Saturday, December 4, 2010

Riding Bicycles around Fort Cochin

India keeps getting better and better.  It seems that every evening, as we tuck each other into our double bed, Missy and I proclaim with glee: “Today was SO fun!”  Then we laugh and follow it up with: “We said that yesterday too!”  On a side note, it is amazing how well we have gotten along on this trip.  It seems that many of our friends and family assumed that spending 90 days straight in the presence of the same person would have driven us mad or into a deep hatred for one another.  I can proudly say, “O Contrare!”  We have become better friends, while learning a great deal about ourselves as individuals, and about the facets of Indian culture on which our views coincide and differ.  Go us!  Anyways, we have landed in Fort Cochin, Kerala and it is the cutest town in India.  Cobblestone streets on the water offer you your choice of vendor from whom to buy fresh fish and have it prepared in front of your eyes, narrow neighborhood streets are lined with old Victorian homes, and quaint storefronts and restaurants are a plenty.  There were times when I swore I was in South Carolina.  The one major disappointment is the view from the waterfront.  On the other side of the water, one can find oil tankers and industrial machinery, which do not photograph well.  I mean…eye sore central.  If I were mayor of Fort Cochin, that would be the first thing to go.  There is also probably a very good reason I am not the mayor of Fort Cochin.  

By chance, upon our arrival in Fort Cochin, Missy and I met an old man on a scooter who happened to own and operate a home stay within our price range.  His family was extremely kind and generous; and they, like many Indians we have come to know, were in disbelief over the news that Missy and I are not sisters, just friends who look very similar.  Upon taking in this news, Indians often ask us if we are completely sure we are not related.  Umm…yes…we are fairly sure the resemblance is just a coincidence.  Our home stay family gave us a grand tour of the property, and then handed us five keys which we were to operate during our time at their home stay.  It was quite the system.  We were allowed to hold onto the key to our room at all times, but the key to the door to the floor we were staying on was to be left on a table in the hallway if we were home, but handed directly to a member of the family if we were to leave at any point.  The gate at the main entrance would be locked, but that was not a problem since the 1,000 stray dogs that acted as the neighborhood watch would alert the family when we were in a ten mile radius of their home.  We loved our home stay and felt extremely safe literally locked away from the rest of the world.  

One bright and sunny afternoon, after having breakfast at our usual spot at Kashi café (they have ice coffee that tastes like a carnival in your mouth), Missy and I decided to rent bicycles for the day to explore the parts of town we were too lazy to seek on foot.  This turned out to be one of our best days in India.  We discovered half a dozen art galleries with wonderful paintings from local artists, streets lined with small water canals, and…brace yourselves…JEW TOWN.  Missy and I stumbled upon what we think is the only synagogue in India, and the surrounding neighborhood is literally named Jew Town.  I do not think there is a single person of Jewish faith in Jew Town, but what the hell do I know.  The best discovery in Jew Town was the plethora of Jesus and Mary artifacts that can be purchased in any of the storefronts.  It is truly remarkable and ass backwards.  Missy and I loved Jew Town.  There are antique shops for a mile selling beautiful furniture, old record players, ancient statues, etc.  If you are in the export business, you need to get yourself to Jew Town immediately; the place is a gold mine.  We rode our bicycles up and down the streets of Jew Town until ours bums were throbbing, at which point we stopped for our daily dose of ice cream.  Our bicycles were more like rust buckets on the verge of collapse.  You could hear us coming a mile away, and the brakes on Missy’s did not work at all.  The down hills were really a gamble for her.  We did negotiate a discount upon returning the bicycles since they were such shitters and the cut mine happened to give me on my index finger will probably gave me some rare breed of Indian bicycle tetnis.  I am proud to announce that after negotiation, Missy and I saved 20 rupees on those rust buckets; an equivalent of about $0.50 in US dollars.  It’s the small things in life.  







 
The style of dress for males in Kerala is extremely interesting.  The local garb consists of white wife beater tank tops on the top, and a cloth on the bottom.  Literally every man in Kerala from the rickshaw drivers to the hotel owners looks like they woke up and wrapped themselves in the nearest dish towel.  They don’t look nice and charming like Scottish kilts; just extremely awkward.    Once when I was in high school, my father answered the door wearing nothing but a shower towel when my friends came for a visit, and I am still recovering from the incident.  I could not imagine having to relive that every single day.  

Some of the greatest sights to take in throughout the state of Kerala are the number of schools dedicated to female education.  I am currently reading Half the Sky, a truly remarkable novel encouraging people to take a stand on female education, and in turn human rights issues around the world.  If you are looking for an educational and inspiring read, pick it up.  Anyways, in the novel, I learned that Kerala is one of, if not the most progressive state in any conservative country in terms of recognizing and acting on the importance of female education.  If you are anywhere in Kerala at 4:00pm, then you are in the midst of a student stampede on its way home from school.  It really is a warm site to behold.  All of the students have pigtails with bows that match their uniforms, and eagerness wears itself on each of their faces.  The innocence of their youth is truly apparent as they chase each other on their bicycles, or share a bag of masala chips as they gossip down the streets.  I have strived to become more familiar with the topics and facts surrounding female education in developing countries while traveling India; and it is a cause I am eager to contribute to upon my return to Washington DC.  Other states in India could learn a great deal from the local government of Kerala to take large steps forward in terms of encouraging female attendance in schools.  I’m just sayin…


Tomorrow Missy and I are off to a town called Alleppey, where we are renting our very own private houseboat to cruise the backwaters of Kerala for two days and two nights.  I would like to thank Missy’s sister and parents for purchasing a large portion of our houseboat as her birthday gift.  We are oozing excitement!

No comments:

Post a Comment