Our destination upon leaving Pune was Cochin (alt. Kochin) in Kerala, the name given to a cluster of settlements made up of Ernakulum on the mainland, Fort Kochin, an island offshore, and between them, Willingdon Island, a body of land piled up when the harbor was originally dredged. It was to be our first introduction to Kerala, (#1) the only state to annually find itself on the list of civilized places of the world and the only one with a communist government.

When Christian missionaries came here many ... (more)