This place was probably the most anticipated for me. The
reason I think it was the most anticipated is because of the sheer
amount and intensity of the knowledge I've learned about this place in
the classroom and in life. I have seen it in documentaries, and modern
movies like Slumdog Millionaire. I have read about it in articles, and
books. In spite of all the knowledge I had going in, nothing prepared
me for what I did see.
Monday morning I woke up at 5:30 and headed up to the top
observation deck. I didn't realize that with the half-hour time change
that we went through upon entering the Indian time-zone, the sun
wouldn't be rising until a bit later. When I got up to the observation
deck it was still very dark and extremely windy…oh, and I was the only
one up there. I sat down and looked out at the blue ocean that I'm so
used to seeing. Within a few minutes a friend of mine, Miles arrived
and sat next to me. He told me about the summer he spent in India a
few years ago. We watched the black sky turn blue like the ocean…then,
around 7am we saw it…LAND! The night before getting to India I was
telling my friend how weird this trip is in a lot of ways. I say this
because, usually when you get ready to go on a trip to a foreign
country it takes lots of preparation, packing, and sitting on an
uncomfortable plane for a while. On a usual trip there is a unique
level of excitement that comes with the travel. Here, I roll up to
these foreign countries with my room, bed, belongings, and friends
that have become family right there next to me. So, the level of
excitement that you usually get a few days before boarding a plane
doesn't exist as much here. For me, I've found that it exists the
first time that I see land.
By around 8am we were officially docked at the port. I
was still up on the observation deck as I saw the immigrations
officials walk up the stairs to the gang-way and onto the ship. When
living in such a secluded community, it's funny to see people on the
ship that aren't usually here. We all went through immigrations and
hoped to be off the ship shortly. I made my way to Tymitz square which
is right next to the gangway around 9am, thinking that we would get
the okay to get off the ship any minute. Well, immigrations were not
on our sides this port and we ended up sitting in Tymitz square until
11:15am. When we finally got word that we could get off the ship
everyone cheered and literally ran off the ship.
My Dad, David, does business with some people in India.
When he told his friend, Manish, that I was to be arriving by boat in
his home city of Cochin, Manish insisted that he be a great host.
Manish arranged for a driver to take me around Cochin for the day and
see lots of great sites. Myself and friends Shelley, leah, Kevin and
Park hopped off the ship and found our driving host for the day,
Linus. Linus was a very sweet man that spoke limited English. We got
in the car and headed for an area called Jew-Town. Historically,
Cochin had a lot of Jews living there. When we got there I was excited
by the sign that said Jew Street and Shalom in Hebrew. I stumbled on
the home of a woman named Sarah. Sarah was very old and spoke very
broken English, but she welcomed me gladly into her home. She
explained to me that she was one of only NINE Jews left in Cochin. She
looked at me and told me that everyone else had gone to Israel. I
asked her a little about the 9 Jews there are still there and she told
me that their Rabbi had also left so they rely on tourists to show up
on Shabbat in order to pray as a community.
Then, I made my way further down the road. At the end
there was a Jewish cemetery that was closed off to the public. There
was also a synagogue. I excitedly stored my bag like I was told and
entered the synagogue. It was interesting to see the combination of
cultures. For example, before entering the synagogue I was told to
take off my shoes. I looked at my friend who was also raised Jewish
weirdly…I've been to many synagogues in my life, but I've never been
told to take my shoes off before. I took them off and walked inside.
The synagogue had clear Indian influence. The place was so intricately
decorated with lots of color. The floors were adorned with clean white
tiles and blue drawings unique to each and every tile. As I was there
a group of elementary school children came to view the synagogue. It
was funny because it was one of the first "touristy" places I've been
to on Semester at Sea thus far where locals were also "touring". This
quickly became a unique theme to India.
After exploring "Jew-Town" we met back up with Linus and
headed to lunch. We had been recommended the name of a restaurant in
town by a local shop owner called "Dal Roti". The five of us had not
eaten all day so we jumped out of the car ready for our first Indian
mean. We got into the restaurant and were shocked by the prices. A
coca cola was only 20 rupees (that's not even 50 cents). In total I
ended up paying only 3 dollars for two drinks and my meal!
At this point you're probably thinking that those cokes
were super small and that the meal sucked. Well, you're wrong! The
owner of the restaurant came over to our table and we asked him for
recommendations. I ended up ordering a chicken Kati Roll. This ended
up being chicken and vegetables in a naan type wrap. This sounds
boring…but I quickly learned that something as simple as chicken in
India means so much more. The amount of spices and flavors put into
the food is AWESOME. After a week and a half of ship food (aka
different variations of pasta and potatoes), that Kati Roll was, in my
father's words, the "best meal of my life".
We finished up lunch and made our way to another popular
site to see in Cochin- the Fishnets. In the south of India they use
these fish-nets that are very unique to the south. They are HUGE nets
attached to 3 planks of wood that are placed into the water. When it
comes time to take the net out and get some fish, you pull ropes with
big rocks on the ends that are attached to the three planks of wood.
My friends and I even got to pull one net out of the water and we
helped catch a few fish.
Right around the fish nets there were lots of stands and
shops and people hanging out. As we were walking around I saw a group
of locals sitting around playing Chess. They asked me if I wanted to
play one of them. Well, I'm not much of a chess player, but my friend
that was with me, Kevin, is an avid chess player. So, I called Kevin
over and the two started what turned out to be an epic, hour and a
half long game. By the end, there were tons of locals surrounding the
chess board cheering on their friend and also laughing at the
possibility of him losing to an American. The situation got pretty
intense and game turned out to be very close. Kevin was thrilled to
come out on top. As soon as he won, all of the Indians started
chanting "Ah-mer-ee-kah! Ah-mer-ee-kah!!". Kevin shook hands with his
openent, hugged and laughed and we said our good-byes to the group.
After a lot of exploring Cochin, I got a call from my
Dad's friend, Manish. Manish told us that he'd love to have dinner
with us. Obviously, we all jumped at the chance to have dinner with a
local and told him we'd meet him at a restaurant in a few hours. We
did some more walking around and meeting people and then made our way
to the restaurant.
The dinner with Manish was definitely the high-light of
my day. We ended up having SUCH an nice and delicious dinner with him
and his wife. I used the opportunity to ask all sorts of questions
about the culture, religions, customs, education system, health
policies…etc. The two happily answered my questions and we ended up
having such a nice conversation that the dinner went on for nearly 3
hours. After dinner, we hung around in the hotel we ate dinner in to
use the wifi for an hour or so. I got to call home and even video chat
with Greg and Jenna!
My day in Cochin was a great introduction to India. The
state that Cochin is in, Kerala, is the most "well off" state in
India. It has the highest literacy rate, and also some of the lowest
rates of problems like domestic violence and infanticide. So, I say it
was a good introduction to India because it is definitely a "milder"
version of India with less poverty. That night we got back to the ship
around 12 at night and just got ready to head up north for the next
few days.
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