Transportation and a Church
We were fortunate to have a houseboat, know as a kettuvallam, along the Backwaters for two days. Many of the houseboats, including ours, are converted grain barges that were used to transport rice which are in many of the fields along the backwaters. The houseboat had 8 rooms together with a sun deck and a dining room. Not exactly the Queen Mary (thank goodness).
All along the Backwaters there are bridges and some are fairly low with fairly narrow passages between the bridge piers.
Because the bridges are low, we are warned when approaching a low bridge so that if we're standing out on the sun deck, we can avoid getting our heads hit. Our tour leader (who had the unenviable task of herding our group of 20 cats -- but at least no one of the group was a complainer), who is not particularly tall, demonstrates:
Of course, with the narrow passages, you also sometimes need help getting through them, often from just local residents.
Along the Backwaters we came to the village of Champakulam. In this village is the Champakulam Kalloorkadu St. Mary's Forane Church (also know as Valia Palli), one of the oldest Christain churches in India. This particular church was supposedly established in 427 and was rebuilt many times. This church is a reminder that a substantial minority of people in Kerala are Christians with the largest percent (12-1/4%) being Syrian Christians and Latin Christians just over 4-1/4%. The Syrian Christian population claims its origin to St. Thomas (the "Doubting" Thomas) who is said to have reached India in about 52. There were also some Christian missionaries from Syria who came in 345. It should be noted that when the European Catholics came to India much later, they did not accept the Christianity of these "pioneers."
There is also a graveyard in the church. (The Hindus principally cremate their dead and distribute the ashes in a river.) Since the graveyard is in a sandy area, digging the graves is somewhat easier although in the heat, the work is still hot.
Many of the graves in this graveyard are of modern origin and the decorations on the graves reflect the artistry of Indians.
In the graveyard there was also a mother hen and some of her chicks.
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