ADHVAGATI

  The heaving Chinese  Fishing Nets , dipping into the shimmering  waters below the promontory of the "Cranganore Fort" - now known as Kottappuram Fort -  look like beautiful Art Installations.  Remnants of a Fort occupy the higher ground.  Chera's Own Country , rich in all ways , long before it became God's own.  KOTTAPPURAM FORT  aka Fortaleza da Sao Tome - situated on a bend , affording  panoramic views of  Periyar Lake on both sides  , was built by the Portuguese in 1523 , captured and remodelled by the Dutch in 1662 , coveted by The Mysore Sultanate , purchased ,  by The Travancore Kingdom in 1789, and  in 1909 , made a Public Property . A stone tablet announces this last fact , while the rest of the brick fortifications are in utter ruin . But conserved now under the The Muziris  Heritage Project      ( initiative of Kerala Govt. with UNESCO). Of what is left standing , the "Ko-Thi Kallu" , Stone...

  It was a trip , made with a different agenda .  Visiting the  Thodikkalam shrine  was only  by chance .  Before starting out to Kannur, had to brush up a little on a few basics about the place. Weather , food , safety , the usual . The World Web is more than useful . It gives what is sought and also what is not sought . That's how the name Thodikkalam  snared the mind- a name i had not even heard of a year ago.  Google said there is a medieval Siva temple there. Not far from base camp.  It HAD to be visited.  Because of  that one picture that appeared on screen with that name ! Obsession at first sight .  Old temples in obscure places have a charm all their own . Peaceful to Dreamy to Evocative to Mysterious - adjectives glide through a gamut of sentiments difficult to express. If that old temple is situated in a lush woodland ,by an ancient pond ,with remnants of  carved stone scattered around , then  it becomes a...

Instant reaction when told "this is Vasco da Gama's First Grave" ?  Incredulity , of course. How many times did poor Vasco die and get buried ? No , that's not it, got it all wrong !  He died only once , but got buried twice.  That aside..... to the Church now.  One of the first  buildings the  enterprising Portuguese erected in Kochi, right after the local Raja gave them his benign nod to put up a " fort" for their trading  purposes, was a logwood Church dedicated to  St . Bartholomew .  That was in 1503. With further privileges granted by the Raja, it was reconstructed in brick and mortar in 1516 and the grand new edifice was dedicated to Santo Antonio, patron saint of Portugal. (  Bye, Bartholomew? )  It underwent further name changes as it changed hands among other colonisers. In the meanwhile, Vasco da Gama touched shore the second time in 1524. And  died. He was laid to rest  in this church with a simple grave stone...

It is mentioned everywhere, in tourist info sites, brochures , historical notes. There are sign boards directing one to it, all over the old town. One is convinced The Dutch Cemetery is one of the not -to -be -missed sights  in Fort Kochi. However, when  one does land up at its gates, one finds it firmly locked, with a forbidding notice looming above : Tresspassers will be prosecuted. No intention to tresspass ofcourse. But feeling cheated all the same, one trudges up the street wondering why they should  plant sign boards everywhere if they had no intention of allowing  it to be seen .  .......at the other end of the street stands a handsome old church . Would this  Portuguese church have the keys to the Dutch cemetery ? Would they open it if requested ? No harm in asking ....... Bingo. The key is indeed in the custody of the priest, says the smiley faced Watchman, but priest is away attending a funeral.  The next day, after exploring ...

   Santa Cruz Cathedral Basilica , Fort Kochi. Five centuries old Roman Catholic place of worship , one of the landmarks of Fort Kochi .A handsome white edifice with two soaring spires built  in a blend of Indo-European and Gothic  styles.  The interior is  richly decorated with frescos and mosaics, created by the 19 th Century Italian painter, Fra Antonio Moscheni and his Indian student, DeGama. But the building  itself is not 500 year old.  Commander Dom Alfonso Albuquerque of Portugal, arriving  with the second exploratory fleet,in 1500,  helped the king of Cochin to repel the predatory advances of the Zamorin of Calicut . And  received , as thanksgiving, the right to build a Fort in Cochin . The generous  King  must have thought the whitepeople would load their ships with pepper and sit around happily confined to their little fort ! Alas, alas ! History turned out so different !  In 1505, the King pe...

The auspicious season is upon us again, with festivals and holy days lined up on the calender. Priests , who are needed to officiate the various rituals, are in much demand. Advance booking is necessary. Looks like there are less and lesser men opting for that profession now; while the experienced ones are quietly sailing off to greener western pastures. With such scarcity prevailing, some concerned voices are sometimes heard about the desirability of training ladies for priesthood. And there are an equal number of energetic voices opposing this idea as a sacrilege. This latter stand seems rather foolish to me, considering that both the worshipped God and worshipping Soul are Gender-less. That debate may never be settled, but it was a nice to know that there are certain institutes in Maharashtra that have been training women to be priests, since a few years now. When we visited Allappey ( Alapuzhai) in Kerala State a couple of months ago, we were pleasantly surprised by a coi...

Watched the recently celebrated Thrissur Pooram Festival, comfortably from home, on TV. Always a grand pageant with those beautifully caprisoned elephants. The sound of the Panchavadyams and Chenda really set the blood racing. Its a wonder how those elephants keep their calm amidst such loud beats and the cacaphony of the pressing crowds. And it was such a pleasure to get glimpses of sights remembered from past visits : The lovely facade of Paramekavu Bhagavathy temple. The pretty Thiruvambadi Temple . And The Round. What is Thrissur without The Round ! Thrissur ( "Thiru-siva-perur" ) has a nice, cosy, laid back character though it is home to a gaggle of thriving business enterprises. In the middle of the city is The Round. Or, the city is around The Round. People with spare time go and sit in The Round. People make time to go and sit The Round. It is the heart and nerve centre of the city , just as it was the heart of The Kingdom of Kochi once upon a time. "Th...

God's own retreat in God's own country. Prime Ministers, sports stars , la-di-dah socialites all squeeze in a kumarakom- holiday , like ,the little black book is not really dishy enough without this entry in it. The name is all over the place so much so that we were almost driven to put in a three day retreat there. If only to find out what all the noise is all about. Ah ! believe me, all that noise is fully justified. Kumarakom is verily God's own de-stressing resort ! Multi starred fancy spas jostle with faux-rural ( reverse snobbish) hutments. Plenty of lodgings to choose from. We settled for the middlepath . A nice colony of wooden houses on stilts sprouting amidst a maze of artificial canals meandering through thick copses of aged trees. Set far away from the highways. Run by the Tourism Department of Kerala. On the bank of the Vembanaad. Silent. Cool. Cut off from the world. Perfect. The Vembanaad Lake is a wonder. Almost like a sea. Did nothi...