The old guard of Malabar - A day in Kochi

A fisherman is in a pensive mood at the Chinese fishing nets

With a creak and a crank, the wooden planks see-saw upwards. Behind me the five fishermen are heaving and pulling down ropes attached to large rocks with cries of ‘hejala’. The nets rise, and with it the hopes of a catch. These are the Cheena vala, the Chinese fishing nets of Kochi in action. The eastern imports are huge spider like contraptions which are delicately balanced – lowered or raised with simple human effort. I am here for the sunrise and a few good photographs. The fishermen oblige but not without a small plea to help their cause. One of them speaks English and Hindi and explains that it’s a bad season and that they have families to support. He isn’t entirely wrong – in the past 30 mins they have lowered the nets about 4 times and not caught a single fish. In contrast, the fishermen who took their boats to deeper waters are returning with a huge catch to sell right behind the Cheena Vala. A quick look around and I notice that all the fishermen operating the nets on the beach are considerably old. Obviously this is a dying technique with no takers amongst the youth.

Hejala - the fishermen draw the nets up

The younger generation has unfortunately turned Cochin into a mini-Goa. Not that I dislike Goa, but unique is certainly superior to popular. Sample this – the previous night I headed to the Kerala café, a street restaurant near the nets. Reggae blasts from the speaker in the corner while the Malyali waiter looks a bit rasta himself. Soon he joined by a long haired Caucasian male dressed in a white lungi and white cotton shirt. The two keep thumping their fists together like they just robbed the bank of Kerala. Seated around me are North Indians who converse with the waiters in Hindi. It seems the Great South Indian guard that held my admiration for so many years is down. An assimilation into the larger Indian way you say- but like I mentioned, unique trumps popular.

Anyways, it was time for breakfast, but I wasn’t going to get any at 7:30 in the morning. Most of our enterprising Mallus are struggling into the morning. So I head back to my room to kill off an hour before I go to the Kashi Art café down the street to experience some more of the new age Kochi. As the name suggests, it’s a café-cum-art exhibition. With a nice airy Mediterranean feel to it, the Kashi Art café runs art exhibitions in its premises. Besides, the food ain’t too bad either. In fact, I soon realize that it’s pretty good as I dig into the creamy cheese filling of my omlette.  Regardless of the cosmopolitan infusion, Kochi still retains a lot of its original character, thanks to some well supported and preserved institutions by locals and government.

Murals at the river front

Mattancherry is one such example. Home to the Dutch palace and the old Jew town, it is a Malabar relic unlike any other. The Jews of Kochi, now just 8 (5 families) are an endangered lot. Jews are believed to have made their way to the Malabar Coast after the destruction of the temple of Solomon and have had a significant presence here. However, all that remains is a synagogue and remnants of the old Jew town, now filled with merchants selling all sorts of Indian art. It’s the same old clash you would witness in most tourist places in the country – the preservation of culture, of the past and of antiquity often finds itself competing with a means of survival for some. The synagogue is quite remarkable with its blue and white ceramic tiles on the floor and chandeliers above. Also remarkable is its emptiness!

Jew street

The Dutch palace is also worth a visit. It’s a museum today and is testament to the extravagance of the former rulers of Kochi. But with every step, I could feel the heat and humidity of Kochi suck the energy out of me. It was just too tiring to go through the placards on Kochi’s history and stand around to admire the murals. It was a quick 15 minute tour around the palace before going back to Fort Kochi for Lunch and some rest. I needed it – I was about to immerse myself into another dimension of the old culture.

Ethnic Indian work on sale in Jew town

Most states in the country have their own art forms and Kerala is no exception. In fact, the martial arts of Kalaripayttu and the dance of Kathakali are quite famous across the country if not the world. As the last act of the day, I head to the Kerala Kathakali centre for some martial arts and dance.  Three fighters took control of the first hour and amazed the audience with acrobatic somersaults, aerial kicks and a range of attacks and blocks with and without weapons including the Urumi which evoked some shrieks from the audience. At the end the announcer narrates a sad but familiar story – one of the dying art of Kalaripayttu. It’s not as famous as other traditional art forms and obviously not as glamorous as Kung-fu or Karate.

Kalaripayttu - fighters in action

Layers of colour

The next hour was the most interesting part of the evening – No, not the Kathakali dance, but the makeup session for the dancers that precedes it and yes, it takes an hour! For an entire sixty minutes, the dancers put on their own make-up for an audience. Everyone looked on, absolutely astounded by this exotic display, as the dancers applied layer after layer of colour. I on the other hand, wondered how two men could sit there every day for an hour and dump colour on themselves, that too in public. More importantly, traditionally, Kathakali performers were male. It’s only in recent years that female dancers have joined the troupe. So not only were they putting on make-up, one of the dancers was to play the role of a woman. Weird place this – a macho martial arts form is losing popularity, but men would rather colour themselves for an audience. If this is God’s own country, then we all came out wrong I guess. Nonetheless, it is still remarkable that locals go the distance to conserve their culture – I guess the old guard is still around.

St. Francis Church

Tips

• There are plenty of homestays in Fort Kochi including the Vasco homestay where Vasco Da Gama is believed to have lived. They are the best budget options here. I stayed at the Oy’s homestay which was just above the Oy’s Café. However, some of them are just inns and not necessarily in a home.
• DO NOT miss the fish in Kochi
• St. Francis church (where Vasco Da Gama was once buried) and the Santa Cruz basilica are good examples of Indo-Portuguese architecture. They are close to each other and a visit wont take up much time.
• The Kerala Kathakali centre is your one stop destination for all art forms of Kerala. They even have courses.
• Close to the Jew town is a spice market, just in case you want the authentic stuff