A Trip to God's Own Country- Part 1

There were two back- to-back long weekends in September-October 2009, which meant that if one took three days leave from office, he would get a nine day long period of holidays. Like several others, Niranjan and Binod-his friend and colleague in IBM- took this opportunity for a vacation and decided to explore our neighbouring state, Kerala with their respective spouses- yours truly (Vandana) and Rekha. Niranjan's elderly sis-in-law, Shakuntala Bhabhi too expressed her wish to join in on this eight day tour and became the fifth member of the group.
Kerala means 'God's own country' and it pretty much lives upto its name. Besides its unique natural beauty, for centuries past, Kerala has always been known for its spices. The ancient Syrians, Portuguese, Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs, and Chinese had battled the waves of Arabian sea or struggled across harsh desserts, marshes and mountains to trade for spices with the dark skinned people of the Malabar coast. Along that lush and tropical shoreline, spices grew in profusion. Turmeric, ginger, cardamom, pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves constituted together the scent of the potpourri of spices grown in this land. Seamen those days swore that a blind man could steer a vessel right into the coast when the wind blew offshore. As the traders took away the spices, so they gave. The Arabs brought fenugreek (methi) to India, as well as cumminseed, coriander and mustard. The Portuguese introduced what was to become a dominant spice in Indian food, hot chilli peppers which stamped the Indian cousines with a hallmark of fire.
The first Europeans arrived in Kerala nearl five hundred years ago. Vasco-Da-Gama, a Portugese explorer landed in Calicut on the Malabar coast in 1498. He was sent by king Emmanuel of Portugal who was curious to find more about the legendary treasure in silk and spices that India was rumoured to have in vast quantities. As the Portugese awareness of the country grew, they were amazed by the opulent lifestyle by the wealthy princes and merchants. The natives proved to be warm and hospitable and the visitors were invited to stay and enjoy India's traditional hospitality. Looking around they saw a country rich and fertile, where it was possible to reap a harvest of boundless treasure of silk and spices. The idea of colonization that was but a seed till then, took root and soon became the main objective. Soon Dutch, French and later English merchant ships weighed anchor along the shores of the great subcontinent and ruled the land one after another.
Cochin also has a fairly good population of Jews too. The first Jews of Cochin are thought to have come as long as two thousand years ago or more as traders from the Roman part of Jerusalem. Later, European Jews, fleeing persecution at home, arrived here and settled down in the Jewish town under the watchful and protective gaze of the tolerant Hindu rulers of Cochin. In Cochin, they flourished as merchants, agriculturists, soldiers and even in politics. The legacy of all these foreign visitors is firmly entwined in the culture of this land and it is pretty obvious to an observer.
From Bangalore, where we live, we took an overnight train to Kochy. The mainland of Kochy, Ernakulam is a bustling business town, just like any other of its kind. However, the Fort Cochin part of it is another story. It is quiet, serene and has a sense of History. It is full of heritage houses, some of which- the Portuguese ones- are as old as 500 years. Many of these houses have been turned into 'homestays'. In case, you are not familiar with the term, homestays are informal kind of small hotels. The families, which own large Heritage houses offer some of the rooms ( usually four or five of them) of their houses to tourists for accommodation. The tourists are looked after by the family as guests. We had booked accommodation in a homestay for us. The landlady, Mrs Abraham, was pleasant and welcoming and the rooms were very clean and well furnished.
In the evening we roamed around Fort Cochin. It somewhat reminded us of Pondicherry, may be because both the places have a French background in History. Cochin used to be an obscure fishing hamlet till an estuary was formed by a cataclysmic flood in the Periyar river in 1340. This same flood had also formed the Cochin's protected harbour. Trading ships, realizing that Cochin harbour was easily accessible through the estuary, started sailing into and out of the harbour through the Cochin estuary, leading it to grow into a beautiful township On the Cochin beach we saw Cantilevered fishing nets which was introduced by Chinese and are hence called. 'Chinawala' locally.
Just across the field opposite our homestay was the oldest, European built church in India, St Francis Church. It was built in wood in 1503 and later rebuilt in stone in 1562. It is more commonly known as Vasco-Da-Gama church, because the explorer, who died in Cochin in 1524, was buried in its graveyard for twelve years before his remains were shipped back to his country. A little distance away is a relatively new church, called Santa Cruz Basilica, built about 100 years ago.
Possibly, the oldest Jewish synagogue in the country, built in 1558, is situated in the Jew part of Fort Cochin, called the Jew Town. The synagogue was destroyed by the Portuguese in mid seventeenth century and was rebuilt by the Dutch. Overlooking protectively the synagogue is the Matancherry palace of the former Kings of Cochin, which was built by the Portugese in 1555 and gifted to the king in return for the trading favours granted. The palace was renamed as Dutch palace to honour the Netherlanders when they defeated the Portuguese to gain control of the land and later renovated the palace. The old Fort of Portuguese is in ruins now.
After enjoying the traditional Kerala breakfast, constituting Appams, vegetable stew in coconut gravy and filter coffee prepared by our hostess, we left for Munnar next morning which was about 160 km away.Half of this distance was on hilly winding roads. On the way we came across various waterfalls. It took us about five hours to reach the most beautiful hill station of this region. We stayed in a resort 18 km away from the centre of the town.
Munnar is set amidst dramatic mountain scenery. Its tea gardens are unlike any other tea gardens in the country.They are planted on mountains in such a way that it seems that the mountains have been covered with green velvet quilt, the lanes of the garden forming a beautiful pattern on this quilt.