Landing in India had been all that I had hoped for; the near unbearable heat, the hustle and bustle of people going through their every lives, and the beep, beep of horns born out of the ubiquitous tok tok, motor bikes and of course the “Sound Horn Please” sign on every vehicle that travelled on 2 wheels or more.
Cochin the birth place of my father “Mr Anthony John Rodrigues, was a without a doubt a place of natural beauty and thankfully our B&B (yes we booked a B&B) was a mere stone’s throw from the water’s edge, which made up only a tiny part of an massive maze of back water passages that both Vicky and I would explore at the end of our holiday.
One of the main reason for visiting Cochin was to glimpse at the famous Chinese Fishing nets. I had seen photos of them in every travel and photographic magazine, but seeing them in their full glory only added to my child like pleasure and my wide eyed tourist naivety which to a local must have said fleece me. “My name is Jean-Francois and yes I am a tourist”
With my camera in hand I soon found myself being invited on the one of the rickety wooden Chinese fishing nets which perch over the water like graceful tropical cranes poised to catch their morning breakfast. I never would have thought that a hello would translate in to me taking a starring role in “ the toughest place to be a fisherman, Yet there I was one of the lads, and on my way to hauling in a fresh catch. I do however have my suspicions, that the caught fish had already been caught and were just chilling in the net until a clueless tourist would come along hoping for a that once in a life time catch, allowing for a recounting of fisherman tales for many year to come. So that’s what I did and I have to admit I was a having a real great time until he asked me for my new found fisherman friend ( not the sweets) asked for two thousand rupees , luckily for me, I being the hard-nosed business man that I am I managed to escape with my wallet only being 500 rupees lighter.
In hindsight , I can understand how sometime even though I think I might have things hard, there are always other who always have it . I guess it put my life into perspective. 500 rupees was really not that much to me but to him it meant a lot. Paying for a great experience whether it’s a theme park or maybe theatre is considered the norm in the UK , but here in India I had a chance to have lots of fun and help someone in need, at the same time, what could be better.
Check back for my next post to find out how Vicky’s hope for an full English breakfast, did not turn out as we (Vicky) had planned.
