Desperate to escape the chaos of the north, we decided to fly from Jaipur to Kochi, one of the biggest cities in Kerala. Kerala is a State in India that runs along the lower Southwestern coast of India, and is a place we had really wanted to visit when we were in India four years ago. Kerala also has an interesting history as both the first place to have a democratically elected communist government (and the communist party is often still elected to power) and is the State in India with the highest literacy rate at 95%. In fact, people we met in Kerala were so proud of this fact that they often boasted about it–sometimes even claiming it to be 99%!

Kochi itself is a very different city compared to others we visited in India. As a port city located on the water, it has a varied colonial history with both the Dutch and the Portuguese having possessed the city at one time. I was very excited to explore the aptly named “Jew Town”, Kochi’s Jewish neighborhood, which was formed by the oldest group of Jews in India who came here in the 16th century. I had no idea there was a place in India with such an old Jewish history! The Jews that settled in Kochi formed close relationships with the Indian rulers who in turn bestowed them with the ability to live and do as they pleased. It seems as though Jews in Kochi had a lot more freedoms and security than in all other parts of the world, which is really surprising.

The owners of our guesthouse told us about a 7-day long festival that was happening involving elephants and said we should go to the biggest temple in Kochi to see it. We thought this sounded like a unique opportunity, plus, elephants (!), so we made the 30 minute trek by tuk tuk. We had just entered the temple and were looking at the snacks being sold at the front when rain drops started to fall. We made our way through the temple gates thinking we’d find shelter there, only to see that it led to a roofless courtyard. After standing under a small roof in the courtyard with a group of people for about 10 minutes and seeing that the rain appeared to show no signs of stopping, we sprinted across the temple courtyard to what appeared to be an enclosed room. Inside the room was nothing except concrete floor and about 100 soaking wet Indians. We assumed that the rain couldn’t last long, but after an hour waiting in that barren room, we were proven wrong. The rain did eventually stop and we stayed to enjoy some of the music and look at the elephants and then headed home to dry off. We did get some nice pictures, though, so it wasn’t a complete bust.

I was most excited to see a Kathakali performance in Kerala which is a type of dance that tells a story. Kathakali performers dance in time to a percussion beat played by musicians in the background. A narrator simultaneously sings the story that the dancers are acting out. It takes years and extensive training to become a Kathakali actor. The makeup they wear is also an important part of Kathakali and takes a few hours before the show to properly apply. Before our show, we watched the actors apply their makeup and enjoyed seeing them transform into their characters before our eyes. The story during the performance we watched was actually quite depressing, albeit visually stunning: a wealthy man propositions his sister’s maid and when she refuses him he tries to rape her. She escapes unscathed and tells her husband what happened. Her husband then plots with her to kill the wealthy man, which he successfully does at the end. Despite the bleak storyline, it was very neat to watch.

This is the villain of the show, but he was also the most heavily dressed up.

The thing that Kerala is most famous for is backwater boating. Kerala has several lakes and waterways that you can explore on houseboats. I thought this would be the perfect thing to do to celebrate my 30th birthday, so we hurried from Kochi to Kumarakom to hire a boat in time. You can just walk up and down the river in Kumarakom and hire a boat that way, but we ended up using a guy recommended by my friend Sangeetha after deciding we liked his boat the best. We actually ended up splurging for a 4 bedroom boat, despite the excessive rooms that we would not need, because of the amazing upper and lower outdoor decks (they also charged us significantly less than it would have been if we had more people with us to fill the extra rooms). It was really peaceful (and romantic! :)) and the best way to spend my birthday.

The best part of the trip was the FOOD!! They provide you with all your meals and snacks on the boat and easily accommodated our vegetarianism. Since it’s India, we had too many delicious vegetarian dishes to eat. They were also very sweet in getting me a birthday cake complete with a candle to light, even though it was the worst tasting cake I’d ever had in my life. But the amazing custard over fruit that they also provided for dessert that evening more than made up for that!

Needless to say, our time in Kerala was proving to be exactly what we were needing!