Kochi, Ernakulam

Hi! 

Continuing from my previous post.. We took a bus from Kozhikode to the port city of Kerala, Kochi. Luckily for us, I had a friend of mine who was from Kochi. He was kind enough to let us stay at his place while in Kochi. 

I was so exhausted that I slept off during the whole of the bus journey without the slightest budge and didn’t realise we had reached Kochi until the conductor came over and woke me up. It was 3 in the morning. We took an auto to my friend’s place and reached there by 3.30 A.M. Crashed on to the bed straightaway, only to wake up at 7. 

His house was minimalistic yet classy. Very thoughtfully built. And hey, they had a garden too, where they grew Seppankazhangu (my love), Brinjals, and Bitter Gourds. There were Plantains, Jackfruit and Coconut trees as well.. And six little rabbits and a Dog. It was a really nice Home. 

His mom had prepared us a breakfast of Pooris and Potato Masala, and a couple of boiled eggs and home grown bananas. I’m slowly becoming a fan of dishes containing coconuts and coconut oil. The Potata Masala had coconut / coconut oil, and I absolutely loved it. Lipsmackingly good it was. 

With breakfast getting done and a little of lazing around the home, we decided to head out for the day. To Fort Kochi. 

You can go to Fort Kochi either by bus or by boat from Ernakulam Boat Jetty. We decided to take the ferry ride and took a bus from Vytilla Junction (its the Kochi’s most prominent transport terminal) to Ernakulam Boat Jetty. Once there, we had to get tickets for the ride. 

I think I have an affinity for queues and every time I stand in a queue, it gets jinxed and stops moving. No points for guessing what happened today. I joined the queue at 12.40 and it didn’t move an inch till 1.20P.M. Forty whole damn minutes and zero movement. So much for wanting one ferry ride. We were already starting to feel sorry for not taking the bus. But hey, the ferry cost only 4 rupees per head and half the time that you’d take, had you gone in bus. Well, that was the only solace. 

Apparently the ticket counter works in such a manner that the tickets are issued only when the boat arrives at the Jetty which is why I had to wait in queue for such a long time.

We got the tickets for the 1.40 ferry. The sun was in its full peak and the waters shining with the golden glow of sunlight, a sight to behold.

Since it was too sunny, we thought of visiting the Mattancherry Palace first and then head down to Fort Kochi for sunset.

The boat cruised along to Fort Kochi first, and then to Wellingdon Island and finally to Mattancherry. It was a 30 minute ferry ride.

It was 2.15 P.M. when we reached Mattancherry, and you guys should by now know what I would be doing next. Yes yes, scout for a restaurant to satiate my hunger. Gave in to some full meals and felt all sleepy the moment we started walking out of the restaurant.

Started walking off towards to the Mattancherry Palace. Considering this being the holiday season, the place was a little overcrowded. The Palace had a lot of Mural Paintings depicting the events of Ramayana and Mahabharata. It also had the whole history of the town of Kochi. How Kochi was first captivated by the Portguese and then later on by the Dutch. The details of all the kings who reigned the kingdom across various centuries. Of all the 42 rulers, there was just only one Lady, Rani Gandhara Lakshmi. She was made a Queen at the age of 85 and was captivated by the Dutch in the 15th year of her regime and died at the age of 100.

Once done with Mattancherry Palace, we hopped on to the ferry to go to Fort Kochi. At the Mattancherry Jetty you didn’t have to wait in queue for getting tickets. You can right away board a boat and get a ticket onboard later on. 

Reaching Fort Kochi, I felt totally drained because of the scorching sun and a little sleepy as well. It was around 4:30 in the evening. I see this building from a distance and get excited thinking it to be a Church. Only as we got near the building did we realise it was a Hotel and not a Church. I did wonder why wasn’t there any cross at the top, when I first spotted the building, but chose to ignore that thought and proceeded further. Tough luck. 

Also, this building was in the opposite direction to the beach, meaning, now we had to walk 500 metres in addition to that actual 1 km distance between the boat jetty and beach. 

As I reluctantly walk on, we spot on the Pepper House Cafe. It is the place where Celine goes to order a Red Velvet Cake in the Premam Movie. The place was appeasing to the eyes with uniform wooden benches around a lawn and a view of the backwaters. 

Walking down further, I spotted Maritime, the hostel crowd, a place that looked quaint and had a wonderful door at the front. 

After about 20 minutes of walking, we spot the Chinese Fishing Nets. This is a mechanism used by the fishermen to catch fishes. They have a setup where the net is attached to parabolic wooden logs and balanced with a couple of rods and ropes tied to stoned. The net is lowered in to the water every 10 minutes and pulled back up and the fishes that have been caught are picked and sent for selling. Sometimes you end up catching a bomb (a lot of fishes), and sometimes it is only a handful. 

And then we spot freestyle wrestling competition happening at the beach. It reminded me of Dangal. We watched around 4-5 matches and went to perch ourselves in a good place to see the setting Sun. But then the Sun decided to vanish off into the clouds very early today. And soon enough, it started growing dark and we packed off back to the jetty.

Fort Kochi Jetty wasn’t any better than the Ernakulam Jetty. And me and queues being a match made in heaven, never wanted to part. Queue time was 30 minutes now! Finally boarded the ferry and reached Ernakulam at 7.30P.M. 

We thought of taking a Uber from there to my friend’s home, but they were really pricy. So we settled in for an auto. After around 20 minutes of trying to stop every single auto crossing us, we boarded into one and reached home at 8.15 P.M. 

Aunty had made Chapathis and Dal for dinner. And Uncle had prepared a Schezwan Gobi of sorts which had my taste buds go mad asking for more. Dessert was Ice cream with home-grown Bananas and Nuts fruit salad. 

After having a chat with Uncle about his Badminton Games, High Court life and life in general, we called it off for the day. 

Any guesses on where would I be heading next?