Skip to main content

Featured Post

2023 - The Year That Was

Places impact you for a variety of reasons. And the same place impacts different people in different ways. This is especially true when it comes to spiritual experiences, where every single person’s experience is unique. And personally, every spiritual experience is unique, the same person can have different deeply spiritual experiences at different places, at different times. This thought has emerged because of my own experiences over the years, but especially so this year, with different and unique experiences at various places I have visited recently. I began this year with a visit to Baroda (Vadodara) with friends. It was meant to be a relaxed trip, a touristy trip, with our sons. We enjoyed ourselves to the hilt, but the highlight of that trip was a visit to the Lakulisha temple at Pavagadh. It was the iconography of the temple that I connected with, and I spent a few hours simply lost in the details of the figures carved around the temple. There was an indefinable connect with

Fort Kochi - Part 2: Chinese Fishing Nets

“Go see the Chinese Fishing Nets” was what almost everyone told me, the minute I said I was going to Cochin! And why not! These nets are seen only in and around Cochin, and are a prime tourist attraction. Even the auto driver we hired to show us the sights was more enthusiastic about them than he was about the museums and art galleries I wanted to visit!




So there we were, near the beach, where a row of depressing looking fishermen sat awaiting the tourists. It was May, and with vacations on, there should have been scores of visitors around, but Fort Kochi apparently isn’t on the bucket list of Indian tourists. It is foreigners who come here, and mostly in winter. Besides, the fishing nets are best seen at dawn and dusk when the sky comes alive with colours, providing a dramatic backdrop to these nets, attracting the photographers. We were there in the evening, on a cloudy day, with rain threatening to rob us of the spectacular sight… no wonder we were the only tourists around!



Our arrival galvanized a few of the fishermen, and I finally saw the nets in action…. I was fascinated by the sight of the huge nets being lowered and raised by a cantilever, a row of rocks tied to one end, and the fishermen walking on the pole to balance the weight on the other end!



There is no doubt that these fishing nets are Chinese in origin, though how they came here is apparently under debate. While some claim that these nets were brought here by Chinese traders during the reign of Kublai Khan (13th century AD), others attribute it to the great Chinese navigator Zheng He (14th century). Meanwhile, there is even an argument that it was the Portuguese who brought it here from China, along with some Chinese who operated these nets for a long time. Whatever the source, these nets have been in Cochin for well over five centuries, and are an inherent part of the landscape. Interestingly, these nets are confined to Cochin and nearby areas, not seen anywhere else, even in Kerala!



These nets must have been quite a profitable source of income at one time (which is probably the reason they have survived this long), but today, for various reasons, the nets are little more than a tourist attraction. The nets look huge, but at a time, they manage to catch just a few fish, and we wondered if it was worth all the men, and the effort it entailed. The catch is not large enough to be sold in the market, and indeed, their primary customers are tourists, who pay to see the sight, and buy fish to be cooked in one of the nearby stalls. Their disappointment was evident when they learnt that we were vegetarians and didn’t want to buy the fish. However, they all had a good laugh when one of them got Samhith to hold a fish in his hand, and he squirmed more than the fish itself!



While this was our first encounter with the Chinese Fishing Nets, we saw them all over the place as we explored, first Fort Kochi, and later, Cherai. Everywhere, the story was the same, and I began to wonder how much longer they would last.



These fishing nets had made their way across the ocean (figuratively of course), and lasted centuries, surviving changes of rule and massive upheavals in every sense. Will they be around, another five centuries from now? Or will they succumb to the tide of modernization and indifference? Time alone will tell!




P.S. Here is a video of Shankar trying his hand with the fishermen at raising and lowering the net. 




Comments

  1. Nice post! These would soon become a pure tourist attraction.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Niranjan! I think they already are :(

      Delete
  2. Nice post! It was worth reading,keep up the good work :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Nicely written. The image of the fish in his hand adds a nice personal touch.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Sabyasachi! It did add a personal element to our trip too, esp the visit to the nets. Otherwise, we simply would have seen them and walked off.

      Delete

Post a Comment

Thanks so much for stopping by. Please leave a comment for me so that I will know you have been here....

Popular posts from this blog

Gokarna Part II – The Five Lingams

We continued our Gokarna trip by visiting four other Shiva temples in the vicinity, all connected to the same story of Gokarna. The story of Gokarna mentions the Mahabaleshwara Lingam as the one brought from Kailas by Ravana, and kept at this place on the ground by Ganesha. (See my earlier post- Gokarna – Pilgrimage and Pleasure). However, the story does not end here. It is believed that, in his anger, Ravana flung aside the materials which covered the lingam- the casket, its lid, the string around the lingam, and the cloth covering it. All these items became lingams as soon as they touched the ground. These four lingams, along with the main Mahabaleshwara lingam are collectively called the ‘ Panchalingams’ . These are: Mahabaleshwara – the main lingam Sajjeshwar – the casket carrying the lingam. This temple is about 35 Kms from Karwar, and is a 2 hour drive from Gokarna. Dhareshwar – the string covering the lingam. This temple is on NH17, about 45 Kms south of Gokarna. Gunavanteshw

Rama Temple, Gokarna

To my right , the waves rush to the shore, eager to merge with the sand. To my left, the same waves crash against the rocks, their spray diverting my reverie as I ponder over the beauty of nature, and wonder what first brought people here. Was it this beauty that encouraged them to build a temple here, or was it the fresh, sweet spring water flowing from the hill here that made this place special? No matter what the reason, I am glad my auto driver brought me here. We are at the Rama temple in Gokarna, just a few minutes away from the Mahabaleshwara Temple, yet offering so different a perspective.

Pandharpur Yatra 2023

The first time I visited Pandharpur was back in 2007 . The names Vitthal and Pandharpur, were just names to me. I had heard of them, but that was about it. Seeing the lord standing on the brick, hands on his hips, was memorable, but more memorable was the sight that greeted us as we walked out of the main sanctum of the temple. In the mandap just outside were a group of devotees singing abhangs , and dancing. This was the first time I had heard abhangs , and even almost 15 years later, I can remember the welling of feeling within me, listening to the songs, and how fascinated I was by the sight of the devotees dancing, lost in their love of the Lord. Over the years, as I have read more about Vitthal, and participated in Ashadi Ekadashi programmes at Puttaparthi, that first experience has stayed clear in my mind and heart. Every time I tell my Balvikas students of the saints who sang of Vitthala, it is that experience that I re-live. I visited Pandharpur again, in 2010, but that experie