This gallery contains 26 photos.
I didn’t get the streets, a mess of vehicles and animals, of constantly surprising diversity. It was hard to photograph the environment: food stands, shacks containing mysterious contraptions, shopfronts, offering all manner of goods and services, amidst which groups of … Continue reading
It was my last day in Kochi today, before setting off to Bengaluru tomorrow afternoon en route to Hampi. I really enjoyed exploring the old city, on foot mostly, by bike and tuktuk once each. Though I walked a fair bit in other places, this is the first that has been relaxed enough to really enjoy, while still bustling with life. There are also more tourists here, but it doesn’t take long at all to leave most of them behind, and even in the centre there are many locals living and working, it’s just a block or two where you really only see sightseers.
I guess some locals don’t like to be photographed, so I don’t get as may scenes of street and working life as I’d like. One tea wholesaler got me into her shop hoping to sell samples to me. I explained 100 rupees for 100g is no cheaper than Britain, but she was undeterred. I asked how much for a big sack? 500 rupees, for a 52kg sack. She didn’t really see any conflict. I didn’t mind getting some local tea from Munnar anyway, and now I felt happy to take a snap too. The trader across the street chuckled as she conceeded with chagrin, the counter trap sprung.
This gallery contains 20 photos.
Arrived in Kochi, ancient spice port and host to the first Portugese colonial presence in India. Spread over islands and amidst backwaters. Wander through crumbling colonial buildings: greens and clubhouses, churches and graveyards, warehouses and bungalows. Amongst traditional Hindu, and … Continue reading
In Alappuzha after a few days at a Sivananda ashram learning a little yoga, which the heavy emphasis on satsangs led me to cut it short. It felt good to arrive here and I was excitied to see a big festival breaking out as the bus finshished off the last of my vertebrae. In the countryside groups of women and girls in different costume were gathering and rows of oil lamps were being lit along the approaches to temples as dusk fell.
Alappuzha (formerly Allepey) is built between the sea and a huge lake, from which backwaters and canals stretch for many miles. Boat trips amongst these are the star attraction of the region. Lord Curzon proclaimed it the venice of the east a century ago, haha. The world must have been a beautiful place then.
The local temple were playing deafeningly loud trad-pop music until 12am last night and this morning started up again at 4am, to the otherwise quiet, sleeping streets around. A point the guesthouse neglected to mention as I booked in. Surely this can’t be defended on the grounds of centuries old tradition.. Damn the twentieth century! I have a feeling the playlist’s on a loop. This is a quiet residential area! I was up before 6 yesterday! Maybe it’s time to flee this crazy country.
Resting up in Varkala a few days, in a peaceful guesthouse by the coast.
Zoroastrianism was the religion of the Iranian peoples before Islam came with the Invasion from Arabia. Some, especially around Yazd, have held to it. Much of it’s tradition was adopted by later religions. It brought on a radical change in attitude that saw Cyrus I write what is seen as the first declaration of human rights, the Cyrus Cylinder, and follow policies of tolerance and respect to many peoples once he’d conquered them. There aren’t records of that happening before in the ancient world.
Chak Chak is the most holy of the mountain shrines. Tradition has it that pilgrims are to stop the moment they see the sight of the temple and continue their journey on foot the rest of the way. Our driver impatiently beeped them out of the way as he drove us up as close as he could possibly get to the shrine, in his beat up car with it’s cracked wind screen and dead dashboard. He smiled and shrugged to the protesting old man along the way, relaying the incident with evident surprise to our guide, who arrived later. Men and women are meant to cover their heads inside the shrine, but foreigners and guides seemed exempt. There was some more shrugging and garrulous grinning aimed at the shrine caretaker, I couldn’t understand the precise details of the exchange, but that was the upshot.
After 6 weeks on the road I found my tropical beach, at Kovalam.
