We have found an apartment in Ernakulum, in the Pallarivottom section of town. Our apartment is in one of the new modern high rises that now dominate the urban landscape in Kochi. The building is named "Oriental Gardens," but sadly has no garden. And while it has a very nice pool for swimming, the pool has no water.
Due to the outbreaks of Chicayunga and dengue fever, and most recently, a return of malaria, we sleep in our trusty Tropa-Screen II mosquito netting in the evenings. Our apartment has an interesting layout you can see in the picture with space-age capsule elevators, very cool. Unlike some of the newer apartment buildings we visited on out search, (and we visited quite a few), this one is actually inhabited by local families. It seems that many of the newer apartment buildings here are bought up by NRIs (non-resident Indians) as vacation homes or investments and are empty.
We recently made a trip to see our friends Shaheem and Shefik in our old haunt of Cheruthuruthi, where we lived while Justine was on a Fulbright Grant from 2003-04. Shaheem is the entrepreneur of English Academies where he claims to teach you to how 'Speak English the Western Way.' He is also dabbling in motivational speaking, and gave us a performance at his home (see picture at left). Shaheem and Shefik live in a traditional house along some paddy fields. Until recently, their father ran an Ayurvedic (traditional medicine) pharmacy and grew many Ayurvedic medicines on their property. Unfortunately, their father recently passed away and they have been forced to sell much of the land to make ends meet, as they cannot continue the business since neither is a licensed Ayurvedic doctor. I have included a few pictures of Shaheem's house complete with decaying coconuts scattered about and the paddy fields, which were once part of their property.
Shaheem and Shefik's Kerala House
Paddy FieldsThe Many Scattered Decaying Coconuts of Kerala
On our trip to Cheruturuthi we also visited out British expat friend David. He has retired to live in Kerala and has set up quite a place on the Bharta Puza River (picture) along some patty fields. We spent a night catching up with him and having shandies, beer and 7-up (actually one of the best ways to drink the god-awful beer here), on his veranda over looking paddy fields and the river.The both of us also completed our registration procedure at the Foreign Registry Office at the local police office in Kochi. Here they make you wait for hours at a time in a small waiting room where a guard stands by complete with rifle and bayonet- as if the British could arrive at any moment. We waited until called in to see the beaurocrat who didn't really want us to register in Kochi. The proceeded to try to tell Justine that she could and should do her research in Thrissur. We stated our case about Justine doing research independently from Kalamandalam. Basically, we were not about to let a local bureaucrat dictate Justine's dissertation research- much arguing ensued and Justine lost her temper a bit (a big no-no for women here). Eventually we were able to see a higher-up who approved us living in a separate district form Justine's affiliating institution. We then went back to tell the other bureaucrat about his superior's decision. Then of course, he told us we would need a formal lease agreement before being allowed to register, just to make things a bit more difficult. All-in-all it eventually worked out and we are now officially legal foreign residents of India once again.
Waiting RoomCheck back soon we continue to post news, stories, and personal reflections on our times and travels in Kerala and India. Here's one last picture of a sunset view from our apartment on the
9th floor of Oriental Gardens.
