Old Cochin & caroling

Day 7 – Old Cochin

Today was another exploration of India, in particular Old Cochin.  We began with a visit to the Dutch Palace where we learned about the Maharajas of this region including many murals portraying a number of Hindu gods.  We were not allowed to take pictures. I wish I had a microscope in order to clearly see the minute details within the murals.  They are absolutely stunning.  What I enjoyed was the comical and mischievous faces on many of the gods and people within the murals.  We were to see the Jewish synagogue next door but our timing was off.  Kerala is definitely ecumenically diverse. 

Then we headed to the Chinese fishing nets.  They were in the center of the city and a bit hard to see up close due to the litter that is everywhere.  








The nets are not far away from St. Francis Church where Vasco da Gama was originally buried. He died in Cochin, India Christmas Eve 1524.  Later on (1539), his body was removed and returned to Portugal for burial. 

On our way back to our bus, we were treated to a snake charmer and his magic over 3 cobras.  Fr. Leo said this is not a common occurrence.  We had good timing! Click the following words to see the charmer in action:   http://youtu.be/GgFMXfh88CY

Here are some of the spices grown in Kerala:

Our lunch that day was at the Restaurant of Hotel International.  We had to return to the friary at a decent hour so that we could select 2 Christmas songs for our performance. We selected the Drummer Boy since Christian purchased a drum today, and jingle bells rock.  We practiced 3 times and needless to say, we did not win.  The other groups, mostly college kids and seminary students, rocked.  Next time we need to bring a baby Jesus with us as well as a St. Nick costume. These folks take their singing seriously.  While waiting for the judges, we were treated to a Bollywood type performance that was so much fun to watch.  I need to get the video of it from Prof. Ali.  We all dressed up in our India salwar kameez and the men wore Sherwani – long coat-like shirts.  We looked good and folks appreciated our effort.  We all decided to keep our day job.