1

Anniversary issue January 2008 Cochin

Malayali on the Burmese footie 2 team? Don’t be ChronicleChronicleChronicle surprised TRACING 150 YEARS OF THE CITY’S HISTORY Text of letter from Cochin Cochin Chamber of Commerce and Industry newsletter 3 congratulating Queen Vic LEAF OUT OF THE PAST Prof. Shankara With respect, from Cochin Menon takes a 4 A letter to Queen Victoria from the inhabitants of Cochin nostalgia trip forms part of the British Library’s royal collection

Singing an old hey might have hands to sent Queen Victoria tune with the been in a calmer a letter congratulating her on 6 boatman’s songs TCochin, but the assumption of rule in the apparently, no region in country. The 5-ft long, was too remote to handwritten letter, which remain untouched by the consists of a few hundred Catching up: change of guard. Following signatures in English and Interview with the sepoy rebellion in 1857, , forms part of the 7 American which made the East India royal collection in London’s architect Patricia Company’s presence British Library. The letter Tusa Fels obsolete in India, legislation includes the signatures of was passed to take royal Robert Hodges Peirce and control of the country Patrick Leslie, the founders of through a viceroy received Peirce Leslie, the firm that A sense of Victoria’s signature on exported in tea, cashew, coir Mattancherry in August 2, 1858. The and coconut oil from Queen wrote to Canning, to Europe. 8 the bustling who became viceroy, that Dated January 1959, it was trading days direct government sent two years after the responsibility for “that Cochin Chamber of enormous Empire which is Commerce was set up. The so bright a jewel of her queen also received separate Crown” was “a source of congratulatory letters from great satisfaction and pride.” Raja Ravi Varma of Cochin India was now part of the and the high priest of the British Raj and residents of Kashi muttom in Benaras. Note this: The letter sent from Cochin to Queen Cochin and Malabar joined Continued on page 3 Victoria with some of the signatures

Brochure worth a 1,000 words

t is an innocuous looking souvenir, but Kailash Gupta, the former president of the Indian IChamber of Commerce and Industry, has treasured it for 35 years. The 28-page, black and white brochure, was printed to celebrate the laying of the foundation stone of Cochin Shipyard by then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, in 1972. This ceremony followed close on the heels of the stone-laying of the Vishakapatnam Shipyard, also by Mrs Gandhi. The souvenir contains messages from President V.V. Giri, Vice-President G.S. Pathak and central and state ministers, including Kerala Chief Minister C. Achutha Menon and Home

In the beginning was the word: Cover of the Cochin Shipyard souvenir Continued on page 7 2

BACK IN TIME THEN AND NOW Footballer from the Collis line Warehouse and An ace player on the Burma national football team was a nephew of spare space Cochin-based shipping merchant, Fred Collis

alayalis are a bit like Burma,” says Yvon’s brother, Gordon, course, it was his talent that took him Rajnikanth fans, they who is now settled in Australia. “I was far. The team, which toured Iran, Mcan be found in the three, but my mother used to recount Israel, Ceylon, Germany, Russia and strangest places. Still, a footballer of how they saw bodies strewn on the England, was top in Asia and won the Kerala origin on the Burmese national sides of the street during their walk to prestigious Tunku Abdul Rahman team almost sounds like the apocryphal Chittagong. Sometimes, bullock cart Cup in Malaysia three times. Maung story of the Malayali whom Neil wheels would roll over the bodies.” Maung, who started playing on the Armstrong bumped into on the moon. Flora, who made an early exit out of national team in 1969, too, was no But in fact, Yvon Collis, a nephew of Burma, was able to ship all her family’s lightweight. The footballer, who Fred Collis, who operated belongings back to Kerala, but Sophie played various positions during his Ambassador Steam Ship Company, was not so lucky. Her family had to decade-long career, won the title of All When it was the centre of trade, later named Collis Line, a cargo Asia Star. leave everything behind. Refugees the roughly 250 warehouses in shipping firm in Cochin, was a national from Burma were sent to camps in In fact, the German coach who trained football hero in the former British Coimbatore. the team for three years was keen to Mattanchery, must have seemed colony. The Collises finally came to Cochin, take Yvon back to Germany with him, like too few. It stored rice, pulses, Antony Lazar Culas, Yvon’s where Fred, who was a wireless but the footballer was content in herbs, tea, oil, kerosene, coir and grandfather, was a durbar manager in operator with the navy, eventually Burma. After he retired at 35, he all manner of goods. The two- the Travancore court. The family started the shipping company in the coached the Burmese Railway team story buildings along the street, name, Culas, was later anglisied to early 50s. It was a prosperous business and the youth team, which also toured with decorated windows and Collis. Culas’s children, the Collis and he had about five ships that carried internationally. Eventually, Yvon carved eaves, even today offer a siblings and their families, including cargo to Africa and the Middle East. migrated to Australia, where his other romantic street façade, which is Fred and his sisters Flora and Sophie, “My father worked with uncle Fred in brothers were settled, with his wife, impressive, considering that trade migrated to Burma for work. Susu, and four children in 1993. He his shipping company for a while, but and romance are almost as Sophie’s husband, Ralph Gomez, was my mother, who was Anglo-Burmese worked in a factory assembly line and a warden at the Incene Central Jail. had a difficult time here, so they died of a heart attack in August, 2000. impossible to mix as oil and water. During World War II, the families fled returned to Burma,” says Gordon. “Though today, the standards have In fact, Salman Rushdie’s The the country following Japanese Burma obtained independent in 1948, dropped, football used to be a very Moor’s Last Sigh is located in 16th occupation, and Ralph came to Cochin when the British handed over power. popular sport in the country,” says century Mattancherry. where he was superintendent of the Cyril’s family seemed to have been a Gordon, who often visits Burma with The godowns had grand arched State’s Veyoor Central Jail. cosmopolitan bunch. Though he his family. gates, called annavaathil, that lead Yvon’s father, Cyril Collis, was a spoke fluent Malayalam, his family “Just as with cricket in India, you could from the road to expansive platform inspector with the Burma followed an Anglo-Indian lifestyle. His find boys kicking a ball in any vacant courtyards that extend to the Railway. “The families had made a son, Yvon, who showed promise as a plot. My three brothers and I, too, water’s edge. These buildings have dramatic escape. My parents trekked used to play, but Yvon was the one with football player, changed his name to gable roofs covered with clay and rode in bullock carts out of Maung Maung Tin to fit in. But, of true talent.” roofing tiles, timber rafters with heavy timber ties and thick, brick Good sport: Muang Muang Tin alias Yvon Collis stuccoed walls. (extreme left) with team members of the Burma When trade dwindled, the football team; Receiving a trophy for best player godowns were left empty and unused. But today, thanks to the tourist traffic, these beautiful spaces have received a new lease, and have been resurrected as restaurants, art galleries (in pic below: Kashi Art Gallery) and creative workshops. Not a bad new avatar! 3

Continued from page 1 0TEXT OF THE LETTER While the governance of India passed from the East India Company to the throne following the first war of Her Most Gracious Majesty Victoria, by the Grace of God, Queen of the United Kingdom of independence, it will only in 1877 that Great Britain and Ireland and of the colonies and dependencis thereof in Europe, Asia, Africa, Queen Victoria, who was the longest America and Australasia, Defender of the Faith. serving monarch, assumed the title of Empress of India, through a move May it please your Majesty, ratified in the English parliament by We, your Majesty’s faithful subjects residing at Cochin on the Malabar Coast beg with every Benjamin Disraeli. The subcontinent was an important imperial colony and sentiment of loyalty and attachments to unite with the millions of your Majesty’s people in India had political, economic and social in presenting at your Majesty’s throne, the tribute of our respectful homage on the assumption by significance for the throne. In fact, the your Majesty of the direct charge of the vast territoties of this Empire. Government bought shares in the Suez Canal, owned by the bankrupt Whilst acknowledging the protection and liberal treatment we so long enjoyed under the rule of the Khedive of Egypt, to obtain control in Man of letters: Robert Hodges Honorable East India Company, we beg leave to express our pride and lively satisfaction on being the passage to India, which was opened in 1869. Peirce was one of the signatories now placed under the direct sway of you Most Gracious Majesty. of the letter to Queen Victoria We avail ourselves of this opportunity to give utterance to our deep gratitude for the liberal and The queen also received an Indian dish on most of her dinner enlightened policy indicated in your Majesty’s gracious proclamation, whereby perfect freedom on separate congratulatory menus, and wore and displayed jewels conscience and the undisturbed enjoyment of ancient rights, wages and customs are secured to all classes from India, such as the famous Kohi- letters from Raja Ravi noor diamond, which is said to bring – blessings which will ever be prized as the dearest privileges of the people of India. Varma of Cochin and the misfortune and death to any man who We humbly trust that you Majesty’s words of benevolence and mercy to those now in arms against high priest of the Kashi owns or wears it, but good luck to the Government may soon have the happy effect of restoring tranquility in the disturbed Provinces and women. muttom in Benaras, when In fact, Victoria personally received of enabling your Majesty to employ the resources of the Country in works of peaceful improvement she received the title of Prince Duleep Singh of Lahore, whose and of ensuring that prosperity ad social advancement which your Majesty is so anxious to promote family owned the diamond, within Empress of India in 1877 weeks of his arrival in London and she among all classes of your Majesty’s subjects. and her husband, Prince Albert With earnest prayers that your Majesty, the Prince Consort and all the members of the Royal The Queen-Empress never visited welcomed him into their family. Family may have vouchsafed to you many years of health and happiness, India, but she had Indian servants, and The Empress also added a large also an Indian secretary teach her “Durbar Room” to Osborne House on Cochin January 1859 sufficient Hindi to enable her to write the Isle of Wight, with art and artifacts diary entries in the language. She had from India. We beg leave to subscribe overselves your Majesty’s most humble, devoted and faithful servants…

A PAGE FROM THE MINUTES BOOK

Emergency meeting held at 11 am on the 11th March 1916 required in large quantities in England and France, not only as a food product Present: Messers E.H. Cooper but also as a material from which glycerin is extracted. The Chamber would A. Bueler also point out that copra forms the bulk of the export from this coast and the H.E. Day season now being in full swing all shippers have large commitment with buyers C.H. Hodgson in England and France together with large engagements of freight which D.A. Cuthbert must be fulfilled. Apart from this the sudden stoppage of business in copra S. Deane which the order in question entails is likely to be fraught with very serious J. Dell economic consequences amongst, if not absolute disaster, to the people of Received letter from the Collector of Customs, Madras, informing the Malabar, Calicut and Travancore, as the industry is one that supports the bulk Chamber that no applications for permission to export copra can be of population from Cannanore to Travancore inclusive and it is important for entertained at present. the industry to consume anything like the quantity of copra available; arrivals Resolved that the following telegram be sent to the chief secretary to in Calicut and Alleppey alone amount daily to roughly 400 tonnes representing government with copy to the collector of customs and the Collector of a value of about a lac and a half. The Chamber therefore respectfully requests Malabar. that prompt steps be taken to cancel the order in question so far as exports to Customs Collector here informs shippers that under instructions from the UK and France are concerned. Immediate action is absolutely necessary secretary of state no application for permission except Chamber will be as the mere knowledge that such an order has been issued is likely to cause a entertained at present. The Chamber thinks a mistake must have occurred panic throughout the whole of the west coast. in translation of this order as it is impossible to conceive reasons for such (signed) prohibition seeing that coconut oil which is extracted from copra is urgently Hon. Sec 4

Walk through time TThhee titimemess,, tthheeyy aarree a-ca-chhanginganging

By Shankara Menon

Tippu Sultan came to Kerala to the king’s income from Kerala was prevented the Konkani Brahmins from topple the old state and put it in 1,54,913 a year! What do you say? cremating their dead, they had to bury his tote bag, he almost also did We have had 41 rivers in 38,864 them, like Christians did. Any breach it, except that the English caught kilometers of land, 30 kings, and about of this law was punished without him from behind and put the lid 100 landlords. According to the mercy. At night time, more common on his destiny. Tippu Sultan Census of 1891, just a single hundred than not, burning bodies of dead stands out in our history as the odd years ago, there were 5,39,898 Brahmins, secured to banana plantain first man who made a road in houses, and of them only 4025 were stumps, floated down the Mandovi Kerala, not for any convenience tiled, all our tiles reached us from river. The relatives had often to fly away to anybody, he only wanted to Portugal and France! Thus tiled from their homeland, some of them suit himself, to bring up his houses were just ONE PERCENT are ancestors to Konkanis now spread canons and take care of the semi-nude of the total! The state of Cochin, of here and there, including Kerala. The ay I invite you to walk people who lived in this area. If you which the star is our Ernakulam, had living, but yet immortal singer, Lata back with me and look should sit down and look at the 1,17,368 houses, of which only 1521 Mangeshkar is one who had to pay for Mat Cochin and what else documents of old properties, you were tiled! Only extremely important crimes of sorts. The RSS began in Goa, a few hundred years ago. Our eyes would not come across any road and significant people lived in tiled in protest against the Portuguese. are in front, and looking back is only mentioned, boundaries are often moats houses.! for some profitless emotional and canals. The narrow footwalk-roads The three things that mostly influence Old Cochin has also been home to satisfaction. Henry Ford, and you between properties were designed to and shape people are clothes, food, and many Jews, we still have our old Jews know who he is, said history was allow headloads to pass through. These language. Street. Cochin has also more Anglo- bunk. He was not wrong, because the were our primitive roads! Perhaps we were lucky to go under Indians than any other spot in Kerala. most stupid thing you can do is to the British in all these things, that is Cochin has always been a welcoming repeat history. It is not such a good A mite long back we had a Cow what Ambassador Galbraith thought. city. The so-called Broadway in idea to celebrate even birthdays. Dr. Economy, cows were second only to The French, Spanish, or Portuguese Ernakulam was once broad and big, Johnson’s History of the English Brahmins, and their ordinal number were different. The Portuguese in Goa now also it is busy and prosperous, Language contained 40,000 words, of importance was 2, the king himself now it is closer to a million. Bill came up far behind as Number 8! The Clinton did not even use his real whole state was organised to suit just father’s name. And anyway, dads one idle community, and nobody was If you should sit down and look at the documents come out only because mothers point allowed to move up the caste ladder. So of old properties, you would not come across any them out. you had to die in your childhood, that Let’s go back to our granddads. It is a is how the state got to remain as it was, road mentioned, boundaries are often moats and little upsetting to know that there is a and where it was. The King of canals. The narrow footwalk-roads between spot in Japan called Cochin. The Travancore paid the British an annual properties were designed to allow headloads to Japanese were too small and too good tribute of rupees eight lakhs. Well, if to learn from India, except some you don’t have shops, you cannot have pass through. These were our primitive roads! Buddhism, which they overturned to trade, or business, and no trade meant Shintoism. It might interest you to no money. If you gave two cows to know that our old rikshaw, the name India they would have got to be looked as well as the design and manufacture after somewhat, then probably of this cute and easy half-machine, worshipped, if you gave two cows to was entirely Japanese. This might be America, they would sell one and buy the place to tell you that our Chinese a bull and soon have good cow business. fishing nets that net so many tourists, We say in Kerala , “karayunna kunjinne is a contribution by China, a certain pallollu”, this is expressed in American Chinese was brought to Kerala to English as : It is the nut that squeaks teach wire-netting and he was paid a which gets the grease! massive salary of Rs.15 a month. We had so little awareness, and use of Parasuraman lifting up Kerala is a cock money, that anybody could fool us. The and bull story, but we have other Portuguese paid the petty kings of information which are historically Kerala 42 pounds each per year for accurate. pepper, and nobody asked for more, Some of us were born in Ernakulam, not even 4 pounds a month! There were and now when we drive through the some smaller kings who got 12, and city at night, we cannot recognize our they too were happy by the windfall! cute, old little baby. I am going back The Portuguese paid their own king, still further, to a time when greedy in Lisbon, 45,000 pounds a year; all told, gp

5

According to the Census of 1891, just a single GOING BACK IN TIME hundred odd years ago, there were 5,39,898 houses, and of them only 4025 were tiled, all our There was light and people were pleased tiles reached us from Portugal and France! Thus tiled The Cochin Electric Company was known for the houses were just one per cent of the total! The state uninterrupted service it provided of Cochin, of which the star is our Ernakulam, had 1,17,368 houses, of which only 1521 were tiled! hings were very different in the old days, you hear the old-timers say Tand you roll your eyes up. These stories are staple to the elders and you do not always identify with why they think that the old days were but nobody will call it “broad”. We are today, most of its members knew each better; except perhaps when they tell you that they did not experience the not careful or poetic with names, up in other. The Lotus was a certain way of annoying power failures of today. Was it because the women kept Chennai there is a bridge called life, for friends to meet and forget the replenishing lamps with oil, you think half-mockingly. AMBITTAN PALAM, it was built tensions of the day. Present Cochin But apparently, when the Cochin Electric Company, of which the Cochin by Governor Hamilton, and came to offers a number of places and royal family was the major shareholder, was the power suppliers to the be called AMBITTAN BRIDGE. opportunities, but in the sixties, Mattancherry and Fort Cochin areas up to Palluruthy, there was no failure Today it is known as, you will find it seventies, and so on, there wasn’t much in distribution. And if supply to a house or office was disrupted, the consumer hard to accept this, well, this famous to compete against Lotus. Some time, would report directly to Samuel Koder, the director of the company, who bridge is today known as BARBER’S I don’t remember exactly when, I think made sure that power was promptly restored. BRIDGE; naturally. The few people in the sixties, or early seventies, the The Cochin Electric Company operated from the 1940s till the late 1970s who made money in Cochin, like by Lotus Club made a Jubilee offer to before the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) took over the company. cornering the wholesale trade of members, anybody could convert his But the story of power probably starts from 1916-17, when the first random tobacco, invested their money in land, ordinary membership to Life, on a one- references to the working of thermal plants can be found in the administrative there was nothing else to do. payment of rupees one thousand, or reports of Cochin State. These plants supplied electricity to royal residences The old Warriam Road which hosts five hundred more; as I recall, there and government offices for lighting. our Lotus Club runs parallel to were not even ten members to take up The first attempt at generating electricity on a commercial scale was made in another nice and soft road, the Diwan’s the offer! The Kitchen was always a 1935-36 when the government of Cochin issued a licence to the Cochin Road, though no Diwan ever lived problem, good today and impossible State Power and Light Corporation for the electrification of Ernakulam, there. The house that was built to tomorrow. Trichur and the suburbs. Subsequently, thermal power stations were accommodate him was found by some Activities then were more or less the installed with diesel engines at Ernakulam, Trichur and Mattancherry. The people to be too grand, everything has same as now, and nothing to beat cards. distribution here was now done by the Cochin Electric Company, located in to relate to the king who had also a Whether it is a nation, a people, or a Thoppumpady, where the KSEB office now stands. The administrative kind of castle nearby. So the Indian club, its final contribution is shaped office, where the company’s board members met, was in Jew Town. The Diwan moved to another house which by its activities. Think of what our state company’s board consisted of Koder, his brother Elias S. Koder, daughter has been recently elevated and modified would have been but for the Queenie Koder and Dr S.B. Rao, owner of Navratna Pharmacy. Board to a Guest House. Ernakulam was a introduction of English, even clerical meetings were also attended by a palace representative. cradle town, small, though it was of English, which sounds like well- Supply from the Pallivasal hydro-electric project in Travancore began in course big enough for Cochin, even dressed Malayalam. Even our 1942 and by 1945-46, the requirements of Ernakulam and Mattancherry the name of the state says it is a wonderful club is a tribute to things were met from this source. Even though the development of hydro-electric KOCHCHU. Old Cochin was English. May I pull back with a Royal power had attracted the attention of the Cochin government as early as nothing much against the pompous Salute to Lady Bristo? Thank you. 1929-30, when surveyors were deputed to conduct detailed surveys at décor of Trivandrum, though things Peringalkuthu, the project was launched only in 1946 and completed after are different today. The author is the founder of Menon & considerable delay in 1958 when a 24,000KW plant was commissioned. Up in the fifties and sixties, it was a lot Krishnan College. He is a renowned The Cochin Electric Company bought power from the board at Pallivasal to belong to the Lotus Club, unlike columnist in Malayalam and English and funnily enough, sold power back to the board, which supplied electricity to the Edakochi area. This was taken over by the KSEB a few years before the Cochin Electric takeover in 1979. The power provided by Cochin Electric, Fast disappearing spaces: The author, Shankara Menon’s 250-year- which had some 130 employees and casual labourers, was received by some old family house in Elamakkara; (below) the women’s bathing pool scepticism by people in the early days. with a shelter adjacent to the house; (top left) an finely carved eave Agents used to chase after prospective customers to take a connection, not in the old house unlike an insurance agent these days. Customers paid a Rs 5 deposit for a meter. The deposit was deducted from the monthly bill, which in most cases came to Rs 15. The household of Parvana Seth, the owner of Indo Marine Industries, set a record with monthly bills averaging Rs 800. It was quite a feat considering that the per unit price of electricity was 30paise in 1975. And the company was still recording a profit. The bills were printed by a ‘press’ manufactured by Bradma, a Chennai- based company. It bore the name of the consumer, and the present and the previous meter reading. Unlike the aluminium wires used today, the wiring in those days was done with copper, which ensured that there were no voltage problems. “Efficiency was key,” says P.K. Muraleedharan, who worked in Cochin Electric’s accounts department before moving to KSEB after the takeover. “Largely, people would get their connections within 24 hours. Koder’s management was very liberal and none of the employees ever wanted for money.” Cochin Electric was valued at Rs 5 lakh and taken over at a 12 percent dividend. 6

Work is pleasure Work is pleasure Cochin Chronicle, a Cochin Chamber of Commerce & Industry Folk songs in Kerala originated not Lovely Kuttanadu girl with the voice of a cuckoo, newsletter, is printed and only for pleasure, but was also as a Get the drums beating and the trumpets sounding. means to provide rhythm to work. Thi thi thara thi thi thei thithai thaka thakathai tho (chorus) published by the Cochin So, while there are songs to Gather musicians to beat the drums and put up the buntings, Chamber of Commerce & celebrate Onam or lullabies, there We are returning victorious. (chorus) Industry are also songs sung by traditional We floated over the waters like a black swan, carpenters and boatmen. But like We raced forward like a horse. (chorus) PO Box No 503, Bristow most things, which do not reach The snake boat from Kavaalam returns, the new generation via TV or the Without bowing to anyone and without tasting defeat. (chorus) Road, Willingdon Island, net, the vanchi pattu (boatman’s The waves of Pampa embraced us, Cochin- 682 003 songs) is a little-appreciated, fast The sunshine was a dot (bindi) on our forehead, fading part of our heritage. Golden palm fronds embraced us. (chorus) Tel: +91 484 2668349, The first vanchi pattu, Kuchela We dedicate our victory to the church, 2668650 Vritham, was composed by court And offer a hanging lamp to Ambalapuzha (temple). (chorus) poet Ramapurathu Warrier, to The boat swayed like characters dancing the kavadiattom, Fax: +91 484 2668651 demonstrate his skill to his patron, While we went to make an offering to the goddess. (chorus) Marthanda Varma. It is believed to Hold up the finishing line, Editor be an impromptu number We are returning victorious. Anna Mathews composed on a journey from (chorus) Vaikkom to Thiruvananthapuram. Please route suggestions While the Kuchela and feedback to Vritham was [email protected] devotional, boatman’s or songs, which have a [email protected] rustic gusto, may be built around Contributions are traditional stories or welcome. If you have any even local gossip and interesting stories from witticisms. yesteryear Cochin, Here is the translation please mail us on the one that is a favourite in . It above address. address a local, farm belle.

IT’S AN OLD STORY

pointed out to him that perhaps he was mistaken and that the The truth about trade boxes, in fact, carried gold and not pickles. he emergence of Calicut as an important trading port, The Arab, pleased that he had found a trustworthy king, settled Tapparently, stems from the honesty of the Zamorin. The down in Calicut and became the koya (priest) of the area. beginnings is almost like a morality tale from history. Apparently, Subsequently, not only did trade prosper with the Arabs, but around the late 9th century, an Arab from Muscat, left his homeland according to the history written in the Keralolpatti, it was with to avoid a battle over succession with his brother. the aid of the Muslim settlers in Calicut that the Zamorin chiefs He travelled to many lands with his share of wealth: boxes of gold. expanded their kingdoms to the neighbouring regions. He docked at several ports and at each place, he met the king and According to another account, the trader asked for the Zamorin’s gave them the boxes for safe-keeping, saying they contained pickles. permission to trade and founded the bazaar at Calicut. The When the kings found out what the contents of the boxes really kovilagom (king’s residence) had a cellar named Ambaresan kett were, they quietly appropriated the gold. When the Arab reached after the Arab. Apparently, this is where he had stored the gold Calicut and did the same with the Zamorin, the ruler at once that was part of his fortune. 7

Four questions and good plans, many cities of the world are - for the most part - dysfunctional. Cochin works for the Continued from page 1 pedestrian or bicyclist. It doesn’t work “The old structures look like for the car. But that doesn’t have to be a negative. Amsterdam, Rome, New York City, Tokyo and countless other they belong here” major cities are not built for the car. They will be models for cities of the future; they function with excellent merican architect Patricia As an architect, what were your public transportation systems. Creative Tusa Fels’s relationship with impressions when you saw the solutions to movement of goods keep AAsia goes back 15 years, structures in Fort Cochin? the cities alive and vibrant. Cochin when she worked for the city of Seeing Fort Cochin was a joy. As an needs to improve water and sewer Penang, Malaysia, for two years, on a architect I always look for structures availability, and increase modes of conservation plan for their old city that respond to the climate and public transport. The ‘bones’ or the centre. “The energy of Asia and the customs of a unique place. The framework of the city is excellent. vibrancy of the cities were an buildings of Cochin displayed Many of the warehouses in inspiration,” she says. She first came connections to trade, a relation to the Mattancherry are being adopted as to India in 2003, accompanying her water and port, and they looked like alternative spaces, such as art Minister K. Karunakaran. The husband, an artist, who was on a they belonged in the tropics. The galleries or even clubs. Is this a way mood in the messages is of pride Fulbright Scholar’s grant, and spent importance of shade and air movement forward in the move towards and optimism. “The occasion is, ten months in Cochin. During this was visible in the design; the native conservation? no doubt, another distinct time, she kept in touch with her building materials of Kerala were well Conservation means looking for new landmark in the onward march architecture practice in Seattle over the used. uses for old buildings. Since trading of the country towards Internet and researched the history As you noted, there are many businesses are moving elsewhere and progress and prosperity and it of the built environment for several influences in the Fort Cochin/ since the water connection is losing is needles for me to state how articles that she wrote. Mattancherry area. Is there a out to auto transport, new uses need jubilant our people are on the Now back on a Ford Foundation harmony in the cacophony of to be found for the old warehouses. fulfillment of one of their long- grant, Patricia is working with c-hed influences in architecture? Also, employment needs to be available cherished dreams,” writes (Centre for Heritage, Environment Of course there is harmony. The to keep the community vibrant. Karunakaran. and Development) to document four harmony comes from the response to By the way, I consider it a big mistake Printed in the city’s premier to five of the oldest mosques in the climate and to trade, to the culture to not take advantage of the Kerala press, S.T. Reddiar and Sons, Mattancherry. and customs of the people living there. tradition of water transport. Roads the well-made souvenir Patricia is a member of an Asian Pacific The buildings reflect the place. will never offer the amenities of water. contains pictures of the ground conservation network and “realises that Even the Portuguese and English Even though America has miles and work in the construction of the there are many possibilities for colonial buildings bow to the climate. miles of freeway, transport bogs down shipyard. The cover consists of conservation for Cochin”. Only today do we forget where we in traffic. Building roads only brings an architect’s colour model of In an interview with COCHIN live. more traffic. It is a never ending the shipyard and the back cover CHRONICLE, Patricia speaks about This is an ancient quarter of puzzle. Cochin could celebrate water shows a “plan view”. The Cochin her impressions of the architecture of Ernakulam district. In terms of town transport and move goods without Shipyard, constructed at a cost Fort Cochin and says that her “hope is planning, how proficient does this gridlock. I read several articles about of Rs 45 crore, was built with to show that building conservation/ area look? the advantages of water transport in the assistance of Japanese rehabilitation/reuse can offer an Town planning has not really made Kerala. The city should not give up company, Mitsubishi Heavy alternative to the glitzy glass boxes of many advances in the last hundred the infrastructure of water connec- Industries. The first ship that the west”. years. Despite all the good intentions tions - the canals and access to the sea. came out of the yard was a 61,000 DWT straight bulk Reconstructing history: American architect Patricia Fels is in carrier. Mattancherry to document some of the oldest mosques in the area Gupta’s family, who were with the Ernakulam-based Centre for Heritage Studies Agarwals of Rajasthani origin, were traders in Cochin since the 1950s. He came to Cochin in 1969 to manage KVA Bros, the family’s prosperous coconut oil and rubber distribution business. His old warehouse and house in Jew town was bought in the early 1960s. Gupta, who was the Indian Chamber president in 1976-77, hopes to present the souvenir, which is in mint condition, to the shipyard chairman. 8

THAT WAS THEN Prosperity was, as always, accompanied by its dark companion: theft. Police patrolling was sparse; the police had only a couple of boats, and thieves came on boats like pirates and sometimes made away with the pepper and cardamom, which were stored on trading boats or even on ships. When trade was not staid Within Mattancherry, which was brimming with activity, traders and Europeans A return back in time to a bustling Mattancherry moved around in hand-pulled rickshaws and bicycles. Buyers and traders came from all over the state and south India. When trucks first started making an appearance, wholesale traders had to buy the whole truckload of goods from the fairly good way to gauge the importance of a place would be to go by producers. But gradually, when trucks started making inroads into the interiors real estate prices. That definitely holds true for Mattanchery. In the and brokers came into the picture, trucks would supply to a couple of dealers A1960s, when it was an important trading centre for the district, land and the wholesale trade diminished. was much more expensive here than in Ernakulam, which is now the city Trading negotiations between buyers and traders were done sitting on the floor, centre. “While one cent cost Rs 5,000 in Mattancherry, you could buy land in which had platforms raised about three feet high. Mattresses were laid on the Ernakulam for Rs 1,500 per cent,” says K. Raghunandanan, secretary of the floor with white sheets, and the buyers and traders relaxed on bolsters, while Indian Chamber of Commerce, Cochin. the rooms were cooled by the traditional cloth punkhas. Mattancherry offered the advantage of the waterways to traders, so the godowns Living quarters for the entire staff of a trading company were either provided on to store spices, food produce, the first floor of warehouses or coir, herbs, oil and kerosene adjacent to it, largely because were built here and the back work started at about 9 am and end of the of all warehouses “There was constant traffic on the waters,” says K.A. carried on till midnight. Apart had trolley tracks to the Bahuleyan of Coastal Trading Company, which has from their salaries, staff were waterfront. Rubber, for provided food—a special fare example, was produced in the been in the coir business for 45 years now. “In the for festivals—and given money hilly areas, but the trading took old days, there used to be 48 coir offices in Jew for basic necessities like soap place in Mattancherry. and oil. Each day’s book was “There was constant traffic on town. Even then our warehouse was always buzzing written before the end of the the waters,” says K.A. with workers who were loading and unloading day, and every expenditure and Bahuleyan, 74, of Coastal goods off the kettuvallam (boats). Today, there are account had to tally down to the Trading Company, which has last anna. been in the coir business for about four offices and yet, things are quiet.” Those were the days when work the last 45 years and has a was not encumbered by trade godown on the waterfront. “In unions. The unions were a the old days, there used to be result of the flourishing port. 48 coir offices in Jew town. Even then our warehouse was always buzzing with Port workers lived in Mattancherry and their influence began to tell. When they workers who were loading and unloading goods off the kettuvallam (boats). had a strike at work, it had a domino effect on the bazaar workers in Mattancherry. Today, there are about four offices and yet, things are quiet.” A kettuvallam The bazaar saw a curious mix of people. “There were local people and Europeans, could carry about six or seven truckloads of goods. of course, but it used to be amusing to see nuns jostling amongs the crowds,” Ironically, in the early days, though much of the activity happened via the says David T. Mookken, whose grandfather started the reputed Mookken Devassy waterways, the traders did not have to pay duty, and today, with the coming of Ouseph & Co, that traded in food and herbs, and were the first dealers for the port, though business is dim and the waterways are not used, traders pay kerosene. “Medicinal herbs used to do good business in those days, and nuns Rs 700 as duty. came here to buy raisins to make wine.” Those sound like heady days

Special issue of Cochin Chronicle printed to mark the 150th anniversary celebrations of The Cochin Chamber of Commerce and Industry