Miss Adventures

Late Sunday afternoon was time to go on our guided tour of Cochin. After a stop to view the shore, some shady rain trees, and the Chinese fishing nets (a row of big nets attached to cranes that were once used to mine the Arabian Sea for fish), we moved on the Mattancherry Palace, the former home of the Maharajahs of Cochin.

The palace had some of the accoutrements one would expect the Rajahs to have, including incredibly dark teakwood ceilings, royal portraits, swords, fancy costumes made with gold and silver thread, palanquins (man-handled carriages for rajahs and ranees) and howdahs (elephant carriages) and a mural series depicting scenes from the Ramayana. The paintings were very detailed and very colorful, but they left me a bit depressed because I felt that they weren’t being kept in the best of conditions. Photography wasn’t allowed within Mattancherry, yet windows and doors were left open so that the heat and humidity could flow right in. I suppose those are the conditions that Mattancherry has always existed in, but I got the sense that my friends who work in art and art conservation would have been appalled.
(more…)

One of my favorite dialogues from Seinfeld has to be the one where Jerry and George discuss their favorite explorers. [mp3] Jerry likes Magellan. George likes DeSoto:

Jerry: What did he do?
George: Discovered the Mississippi.
Jerry: Like they wouldn’t have discovered that anyway!

Well, I’ve always liked Vasco da Gama. Columbus may have discovered America, but he was supposed to be going to India. Da Gama actually set out to find a passage to India, and he found it! I have always really liked his name, too. It has a nice ring to it. I’m sure if he were alive today, he’d probably be designing shoes for Barney’s.

Nevertheless, when we booked our Kerala trip, one of the sights I knew I had to see was Vasco’s former grave in Cochin. He was buried in the city’s St. Francis church for 14 years before his remains were disinterred and moved to Lisbon.

On another note, I was also intent on seeing Cochin’s Synagogue, the oldest one in India (and, quite possibly, in Asia). Anthony and I had been lucky enough to stumble upon a photography exhibit on the history, culture, and dwindling population of the Jews of Cochin in Washington last spring. There are quite a few links about the community online, but I wish I could remember the name of the photographer whose pictures and videos set our trip itinerary in motion.
(more…)

The second leg of our Kerala weekend took place aboard a Kettuvalam, or houseboat. Historically, Kettuvalams were used to transport rice, coir, or other products down the Keralan backwaters. But most of the ones you’ll see these days have been reincarnated as houseboats for tourists. For the most part, the Kettuvalams are welcomed by the locals, as they are somewhat eco-friendly (at least those with inboard (rather than outboard) motors) and they help to add money to Kerala’s growing tourism coffers. On the other hand, their presence – and, more importantly, their passengers’ presence – creates an unspoken tension between the haves and have-nots. In such situations, it’s hard not to feel guilty.

Both guilt and awe came from the scenery that passed us by as we sat in amazingly ergonomic cane chairs on the upper deck of our boat. We boarded right at the resort, so our first sight was of the red-tiled bungalows receding in the distance. Then, it was just inky water and coconut palms. We were also able to get a better view of the long-neck ducks that had been migrating to the area. Those ducks were divers, and their heads looked pretty serpent-like when they bobbed on the water waiting for bugs or minnows.
(more…)

It’s a true testament to a place when, after arriving, you feel that you never want to leave. That was my first impression of Kerala. The state on the southern tip of India is greener than green, with an overabundance of coconut palms, rice paddies, and fresh water lakes dotted with floating hyacinths and debris from neighboring banana trees.
(more…)

Bombay has been incredibly merry for the past several weeks because of Ramzan (aka, Ramadan) and the run-up to Diwali. In fact, Bombay has sort-of lived up to its name: BOMB-Bay. Neighborhood kids are setting off massively loud fireworks at all hours of the day, and the boom can be quite disconcerting to the uninitiated. These aren’t your average Roman candles.
(more…)

There was only one way to ease our sorrows last Wednesday night after we realized the inevitable, and that was to drink. And eat.

Luckily for us, the reopening of the club Enigma came on a night when we needed to forget about the day’s news. The reopening had been much talked about since I arrived a few months ago. So when we were able to get an invitation to the party, we took it.

Like almost all decent (or is that decadent?) clubs in Bombay, Enigma is located in a hotel. A lot of the good, high quality restaurants are also in hotels, so of course there’s this similarly dull, manufactured air to all of them. Nevertheless, the clubs are a good bet if you just want to go somewhere, have a drink, and do a little dancing. I regret that there really aren’t any good rock clubs or simple pubs in the city. The only exception to the latter is Geoffrey’s, located in the beautiful Art Deco Hotel Marine Plaza. It’s got English pub style to the hilt; sadly, only Kingfisher beer is on draft (but the Pet Shop Boys are on the jukebox!).
(more…)

This was my reaction to the sad, sad re-election of W. (So, it’s not spelled just so, but you get it, right?) By the way, this shot is from Bombay’s Hanging Gardens, one of the few, grassy tranquil places in the city. More on these later when I get over my depression hangover…

Come on…don’t embarrass me over here. I know I’m preaching to the choir, but just thought I’d throw out this little nugget in case you missed it:

“The Bushies’ campaign pitch follows their usual backward logic: Because we have failed to make you safe, you should re-elect us to make you safer. Because we haven’t caught Osama in three years, you need us to catch Osama in the next four years. Because we didn’t bother to secure explosives in Iraq, you can count on us to make sure those explosives aren’t used against you.” [NYT.com]

The people in India are on pins and needles about the election, so I can just imagine how anxious you must feel over there. The world is freaking out. I am freaking out. I’ve been grinding my teeth so hard at night over this that I’ve got something close to lockjaw right now.

Anyhow, it’s not up to me anymore. I’ve already sent in my absentee vote. As for the rest of you, for the love of god, please get out there and vote for Kerry.