Day 2 -- Cochin

Friday, January 30

This a.m. we started slow, managed to find something for Ava to take for the road to eat – she’s thrown in the towel on breakfast lately. Not sure why…of all meals this one is typically easiest with both kids.

Anyway, I’ve resorted to the bad mother practice of letting her eat cookies; they’re as close to animal crackers or nilla wafers as I could find and they’re tiding her over until we find PASTA for lunch.

Our guide met us at the hotel and took us to the Hill Palace in Tripunithura, 16km east of Cochin in Tripunithura.

Built in the 19th century by the Raja of Kochi, this palace served as the seat of the Raja of the Kochi province. It is now a museum displaying the wealth and splendor of the Rajas of Kochi, including the throne and the crown. The museum also houses a large collection of archaeological findings.

The grounds are gorgeous as the palace sits on a hillside with flowers/trees and greenery crawling up the side, intermixed with lovely stone steps and fountains.
The view, unadulterated by buildings and pollution, must have been fabulous from the hilltop palace overlooking Cochin.

Inside, a museum guide took us through; he said Kerala, during British rule, tried hard to get along with the British rather than creating conflict. Thus in the plalace were many examples of gifts exchanged between the countries, pictures of leaders from both, British paintings, etc. We saw gorgeous jewels belonging to the Royal family that lived there. In the 1960’s they moved elsewhere in the area, leaving artifacts to the museum for the public to view. Many lovely, valuable things were left, including a gold crown studded with jewels.

Other items I recall from our walk through: Italian tiles on the floor, Victorian flower tiles in pastels/bright colors along the walls, original chandeliers from Belgium, pictures of Indian gods and goddesses, items from old temples, weapons, carriages, palanquins. We learned that palanquin carrying (carrying a person of importance – generally royalty) was a role that held prestige. Our guide remarked that jobs in generations of old were held in esteem, less so now.

The last thing we saw was the deer park – a big pen near the castle filled with several spotted deer milling about.

From the palace we went to lunch at a very cool al fresco restaurant in Fort Cochin. I had prawn masala and a mango lassi (very tasty but the best lassi was still back in Rajasthan).

Then we went to watch martial arts training at Greenix Village, a “cultural multiplex” with art museum of (lots of Kerala dance information/depictions), handicraft demonstrations, library/book store, two theatres and a martial arts exhibition area (Kalaripayattu Training Square).

There we sat down to watch martial arts in chairs overlooking a “ring” below, where various weaponry is displayed. The program was designed to illustrate different martial arts used throughout history in Kerala. It began with a special blessing for the success of the competition.

The kids got scared at the first demonstration as it was noisy because the fighters were using swords, so they hovered out the door where I could see them while I watched the rest of the program.

I was amazed at the speed, agility and ability of the three fighters who showed their skills. They began each demo with another special blessing or prayer to the gods. Some of the skills illustrated were done individually – i.e. one guy “whirled” a long silver spear (later he did the same things with two) so quickly it was a blur.
Another used a sword with flexible blade that curls (handle is also very flexibility) and is very dangerous. He was spinning that so fast my eyes couldn’t keep up.

There were demos with long and short sticks, with two men fighting using daggers, swords, etc. – then hand to hand combat. In one fight one of the men was armed with a knife, the other unarmed. They illustrated how they use pressure points to bring enemies down. One man showed how he used his sash to defend himself, even tying three people up together (the mast of ceremonies was the third captured).

Apparently Kerala’s martial arts is the “mother” of today’s martial arts. I am now intrigued to learn more, much to Claire’s chagrin. She saw the sword piece and probably thinks I’m going to fill the London house with weaponry. These men, of course, make it all seem so easy…they’ve only been training since they were children.

We can’t not hit a bookstore when one presents itself so each of us left Greenix Village with a book, then we had Ramu drop us at the Jew Street market not far from our hotel. It was wholesale – huge! Tons of fruits, vegetables, spices in crowded narrow streets – great fun to walk through.

Then we headed to the top of the hotel for the sunset and pool time – the sky was a lovely ball of peach setting over Cochin’s high rises.