Arrival in Fort Cochin
For a country that prides itself in IT, the
public offering of IT is very poor, much poorer than a country like Cambodia.
An international airport like Cochin does not offer free Wi-Fi, but if you have
a local phone they will send you an SMS with a thirty minute Wi-Fi! Big help!
And when you are in a hurry to get to your destination, which in my case is
Fort Cochin...
In the air conditioned car, you are not
aware of the heat as you traverse through a scenery so lush with recent rains
and stretches of water. Garish outdoor advertising everywhere to such a degree
that one cannot avoid them: lots of advertisements for hospitals but not for
individual doctors, none for lawyers but lots of advertisements for bridal
jewelry which is a great status symbol regardless of religion here. A brush
with modernity with very sexy symbols but the society is so rigid that the
frustration for young men and women must be huge, I looked at the throng of
people and survival of the fittest indeed and they wear their social caste on themselves
and easy to see ones status in life just by looking. Perhaps that is why they
wonder why the European tourist adorn themselves with cheap jewelry or clothes
even the poorest Indian would not like to be seen.
The run from the airport to the hotel took
one hour, it was Sunday so the traffic was light, lots more of small cars on
the road, everywhere thick with humanity, people stand very close to one
another, shops are very close to each other, there is a competition for land
here as the demand far outstrips the supply.
While waiting for the room to be cleaned, I
went around the corner, greeted warmly by the owner as well as the Nepalese
waiter. A humble Masala dosa with Chai to accustom my stomach to the fare for
the next few days. I suppose it is unusual for someone who lives so far away
from Cochin to be seen here with some regularity that the greetings are
familiar and warm.
The owner of the hotel soon appears and we
have a nice chat together. My body demanded rest and the heat was unrelenting
and wanted to escape into the air conditioned and ceiling fan assisted room
where I could catch up with two long nights of travel.
While still groggy, at around 8 pm, as the
streets were being emptied out, I walked to the Talk of the Town restaurant
owned and run by Bensal Sany. I took his suggestion and had a local dish AVIAL
which is pea based and has vegetables cooked in a mild sauce accompanied by
parotta which is the original version of Roti Canai which is so common in
Malaysia.
There was a sense of homecoming to this
visit, however alien India feels to me, this piece of territory, Fort Cochin,
which had welcomed guests from elsewhere longer than any other part of this
geographical but not cultural entity called INDIA.
I am just the latest of a long line of
visitors who are richer by their visits.
