INDIA TRIP PART 13: Kochi, Kerala – Spice trading connecting India and Europe

5^th of August

Kunjun Chayan & Amma

click picture to see rain

That day it was raining all day. We drove 2.5 hours from Aymanam north to Kochi in a hired car. We visited with Amma’s cousin Kunjun (Amma´s father´s sister´s son) and then with Mohan Papa’s (Amma’s brother) at his Kochi apartment.  We then arrived at Sherin’s (GP´s sister’s daughter) apartment in the evening.  

Kochi is a big historic city known to be the center of the Indian spice trade (this is the place that Colombus probably tried to get to…).  And 600 years later, Sherin’s husband Reji works in the spice trade for AVT Natural, a company who sells spice ingredients that are probably in many of the foods you eat on a day-to-day basis.  

view from Sherin/Reji's apartment

We found out from Sherin and Reji that Kochi is planning to become a bigger city, as it is expanding its current port operations into a really large port for large shipping containers and cruise lines.  Therefore, there are high expectations of growth and prosperity in that city with lots of high rise apartment complexes being built with luxury facilities.  

And you could see the signs of wealth pouring in… The main roads were nicely paved, and on the way to Sherin’s place, we passed a Volkswagen dealer, then an Audi dealer, then a BMW dealer, and finally a Porsche dealer (I would be too afraid to put a Porsche on the streets of India where everyone drives totally crazy!!)…

helping to make puri

Puri for breakfast!

Sherin and Reji were wonderful hosts!  They prepared a LOT of food for us, and Sherin made sure that we ate a LOT…  They even let us sleep in their 3 bedrooms and went to Reji’s mother’s apartment to sleep…

6^th of August

Then, they arranged to take us all over Kochi!  First, we went to visit GP´s cousin. There was a lot of traffic, where a 10 min drive became a 1 hour drive (we found out later it was because a truck carrying trees lost its load…). Then Reji and Sherin treated us for a nice lunch at a popular hotel, and we continued to Fort Cochin, a historic tourist site at the tip of the peninsula where Lake Vembanad meets the ocean.

Chinese fishing nets

Lowering the net

On the way, we saw Chinese fishing nets, which are thought to be introduced to the area in the early 1400s by the Chinese explorer Zheng He. 

St. Francis Church

At Fort Kochi, we saw the influence of European settlements, and saw the St. Francis Church, the first European church to be built in India and where the Portuguese explorer, Vasca de Gama was buried in 1524 on his 3^rd visit to India.

School visiting St. Francis church

Fort Kochi was one big shopping tourist place, so it was kind of fun since it was our last day and we needed to buy some gifts. And while we tried to bargain, Sherin laid down her heavy bargaining arms on the table and helped us get some much better prices!

freshwater meeting saltwater

by the shore in Fort Kochi

We walked along the water and tried to see some dolphins, but we didn’t see any dolphins in the 5 minutes we watched. We did see a lot of the freshwater plants that float out from Lake Vembanad meet the salt water and subsequently die and collect on the banks…

In the evening we had a dinner of stew and bread, and prepared to take a taxi at 1 AM to drive to the airport. At 4:40 AM, the Danish-Indian-American explorers flew back to Europe…

INDIA TRIP PART 12: Visiting with friends and family in Kerala

We were lucky to be visiting at a time when other family was also visiting from afar.  First, we want to extend a special thanks to Wiji Papa who came from New Jersey to host us in Aymanam and Cherian's parents who came from Boston to take care of us through the entire journey! Then, by coincidence, we met Reju and family who came on vacation from Dubai, Cherian’s uncle Jimmy Chayan who came for a conference from Kansas, and Cherian’s second cousin, Christina who came for vacation from London…

Kitty designed the door herself!

white rubber sap

August 3, 2011

Then to see more relatives, we went on a long drive (in Indian terms) to visit with a lot of family south of Kottayam. Jimmy Chayan also came with us, as we were visiting a bunch of people on GP’s side of the family.

rubber sheets drying

rubber ball made from the sap

Kitty Kochama: GP´s dads brothers sons wife. She had some rubber trees that some workers came to cut every 2-3 days and then they made mats of rubber that she is selling. The kids took some rubber from the trees and made into a bouncing ball. She served us the traditional tapioca and boiled jackfruit. Selina's favorite stuffed animal is a Hello Kitty! so, she couldn't imagine that there could actually be a person named Kitty...

Daisy Kochamma & the kids

inside the cocoa fruit

Daisy Kochama: GP´s brother’s daughter’s husband’s mother. After a big lunch, we plucked a cocoa fruit from the cocoa tree in her garden.  We opened the fruit to find some chocolate, but instead, we found white fruit pieces that had the cocoa seeds inside.  I guess it turns out that chocolate doesn't grow on trees...  And, we even tasted the white fruit, and it didn't taste like chocolate at all... It made us wonder how one actually makes cocoa powder...

In front of the ancestral home

Maliekal: The house that GP was born in, because in 1942 his parents believed it was safer to be in Kerala due to the war. He moved back to Chennai shortly thereafter, but spent vacations there with his grandparents. GP’s relatives from Bangalore were at a neighboring house and popped by to say hello.

Thamban & Thamban

Thamban Chayan:  GP´s mother’s sister’s son. He told us stories of when they were kids, he used to be so happy to have GP’s big family to come and visit. Cherian's dad's pet name is also Thamban...   They took off work to see us (but we came late and didn’t get to stay long) and they served us some fried plantains. His 27 year old daughter was still living at home as she worked in the area.

Amma and Sarasu Kochamma

Sarasu Kochama: Amma’s dad’s brother’s daughter.  She lived right next to her husband’s ancestral home that was built in the early 1900s.

Susheela Kochamma and Amma

Susheela Kochama: Amma’s mother’s brother’s son’s wife. She was in the hospital recovering after a knee surgery.

It was a crazy day to drive to so many places and see so many people and places in one day…

4^th of August

We visited Kunju Kochamma and her husband. Kunju Kochamma is Amma’s friend from college in Calcutta. They have a beautiful home including a swimming pool, so the kids loved to go swimming again (and admitted that they wouldn’t mind living in that house!).

Their family runs a tire re-treading business that exports their products to 40 countries around the world.  Their granddaughter came by, Annika, she is 5 years old and we saw her sing in her 1^st grade in Palikoodam School.  See the video here!

5^th of August

Christina and her two sons came by before we left for Kochi. Christina is Amma’s dad’s sister’s son’s daughter (Cherian’s second cousin). Whenever Cherian used to visit India, Christina would always take him around.  As they live in London, it was a great honor to see her again in Kerala.  Christina is the managing director for a company that does social enterprises.  She helps homeless people get jobs by giving them work to recycle office furniture and plastics and other entry level work. Check out their web site here!!

INDIA TRIP PART 11: Houseboats and race boats! – August 1, 2011

our houseboat

On the 1st of August, we drove 30 minutes to the town of Kumarakom and went on a houseboat from 11-17.30. Incredibly beautiful scenery with rice fields, banana and coconut trees on the side.

The kids took turns to be the Captain, and we set sail into Lake Vembanad, passing fancy resorts along the way.

Captain Selina

We stopped the boat a few times.  The first time, we stopped, we got to see workers in a rice field, and the crew and Amma tried to find some banana flower honey.  Sofie got to try the only honey drop that we could find, and we took (stole) a few banana flowers to make into a vegetable thoran when we got back.

fish and prawns for sale at the toddy shop

We then stopped at the ‘toddy shop’ where there were many other houseboats.  Kerala’s toddy is extracted sap from a coconut tree requiring someone to climb to the top of a coconut tree and a sophisticated tapping process.  At the shop, besides toddy, they sold fresh fish, prawns and food cooked over a fire stove.  We bought one bottle of toddy and some Kerala BBQ’d prawns and went back to the boat for a HUGE lunch and after one glass of toddy, we could feel the effects of the alcohol.  

swimming in the channel

The crew showed the kids how to fish, and then the kids then tried their chances to catch some fish, but with no luck…

The third time we stopped was because the kids wanted to go swimming.  So, after asking the crew, they took us to a random house that had steps into the water.  One of the crew members asked the lady of the house if she minded that we went swimming at her place, and she didn’t care, so we all jumped in…  One of the crew members jumped in with his lungi and took the kids swimming around…

After a very relaxing tour back to Kumarukom, on the drive back home we luckily got the chance to see a huge team practicing for the Nehru Trophy Boat Race that happened on the 13th of August.  Sofie jumped at the chance to get the photo, ran out of the car, down the street and to the canal.  The coach saw her arrive and timed the start of the team, so that we could catch this incredible video…

INDIA TRIP PART 10: The church, school, and hospital built by family – July 31 – August 3, 2011

Over these 3 different days, it was very special to see the efforts of our relatives that are bringing social welfare to so many people in the area!


31st of July
We went to the Kompanal church just down the driveway and across the street. This is the church that Amma’s grandfather built (the pastor even mentioned that in the service). The 2 hour service was all in Malayalam and was lot of singing, and the sermon was more than 40 minutes long.
When reading (in kind of a singing way) everyone was sitting, and then when singing the hymns everybody was standing up (it is opposite in Denmark). The church was divided so women were sitting in one side of the church and men in the other side. Shoes were kept outside. The women were covering their head with their shawls.

In the evening we went for dinner at Becky Kochama, where all the boys played soccer and we watched the fireflies glowing in the dark.

2nd of August
We went to visit the Palikoodam School that Mary Roy (Amma’s father’s sister’s daughter) started. Unfortunately, we did not get to meet her, but we did get to meet Amma’s other cousin, Jayanthi Kochama who took the bus into Kottayam from Mepral to visit with us.  Mary Roy's daughter-in-law showed us around for the first part, and then Reba, Cherian's second cousin, who is a teacher for the 5th grade took us around for the rest.

Sitting quietly in kindergarten

It was very interesting to see the school! It is a private school. It has 460 students, grade K-12 with one division of each grade except from two. That makes an average of 31 kids in each class, with more kids per class in the older classes than in the younger grades. We saw especially grade K, 1, 2, 3 (preparing for a singing competition), 4 (had English story time) and 5 (had math), 6 (had swimming), 11 (had computer class learning java programming) in action.

Sitting at low tables in 2nd grade

The kids were very disciplined, and it looked like they all were very interested in what was going on and did not misbehave at all. The shoes and bags were lined up very orderly. How they did that we don’t know?? The kindergarten teacher explained that they divided them into groups in the breaks (one group playing in the sand, a second group playing with costumes, third group playing outside…) and then after the break they were all refreshed to learn more.

The 1st grade class even sang a song for us!  Check it out!

According to the kindergarten teacher, the teachers never really have a break, not even when the kids have playtime or a recess (while at schools in Denmark, teachers must have breaks that they take when the kids have recess).

The small kids K-4 were sitting on the floor with small tables. Frej and Kiran got to join the 6 graders swimming class in a covered swimming pool that is used for state tournaments. In the afternoon the kids have activities like karate or music. It looked like they made lots of little projects with art (i.e. cutting out raindrops and writing about what they can do in the rain).

Hostel room

They can bring their lunch or buy it there. 80 of the kids live in the hostel with lots of beds in one room. They could join the hostel from 8 years if they live too far away.

Lunch served in clay pots

For the relatively small amount of students at the school, it had lots of space and nice facilities. It was a wonderful learning experience for us to be there, so we thank Mary Roy for the opportunity to visit and for the wonderful lunch she gave us afterwards!

3rd of August 2011
On August 3rd, on a visiting trip south of Aymanam, we saw the hospital built by Amma’s mother’s brother. It is a private hospital with rooms for only 2 patients, and is now run by Amma’s cousin (the founder’s son).


We were there to visit his wife Susheela Kochama, as she just had knee surgery.  It was a very small, quiet place with simple facilities that are much different than western hospitals (example: we saw an old wheel chair, old beds without automatic elevation etc.).

INDIA TRIP PART 9: Riding elephants, avoiding snakes, and partying into the night – July 29 – 30, 2011

Selina and Cherian

Sofie and Frej on Kesavan

29th of July
After taking the first day in Aymanam to get settled, we started our adventures BIG by taking the kids for an elephant ride.   The agency we used to book the elephant rides didn’t really explain how it all worked, and we heard that the elephants could even belong to the Kerala government, which is why they don’t advertise for tourists.

So, we showed up, rode the elephant, and tipped the keeper without anyone from the tourist agency (or government) present.  In the afternoon, the kids got to play cricket with their cousins to round out an exciting day.

30th of July

A cow with no shed

Amma's land

The next day, we went for a walk behind Puliyampallil to see Amma and GPs land that Amma inherited from Cherian’s grandmother. In the old days, there used to be a cow shed on the land, but when we visited, there was just a cow and only the remnants of a shed.

The path that led from Puliyampallil to the land used to be a well-trafficked path, as it was the path from the house to the river and the servants’ houses. But now it was overgrown, and we were advised to not walk in that area without pounding a walking stick into the ground as we walked to scare off the snakes.

Velutha

At the river

As we walked down the path, we passed by the house of Velutha, an old servant of the family that earned his land from working for Ammachy and since the Indian government made a rule giving 5 cents of land to the house where the servants lived. We then followed the path, crossed a road and went to the river, passing a mangosteen tree and a rambutan tree.
On the way home, we took a little road where lots of people lived. We saw beautiful flowers, cats, goats, birds in cages and chickens. We passed by the Pataliputra house where we met Amma’s dad’s brother’s daughter-in-law. Then we passed by the local bank where Amma and GP did some business and back home.

Before the party

Looking fancy...

In the evening, we went to a hotel/resort where Wiji Papa threw a party for friends and relatives. He did a LOT of work to call lots of people, and people drove for hours to attend the party.

Since Wiji Papa and GP went to college together in Thrivanthurapurum, he invited a bunch of the old gang, and it was a big surprise for GP to get to see so many people.

GP's college buddies

The view from the hotel

There were also many relatives, making a total of 40-50 people with kids from Denmark, UAE, Australia and Kerala running around most of the time playing. Wiji Papa also arranged for some traditional singers and even some of GP’s old classmates got up and sang. Selina had so much fun running around, dancing, eating and playing that she deemed the party ‘the best party ever’…