Vishu

Medam is the first month of our Malayalam Calendar. It falls on the fourteenth of April of this year. The day is celebrated as Vishu in our state. A happy day to welcome the new year with "Vishu Kani" the first sight of the most auspicious and the most blessed of sight to start the new year with. Usually an image of Krishna decorated with flowers and lights along with the fruits of the land and the season symbolising prosperity and blessings is arranged at homes. The Golden Blossoms of Indian Laburnum is mandatory among the flowers for the Kani. The Golden shower is the bloom of the season and can be seen on every "Konna tree" everywhere. It gives a gleaming gold feel to the sight.

Then there is the "Kai Neetam" the gift of money and silver which usually elders give to the younger ones. At noon, there will be a mouth watering vegetarian feast similar to Onam. In the evening the Vishu Padakam (Fire Crackers) marks the beginning of the new year.

A tradition, a festival. The day is happy and joyful, everyone greets each other wearing new dress. Vishu Kodi.

This year, it coincided with Good Friday. The occasion turned out to be the mark of Kerala's Cultural and religious harmony. The memes and the picture messages that went around on the Social Media speaks for  Kerala's encompassing spiritual and philosophical attitude.

Happy Vishu. May the new year bring the best for everyone.

IITTM Nellore

When the Professor from IITTM, Nellore called asking us to take around their latest postgraduate batch in tourism for a heritage walk around Fort Kochi, we were delighted. Ofcourse,  being an Alumini, it is always a pleasure to reunite with the faculty and students once again. But the most interesting aspect of these academic tours are the intense curiosity and eagerness of the students to know more about a destination they are visiting. There is always something new we learn on the tour with students, like how to present a theme in a new way especially when the students in the group are from all over India.

Thank You IITTM and students, we wish you the very best and hope to see you back here as dashing professionals.

PS: In the background in the picture, we can see a mother and son whom we met at Paradesi Synagogoe. She was from America and was visiting her son who is working in Delhi and both of them had decided to come on a tour to Kerala.  Our students were quick to spot his adopted famous Indian head wobble which he gladly acknowledged as a fond local influence.

The whistle

The Ikka (brother) of the fish stall near the Promenade at Fort Cochin whistles beautifully and never fails to attract everyone who walk by his stall. Here Mrs Lou Potts, a teacher from England, was so kind to pose with him for a picture. She specifically asked me to print a copy of this picture for him. Thank You, Lou, just as you promised hope to see you next year.

Hanukkha

The Jewish festival of the lamps. Just like our Diwali the celebration of light symbolising the victory of good over the evil. Almost 2000 years ago when successors of Alexander the great based in Syria attacked Israel continuously and imposed Hellenistic way of worship at the holy temple in Jerusalem, the faithful's who resisted it were put to death mercilessly. Finally, when it reached a point of new return, a time when they had to either die or accept the Hellenistic idols as Gods, Judas Maccabees took the lead and came out fighting.
With a small group of men they decisively drove out their much stronger and larger enemies one by one. After months of fighting when they retook Jerusalem and the Holy temple they were short of resources. They had oil only for one day to light the lamps at the temple.
The lamp miraculously burned for eight days continuously before oil could be arranged.
Hanukkah is the festival in memory of these eight days. On each day they light a candle and sit together in prayer.

We enjoy relating Jewish stories with the tourists.

Sent from my Windows Phone

After almost all the fishing boats have moored safely in the harbour after the long day, the small boats arrive from the sea with their catch. The busy sorting and selling liven up the late evenings of Fort Cochin.


Sent from my Windows Phone

Edapally Church

When the old Edapally church was built in 593 AD, there was no Fort Cochin. Even when it was rebuilt in 1080 AD there was not even a glimpse of Cochin. Folklore has it, there was sea uptill Edapally in those days. Cochin's landscape changed with the flood in 1341, with new islands coming up between Edapally and the Sea. 

Traditionally Edapally St. George Church is the refuge for the people all around the area for centuries. In our agrarian past and more nature oriented life style, St. George at Edapally offered protection from poisonous reptiles and blessed the faithfuls abundantly with rich harvest. Everybody came to St. George, irrespective of their religion.

When the new church at Edapally was consecrated on April 19th, 2015, we are happy it suits the splendour and grace in which the saint is venerated by all, over the years. The thousands who visits the Saint on the feast days have a comfortable space to sit and pray now.

Vishu

Yellow themed prosperity festival, which marks the beginning of the year, is one of the dearest and favourite festivals in Kerala. Everyone wakes up early and bows before the preset bowl of abundance which has all the summer harvest produce - Mangoes, jackfruit, flowers, kumkum and the idol of lovely Krishna. An auspicious way of starting the new year, Vishu also denotes the summer equinox.

In the 9th Century, the Travancore King convened a meeting of the scholars and set the calendar with few changes and started anew. So in Kerala, unlike the rest of the country, the new year starts in Chingam, the malayalam month, which falls in August - September in the Onam days.

The festival is a great way to connect with the past when life was more nature bound, the typical phrases and the entertainment involved in these days are great nostalgic reminders of the days and the people who went by.