Fort Cochin

The timing of Mark’s arrival allowed me to do my first solo traveling of my trip so far! I traveled by myself some times before, including my 6 month trip to Australia / New Zealand following college. I love traveling solo because it forces me to make it happen and teaches me accountability and a degree of humility (like when you have to ask very obvious questions or laugh with yourself). Of course, you end up talking to yourself at some point and over thinking a lot of the time.

I arrived early on Saturday morning in Kochi, hopped a cab and fought the traffic to get to the ferry. Fort Cochin is like Manhattan – a city on an island. The ferry ride provided a nice breezy respite from the humidity, which contrasted the aridness of Hyderabad, and consistently rising national climate as we head into pre-monsoon season summer.

In most years, you would be able to see dolphins in this water, however, most have moved away. The tsunami disrupted the ecosystem by shifting the small food bits that the fish snack on; the fish follow the food; the dolphins follow the fish; the tourist are selfishly disappointed. The city was otherwise not greatly affected in flooding or death tolls. There is still a thriving fishing culture that has also been affected by this shift. Below, you will see one of Chinese fishing nets that they operate. They stand on the shore or in the middle of the waterways.

The area was also a landing point for a section of the Jewish diaspora (when the Romans conquered Jerusalem in 70 A.D.) If I am like most people, this portion of Jewish history is never mentioned in Hebrew school growing up. The community was bolstered by waves of immigration and thinned by Moghul attacks, integration, and emigration. Overall, the community was accepted by the locals; the site of the synagogue was adjoining the king's palace.

Being the Sabbath, I stopped by the synagogue hoping to catch Saturday afternoon services. While it was expectedly closed, I was informed that there generally were no afternoon services. In fact, they struggled to achieve a minion (the required 10 people to hold a service) on most weeks and holidays! There are 13 Jewish people in Fort Cochin and most are over 70! They achieve a minion sometimes by the tourists passing through.

I found this to be exceedingly depressing, at first, as another section of Jewish heritage was soon to be extinct. However, I deduced (or rationalized?) that the religion was evolving: people migrate to achieve a better quality of life, and perhaps, Jews could achieve a better quality elsewhere.

Pardesi synagogue, est. 1568