This was our 5th visit to India. Each time we
have gone to a different part of India, and on each visit we are
reminded that every state in India is unique with its own language,
customs, and attractions; as varied as the many countries in Europe.
Kerala is different from every other part of India we’ve
seen, in just about every possible way. The coastal area is tropical and
lush, whereas other parts of India we’ve been to are dry and arid. The
mountains of the western ghats are covered in tea "topiary", which while
similar to what we’d seen in the tea growing areas of Darjeeling in
northern India, although it seemed much more lush here. Kerala is
approximately 30% Christian, so there are ornate churches throughout.
Although Hinduism is the dominant religion in Kerala, the Hindu temples
are far less ornamented than anywhere else in India we’ve visited.
Kerala also once had a significant Jewish community, the descendants of
families that came here with Phoenician traders before the destruction
of the second temple. We saw vestiges of this community in Cochin;
although most of the community has emigrated to Israel. The large
Catholic community is from the arrival of the apostle St. Thomas, who
came to Kerala in 52 C.E. The British later converted many of the lower
caste Hindus, and all now live in this area with a high degree of
harmony. That feeling of harmony exists today.
We began our trip in Mumbai (Bombay), the
frenetic economic center of India. We had been to Mumbai before and were
familiar with the city’s highlights and shopping. We spent a day
re-orienting, going to some of our favorite shops (including a scarf
merchant and a paper crafts store), ordering eyeglasses and buying
pharmaceuticals, quickly filling a suitcase for our return visit. We
visited our favorite snack shop in Colaba to enjoy samosas and lassis as
the perfect way to ease back into Indian food. The manager of the shop
remembered our love of his Punjabi samosas, and saved some for us on
each of our repeat visits. That afternoon our friends, the Craddocks,
arrived from England, and we left the next morning for Kerala.
Our first stop was Trivandrum (Thiruvananthapuram)
(most places in Kerala have 2-3 names, stemming from the original
Malayalam, the British Raj, and recent changes away from Anglicized
names. This caused lots of confusion when planning the trip!) Trivandrum
had some interesting attractions, including a huge Kerala-style palace,
filled with dusty artifacts from the last Maharaja who had lived there.
Next door is the Shree Padhmanabhaswamy Temple. We were immediately
struck by how modest the temples in Kerala are compared to the
polychrome decorations in neighboring Tamil Nadu. As we drove around, we
also immediately noticed that Kerala seemed relatively prosperous
compared to other Indian states.
After one night in Trivandrum, we continued on to
Quillon (Kollam), located on the Malabar Coast, with access to the
wonderful Backwaters area of Kerala. Boat tours on the backwaters are a
big attraction for Indian tourists, especially honeymooners.
Historically, this area is famous for its spices, coconuts, rubber
plantations, and as a crossroads of over two millennia of trade. Our
tiny hotel, Valiya Vila, was a small guest house with only 4
rooms, dramatically located on a peninsula within Ashtamudi Lake - with
delightful breezes, and romantic views. Houseboats passed by, fishing
boats with Chinese-style sails rifted past. A coconut-wallah served us
fresh coconut as we relaxed on the porch. We were told that dolphins
were cavorting near the fishing docks, but our trip out there found that
their dinner hour had unfortunately passed.
Choosing a hotel that was outside of the city proved a
very relaxing way to start the trip. Much of India is heavily populated,
and as a traveler, one gets to see many cities. The penchant for using
the car horn as sonar, combined with a lack of road infrastructure (and
too many things using the roads), makes many cities initially appear the
same. But the Malabar Coast was very different. It’s rural, tropical,
lush, and outside the cities, very quiet. This specific area represents
a view of India that is rare.
We toured the backwaters from Kollam on a Sunday – in a
25’ hardwood hand-hewn pirogue, poled by a local boatman. While the
backwaters are renowned for their serenity, on Sunday it was especially
quiet. We were the only tourists (a very different experience from those
who visit the backwaters from the north) and saw fields of rice, men
repairing boats made of hand-hewn hardwood, and rope-making. Our guide
stopped for a coconut break , while we spotted many species of birds in
the fields. Because there are no roads into this section, the area is
exceptionally quiet , and unlike many rivers that flow through heavily
populated areas, quite clean. We knew we couldn’t safely swim in it
though – there is no sewage system in the backwaters other than the
rivers.
From the backwaters, we traveled inland to the
Western Ghats, the mountain range that runs from north to south
through southern India. We welcomed the drop in the temperature and
humidity – and admired the scenic rolling hills, covered with
topiary-shaped tea plantations. Because only the top leaves of tea
plants are harvested, and picking occurs approximately every 15 days,
each bush is beautifully pruned, and the acres and acres under
cultivation provide a beautiful smoothed sculptured landscape. We
imagined them to be rolling hills like the Catskills – but the mountains
are dramatic and much larger than we expected. At 6000ft, it’s not
enough to cause shortness of breath, but perfect for refreshing cool
air.
We chose to visit Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary
based on visions of abundant wildlife. We booked rooms in the grossly
overpriced KTDC-run Lake Palace hotel in the middle of the park to
ensure sightings. However, being a government run hotel in India, we
were bumped at the last minute for some "VIPs". The next morning,
despite being on the first boat of the day, we saw no wildlife other
than a few birds. This was in spite of the fact that several elephant
herds, and even a few tigers, have been reported in the sanctuary. We
were quite disappointed, as our other experiences in Indian wildlife
sanctuaries were extremely rewarding. Additionally, Periyar is on the
road from Madurai to Kochi, and the town was amazingly touristy. Our
advice is to skip Periyar entirely, although we enjoyed the lovely hotel
(Wildernest) that we ended up in, and found many good shops and
restaurants in the town.
From Periyar we headed for Munnar, also in the
ghats and a former British hill station off the usual tourist circuit.
It was delightful. A trip to a tea processing plant could have been
another tourist trap – but it turned out to be very interesting. The
other tourists were Indian, in fact we saw almost no non-Indian tourists
on our entire trip in Kerala except at Periyar and Kochi. Other sites,
like the park with the "wild" mountain goats were fun and provided the
opportunity for short hikes through beautiful mountain terrain. On our
way back from Munnar, we visited Kodanad Sanctuary, an elephant
orphanage (kraal). There was one baby elephant and a few young
elephants. These are elephants born in the wild who get separated from
their herd. Usually found by villagers, they alert the state-run
orphanage who rescues them and cares for them and then sells them as
work elephants. There were some stories in the local paper about the
government not paying the keepers enough, so the life of an elephant in
Kerala is not always an easy one.
After leaving the Ghats, we returned to sea level and
heat at Trichur (Thrissur). Trichur is a center of Hindu
festivals, and we timed our trip to coincide with some of Kerala’s Hindu
"Pooram" festivals. Just getting this information was a task; it seems
that the year’s calendar isn’t set until a few months prior to the
beginning of the year. We chose the Thai Pooyam Festival in Koorkanchery,
a suburb of Trichur, and the Kuttiyankavu Temple in Suresh, about 8km
from Trichur. We also stopped for another festival about 1km from
Kuttiyankavu Temple.
Each festival consisted of music, dancing, decorated
elephants, and giant brightly colored kavadis (giant brightly-decorated
conical wooden structures). The elephants are part of competition called
'Kudamattam', the swift and rhythmic changing of brightly colored
parasols along with the raising and lowering of venchamarams
(cheerleading-style pom-poms). The festival is dedicated to Subrahmanya,
son of Shiva, the presiding deity of the temple (Shiva has two sons in
the south of India: Subrahmanya/Murugan and Ganesh). The festivities
take place in rhythm with a Pandimelam (traditional orchestra). It’s
somewhat incomprehensible to the untrained spectator, (we couldn’t
figure out what the competition was based on) but amazing to watch. We
were honored to be invited to sit in the VIP section. Since it was (a.)
sitting and (b.) in the shade, we jumped at the chance! At one point,
when we left for lunch, we were told that they had prepared a lunch for
us – which we politely declined.
The music was a loud combination of horns and drums,
bordering on cacophony (actually, it crossed that border and became
painful at times). The devotees were celebrating, drinking, and just
watching the celebration. The whole experience was exuberant, fantastic,
and was the highlight of our trip.
The second Pooram featured 14 elephants that s-l-o-w-l-y
marched to within 100 ft of each other - then quickly retreated. During
the march, workers were busy laying a field of fireworks. Never having
seen or heard Indian fireworks, we were unprepared for the ensuing
onslaught. The goal of these fireworks was not a visual display. There
seemed to be only one goal: deafen anyone within 100 miles. The mahouts
(elephant keepers/trainers) tried to get clear of the deadly assault and
very suddenly turned their elephants to exit, in spite of the crowds of
people behind the elephant line (now we knew how people get trampled at
these events). The sound was staggering. We moved away as quickly as we
could, and even as we got to about ½ mile away, it was still painful to
the ears.
Thrissur itself offered a minor museum and intriguing
zoo. The town center was hot and dusty, but did offer a great
supermarket.
After 3 days and nights of festivals and fireworks, we
continued to our last destination in Kerala, Cochin (Kochi).
Cochin is on the coast. The city is divided into 3 sections: Fort Cochin
(the old city), Mattancherry (the newer city), and
Ernakulam (on the other side of the harbor). We chose to stay in
Fort Cochin.
Ernakulam is the business center and forms the main land
– it’s also where the larger hotels are. The small hotels and the
historic area are in Fort Cochin. The tourist area is so concentrated
that it was difficult to find any Indian food – the restaurants instead
offering western fare. But despite being in an area that catered only to
euro-tourists, the area was preferable to the modern metropolis of
Ernakulam.
Having the best harbor and road connections of the
Indian cities on the western coast, Cochin is the center of the Indian
spice trade. It’s been occupied by the Dutch, Portuguese, and British –
and has benefited from trade with just about every country between
England, the Mideast, and China. The influences are clear, and the
remnants of their amazing history is evident. But Cochin is choking
under the weight of traffic, and the ferry routes don’t seem to be
taking off any pressure – despite the very low fare.
The City’s well-known landmarks include the Dutch palace
built in 1555, the Jewish synagogue built in1568 and located on a street
that still houses the 14 Jews left in Cochin, St. Francis church by the
Portuguese, Santa Cruz Basilica, Bolgatty palace, and the Chinese
fishing nets at Fort Cochin water front. We saw a spectacular
performance of a traditional art form called "Kathakali", which was
preceded by a 90 minute demonstration of the actors putting on their
elaborate makeup.
On our return to Mumbai, we again visited Elephanta
Island. (link) The incredible art in the caves there impressed us as
much as it did on our first visit there. We also managed to do more
shopping, including finding a table that we were able to take home in
our luggage.
