Flying over Kerala gives you an immediate inkling of how different this part of South India is to the rest of the sub-continent. Palm trees create a lush green canopy, broken every now and then by the spires of churches and old colonial mansions. Waterways criss-cross through the vegetation, meandering in unhurried fashion. The casual atmosphere continues in the airport, where you walk off the plane, across the tarmac, to collect your luggage. The trip into the centre of town takes you past water buffalo wading through the wetlands, or slumped down in their water-world, dreamily chewing the cud.
The host of my bed and breakfast in Kochi was an antique dealer who also ran a restaurant in the town serving mainly French cuisine. As a side line he let two bedrooms in his home to tourists, on a B and B basis. The colonial style house was large. Pressing the doorbell, the daughter of the family came to let me in and a little later her mother showed me to my room. It was spacious and high ceilinged, with a four poster bed and large overhead fan - one wall was painted turquoise. "We have power cuts every day", ......she explained, as she showed me where the candles and matches were. But it was the adjoining room which surprised me most of all... It was for my personal use as a lounge. Entering through the double doors and facing me as I entered, was an altar with a very large crucifix hanging above it and on the floor next to it, arranged in a semi-circle, stood a group of almost life-size statues of the Holy Family - Mary, Joseph and Jesus, carrying a lamb ! My host later explained that the antiques were old religious icons and were all for sale !
The communal lounge, within the main house, was also filled with religious artifacts and at certain times of day, we were not welcome in this area, as our hostess was saying her prayers. Coming from Gujarat, which is predominantly Hindu, the devout Catholicism came as a surprise.
My host explained to me that the Christian community in Kerala is very old indeed - going back as far as 52 AD, when St Thomas the Apostle (one of Christ's twelve) arrived in India and began his mission. "We are Syrian Catholics", he explained....."but my wife's cousin is Jacobite" ! This was said in a somewhat hushed tone. I later found out that when the Portuguese came to this part of India in the 15th c, they insisted that the local Catholics adopt the Latin liturgy. This caused a split in the community, the Syrians adopting the reforms and the Jocobites choosing to decline and go it alone.
Christians are the third largest religious community in India, after Hindu and Muslim.
Religious icons in the sitting room of the B & B in Kochi
The host of my bed and breakfast in Kochi was an antique dealer who also ran a restaurant in the town serving mainly French cuisine. As a side line he let two bedrooms in his home to tourists, on a B and B basis. The colonial style house was large. Pressing the doorbell, the daughter of the family came to let me in and a little later her mother showed me to my room. It was spacious and high ceilinged, with a four poster bed and large overhead fan - one wall was painted turquoise. "We have power cuts every day", ......she explained, as she showed me where the candles and matches were. But it was the adjoining room which surprised me most of all... It was for my personal use as a lounge. Entering through the double doors and facing me as I entered, was an altar with a very large crucifix hanging above it and on the floor next to it, arranged in a semi-circle, stood a group of almost life-size statues of the Holy Family - Mary, Joseph and Jesus, carrying a lamb ! My host later explained that the antiques were old religious icons and were all for sale !
The communal lounge, within the main house, was also filled with religious artifacts and at certain times of day, we were not welcome in this area, as our hostess was saying her prayers. Coming from Gujarat, which is predominantly Hindu, the devout Catholicism came as a surprise.
My host explained to me that the Christian community in Kerala is very old indeed - going back as far as 52 AD, when St Thomas the Apostle (one of Christ's twelve) arrived in India and began his mission. "We are Syrian Catholics", he explained....."but my wife's cousin is Jacobite" ! This was said in a somewhat hushed tone. I later found out that when the Portuguese came to this part of India in the 15th c, they insisted that the local Catholics adopt the Latin liturgy. This caused a split in the community, the Syrians adopting the reforms and the Jocobites choosing to decline and go it alone.
Christians are the third largest religious community in India, after Hindu and Muslim.
Religious icons in the sitting room of the B & B in Kochi
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