Sunday, February 22, 2009 Day 4

Let me introduce myself. My name is Leslie Sperry. I came to India for adventure and because my son, Chad, has deep interest in India and because I work with two amazing friends from India, Hiten and Neeta.
We began our day doing Puja - a time of worship and meditation and a chance to be reminded of our many blessings. We sang and had a reading. Deanna shared with us information about 4 Hindu goddesses.
After Puja, we talked about the rest of our day in Cochin, Nine women all had different ideas about how to spend the day. The major priorities seemed to be FabIndia, chocolate cake at Kashi’s and the Jewish synagogue. Other choices were to stay in Ernakulum and visit the temple there.
Amanda and Leslie snuck in a quick visit to the Shiva temple in Ernakulum. We removed our shoes at the entrance. Fortunately there were no remnants from the elephants that are part of the religious celebrations. We were given a tour of the grounds, but were not allowed inside the temple itself. My most vivid memory is of the very hot ground burning my bare feet. I thought the oil lamps were quite interesting and was surprised by the very large size.
After about 20 minutes of discussions, we all decided to go to Fort Cochin since this would most likely be the last chance to go there. Once there we divided into the FabIndia group and those who wanted to check out rugs. Of course, I can’t reveal all the purchases made this day because there would be no surprises for some of you back home that are reading this.

The Jewish synagogue has hundreds of ancient hand painted tiles. As far as I could determine there were 4 different designs. Although all the tiles in one row were the same, the sequence of rows seemed to vary throughout the room. Along with the ancient Chinese tiles, there were many crystal chandeliers _ some very ornate and others more plain along with Hindi lamps.
We had a chance to walk around Jew town - an area of small shops and book stores. We stopped for a very refreshing lime drink before we boarded the van to go back to Ernakulum.
In the early evening we attended a Kathakali dance performance. Before the performance we could watch the very elaborate make up application. The dance performancers also wear very elaborate costumes and headdresses along with the make up. The dance we saw was with a prince and princess who was not really a princess, but rather a devil. Both roles were performed by men. The dance was rather unusual in that there was very little movement off feet or bodies. The primary movement was of eyes, eyebrows, forehead and chest. The princesses coy flirting was answered by the prince’s interest signified by his rotating his forehead in a circle.
After the performance, we walked to eat close to the hotel. OK, even walking in India can be an adventure. By the time the performance ended, it was pitch black dark. The power was out, and we were walking down pocket streets with no light. Maybe that doesn’t sound like too big a challenge, but there are places where the street or sidewalk is very uneven or even missing.
After crossing main streets 3 times - which means endangering your life, we arrived at the Hotel Dwarka restaurant. I had masala dosas with sambur and coconut chutney at the suggestion of my son Chad. It was wonderful. The restaurant seemed to be very popular, and we seemed to be the only westerners.
All in all,, another wonderful day in south India.