EARLY ONE MORNING IN FOR COCHIN ON THE LAST DAY OF THE JEWISH YEAR 5785

As the hotel faces the Arabian sea and the inlet into the backwaters of Kerala, nothing better than a morning walk. Even at that early hour, the walk along the sea/bay shore was busy with people of all ages, all religions.

Some older people had staked out a piece of the sidewalk near the ocean and has a BEACH HEALTH CLUB and you can see several of them doing power and cardio exercises. Good Luck to you, mates!

You tend to see older, 20s 30s and above , i suppose the younger ones are still sleeping. there is no shyness about exercising in public and all sorts of poses can be observed, some yogic and some particularly individualistic. 

Fishing boats are returning home and at one part of the beach, there is an active fish market. i am told that since the advent of mobile phones, the fisherman cell them on line before reaching back to the shores. you can get the freshest of the catches in this informal fish market

The Cochin inlet was formed or "split by the river" around 1341 AD due to heavy floods from the river Periyar, which caused the ancient harbor of Muziris to become silted and created a new, larger opening at Cochin. This natural event led to the decline of the older port and the rise of Cochin as a major trading center. 

The chinese fishing nets which are seen dotted along the estuaries were introduced by the greatest seafarer of the 14th Century, Admiral Zheng He who visited Cochin four times on his various voyages

While the young people follow the fashions of Dubai and the Gulf where a sizeable portions of the remittances come from, most of the people adhere to local forms of clothing, convenient and cool in this hot humid climate 

At a time of islamophobia in the west, it is a nice lesson to be learned from Cochin where Muslims, Hindus and Christians coexist and they celebrate each others festivals. While older women tend to wear distinctive muslim garbs, the younger ones are indistinguishable from the rest of the population in their way of dressing or speaking or education. There is no discrimination against muslim girls being educated.

At this early hour, most of the stalls and cafés were shuttered but this roadside stall whips out hot milk tea, like chai latte of the west. The owner gives a welcome nod and pours out a steaming hot glass tumbler of tasty tea. The price of this refreshing drink is only 10 indian rupees, which is like 10 cents in the dollar or euro! Starbucks with their labour exploitative practices will not survive in Fort Cochin!

Fort Cochin was colonized by the three maritime powers of the west, first by Portuguese, Vasco da Gama was here in 1505, then came the Dutch in the early part of the 17th century and followed by the British who ruled for over 150 years until the Independence of India in 1948. Each colonizer left their mark in architecture and you can see the distinctive european features in many of the surviving building. The above is a good example of the British Colonial Architecture.

This street which now houses some fancy cafés, is called Burgher street not after the famous american concoction but during the dutch times, many traders lived there. To the jewish population, who were mainly merchants, the Dutch were benevolent.

This was the home of the last of the leaders of the Jewish community which alas is no more in Fort Cochin. Mr Samuel Koder of Iraqi origins was a leading industrialist and philanthropist.

The prominent jewish merchant during the Dutch era was Ezekiel Rahabi, whose family had migrated here from Israel during the Dutch occupation of Cochin. There is a tale of Ezekiel donating wood for the green mosque of mattancherry.

• t was built as a residence for the Dutch governor, Hendrick Adrian Van Rheede, or to accommodate soldiers.

I arrived back to the hotel which is also built during the time of Dutch occupation of Fort Cochin

Who was waiting for me at the entrance, but Gunpati, the Ellegua of Hindus, the spirit that opens the doors for you. A good metaphor of welcome for me . Gracias

🔵🔵🔵🔵🔵🔵🔵

🔵 🌟💫🌙💫🌟🔵

🔵🔵🕊 🔵🕊 🔵🔵

🔵   Ꮭ’ᎦᎻᎧNᎯ    🔵

🔵       ᎢᎧᏌᎯ        🔵

🔵 🍎🐝🍯🐝🍎🔵

🔵🔵🔵🔵🔵🔵🔵

HAPPY 5786

PEACE FOR ALL THE PEOPLE ON EARTH 

AS MOTHER TERESA SAID : WE DEFINE OUR FAMILIES TOO NARROWLY. LET US EMBRACE HUMANITY.