After weeks and weeks of procrastination, I finally pulled myself up to write about one of the exciting trips of my life. Who said short trips aren’t exciting enough? This one easily defined that assumption.
One fine day, my dear blogging friend Deepanarayana a.k.a Prince Deepu called me to check if I was interested in a 2 day trip to Cochin. As I haven’t visited the place yet, I gave my nod without a second thought. Later, he also informed me that there’s Kochi Muziris Biennale, a contemporary art festival going on in Cochin at the same time. For me, it felt like killing two birds with one stone. In other words “Kanna Rendu Laddu Thinna Aasaiya” feeling :D. Like any other trip, a few opted out and finally ended up with Bragadesh Prasanna a.k.a Brags Anna, Karthik Pasupathi a.k.a KP, Deepanarayana a.k.a Deepu and Yours Truly.
That Friday (10.02.2017), left my office early so that I could pack up my things and catch the train on time. Luckily, like my last trip to Hyderabad, there wasn’t any eleventh-hour adventure. Though our train was scheduled for 22:50 it was around 23:15 when we took off. After bits of chit chats, my sleepy head wasn’t able to hold anymore. So, I wished the rest a very good night and dozed off.
It was around 12 in the noon when we reached the Ernakulam Junction the next day (11.02.2017). We were hungry as we had a very little for the breakfast on the train. So, indulged on traditional Kerala Parotas and Biryanis in a restaurant near the station. From there, we took an Auto to Fort Kochi and it was already 2 while we checked-in into our homestay. Then, we freshened ourselves before heading out to roam around by 2.30. Renting the bike from the homestay helped us.
Our first stop was “Cabral Yard”, where we saw an array of awesome audiovisuals projected on unusual surfaces inside a mud hut. Then we moved to the greatest attraction of the fest, “THE ASPINWALL HOUSE”. It’s one of the famous heritage property in Fort Kochi. Established in 1867, the former business premises of Aspinwall & Company Ltd was well converted into a well-organized art exhibition. After picking up our entrance passes which will be valid for the whole Biennale for Rs 100 each, we took a free guided tour, sincerely considering our expertise in the field of contemporary art. The following are the artworks that completely blew me away.
The first on the list is “Sea Of Pain”. Many times I have heard Poems, but for the first time, I experienced one. It’s the conceptualization of the below poem by Raul Zurita on Syrian refugee. The heaviness and gravity caused while walking in the dark, dense sea water in the room are beyond expression by words, one has to feel it being there.
Don’t you look? In the sea of pain.
Don’t you hear me? In the sea of pain.
Don’t you see me? In the sea of pain.
Don’t you feel me? In the sea of pain.
Won’t you come back? Never again? In the sea of pain.
Never? Never? Never? In the sea of pain.”
The next on the list is “The Pyramid of Exiled Poets”. It’s a Pyramid with a very faintly lit path inside, it’s almost dark in there. Along the path, you hear the voices of poets who were exiled from their country. Again, it’s tough to express these experiences by words, at least for me.
“Ghost Keeping“, a depiction of a textile factory run by ghosts, “Room for Lies“, a room filled with lots of photographs and paintings, “Dance of Death”, an art installation made of electric bulbs and “12 Stories”, a live mural painting project using only natural colors depicting a mythological story are the other artworks that got inscribed deep in my thoughts. It was great to see a pop-up post office got set up in the venue, what an opportunity to write postcards to a few friends.
I liked the view of Kochi port from there. It was amazing to see huge ships moving in and out of the port. Wish we could stay there for more, but we had to leave the place as every Biennale venue get closed by 6 pm. Then we headed straight to the beach, I have no idea why I love beaches a lot, I just love them. One of my long time dreams came true, it’s to watch those massive Chinese nets in action. The breeze, the sand, the waves and the tiny shells. OMG, the beach bought an unexplainable joy and I was singing aloud “Andha Arabic Kadaloram” song as the tiny tides wet my legs. Again, we went back to the homestay, got freshened up and started scouting for a better place to have dinner. Unfortunately, our search got ended up in an overpriced Italian Restaurant. Our purse got emptied, but our stomach wasn’t even half full. So, we headed up to a local fast food joint nearby the beach to fill up the rest. After roaming all the day, we were all dead tired when we returned back to the room. So, I dozed of quick and that’s how an awesome day came to an end.
The next day (12.02.2017), as planned we all woke up early and headed straight to the beach. Yes, it’s the beach again. We were so early that the beach was deserted and oddly any people there. But, the environment was serene to enjoy. Slowly the dawn broke and the sun came out, so the people. One thing that caught our eyes was “Fish Cemetery”, an art installation that was created to bring awareness on marine pollution created by disposal of plastic into the ocean. Here comes the best part of the day, the breakfast. Isn’t it a sin, being in Kerala and not having Aapam or Appam. Lucky a Thattukada (Road Side Shop) near the beach saved us from committing that sin. We had Appam with a super spicy egg curry and finished it with a KattanChaya (Black Tea). OMG, that morning is so vivid in my memory. With soo much salt and sand on our body, we returned back to homestay to freshen up and get ready for the rest of the day.
Compared to other places, it was quite a long ride to Mattancherry Palace. It’s a Portuguese palace popularly known as the Dutch Palace. Now this palace acts as a museum where the artifacts of the royal family are been preserved. It was unfortunate that they didn’t allow photography inside the palace. Experts would have advised visiting popular venues like “Pepper House” or “David Hall”, but we decided otherwise to visit Student Biennale instead. Our next stop was a small Student Biennale near the palace itself. Then, we made a detour towards the Jewish Synagogue. On the way, we stopped by a collateral project which showcased some beautiful Pichvai or Pichwai form of paintings. The place also features a long Snake Boat decorated with bowls filled with color powder. Just before the Synagogue, there was Mandalay hall which showcased some of the Pepper House projects, we didn’t want to miss it either. Finally the Jewish Synagogue. It’s my first time to a Synagogue and it’s well decorated with Chandeliers, Hanukkah Menorah (Jewish Candle Holder) and artistic blue tiles. It was definitely a unique experience out there. It was lunch time and the alarm went off in our stomach. Luckily we found the snooze button not far away. We had a typical Kerala Meals for our lunch. As we had few more hours to spare, we decided to explore a few more venues.
On the way, we came across one awesome Student Biennale at “Mohamed Ali Warehouse”. It featured many interesting artworks which include a comic type art installations, tools of goldsmith and animals portrayed as soldiers. Just a few meters from there, there was an “Artists In Residence (A.I.R) Kochi” exhibition which featured awesome works, especially by women artists. Then, we stepped into “Routes”, yet another collateral exhibition which showcased colorful and vivid art installations by Indian artists. Further down the road, we found yet another awesome Student Biennale which featured works of students from Government College of Fine Arts of Chennai and Kumbakonam. Their works were all inspired by the life of normal working people. The sweat drops collected in bottles, tools of the blacksmith and the portraits of weavers made of silk are few of the highlights.
By that time, my brain has reached its saturation point. Whenever I see an art piece it threw an “Art Overflow” exception. Usually, it’s a symptom of creativity overdose, probably caused due to continuous exposure to awesome artworks. I pleaded to go back, but we decided to visit one last venue before packing up. The last one was “TKM Warehouse” and this place featured a traditional Uru Boat along with a few other artworks.
Finally, we were back to our homestay packed our bags, said our farewell to the owner and headed straight to the Jetty to catch a ferry back to Ernakulam. There here was a huge queue standing for the tickets and we weren’t sure of the ferry timings too. Hard luck, so we took a cab to Ernakulam and boarded our train in the very last minute. Next day (13.02.2017) morning around 7.30 we were back to Chennai and an awesome trip came to an end. Wish we had more time to explore the whole Biennale. But not to complain, we made max use of the time we got, enjoying every moment of it. What makes a trip exciting is not just the place alone, but also the company. With no doubt, it’s definitely a trip to remember.
Gokoulane Ravi 