performance is usually 8 or 9 hours long so in our one-hour snippet we were only told one aspect of the story and of course, it was a very dramatic part in which one of the noble characters slays a demon. Understanding it was not a full play, we enjoyed the authenticity of the makeup and the gestures and had a great time overall.
Krishna. That playful and rotund blue god who drools at even the thought of sweets melting in his mouth. He is Mr. Popularity by Hindu god standards and there are thousands of temples in India to worship him (not bad considering there are traditionally estimated to be 333 million Hindu gods and goddesses). My having this name has brought upon a spectrum of reactions that depend mostly on the other person's grasp of English. If the person who I tell my name to knows no English (usually in some formal setting where a form is involved), there is usually no reaction but I would imagine that inside, they are relieved that they can spell my name easily without my having to repeat it or spell it. Otherwise, people are delighted to hear my name is Krishna. I usually get a double-take and a big smile. Of course, I have been asked several times if I am Hindu. After I explain I'm not they will laugh and say, "This is a Hindu name." I spoke with a Hindu woman at some length about Krishna. She said in India it is a common name for girls and boys after I told her that I thought it was only a male name. She explained that when a boy has this name it is pronounced differently, like "Krishan" and when it is a girl, "Krishna" is customary. I continue to enjoy the reactions I get when I tell Indians my name. I always expect a smiling reaction and I am rarely disappointed.
Happily, we have another three nights in Cochin.
(Check out this picture of Chinese fishing nets that were set up in the early days of Cochin by Chinese settlers. They dot the shoreline and are an aesthetic pleasure to behold both when they are in action and not.)
We'll be back soon with more adventures from the sunny, glorious south of India.
tothesea,
k&m
P.S. Small world story. We met a guy who went to school at the University of Manitoba where I did my first two years of uni. He had worked up in Flin Flon after graduation.