12-03-2024
Kochi is really moving into the 21st century. Besides buses, taxi's and rikshaws, it boasts a metro system. This consists of two parts. First of all the metro train, on its tracks high above the streets of Kochi. The first phase was built in only 11 years, and takes Kochi'sinhabiotants safely, swift and airconditioned from one station to the next. Right now, there are 25 stations in all (probably more to come). And when you think about it that in 2010 there was nothing, and people had to rely on the roads for transportation most of the time, this is quite an accomplishment. The roads are congested as it is, so a stable and continuous track above the citystreets is quite an improvement with regards to pollution and time.
Secondly, there is the Kochi watermetro. Electrically propelled ferries (with A/C). which take the people to places that are hard to reach by car, or take a long detour. So yes, Kochi is heading to the future, both in progress and in sustainability.
To get to Vypeen, we took the watermetro. The terminal is quite nearby, near Kerala High Court. The electric boat is quite and cool thanks to teh A/C.
On Vypeen, there is a crude oil terminal, and an LNG terminal. But originally, fishery was it's main source of income, as can still be seen. Near the watermetro-terminal, we found many more of the Chinese fishing nets. In Fort Kochi, they're still made out of wood and bamboo, but on Vypeen most of them are built out of metal. Maybe somewhat less picturesk, but the system is working very well, as we could tell by the nets filled with fish that were pulled out of the water.
As the beach we wanted to visit was not really close to the metroterminal area, so we decided to take a rikshaw. When we got out, the path led us past creeks and trees. There were cows in the few shaded places on the beach. A fisherman in his boat waved at us. While we looked around us, to the crude oil on the left and the LNG on the right, the fisherman steered his boat towards the shore. The waves were crashing onto the beach: The sandy slopes under the waves are quite steep here.
When the small boat reached the shoreline, the man leaped out. And pushing the boat futher ashore with the next wave, he started gesturing to us. Asking us to help him push the boat onto it's parking spot. At first only Simon helped, but as the men were not getting any further, I also started to help out. All three of us were pushing and heaving the boat, in a rythm dictated by the waves of the Arabian sea.
At the bottom of the woodn boat, there were fishing nets, a bucket and several fish. When we had finlly towed the boat into it's docking place on the beach, the fisherman, whose name, as we learned, was Nadanan, started emptying his nets. All the while, he was talking to us in a broken English. He wanted to show us his home, and told us about his son and daughter. He also spoke to us about the fish he caught. Today he was content: the fish he had cought was worth around 1200 rupees. It was a good catch. As he kept insisting, or rather he assumed we would just come with him, we agreed to follow him to his home.
Near to the beach there was a Hindutemple. At noon they would be ditributing food for free, Nandanan told us. But first we should go to his house. We bought some bottles of soda, for ourselves and for him. I feared we would be offered a drink at his house, that we would not dare drink. But refusing would be unthinkable. But now we all had our drinks already, so we went on our way. It was only 500 metres to his house, Nandanan said. While we walked through his neighbourhood, he pointed out the home of his greedy sister, his cousin, his brother. And he was beaming with prode, because all his neighbours could see him walking around with us.
He shared his house with his wife (who was at work at the Hyatt hotel) and his two grandchildren (who were at school). We were pampered by him. He turned on the ceiling fan, and placed the sofa in such a way that we would have maximumadvantage. He even added another fan. He offered us cookies, bananas and preserved sour mango. Nandanan showed us all the pictures in his house, and explained who was who. And we could, even should, take photo's of it all. When we left for the temple, to get the free food, he gave us a photo of himself and wrote his address and phonenumber on the back. When we returned to Vypeen, we should call on him.
Back at the tempel, the food was distributed in a hall next to it. Being distinguished foreign guests, we could skip the queue. We were given several vegetable curries, rice, pickles and chutneys, plus two cups of drinkes and payasam. Many people wanted their photo taken by us. When we were looking for a place to sit at one of the long tables that filled the hall, our host just shooed some people away. there were no spoons or forks, but luckily we have been practising eating with our hands these past two weeks. And, as usual, the food tasted wonderful.
After lunch we washed our hands and our tray-sized plate, and we went outside. Unfortunately, we had to go back to the mainland, as we had an appointment in the afternoon. Our host wanted us to take a rikshaw to the busstop, and take a bus from there as "it is far more cheaper". Undoubtedly he was right, but we preferred to take an auto to the ferryterminal. And our timing was impeccable, as the boat landed when we got off the rikshaw. We could just walk on through and board the boat. So we were on our way back to High Court and St. Albert's.
Reactie plaatsen
Reacties