Right in our own backyard

stewardship" teachers, this is just what we're interested in. We set out after breakfast. But instead of walking the main road, I suggested taking some of the back roads, past High Court. But eventually we hit a dead end. And led us straight to.... the Mangavalanam Bird Sancuary. The wildlife park of 2.75 hectares  is a breedingplace for several birds and harbouring a little bit of mangrove forest. The waters move with the tides, the sea is only about 100 metres away.

   The bird sanctuary was also on our wishlist, so we went inside. Only part of the terrain is open to the public, so as not to interfere with the bird's habitat. What peace and quiet you find right here in the centre of this huge city. we walked around for a while, enjoying the atmosphere, but sighted no birds at all. Just as we were heading towards the exit, we discovered trees filled with animals. No birds, no monkeys, but giant fruit bats were hanging there.  They have a wingspan of more than 1metre and have soft, furry brown bodies. We had seen them flying around, early in the evening, but we thought they were birds, due to their size. 

   Aftter our little jungle exploration, we still wanted to visit the marine animals. We found the entrance to the Marine Biodiversity Museum, but we found out: we were not allowed in without giving a copy of our passports! Well, there are numerous copy shops along the road (do we still have those in the Netherlands?), so that problem was quickly solved. After lunch we went again to the research institute where the museum was located. We had to pass three officials before we got to the collection. And there we were continuously accompanied by an employee. The CMFRI is a government agency with many departments along India's vast coastline. That's probably the reason for the far-reaching security measures.

The museum's collection consists of all  possible types of algae, seaweeds, corals, fish, crabs, shrimp, sponges..... you name whatever other sea creatures you know. Either dried or in strong water. Upon entering, we were the only visitors. It was, in short, quite a dead lot. Interesting, though, and the structures of the corals and sponges remain beautiful. But the colors of the sea were gone (well, consequence of taxidermy, said the staff member). Most of the corals were from around the Laccadives, an archipelago that belongs to India but is about 200 kilometers away in the Arabian Sea. (I feel a vacation trip coming on...) Fortunately, there was also a small aquarium, where the fish shone in all their glory.

   In Trivandrum, we had actually seen real Hindu temples for the first time. Of course there are those here in Kochi too, but Catholicism is more dominant here. As we have enough to do with Catholics in our daily lives, we wanted to look for the other faiths that coexist so peacefully in most of India, and certainly here in Kochi. Google is your friend. Search for temples, and Maps shows you the way. Indeed it turns out there are about a dozen temples within a one-kilometer radius. So we headed out in the late afternoon, after the worst of the heat. Phone in hand and off we went for a walk.

   We passed a few smaller Hindu temples, as well as a beautifully carved, marble Jain temple. Finally we came to a large temple where people were busy preparing a procession in honor of the birth of Rama, (the seventh incarnation of Vishnu). It was also Vishu, the Mayalali New Year. People then celebrate the spring equinox, where day and night are of equal length, and worship Vishnu and his incarnation Krishna as the God of time.

   These experiences prompted us to further explore the various religions and their houses of worship. We returned to Fort Kochi and finally visited the Jewish synagogue. The first Jews left for India as early as the year 72, driven out of Judea by the Romans and the Zealots. However, the Paradesi Synagogue (paradesi = foreigners in Malayalam) was built only in 1568 by new Jewish immigrants, making it the oldest synagogue in India. The synagogue is special because of the hand-painted Chinese tiles on the floor and the many Belgian chandeliers. Kochi had a thriving Jewish community, but today only a few Jewish families remain.

   Next we went to the St. George Orthodox Koonan Kurish Old Syrian Church. That's quite a mouthful, and is the church of the Thomas Christians. As the story goes, the apostle Thomas came to India and spread Christianity there. The church itself is a feat of architectural ingenuity, originally built of clay and fairly recently renovated. Strict dress codes apply here as well, just as in Hindu temples. Somehow we have the impression that different trends in Christianity and Hinduism have influenced each other considerably and maybe even partially assimilated.

The final religious site we visited, was the Santa Cruz Basilica, built by the Portuguese during the time they ruled Kochi, and wielded the Portuguese Inquisition here. This church looks more like European church buildings than any other Catholic church we've seen here so far. A little less blingbling and coloured lights and rather old paintings with more subdued colours.

When we tell the Fathers about our experiences at dinner in the evening, they were amazed. That in such a short time we have already learned so much about our - and their!- living environment; that we have researched and looked at things of which they were not or only half aware. When it comes to Christianity, the Fathers (and especially father Thoppil) are knowledgeable, but other religions are really somewhat beyond them. And all those temples! Even a Jain temple.... And above all,, all within walking distance of St. Albert's, they didn't know.