After three nights at Murali & Indu’s house, we took an overnight train to Kochi, Kerala and the Le Linda Home Stay. Here are some pix on the train, sunrise from the train, and around Fort Kochi (the old town at the end of the peninsula). There are some colonial churches, the Dutch Cemetery, the “Chinese Nets,” and a few big trees. Our rickshaw/tuktuk driver, Jamal, was having his birthday that day (Charlie usually sat in the front, but there’s one pic with he & V in the back)…
On our little tour we went to an old fashion laundry where they wash the clothes by hand, dry on coconut ropes with no clothespins, and iron with a heavy old-fashioned iron heated with burning embers…
Jamal also took us to a spice wholesaler…
A few more random pix around town. Window displays, bicycles, temples, an oil shrine, plaster worker, etc. (The spectacled young man is Jude Jithin, Linda’s eldest son who was tragically killed on his motorbike only nine months ago)…
Study Questions:
- Research the Indian state of Kerala. Describe it, including capital, population, industries, geography, etc.
- Research Indian colonialism, specifically the influence of the Portuguese, the Dutch, and the British. How have these countries effected India’s culture and history?
- Research Indian cuisine and/or Ayurvedic medicine. What spices are used in Indian cooking, how? What spices, herbs, or plants are used in Ayurvedic medicine, how?
Random Vail 