After all the angst of the past few months…all the visa chaos…always wondering if we would actually make… it was exciting to arrive at Kochi airport…which was hot, humid and overcast.
Our taxi driver friend Das was there to meet us and gave us such a warm welcome! So lovely to see him and we chatted all the way to Aaron’s homestay…he knew exactly where it was!
It’s the perfect place for us. Comfy bed…a lovely roof terrace, a big kitchen and A/C!
Down the alley way on the main road is Baby’s shop owned by our tea stall friend Thomas. The tea stall was all closed up but within a few days a friend of his was back in business, so Charlie is straight down there every morning for his breakfast!
Anyway Lucky Stars didn’t disappoint and we had tomato fry and aloo gobi and jeera rice and paratha all for 256 rupees
Our first impressions of Fort Kochi after four years and the pandemic was that it looked a bit scruffy round the edges, some of our favourite haunts had gone, and the reading room where Charlie did an installation during the 2019 biennale had finally fallen down!
The following morning we caught a Rickshaw to the ferry and crossed over to Ernakulam in the mist. Another quick rickshaw ride to a nearby station and our first ride on the new Metro! It runs overhead the sprawling city and in 20 minutes we arrived at Edapally where Charlie and Kavitha were mounting their latest collaboration at Kerala museum…The title being Flotsam and Jetsam!
We were treated to an amazing tour of figures from Kerala history…kind of son e lumiere meets Madame Tussaud’s.
It was so lovely to meet Kavitha after 4 years and also her students, who they had also invited to take part in the exhibition. For most of them it was their first ever show and we were swept into their excitement.
A long day putting the show up and one of the students tried to help me mess about creating reels and stories for a new Jigsaw Artists Collective Instagram site.
Back two days later for the opening…it was such a joyful afternoon…the students were so enthusiastic. Our urban sketching friend Presanth turned up on his bike, and our poet friend Kuzhur Wilson arrived with the media. Speeches were made, and songs were sung.
We arrived back over the water late and got caught in torrential rain in the alley to our homestay…I’ve never seen anything like it…we got drenched! Apparently it was the tail end of a cyclone in Tamil Nadu.
