30 May 2019 – Time Goes By in Kerala
Nearly every day, we see something different from our own culture. One afternoon, we noticed small fishing boats moving with the current flowing past the marina. We watched a group of fishermen in round boats (yes, round and built of bamboo, not plastic) pulling in a net.

There are several women working in these boats, and at least one of the women has an infant next to her chest as she works.

The marina staff told us that these people are gypsies, living a nomadic lifestyle. They make camp everyday on a shoreline, and then break camp and move somewhere else. Their boats are called a Parisal (english name is Coracle), a traditional round boat found in South India. Apparently, these little round boats are an effective fishing vessel because they hardly disturb the water or the fish, and they can be easily maneuvered with one arm, while the other arm tends to the net. The paddle is used towards the front of the coracle, pulling the boat forward, with the paddler facing in the direction of travel. (Photos courtesy of Peter on SV Kokomo)

About 2.5 hours drive North of Kochi lies the city of Thrissur, still in the state of Kerala. We went there for a day trip to visit the zoo. Started in the year 1885, the Thrissur Zoo and Museum covers an area of approximately 13.5 acres. The zoo houses a wide variety of animals, reptiles, and birds. I’m not a fan of zoos, I have to say, because its concerning to see caged animals, particularly animals that we have often seen in the wild. I suppose the most interesting to me was the opportunity to see a Bengal Tiger, yes it was confined to a cage, but at least the zoo visitors were safe.

Here you can see that they take security seriously.

This is a large water buffalo of some kind. It had an unusual name.

This resting but very alert jaguar is a beautiful animal.

A purpose built building houses the reptilian collection of King Cobras, Cobras, Python, Kraits, Vipers and Rat Snakes. This is an Indian Rock Python.

The Art Museum located in the zoo has a good collection of wood-carvings, metal sculptures, Kathakali figures, ancient jewellery etc. It also has some historical items like swords, jewellery, rocks, stuffed butterflies, etc.

I’ve been to the doctor for my 6 week post surgery knee checkup. He pronounced me “healed” and fit to do “as much as I can”. I’ve got good flexibility and I’m still working on building strength and endurance.

This is a custom “barnacle scraper” that I had a local welder make up for me using SS 316. For 10 years I’ve been scraping the hull and cleaning things off using production made drywall and putty scrapers, but they always rust and break after a few months of use. Lets see how this one makes out. It is definitely “heavy duty” compared to what I can buy in a store.

Our friend and driver Varghese has told us that many Indian expatriates go to the Gulf countries (Kuwait, UAE, Oman, Saudi Arabia etc) for a decade or more of work. If they work hard and save, many of them invest in affluent properties on their return – an 8 bedroom house with only 4 people living in it. We’ve seen many. Maybe this is one example?

Our boat is docked at the outer edge of the Kochi International Marina docks. Since our boat is pretty heavy, we don’t suffer much from the wake of passing boats, and we have never complained about the wake. However, we have complained a lot about the nuisance of passing tourist boats. Many have passed within only a metre or two of our docked boat, while travelling at 3-5 knots of speed. This is reckless and unsafe. The boats are jam packed with tourists and loud music is playing. If we happen to be on deck, they yell and holler at us and are desperate to take a few photos of “white people on a yacht”. These actions, we have viewed to be dangerous and rude – and we have been very vocal about it. When on the back deck, Diane has used the water hose to spray the boat Captain and even the guests – but they keep coming back for more! The latest action on our part has been to pay for and install three large signs warning boats to stay at least 20m away and not to take photos – in both English and the local language of Malayalam. The next step will be to bring in the news media.
