Not less than a number of instances each month, a supply agent might be seen making his technique to a sure residence in Ernakulam, Kerala. His fingers are laden with packages which maintain books –  typically two, typically extra, however by no means much less. 

These should not your unusual fiction titles. As a substitute, they’re retellings of the historical past and heritage of Kochi. Inside their pages, they maintain fascinating accounts of how the town developed into its current kind, backed by intriguing anecdotes. The content material would go away any historical past buff spellbound. 

Because the supply agent rings the doorbell, he doesn’t want to attend lengthy. A person in his thirties opens the door inside seconds. It’s virtually as if he have been ready impatiently for this second! 

Enthusiasm is etched on Johann Kuruvilla’s face as he tears open the bundle, hungrily eyeing his subsequent reads. 

The books discover their technique to a house library which already boasts over 300 books. “One can by no means have sufficient books round heritage,” smiles Johann. 

For anybody who wish to know what’s in these books — the secrets and techniques of South India and first-hand tales of the lores surrounding Fort Kochi — there are two methods. Both you ask Johann to share his studying record otherwise you attend one of many many experiential walks organised by him and his staff as a part of ‘Kochi Heritage Challenge’. 

‘Not shy of my heritage.’

Born into Fort Kochi, a spot that lies on the epicentre of coherence of histories, a love for heritage is in Johann’s blood. It’s astounding how the tales that Johann treats his viewers to immediately have been born virtually 520 years in the past when Fort Kochi started witnessing a saga of reigns, every leaving a long-lasting imprint on its tradition, heritage and gastronomy. 

Via the 5 centuries, this unassuming capital metropolis on the southern coast of India has seen a switch of management. As soon as below Indian rule, the town noticed a Portuguese affect in 1503 when the Raja of Kochi granted it to the Portuguese as a fishing village. 

Following a rule of 160 years, the town was conquered by the Dutch who dominated for 112 years earlier than the British established their rule. In 1947, the reign got here full circle, passing into Indian fingers once more.

For Johann, who’s deeply in contact together with his Indian roots, watching vacationers amazed on the story of Mattancherry,  a melting pot of customs that was as soon as a bustling website for the spice commerce, or Jew City identified for its sixteenth century Paradesi Synagogue, or the vintage outlets interspersed alongside the sidewalks, is just amusing. 

Their pleasure mirrors his when he first learnt about these iconic spots. Reward him for the intensive information base he has put collectively and Johann is adamant that there’s nonetheless an amazing deal he hasn’t but explored.  

As soon as a gross sales supervisor within the Center East, one may ask what geared him in direction of heritage storytelling. “I needed to journey,” he solutions.  And so, storytelling was born out of serendipity. 

Whereas the journey is one of the best half for a lot of, for Johann it was to return dwelling to jot down about it. The heritage walks have been what fascinated him probably the most. 

“Why don’t now we have one thing like this in Kochi?” he questioned. 

Whereas this set the stage in Johann’s thoughts for the concept of heritage storytelling, the Kochi Heritage Challenge would take a number of years to return into the image. The hole was spent making use of to storytelling positions, doing freelance journey tasks, and conducting a number of heritage walks round South India. 

And it was throughout the COVID-19 pandemic — and the hours spent studying the books he had been stacking in his dwelling library — that Johann determined this was it. 

The previous wanted a future. With this motto, the Kochi Heritage Challenge was born as an Instagram web page in August 2018.

“The thought was to doc Kochi’s historical past — the artwork, tradition, structure, meals, tales of locations and tales of individuals via tales that weren’t out there on the web. It will take me a month of analysis to provide you with one put up,” Johann brims with nostalgia. 

However when a put up did go up, it could catch eyeballs. 

At present, the Kochi Heritage Challenge has gone past being a repository with enjoyable historical past tales. It’s a heritage storytelling initiative tailored with over 12 experiences which have one objective in thoughts — to remodel Fort Kochi from being a “random stranger” to a “particular acquaintance”. 

However the place does Johann supply these titbits of unique info from? Books, on-line analysis, conversations with specialists who’ve PhDs in historical past and heritage, analysis papers and first-hand insights, he says.

These are a few of the compelling tales Johann and his staff have unearthed – 

1. The story behind Gujarathi Highway 

Often known as ‘Little Gujarat’, the realm sees near 700 Gujarati households whose ancestors migrated to the Malabar coast way back to the eleventh century and settled right here for commerce. “Additionally it is stated that it was a Gujarati sailor who guided Vasco da Gama to Kochiwhen he was expelled from Calicut,” shares Johann. Regardless of the identify, the road was dwelling to many Jains, Baniyas, and Vaishnavas. “The Gujaratis are fluent in each Gujarati and Malayalam and have been grasp retailers in procuring spices and items from the locals,” Johann provides. 

2. The brand new map 

Should you take a more in-depth take a look at the map — whose image Johann present in an Indian Categorical article dated 1 November 1956 — you’ll find it barely totally different from the present-day version.  “This was a brand new map of India, which then had 14 states and 6 centrally-governed territories after including Kerala and Karnataka,” Johann explains. 

3. A flight ticket for Rs 165  

Johann takes particular pleasure in telling this story. The picture reveals an airline advert that appeared in Kerala Bhushanam Journal in 1952. Whereas many find out about Air India working flights from Kochi’s previous Willingdon Island Airport, Johann says only a few are conscious concerning the different airline that additionally ferried passengers. ‘Scindia Line’, often called and operated as ‘Air Companies of India Ltd’ (ASI), was owned by the transport firm, Scindia Steam Navigation Firm Ltd. 

The identify bears no relation to any current political get together, Johann emphasises. Nevertheless, what’s fascinating about this story, he provides, is that the flight from Kochi to Bombay was 4.5 hours and priced at Rs 165 a ticket. “Think about flying for this value! In fact, not taking away from the truth that this was in 1952 when even Rs 100 was an enormous deal!” he says.

4. Kochi — “an integral a part of India” 

The picture is of an advert that appeared in The Hindu newspaper on 15 August 1947. It highlights Kochi as the primary state in India to have a accountable authorities and was one of many first states to hitch the Constituent Meeting. “The important appeal of Cochin lies neither in her modernity nor in her antiquity however within the harmonious merging of the previous into the current,” it reads. Backing this was Maharaja Kerala Varma Aikya Keralam Thampuran who as soon as said, “No phrase or act of mine shall usher in a day when a Cochinite finds that he has misplaced the appropriate to name himself an Indian…Allow us to stay an integral a part of India, gaining power from India’s power and in return giving her all of the power {that a} homogeneous and powerful unit may give.”

5. The thriller of Saudi in Kochi 

In 2022, the movie ‘Saudi Velakka’ was launched which was lauded with vital acclaim each internationally and nearer to dwelling. The movie is about in a Saudi colony in Kochi. However whereas many imagine that the historical past of the realm has some connection to Saudi Arabia, this couldn’t be farther from the reality. In actual fact, it’s a lovely story interlinked by a landmark church, Cochin Jews, and a well-liked phrase nonetheless in use. Watch! 

6. Koder Home 

Reconstructed over an early nineteenth-century Portuguese mansion, the Koder Home is believed to have been structured and gabled in Europe and shipped to Kochi. The patriarch, Samuel Koder, ran the Cochin Electrical Firm and he’s credited with bringing electrical energy to the town. Koder was additionally stated to be the pioneer of the Freemasons’ organisation in Kochi. The identify evokes a way of deja vu amongst many who’ve heard about its well-known Friday Open Homes, the visitor record of which noticed the Raj literati, glitterati, ambassadors, celebrities and heads of state!

7. The Jewish Synagogue 

“The Paradesi Synagogue in Mattancherry’s Jew City was constructed on the land donated by the then Maharaja Kesava Rama Varma in 1568 by the Spanish, Dutch and Portuguese Sephardic Jews who have been expelled from Iberia in 1492. They got here to be often called the Paradesi Jews in India,” writes Johann. 

In 1662, the Portuguese started railing towards the Paradesi Jews for siding with the Dutch and set the synagogue on hearth which partially destroyed it. With the help of the Dutch, the synagogue was restored and there’s an fascinating anecdote of how in 1968, on the synagogue’s quatrocentennial, the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi attended the celebrations and wished a hearty ‘mazel tov’. Pictured right here is the poster of the Four-hundredth-anniversary celebrations in Mattancherry from this very day 50 years in the past.

This story is particularly nostalgic for Johann who shares that considered one of his granduncles referred to as him up sharing how this story had struck a chord with him. “We had as soon as volunteered on the synagogue and have been a part of the occasion,” he had stated. 

As Johann comfortably strikes between worlds each previous and current, a dialog with him is nearly like taking a visit again into historical past, again into a less complicated world, one thing which I can testify to. 

Edited by Padmashree Pande