27 Before 27: Kochin, India

Following my lovely time in Myanmar, we spent four days at sea before arriving in Kochin, India. I had never been to India before and if I was offered a free trip to any country in the world, India would not top the list. However, I am glad I had the opportunity to go and I enjoyed my time in this country.

The impression I had in my head of India was dirty, crowded poverty. To some extent this is what I saw but it wasn’t as bad as I had previously thought. One of my Semester at Sea co-workers is Indian and has been to India several times to see her family members. She described Kochin, our port city, as “India light.” Kochin is a small Indian city with a population of around 600,000 located in southern India in a state called Kerala. Kerala is where Indians go to vacation and it’s very nice with lots of accommodations – perfect for a first time traveler to India like me! Kochin differs drastically from larger Indian cities in the north like Delhi which has a population of around 12 million and includes the hustle and bustle of any large city. No thank you Delhi – I’ll take “India light” for now!

At this point in my voyage around the world, I was psychically and mentally exhausted. I had been working for two months none stop on both with my Semester at Sea duties as well as for my grad school homework. Therefore, I didn’t make many plans for India and just relaxed! Here’s what I did:

Day 1 – I went on an “Introduction to World Theater” field lab. My job is to plan the field labs but since I’m not enrolled in any classes on the ship, I don’t actually get to see how the labs play out in the field. Joining this field lab was an opportunity for me to see a lab firsthand. The students, professor and I went to a Kathakali theater studio and production. Kathakali is one of the oldest forms of theater in India and involves actors using all kinds of facial and hand gestures. The students and I tried our hand at the facial expressions, which were INCREDIBLY difficult, and then watched the pros in a short show (pros pictured below).

Day 2 – Backwater Cruise with a friend and fellow Semester at Sea co-worker Claire. The backwater area is where a lot of farming takes place and we canoed through a coconut farm before having a wonderful Indian lunch in a small village. The backwaters were gorgeous – so peaceful and relaxing – and our hosts in the village were wonderful. They wanted Claire and me to look “Indian” so they did our makeup which consisted of drawing black, bushy eyebrows on us. Let’s just say I look better with my current, light eyebrows but I appreciate their kindness in helping us fit in!

Claire and I on the backwater cruise.

Day 3 – My first solo outing into India. I visited Fort Kochi which is a historic area of Kochin. Fort Kochi is home to the Chinese fishing nets, an old form of fishing in which nets are counterbalanced with huge rocks and hoisted in and out of the water by a group of six men.

Chinese fishing nets.

Day 4 – This was a very low key day and I stayed around the ship until the afternoon when I went to a Hindu festival with a few of the RDs. The festival was honoring elephants, a scared animal in the Hindu religion. Unfortunately we were not able to see the elephants but they had quite a parade with lots of music and dancing.

Day 5 – I visited an orphanage called SOS Children’s Village in the afternoon. The Children’s Village takes in children who don’t have a family and places them with “mothers” who all live in the same community. Each “mother” takes care of about 10 children and is paid for her services. The mothers also have assistants who help and also take over when the mothers retire.

Day 6 – My last day in India. On the day, I went back to Fort Kochi, did some shopping and also checked out a few churches. Kochin was discovered by Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama and his first tomb was in St. Francis Church in Kochin. His body was later returned back to Portugal but the tomb is still marked in St. Francis. After eating lunch with a Semester at Sea faculty member, it was back to the ship for me and off to our next port of call – Port Louis, Mauritius!