Exploring the World : Fort Kochi Art Festival and Chinese Fishing Nets

Chinese Fishing Nets

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The rest of my weekend in Kerala was amazing. We went to the beach, I rode a camel, and looked out as we drove through the streets of Kerala. I spent a lot of the weekend with Wazim's friend, Bijoy. He came to pick me up to go to the Fort Kochi Muziris Biennale Art Festival and it was my first time riding on a motorcycle! We zipped in and out of traffic all over Kerala. We traveled on the ferry to several of the little islands around Cochin- the main trading area for seafood and spices. We saw Fort Kochi Island, Vipen Island, Willingdon Island, the Naval Base, the famous "Jew Street" (which used to have 2,500 Jewish families living there, but now only a dozen), the Paradesi Synagogue, the St. Francis Church, many Temples, and a few Mosques. As the sun was setting, we looked out along the Chinese Fishing Nets and then rode the bike to another island to look out over the water before dinner.

As a side thought...Religion seems even more engrained into the lifestyle in Kerala. Places of worship are everywhere- Churches, Synagogues, Mosques, Temples, little shrines and images all over. I have been learning about the Brahma-Vishnu-Maheshwara Hindu Trinity, the ten incarnations of Vishnu (well the 10th is yet to come), and many of the stories behind other deities such as Durga, Ganesha, Hanuman, Kali, Karttikeya, Krishna, Lakshmi, Rama, Parvati, Saraswati, Shiva, etc. There are stories and legends for all of them. My friend here told me that they believe these Hindu deities are manifestations of one Divine Being. It made me think of the religion that I grew up with, Christianity, when they talk about the Holy Trinity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. I am also learning about the five pillars of Islam and the important Hajj to Mecca. I am learning just the surface to the depth of historical religious disagreements. Yet, even with such intense disagreements, it seems that all religions have many things in common. They believe in a Devine being, a God, something supernatural which cannot be explained by tangible evidence. They have places of worship and use aspects of their religion to become better people, to help the poor, and to do "what is right." To me, it is the other half of science. The half of life that can not be explained by evidence. It seems that throughout history people have been searching for ways to explain the unknown, trying to find answers to what cannot be explained. Whatever the "right" answer is, it seems to exist in everything and everywhere.
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"All religions, arts, ad sciences are branches of the same tree." (Albert Einstein)

"We can not obtain peace in the outer world until we make peace within ourselves." (Dalai Lama)
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(Again..a Lot of photos...if you double click, you can scroll)

Sunset on the Beach and Riding a Camel