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Hi, this is Cochin Blogger at your service. I’m based in a town called Cochin (officially, Kochi) in the state of Kerala, which is perched at the southern-most tip of India. It’s just a stone’s throw from Sri Lanka, and is famous for its unique natural beauty. Kerala is a slim, blue-veined beauty, with canals, backwaters, lagoons, rivers, lakes, ponds, and puddles galore, a thin strip of land caressed by the waters of the Arabian Sea.

Kerala’s trademark is tropical fecundity. It’s a paradise that is still largely unspoiled because of the low level of industrialization. Kerala first hit the international headlines when it voted the communists to power in 1957, this being only the second time communists anywhere in the world have formed a popularly elected government (the first time was in the tiny republic of San Marino).

Right, I’m signing off now. I’ll be sure to keep you posted. 🙂

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I saw it under a sun shade of a neighboring house when I opened my windows in the morning. It huddled against the wall, cutting a forlorn figure. Normally cautious to a fault, it'd have flown away immediately upon seeing me, but now it didn't move. It had been raining continuously, and the bird had left its usual roosting place, the near-by neem tree, to dry off. This was a worried, perplexed bird that seemed to be asking: "What is the world coming to?"

Photo credit: My older son.

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Shot from the Kochi Metro. Mobile click.

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The Promise.

Mobile click from a moving bus on Container Terminal Road.

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St. Teresa's Monastery Church, located on Banerji Road opposite the T.D. Road intersection, washed clean by the first showers of this year's monsoon.

I shot this one-handed from T.D. Road. The other hand was holding up my umbrella.

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The monsoon has arrived in Kerala, and with it have erupted the matadors of the rain: the frogs. They are more heard than seen, and their loud croaks are a reassurance that all is not lost though much of the natural world is disappearing before our eyes.

However, the Indian bullfrog is a fearsome predator whose diet apparently can include other frogs, snakes, chicks, ducklings, centipedes, etc., given the opportunity. It is a fierce carnivore — even a cannibal — even as a tadpole. Yes, I found all this difficult to believe, but see how as an invader it has wreaked havoc in the Andamans:

https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/the-andamans-new-colonisers/article24659652.ece

Walking down T.D. Road yesterday on a rain-swept night, this huge bullfrog hopped in front of me on the pavement. I managed to take this one-handed shot as it froze beside a wall.

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Shot from a moving auto-rickshaw on Banerjee Road.

He's one of a group of nine youngsters who set out for the city on bikes from the Infopark region of Kakkanad every morning at the crack of dawn and return rejuvenated to begin their workday. I've never seen him before, so how do I know so much about him? Read on.

I was traveling in an auto when I saw this biker just ahead of me. Zipping open my camera bag, I requested the driver to overtake the biker so that I could shoot him. He obliged. At a traffic signal, I showed the driver the photo I had taken. He nodded his appreciation.

"He is one of a group of nine who bike to the city every morning from the Infopark," he told me.

"How do you know?" I asked.

"One of the riders had a flat one day, and hailed me. I took him and the bike to the nearest repair shop, which was some distance away. We got talking. That's how I know."

I'm an inveterate auto user, and found myself once again admiring the intimate knowledge the auto driver has of the city and its inhabitants. It's not just that they keep an ear to the ground, but that they have six ears: two in the usual place, and four that roll along on the ground.

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