Iconic India

India

DAYS 72-76 – We have journeyed into two ports, Kochi  (Cochin) and Mumbai (Bombay), in the culturally fascinating country of India.   Heavily populated with iconic figures from Hindu ancestry - a wide assortment of multi-armed gods and goddesses – we quickly became educated about many of the beliefs and customs of this Indian culture.

Arriving first in Kochi, near the southern tip of India, we discovered a tropical, palm tree-covered beautiful countryside with hundreds of fish, shrimp and crab farms, which clearly contrasted with the litter-strewn streets and hundreds of construction cranes at work everywhere in the bustling city center.  Growth, rapid growth, is the name of the game here.

When we braved our way out of our tour buses, we were mobbed by vendors eager to show us their wares…everything from handcrafted drums and other musical instruments to colorful jewelry and fabrics.  Known for the profuse production of beautiful silk and cotton saris, this land is also known for being a religious center of the world where most of the people, especially women, shy away quickly from tourists’ cameras.

There are huge, gorgeous Hindu mosques and temples everywhere, easily identified by the many pairs of shoes left outside the entrances.  And to serve the people who must ride the buses to work who cannot make it to a mosque for morning prayer, there are small little temples provided at many of the bus stops.

Here are some of the memorable images of Kochi:

This unique way of fishing using big nets suspended by broad wooden supports were set up all along the Kochin area’s shorelines.

  India’s unique 3-wheeled taxi cabs zoom in and out of traffic everywhere.

Fish, shrimp and crab farms are large, rectangular shallow water catchments that are owned by different families.  These people, once the poorest in their country, are now some of the richest, as the demand for foreign exports of their farms’ products have increased worldwide.

This bundle of wires is typical of every street corner in the Kochi city center area.  We wonder how on earth the electrical crews can make sense of all of this!

Mumbai (formerly Bombay)…think 22 million.  That’s the current population of this ever-growing city, the sixth largest metropolitan area in the world.  The port is on the west side of India, and most of the city is situated at sea level.

This city is overwhelming in size and diversity.  From old 16th century gothic buildings to today’s numerous Indian film industry productions in Mumbai, informally named Bollywood (800 films per year) , we did our best to explore as much as we could in two days, but really only scratched the surface of this fascinating metropolis.

People are everywhere.  Streets are jammed with both people and traffic.  And there are beautiful trees, farmers’ markets, Hindu icons, temples, street vendors, and restaurants with all the world’s cuisines, literally everywhere in Mumbai.  This city’s harbor is truly the gateway to India.

Here are a few photo highlights of our on-shore excursions:

The markets are absolutely gorgeous…everything is fresh-picked and ripe enough to eat on the spot!  Spices, vegetables, fruits, and very friendly vendors made this stop a true treat.

 If people can’t get to the market,  daily home delivery of fresh fruits and vegetables were available… sounded pretty nice to me…every day, including Sundays, vendors bring their carts and people lower their baskets and rupee dollars from ropes above in three and four-story small apartments found all over the villages within the city.

This young couple and their darling baby in a second story apartment window were ordering from the vegetable vendor and gave us a warm wave from their baby.

Typical Monday morning human rush hour…people fill the streets trying to get from one place to the next within the city.

Cows and oxen are protected everywhere in India, and it is considered good luck to feed the cows…so of course I jumped right into that.

Ox carts move right along with the buses, bicycles, taxis, and other traffic in all of the city streets.

People balance heavy trays of fruits, vegetables, flowers, and large bags of all kinds of products and laundry on their heads in India.

 We stopped in a small shop to see the beautiful sari fabrics, and Larry loved the colors in this 3-meters long sari, so this very sweet shop clerk wound me up in it properly…and I ended up buying it!

We leave India now and head directly west across the Indian Ocean toward a 3-day stay in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates…one of the most unique and fascinating modern cities of the world.  (Our ship’s captain assured us we would be perfectly safe and that we had all types of ship security, night vision capabilities, and “special ways” to deter any pirates approaching us as we enter into some of these upcoming foreign waters.)