This must be the first computer I have ever used which starts up with the following message on screen: ‘The Lord Jesus Christ is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart’.
But this is the country of useful guidelines for a happy and full life, for example: eat cardamom seeds to put years on your life, and life into your years etc.
The trip started in the city of Cochin, which lives up to all the things previous visitors have said about this throbbing city: absorbing history and culture, a wonderful setting for the various islands surrounding this deep-water harbour.
I was mistakenly under the impression that the Portuguese had introduced Christianity to India but apparently Vasco de Gama, who died here, was amazed to find 1,500 hundred churches already here when he arrived in 1498. So today, sixty percent of the population is still Christian, and churches are everywhere, with the oldest in India built in the mid-sixteenth century.
Things of major interest to the visitor include the curious fishing contraptions introduced by the Chinese many moons ago, the oldest synagogue in India supporting just four Jewish families, including the youngest member a 35-year-old unmarried girl with rather limited marriage prospects within this close community.
And for the evenings, the wonderfully expressive Katha Kahani dance along Ramayana lines, but with curious billowing dress and heavy and colourful make-up, all men of course, and with the longest staged death scene I have ever witnessed: at least ten minutes of facial contortions and simulated bleeding from the mouth (he/she was knifed).
Onwards from the steamy coast to the more temperate climate of the Kanan Devan hills given over to vivid green hills of tea plantations as far as the eye can see, interspersed with eucalyptus trees and large granite boulders. Truly awesome scenery, we arrived in the middle of the nationally celebrated Diwali holiday, we are overwhelmed by what seems to be most of the 33 million population of Kerala, celebrating, constantly snacking, laughing and clogging the roads with a display of alarming driving habits.
Of course, one of the major attractions of a trip to the state of Kerala is a stint on one of the favourite Keralan houseboats, generally called rice barges because of their previous role providing rice transportation throughout the complex network of canals, lagoons and lakes. Made from local materials, they provide a romantic way of experiencing the slow pace of local life and come complete with a small crew who are happy to share the steering or meal preparation if you can rouse yourself to get involved. Transfer to dugouts is required to navigate the narrower channels in order to witness daily life on the riverbank.
This will have to suffice for now as this PC is so old, it precedes the original version of Bill Gates’ Windows and is not likely to last much longer.