By Bob Van Leer

(COCHIN, INDIA, Thursday, March 30, 2000) - We docked in this southern Indian city this morning. Cochin is a city of two million located on the Arabian Sea in the state of Kerala.

   We did not see much of the city itself. Betty and I took a tour that drove us around the area on a bus ride and then by passenger boat through some of the many waterways of the area. Cochin has the reputation of being the Venice of India because of all the canals. Some of the land we could see from the canals was visibly below sea level.

   India is a big country, about a third the size of the U. S. bt has an estimated (1999) population of a billion people. Cochin, at two million, is not a large city by Indian standards. Bombay is the largest with 15 million, Calcutta 12 million, the capital of New Delhi has a population of 11 million and four other cities have a population of about 4 million or more.

   Our guide, Sabu, said Kerala is the most Christianized of the Indian states, but this is in relative terms only. The population of India is 81% Hindu and 12% Muslim. Christians make up only 2% of the population.

   India is not a wealthy country and has a per capita gross domestic product of $420. This compares with $1830 in Thailand, $3300 in Malaysia, and $24,600 in Singapore.

   The difference is visible in traffic on the road. There are very few privately-owned cars on the road but large numbers of motorcycles and motor scooters. There are a lot of buses on the road and hundreds of what are called "auto rickshas". These are three-wheeled motor scooters with a cab over the rear wheels that holds two persons. I have ridden in these before and, in heavy traffic, it is not a ride for the faint of heart.

   In spite of the low domestic product, our guide said electrification around this city was virtually 100% and there is good sanitation and running water.

   India has had a continuous civilization since 2500 B. C. and has been invaded and re invaded over the centuries. Most invasions have been from the north and Aryan tribes from the north and later Turks, Afghans and moguls pushed the native Dravidians to the south. The Dravidians are a much darker colored people than the Aryans to the north.
Roads are crowded with trucks, motorcycles, carts and pedestrians. This makes driving hazardous and we saw one major accident in our short tour around. Many of the trucks are brightly painted in multi-colored patterns and are given names.

   The weather here, as in southeast Asia, is steaming. The temperature was around 90 degrees and the humidity close to 100%. we went on a walking tour of a bird sanctuary and were quickly dripping. This was along a canal and on the way back I found two teenage boys n a wooden canoe who poled me back to the sanctuary entrance for $2.00.

   We sailed this evening for Goa, India, 372 miles north of Cochin. At Cochin we have sailed 2126 nautical miles since leaving Singapore. We will have another day at sea before arriving at Goa.