Mattanchery

nce upon a time Mattanchery

was a busy trade center in
Kerala. Pepper, turmeric and
other variety of spices were
merchandised from here. Glory
of this place begin to vanish,
when the mearchents started to shift to Ernakulam
after they had troubles with porters.
Kaleidoscopic blend of cultures is a speciality
of Mattanchery. People from Goa, Tamil Nadu,
Gujarat and many other places in India had
come and settled here. Migrants from different
communities such as Jews, Konkanis, Marwaries
and Muslims from Kutch added colours and
smells to the ancient streets of Mattanchery. Time
has taken its toll on demographic, cultural and
architectural diversity of this migrant town, still we
can see foot prints of history on her streets.
There are many tourist attractions in this place.The
oldest Synagogue in the Commonwealth of Nations
is located here, also there is a dutch palace, Jain
temple and many other places of interests.
Being a part of a photowalk organised by Nikon.
I leisurely walked on Mattanchery streets on a
December morning . Some of the images from the
streets are presented here.
Thank you.
20 Decmber 2015

A beautiful graffiti reflecting the

culture of Mattanchery.
Thanks to the Kochi Biennale
for leaving some memories
back on the streets.

It is said, Mattanchery got its name

from the Mutton Butchers shops that
were plenty here!
I have not seen any butcher shop
opened at the early hours of the
morning, but could see these Goats on
the street.

Backwaters and tourists are very

important factors contributing to the
economics of Mattanchery! Even today.

Thank you

Smell of profit attracted traders to

Mattanchery in the past.
Today spices are on display to attract tourists.

Auto Rickshaw -Common mans mode of transport

Artifacts on display

Idol for sale

Diversity in arts and crafts

Country boats for transportation and fishing

A good morning chat on the foot path.

Art of cast-net fishing: In one clean action, three meter fishing Just
net is
opened
fully spread
for theand
day.thrown
A laundery
into shop
water

To the Church - on a Sunday morning

Cycle Rickshaw - On the verge of extinction

Wheel Barrow - Human powered

In the memories of the past

Mattanchery has a philosophical ambiance Intrepretation is left to the reader

Migrants

are seen as big problems present

times. International politics call
it refuge crisis. European refuge crisis and Syiran crisis
are hitting the news headlines.
Refuges cause economic, cultural and sociological
imbalances in any society. Resources sharing is the major
challenge when dealing with refuge crisis.
In this context the history of Mattanchery has got a
significance, where the ruler itself welcomed the initial
migrants and helped them to settle down in to the main
streams of the society.
The pointer in this image was directly piercing in to my
consions. A Jew cemetery in the Gods Own Country,
which is located thousands of kilometres away from their
place of origin, is of course a great symbol of tolerance.
BUT...
Why do we need seperate cemeteries for each religion,
when every religion is pointing to the ultimate destination
- Gods Own Country?

Chinese fishing net in new form, traditional wood and bamboo replaced with iron pipes

Thank You
Ranjith