Cochin and Goa India

We’ve had time to visit two delightfully different parts of India. Several years ago we were here with the zoo and visited the chaotic north of India. It’s still hot, humid and dusty, but we had very different experiences.

Cochin is far southwest in India, not quite to the tip. It is part of the state of Kerala, which was established in 1956, following the British withdrawal in 1947. Entering the harbor one sees the Chinese fishing nets, as shown in Picture 1. These are fixed cantilevered structures that are operated mostly from shore, by up to 6 men. The nets are weighted by stones and, as the men walk along the wooden beam, the net is lowered into the water for several minutes. No, we didn’t see them in operation….

We headed out of town (as we typically do) to Alappuzha, which is along the coast 40 miles south of Cochin. It is a major center of coconut fiber making, resulting in mats, furniture and houseboats, like the one shown in Picture 2. Alappuzha is called the “Venice of the East’ because it has a network of canals and lagoons, called the backwaters. You can rent the houseboats for hours or days to sail peacefully through the area. We rented one for a couple hours and enjoyed a wonderful slice of daily life in this part of India.

The dress is so interesting in this part of India. Picture 3 shows a man and woman typically dressed. The women wear bright, colorful Saris, long skirts and tops or long simple dresses. Men wear a shirt and a Dhoti, which is a large rectangular piece of fabric, tied around the waist, which looks like a skirt. What’s different in southern India is that they take the long dhoti and fold it in half when it’s hot, making a shorter skirt. In some cases, when folding it in half, the men bring the longer back between their legs and tie it in front, making it look like a baggy diaper. Of course this provides some modesty on bikes and motorbikes. Our guide also informed us that men wear boxer shorts underneath.

How do the women and men spend their time? Women work hard all the time. Picture 4 shows a woman doing her laundry in the canal. Every woman has a washing stone and slaps her laundry against that stone to get the dirt out. As you can see by her stack of laundry, this is a lengthy process. Women also use the river to do dishes, like the woman shown in Picture 5. Drinking water is piped in, but for other water needs, you use the river. The canal didn’t look terribly clean, but somehow these women got the clothes amazingly clean.

What do the men do? Our guide told us that most men spend half their day tying their dhoti! It does seem a rather tricky task and doesn’t seem to stay tied. This was a Sunday and, while the women worked, most men didn’t seem to do much. We saw a lot of men watching us, as shown in Picture 6.

Because it was Sunday, we also saw many beautifully clad women coming home from church, like those in Picture 7. Interestingly, men wear white dhotis to church, instead of the brightly colored ones.

Finally, the waterways are still used for transportation of goods. Picture 8 shows a group of men unloading bags of rice from a boat, which were then loaded on a truck to deliver locally.

A peaceful morning on the river was followed by a hair-raising drive back to Cochin. The traffic in India is something you don’t understand until you experience it. There are no rules of the road. At one point we had a bus driving toward our van in our lane, while the other lane was filled with motorbikes and tuk-tuks. Scary, crazy….

Our second stop in India was Goa, which has an interesting history. Goa was Portuguese until 1961. It was a little Portuguese enclave, surrounded by British India until the British left in 1947. The Indians finally marched their army in and occupied Goa in 1961, making it a territory. It achieved Indian statehood only in 1987. Therefore, you see much Portuguese heritage and many people still speak the language. Interestingly, Russian is surpassing English as their second (or third) language. Goa has beautiful beaches and this has become a winter playground for wealthy Russians. In fact there are several nonstop flights from Russia each week.

Almost all of Old Goa is a World Heritage Sight. There are 3 amazing Catholic churches built by the Portuguese and we chose to visit these. They are within a quarter mile of each other—an easy walk (in spite of the heat and humidity!).

The first, shown in Picture 9, is the Basilica of Bom Jesus (good or baby Jesus), which was built at the beginning of the 17^th century by the Jesuits. Picture 10 shows the altar area. If you look closely at the feet of the larger statue, you will find a statue of Baby Jesus, shown in a close-up in Picture 11. This is the statue that determined the name of the Basilica.

The Basilica is best known as the resting place of St. Francis Xavier. His coffin is located high in the chapel shown in Picture 12. His body was buried and when it was exhumed to be put in the chapel, it was amazingly intact and it’s even reported to have bled when exhumed. The ornate chapel was built by one of the last Medicis. People would make a pilgrimage to Goa to see the body until a woman bit off the toe in 1554 and several other body parts were removed as relics. It now remains in its silver coffin. Picture 13 is a picture of pictures that show what the body looks like today—it’s pretty well preserved.

The second church was the Se or Cathedral of St. Catherine, which was built in the 16^th century by the Franciscans (Picture 14). It is the longest church in Asia. The façade is shown in Picture 15, minus one tower. The other tower fell in 1775. Picture 16 shows the interior, which is pretty unremarkable.

The third church is St. Cajetan, which was built in the 17^th century by the Order of Theatine (Picture 17), It is no longer an active church, but is still a school for monks and priests. The church was modeled after St. Peters in Rome. The interior is baroque, but not the gold gilt kind. The altar (Picture 18) and side chapels are all made of beautifully carved teak. The most amazing architectural feature is the dome and beautiful ceiling (Picture 19).

Goa is beautiful—very lush and green, with beautiful colonial buildings. It’s very different from other parts of India.

On to Mumbai—I think that will be back to chaotic India.