INDIA (2010): KERALA

I happened to arrive in the town of Cochin in the state of Kerala in southern India on the first day of the Jewish New Year. Inside the ancient synagogue a handful of old men and Isreali tourists were reading from the torah. The souvenir shops in the Jewish quarter were run by Kashmiris. The next day was the holiday Eid, and the same streets were crowded with Muslims dressed in crisp white punjabis on their way to mosque. On Sunday I took a small boat to the town of Kollam, a fishing village inhabited by Christians, with an imposing church. I ate the best meal in India there, coconut mango curry with fresh fish. Interesting that this tropical setting on the Malabar Coast is home to the most diverse and educated population of India, and is ruled by a regional communist government.