Day 67, Fort Cochin, Kerala [Friday 8th February 2008]
Previous day: Day 66, Kochi (Cochin), Kerala [Thursday 7th February 2008]
Next day: Day 68, Churuthuruthy [Saturday 9th February 2008]
We go to Ernakulam on the bus. It's a hot, busy city. We look for shoes for Kate, who had hers stolen back in Kannur. We shop around for a bit and stop for fresh fruit juice. We go into a posh hotel overlooking the sea, sit down, look at the prices of the lunch menu and get straight up and leave!
At 7pm we walk into the quiet lanes behind Fort Cochin, to find a kalaripayattu demonstration. Eventually we find a secluded shed, and we're the only 2 people there, but a group of boys waiting outside set up some chairs for us and give us a short, informative demo of their martial art. The quick, gymnastic moves are far too quick to catch on camera. With many forms based in part on the natural movements of animals, the boys are graceful and athletic. They demonstrate the use of sticks, swords and shields and knives. They explain that years ago people would stick leaves to their bodies before swinging sharp knives all around themselves, until the leaves lay shredded on the floor, to demonstrate their skill with a razor sharp weapon.
We talk to them afterwards and they are relaxed and chatty, explaining about the religious and ritual aspects of the art, the dangers and their relationship with their 'Master'.
We get beer served to us in teapots for dinner at a cafe by the Vasco square. I ask where the bathroom is, and a waiter leads me down the side of the building before pointing to a wall, grinning. We meet a couple from Alton in Hampshire and chat for a while about their travels in the northeast, which sounds very different to down here in the southwest - very mountainous, with heavy rain. Although it turns out that they're about to leave India after only 2 months as they're fed up with it!
Next day: Day 68, Churuthuruthy [Saturday 9th February 2008]
Previous day: Day 66, Kochi (Cochin), Kerala [Thursday 7th February 2008]