The Odyssey becomes circular
Cochin - Chinese-, Arabian-, Jews-, Portuguese-, English- and Dutch-influenced colonial town.
Today, after 3 weeks of touring south India, we finally arrived to a place where I had been before, on my first big trip to India: Cochin in Kerala. From now on it will be mostly repetition for me.
And as we arrived here, without any plan to do so, we coincidentally checked into the same guesthouse where I had stayed those 2 years ago. No big surprise here, because it turned out to be the cheapest one around. But then I realized that even the date is maybe the same, I checked by blog and yes, it has been exactly on 29.1.2013, that I had arrived here to Cochin, to the same guesthouse all, but alone.
And then they say that you cannot step into the same river twice!
Cochin is still the same after 2 years – nice town where Vasco Da Gama died almost 500 years ago, with loads of colonial-mansions-cum-boutique-hotels and loads of posh older tourists dwelling in them, streets are all colonial charms mixed with Indian messiness, and the whole place bit of museum-like atmosphere, but I have to admit this time I liked it more than 2 years ago. It’s a nice town for a couple :-)
And where else can you find Dutch cemetery and pepper trading posts, Portuguese mansions and churches, English monuments, Jewish synagogue, Chinese fishing nets, and all of that in the midst of Indian/Hindu surroundings?
To make the repetition of 2 years ago perfect, we also went to Katakali theater, which is traditional non-speaking, hand gestures-based theatrical performance by all male crew covered in extreme and colorful make-up (but not that of transvestites, although we did meet an Indian transvestite in one of Cochin’s restaurants, she/he was serving us pizza). Irene was not too impressed and called it kitschy. Well, it is kitschy, no doubt about that, but I wonder what would Indians say about European ballet, with guys dressed up in balls-tight stockings and dancing on their toe tips :-)
