India for softies is how the other guests at Beena’s Homestay described Kerala after doing the golden triangle in the North of India, and from how shell shocked these grown people looked I figured I was glad being a softie. Cochin was a quiet old fishing port with gorgeous architectural influences from its history of having Portuguese, Arabs and all kinds of other people settling here.
The people were charming and generally welcoming. This was especially true of Beena and her family who provided the perfect start to my travels, they lived on the first floor of there home and rented rooms on then ground floor and the newly converted roof to all sorts of travellers, providing breakfast and dinner and warm friendly advice.
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Cochin is a place for exploring the old relics of an interesting past, shopping at the bazaar and generally relaxing in fort Cochin and having great food and shopping on the busier city on the Ernakulum side of the port.
I took a day trip from here to explore the backwaters on both a large boat and a smaller canoe, maneuvered by a fairly old man, I wanted to help him but he was strong and I would have been a nuisance I’m sure.
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We saw how the rivers were still a lifeline to the people that lived in the tiny villages on the banks of the backwaters and were self sufficient because of it. Some of the ladies produced Coir a strong rope like material used for carpets and rugs made from the dry coconut “hair” is the best way I can describe it. The process is amazing but still quite manual.
Cochin proved to be one of the most relaxing and easy going parts of my trip in India. I was being stared at here but it was bearable they were confused as to where I was from, black people, don’t pass through these parts so often. I had double takes, pointing and whispering and even people at traffic lights focusing on the strange foreigner rather than the road. Telling them I was from London still was met with confusion.
I asked Beena about this and she said it was a combination of the skin the hair and the nose stud, in parts of India, she mentioned Tamil Nadu, they sacrifice their hair and have nose piercings. So the afro hair and the western clothes were making me hard to comprehend. Hence the confused faces at times.