Cochin is a city of a million people and spreads across islands and estuaries on the coast in Kerala.
Goa, to the north, is its more famous cousin.
It has always produced herbs and spices and the city quickly established itself as the trading hub for region. Ruled by the Maharajas for centuries, it drew trade from China and the Arab world before attracting the attention of first the Portuguese and subsequently the Dutch and then the British, each of whom fought with their predecessor to wrest control of the lucrative trade.
Cochin, like south India, has been an example to the rest of the world in how to exist as a successful and tolerant multi-cultural community. The Jews came in 72AD after their expulsion from Jerusalem by the Romans and the Maharaja welcomed them, granting them a principality in 372AD.
Catholics worship at Basilica Santa Cruz and Syrian Catholics at the Syrian Orthodox Church next door. Hindus venerate Shiva at caged street temples on every corner. Muslims are called to prayer five times a day from the minarets that tower over the low rise city. Nuns rub shoulders with Buddhist monks. The Halal butcher trades next door to the Syrian Bank.
We wandered the streets of Fort Cochin in the old town, soaking up the atmosphere. The Jewish quarter, huddled around the picturesque synagogue dating from 1568, is a warren of winding back streets lined with shops selling lace, linen and cotton. Hasidic Jews with curly ringlets and black coats and hats nip down side alleys. The Star of David or some Hebrew script appears on every shop, whether it be run by Afzal, the Muslim souvenir seller from Kashmir or Seeta, the Christian garment maker from round the corner.
Some may say that Fort Cochin needs a makeover as many of the buildings date back to the Portuguese and Dutch occupations in the 16th and 17th centuries. The monsoon rain has soaked the buildings to the core but they are old spice and tea warehouses, with walls six feet thick and it will take many lifetimes for the appearance of decay to end their working lives. Long before then UNESCO will take this oasis of history under its wing and soon it will become a sensitively renovated destination for the spa seeking bohemian crowd.
For now, hessian sacks of rice, tea and spices are piled high within the cool interiors. The air is thick with the pungent aroma of cardoman and ginger, fennel and chilli. Goats roam the streets, long since having learned to avoid the puttering rickshaws as they rattle past on the rough cobbled streets.
We ate fish for lunch from the river, caught by the Chinese nets that are raised and lowered at five minute intervals in a way that has not changed since the first Chinese fishermen arrived 700 years ago. We drunk ginger, cardoman and masala tea, upstairs in the Ginger Palace spice warehouse and chewed ginger candy, dried in the sun on mats in the courtyard below.
Filming for a Bollywood movie drew crowds on the river front. Cochin restaurateurs have adopted the Delhi call centre fashion and mimic a basket of international accents to attract tourist trade. We opted for the three storey pillar box red Khoder House, built in 1808 in England, for the eponymous Jewish owner and founder of the Cochin Electrical Company, before being shipped out in pieces. Khoder was polymath who dominated the city and who founded a salon, as Dutch Honorary Consul, that hosted Presidents and Prime Ministers. His children continued in his footsteps, receiving Queen Elizabeth II and Indira and Rajiv Ghandi, to name but a few. Sadly, Queenie, the last of his line, lives alone in the Mattancherry quarter, marking the end of one of Cochin’s great dynasties.
The monsoon rain pursued us all day. We dashed for cover, ruing our decision to refuse Ginny’s offer of a brolly, at each downpour. We wilted in the humidity as the rain rose again in the heat, ready to repeat the cycle.
Catching the ferry to the Ernakalum quarter, we passed giant freighters sharing wharf space with traditional canoes. The rain forced us into The Indian Coffee House for biryani and sweet milk coffee before we caught the bus just as it was leaving.
Today’s Fort Cochin is also leaving soon so catch it before it goes.
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