yatra to kochi

Yatra to Kochi, Kerala, India-

A Travelogue Trip to Kochi, Kerala, India

A chance visit to historical city of Kerala, India, Now Kochi, once that was famous Port city of Cochin, vied for by European powers-Portuguese and Dutch then landed in hands of British. This has impacted the city, culture, Architecture, Psyche, and thinking process By Gaurang Katyayan Mishra @kamlesm

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When I came to know that I have to go to Kochi to attend a workshop, I was

very excited. Since childhood, I have heard a lot about Cochin. It was INS

Cochin which I heard first that too from my father. He was in Indian Navy.

It was a historical place. The Portuguese and Dutch people landed here

centuries ago i.e. about 14th century. Portuguese had occupied it for about

160 years. In 1683 the Dutch caught this area and ruled for 112 years, later

it became a British colony. That was the time all the colonial powers were

eyeing for our India. They were all dreaming of looting immense wealth. They

had heard about this land through travellers and thought to occupy it and

make it their slave. Thus European countries wanted to become wealthy just

by looting this land. Now they are wealthy countries, if I may say so, they

have become so after taking away wealth of our countries- those who were

their colonies.

I mean it was a historical PORT CITY, since people landed here coming by

sea route. The name lingered. When we went on LTC tour in 1976 that time

we could not see much of that part of Keral.

I searched in google. I came to know there are so many words. Kochi,

Cochin. Kozhikode etc., I was confused, as to which Airport I should select

for ticket? since the name of my destination was Kochi, I took ticket for

Kochi. In kochi itself there were two airports, thanx to the google earth.

Other was naval area. Why they renamed it as Kochi instead of Cochin?

On reaching I tried to get the feel of air of Kochi. It was a busy city, bustling

with lot of activities. It is growing with high pace. Infrastructural projects are

on rise. The ride from airport to the city is bit long, but adventurous, as I

felt. So much greenery around, but it was being occupied by concrete. Few

new roads and high rise buildings are coming up. So it was different from

image of a historical

city, it is now a

commercial city. I

saw few

aquaculture fields-

where prawns,

shrimps are

cultured(?). These

were low lying fields

lined by high mud

bunds & symbol of

Keral-coconut trees

all around the field.

At airport I saw lots

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of newly wedded couples disembarking from many private airlines. Thus it is

becoming as a tourist spot also, mostly as a honeymoon spot. In my flight

few fellow passengers were wearing black cloths. Small kids were also there.

Later I learnt that they were visiting Sabarimala. That means if I am correct

it is en-route to a pilgrimage.

We were put in Abad hotel. Abad means well settled. Road seemed busy

during evening & night. It has cinema halls, eatery, many shops- garments,

utility, electronics, utensils, medicines

and most prominently jewellery shops.

Towards one end there was an Ayurveda

clinic, I think of kotakal warrior

connection??.

I was desperate to see the sea as my

father told about his navy days. I was

thinking to see palaces, temples or fort

or any such historical thing. Which, I

came to know through reading books.

Walking in street in evening I found

these were busy. We reached at a place

from where many boats were leaving for

various destinations. I had read that

Keral is country of backwater, thus I

could easily guess people traveling

through sea route also. This picture

of a board tells distances of various

places from that jetty. At first I

could not believe that people may

be visiting to such far off places as

Kolam. But his board tells that it

was 155 Km from Kochi Or

Astamudi which was 147 Km and

people may be visiting?

Since it was a workshop organised

by a Ministry. People from all over

country came to attend workshop.

A boat was there to carry whole

team. We boarded the boat.

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While walking at jetty, I got sight of a tall

statue. It looked very much pleasing to me.

I thought this as a pious soul, may be the

Mother Mary. Only that name I knew?. It

looks as if saying keep marching ahead

and do your duty. I clicked few photos of

this tall statue. The famous words Ekla

chalo came to mind. See how the Bengali

words came to mind while I was in Keral.

At jetty there was a big shopping complex.

On one side was this jetty and other side

was a busy road. By now I came to know

that city has quite a deep influence of

Christianity. Almost on every road you can

find either church like signs, or structures,

or some church affiliated school or hospitals

etc. another influence is that people speak English. Keral is one of the state

having highest literacy rates in country.

Signs of modernity were evident through these high rise buildings. I could

see lot of experimentation also in architecture. I have observed that in cities

people do not get influenced by

religious aspects while choosing a

flat in multi-storeyed buildings.

See that building in pic here have

houses in inclined slope. They

might be projecting these

apartments as having sun light or

separate terrace. On that road

there were many multi-storeyed

buildings. I had always dreamt of

sleeping in terrace under open

sky moonlight.dreams

always.

With so many people living there

then there must be some

attraction in it? As our boat

started moving more symbols of

developments came in sight.

There was this huge flyover. It

takes people from one shore to

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another. There were many such

bridges at multilevel.

A succesfull Port should have good

connectivity. That can be achieved

through big roads, for cargo

movement.

When boat reached further little

inside the sea I saw some resort

like structures along the shore.

Since it is a Port City it

has floating

population, either for

commercial activity or

tourist. The green and

big shoreline offers

great opportunity for

such tourism related

endeavours. Kochi is

making full use of its

potential.

But we cannot say full,

but yes it is bubbling

with such activities, as

I saw. With global exposure it is

now becoming a global hub of

activities. Recently it was

famous for a controversy on Art

activist related activity (Biennale

of arts).

Many Boats full of people

started emerging on both sides

of sea creek. The guide

accompanying our team pointed

towards a large structure having

several high cranes, stacked

containers, few ships being

loaded with those containers

and few were being unloaded,

and He said that this is the largest container port in India? Our boat

travelled past that ship container port. On the other side at far end many

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ships were there. The boat slightly took a turn towards left and at that point

I could see one of the largest Naval

ship. It was there for repairs. In that

area many big or small ships were

sailing. Many of them were of Navy,

coast guard etc.

On One boat LOTS Bridge was written

on the body. Was it for making bridge

across sea channel.

Suddenly on the right

side I saw a beautiful

boat. That was truly a

boat. It must be a tourist

boat. It was in kind of round shape. It had eco-friendly material. Bamboo

thatched mats. It was a fine example of why tourists are attracted to Kerala.

They always dream to have a boat ride in the back water.

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On the way there were other boats in the sea, shipping, fishing & tourist?

We travelled towards a place called the Mattanchery. This word sounded like

mutton to me. The place is famous in history of Keral. The Dutch connection

was evident.

When the boat enters a canal,

on left side I saw naval ships

lining on the port side and on

the right side there were many

houses. Each of these building

was with architecture of old

type. I guessed may be that is

influence of Dutch. Designs of

old type of inclined and sloping

roofs are there. This indicates

the heavy rains in that area.

We reached the jetty of Mattancherry. Few

steps ahead just in front was a gate. This

was gate of that very historical place for

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