Kochi sits in the middle of the state of Kerala, in south-west of India. Kerala is ‘God’s Own Country’ as the marketing campaign has been shouting for years. That’s true.
You go to Kerala to learn that there are more greens than just bottle green and olive-green. But no, Kochi doesn’t succumb to the rest-of-Kerala’s diktat. And so when I visited Kochi in March aain, it got me thinking. What is it about this place that makes me want to keep going back?
For one, Kochi always astonishes me. Its familiarity will envelope and comfort you, and the new will freshen up the senses. I get that feeling with my favourite books too… I could read them again and again, and still always come back for something new. This time, I discovered so much graffiti and street art at Kochi.
It’s got oodles of vintage charm and all enclosed in a cocoon – because it’s an island. As a visitor, I am drawn into that cocoon.. it’s really snug. There are few modern buildings and the entire vibe is leisurely with fewer people on the streets compared to other Indian cities and the entire place is stuck in a time warp. And given its isolated island status, maybe it will stay like that. Also as I walk around, I feel like I can see it all. Few cities give me that sense of ownership.
Yes, Goa also has this ‘homely-coziness’, this ‘lost-in-the-past-ness’ but everyone goes to a different Goa – North or South, this beach or that, shack or five-star haunt… and experiences one version of Goa while I experience another one. Both are as unique and both are as beautiful. But I think there is only one Kochi, and we all end up there. And that ‘sameness’ of experience is alluring and it is even more exciting to make that ‘sameness’ somehow different for you… to make Kochi, yours!
Bhavani is a traveler by choice, photographer by interest and writer by desire. She crafts tours at Audiocompass.In and blogs at merrytogoaround.com.