Kerala, in southwestern India, played a crucial role in the ancient spice trade.
On a return visit to his ancestral home, one writer finds a place both changed and eternal.
Tom Parker
Whenever I think of Kerala, the faces of my grandmothers appear before me.
Rowing on Lake Vembanad, in Kerala, India.Credit:Tom Parker
At dusk, in the years before electricity arrived, the gentle glow of oil lamps enhanced the night.
The unforgettable meals were all sourced from our familys properties and nearby streams, prepared and consumed that day.
What made these spices so valuable was not so much their flavor as the difficulty in procuring them.
From left: Lunch at Brunton Boatyard; a taxi near the Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple, in Thiruvananthapuram.Tom Parker
So many of the magnificent edifices of government and education in Britain were built on this loot.
(Even the wordlootis stolen from the Indian vernacular.)
My older brother and I were born in Ethiopia, where my parents were hired to work as teachers.
From left: A boat in the beach town of Kovalam; St. Peter and St. Paul’s Indian Orthodox Church, in the village of Parumala.Tom Parker
At dusk, in the years before electricity arrived, the gentle glow of oil lamps enhanced the night.
The unforgettable meals were all sourced from our familys properties and nearby streams, prepared and consumed that day.
It was Caris thirdtrip to India, but her first to Kerala.
From left: A toddy tapper collects the sap of a palm tree in Kovalam; a thali at Leela Kovalam.Tom Parker
Despite major growth and development, Thiruvananthapuram retains a sleepy, small-town feel.
For centuries, maharajahs from one lineage ruled from here over Travancore present-day central and southern Kerala.
The value of the temples treasures is estimated to be in the trillions of dollars.
From left: The Leela Kovalam resort; a lotus leaf in Lake Vembanad.Tom Parker
Upon our arrival, the Leelas chef took us to the hotels organic garden to pick produce for ourthalilunch.
Ours came in a round stainless-steel tray embracing an inner circle of stainless-steel cups.
The second night, the chef set a table for us near the beach.
From left: Nuns near the harbor in Kovalam; a guest room at Kumarakom Lake Resort.Tom Parker
He converted a few Brahmin families.
Parumala holds the tomb of the first saint of our church, Mar Gregorios (18481902).
It was a scary time, with the fate of my manuscript uncertain, and an advance to repay.
From left: Floral offerings for sale outside the Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple, in Thiruvananthapuram; women gather at the Pazhavangadi Maha Ganapathy Temple, in Thiruvananthapuram.Tom Parker
I took a vow then that Id come to this tomb if the novel ever got published.
My prayers had been answered.
My vow was fulfilled.
From left: The exterior of an antiques shop in Kochi; a bather at Padmatheertham Pond, in Thiruvananthapuram.Tom Parker
Kottayam has many churches, some so close together that the sermon in one could serve both congregations.
TheManorama,a daily staple of my grandparents lives, now has 17 million readers.
Chackos wife, Ammu, continues the great culinary tradition.
The Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple.Tom Parker
It was a huge help.
Saying our goodbyes to Chacko and Ammu, we got on the road again.
We stayed at Kumarakom Lake Resort or KLR a Paul P. John property.
From left: An egret at Lake Vembanad; a villa at Kumarakom Lake Resort.Tom Parker
The guest villas are miniature versions of the two larger homes.
Each of these villas also has a private swimming pool.
I felt one with the faith of my forefathers.
From left: The infinity pool at the Leela Kovalam; the Assumption Church, in Thiruvananthapuram.Tom Parker
The next morning, just before the sun rose, we met the boatman on the KLR jetty.
Vembanad was as smooth as glass, and would have seemed endless had we kept going north.
Toddy is the sap from the palms flowering top.
From left: The grounds of the Leela Kovalam; the lobby of the resort.Tom Parker
The next day he empties the receptacle, and repeats.
We purchased his fresh toddy, which ferments at once, its taste for now sweet and tangy.
By lunchtime it would have the potency of an IPA.
From left: Chinese fishing nets near Kochi’s Cherai Beach; a gardener on the grounds of the Leela Kovalam.Tom Parker
Toddy shops abound all over Kerala, housed in nondescript shacks.
They famously serve a fiery cuisine which requires you to drink more to douse the flames.
We passed several houseboats during our excursion.
The beach at Leela Kovalam.Tom Parker
These converted rice barges are air-conditioned floating suites, complete with pilot and chef.
But we didnt have enough time, and Cochin (or Kochi, its new name) beckoned.
Negotiating the gridded streets of Fort Kochi, we arrived at Brunton Boatyard.
It has been beautifully transformed into a hotel, its hallways and walls decorated with colonial artifacts.
Brunton Boatyard is steps from the seawalk; from there we watched the ferries shuttling between the surrounding islands.
The St. Francis Church was also on our walking route.
Built in 1503, it was the first European church in India.
We stood alongside other tourists and stared numbly at the vault where Vasco da Gama isnotburied.
(He was, briefly, entombed here, but then his body was taken back to Portugal.)
This Catholic church became Protestant in the Dutch era, and Anglican when the British came.
Mattancherry once had a large Jewish community, but most left after the creation of Israel.
The synagogue is the main attraction.
On a visit I made in 2000, a congregation of fewer than five people remained.
Now the congregation is nonexistent; its members have all either died or emigrated to Israel.
Families came out to stroll, teens to meet friends.
Kochi is host to the popular Kochi-Muziris Biennale, which began in 2012.
The ocean was dark and invisible, illuminated only by the lights of ferries crisscrossing between islands like fireflies.
Our time in Kerala had run out.
We planned to come back again, next time for a longer, more leisurely stay.
Little did he know that Christianity had been extant there since A.D. 52.
And here I was, a descendant of those first Indian Christians, returning to fulfill my vow.
