Kochi - Fast Facts

When to go - post monsoon september to may
Tourist offices
District tourism promotion council,
Old collectorate building,
Park avenue road,
Ernakulam Tel : 0484 - 2367334

Information for Ernakulam districtTourism information counters
Department of tourism,
Government of Kerala,
Main office,
Government guest house,
Near St.Theresas college,
Shanmugam road,
Ernakulam,
Telephone : 2360502

Information counter, Nedumbasserry airport. Tel - 2610115 extension 2105

KTDC tourist reception centre,Opp hotel Taj residency,Shanmugam road,Ernakulam,KochiTelephone : 2353234
web site : http://www.ktdc.com
India tourism,Government of India, tourist office,Willington Island,
Kochi,Telephone : 2669125All India tourist helpline : 1913STD code : 0484

A user friendly Kochi International airport?

I took this photograph at the Kochi international airport yesterday night by around 7.30 p.m. The Bolero on the left is a private vehicle and the taxi which is blocking it is an airport taxi. The taxi guys are hostile to the vehicles coming from outside and they are supported by the airport authorities, because the airport authorities want the prvate vehicles to use the airport vehicle parking facility which charges Rs.60 which is very high compared to the local standards. They dont allow the private vehicles to stop even for 5 minutes to take the passengers, within five minutes some security guard will come and ask you to move. In yesterdays incident the local taxi drivers and the private vehicle drivers were abusing each other with filthy words and they were on the brim of attcking each other. Is this the kind of image we want to paint about Kerala to the outside visitors?. Can we not behave in a more friendly manner with the airport users / passengers. It is a fact that this airport has become a monopoly here, and passengers do not have any other option available. Is this the price we are paying for privatization of common infrastructure. In the airports name, acres and acres of land was acquired by the government, and now acres of the acquired land (paddy fields) are getting converted to as the biggest golf course of Asia. While this is allowed, the local administration is not allowing the common man even to construct a small house in the paddy fields outside. Is this not dual standards by the authorities. The land which is being converted to the golf course is the habitat of the migratory birds.

Can we not become little more environment and user friendly?

Carpenter details

Contact Jaison Mobile : 9847671420

Electrician Details

At last I found out an electrician. His name is Denny and his mobile number is 9847367840

Volvo Ocen race to touch Kochi

Volvo Ocean Race has moved forward with its plans to bring the 2008-09 event to India and it now looks likely that the major southwestern port of Kochi will be the stopover on the new race route through the Middle East and Asia. Race organisers signed a Letter of Intent with Kochi on 26 April as a major first step in ongoing negotiations towards a full port agreement to host the world’s premier offshore ocean marathon which starts in Alicante, Spain, in mid-October 2008.
Kochi was among a number of Indian ports in recent discussions with organisers.

Click here for the complete article

Late starter advantages

Kerala has the maximum penetration of mobile phones. Here is a smart cute public telephone, based on GSM technology. The story of the mobile phones and the kerala fishermen is an old one now. The mobile phones transformed the fishermen community in a big way. Now the fishermen uses the mobile phones to close the deal, when they are in the outer sea itself. This helps them to reduce fuel costs and at the same time to get a better pricing.

Thanks to India for getting to the telecom bandwagon late, which hepled it to straightaway go for the state of the art technology. I call it as "late starter advantage".

Bascilica - Ernakulam

Decorated with 2007 stars during this christmas.

Bascilica - Ernakulam

My wedding was here :-)

Varapuzha Bishop's house

Opposite to marine drive

Infant Jesus Church - Ernakulam

Mary's statue

Crib at the Infant Jesus Church

Infant Jesus Church - Ernakulam

Infant Jesus Church

Ernakulam, Kochi : 682 013,

Kerala,

India.

Phone : 91 484 2394275

Mass Timings

Weekdays

7.00 a.m (malyalam)

Friday Novena to Infant Jesus after Mass

Sundays

6.30 a.m (Malyalam), 7.30 a.m (Children mass), 8.30 a.m and 5.p.m (english mass)

High Court of Kerala

Mangala Vanam

A bird sanctuary at the middle of the city. I saw it by accident. Not many people in the city are aware of it. It is just behind the High court of Kerala.

Never Again On Air India !

Today I woke up to attend the telephone from my relatives from the Chicago airport. They are stranded at the Chicago airport becuase the AI flight to Mumbai is delayed by 7 hours and he concluded by saying 'NEVER AGAIN ON AIR INDIA'. The positive side of it - I will get another 8 hours to locate a carpenter and an electrician.

Need of the day!

Oh dear....Day after tomorrow I have visitors from USA who are going to stay with us for a while. The final inspection report of their rooms tells me that I need an electrician to repair the fan in the room and a carpenter for some other small work. Since Kochi is booming with mega projects, the known carpenters and electricians are not ready for a small work like this, which can interrupt their regular work. They are also right. My journey starts here. Will keep you updated :-)

Crib at my home - Where are the Carols?

Ever since my childhood, we are making cribs at our varapuzha home during every christmas, except the one before last, when we were mourning the death of my Father. When I was a very small boy, my elder sisters used to make the crib. Then Me and my younger sister took over from them. There was a period when none except my parents were living here. Depite their old age, they also did not discontinue the practice. This time the major role in crib making was taken over by my daughter and my wife. Kalangal marunnu, Kolangal marunnu...that is the only difference. Hope this practice will continue forever. We are very upset with poor quality of the Christmas Carols. Most of them are abusing the underlying theme of Christmas itself. There are no official Carols here. A goup of people come together and sing snippets of some carol songs just for making some money, with total disrespect for the spiritual element and the dedication required. This is something we are missing at Kochi, when compared to Bangalore. It may be my lack of knowledge about this place. If some one can let me know about religious places, where we can enjoy a good english Christmas Carol, it will be of great help.

Again it is christmas time

Again, it is Christmas time. Kerala is one state in India, where the Christian community is a mjority. This can be the reson why Christmas is celebrated here by almost every one. Every household has atleast one chrstmas star hung infront of it. There is heavy rush infront of the liquor shops and the meat stalls. There is no tickets available for travel, every thing is fully booked by those who are coming home to celebrate christmas and new year. Whet you can see in the picture is our this year's christmas star. The crib is also ready. The kitchen is busy. Our hearts are pure and filled with love. We are ready to receive the new born !

Enthusiasm

An enthusiastic and enegetic boy at the beach, jumping at every wave.

Another shot at Cherai beach :-)

Cherai beach - sunset

Cherai beach

Cherai beach is just 15km away from my home at Varapuzha and I visit this beach very frequently. A nice place, to escape from the hussle and buzzle of life. It is a safe and neat beach. The Cherai beach resorts provide reasonablly good food and accommodation at reasonable rates.

If you want to spend the whole day at the beach, please bring a beach umbrella, beach ware, kites to fly...there are some shops at the beach selling these.

This sunset photo is taken by me at cherai beach. One of the best shots i have ever taken. Could get the alignment of the sun, reflection and the canoe on the same line.

Kochi property show

Yetsreday I went to the Kochi property show held at the Kaloor international stadium premises. The property prices are sky rocketing. In this show itself, the property prices range was between Rs.2000 / square feet to R.3800 / square feet. The prices are higher than the Bangalore real estate prices. As an investor I am still struggling to find a justification to invest in Kochi. There are huge forecasts about the supply and demand shortages. The grapevine says that, soon the supply will be more than the demand and the prices will crash. That is the message I am getting, from this property show. The prices are unreasonably high. If you are genuine buyer, I recommend you to wait for some more time.

During the show I visited the State Bank of India stall. Mr.Srikumar - chief marketing officer explained ther schemes to me, which was done very professionally and the schemes were also attractive. They even give loan to buy land at 10% interest, which is on par with housing loan interest. It was new information to me. Sreekumar's contact details are given below;

Sreekumar S Moosath,
Chief marketing executive (home loans)
R.S buildings, 2nd floor,
Opposite to Maharaja's College Ground,
M.G Road, Ernakulam, Kochi - 682011
Tel : 0484 2369520. 2369530 Fax :2369540 Mobile : 9447788755
email : sbiosfekm@yahoo.com

Other agencies for home loans :

HDFC Mobile : 9946662874 9895865184 email : home.kochi@hdfc.com. Contact person - Libson PP

LIC housing finance Vinod Kumar V.A - Mobile 9847054534

ICICI Bank home loans Ranjith J Mobile - 9447458760

Some of the major participants in the property show were;

SFS - Skyline foundations and structures (P) Ltd Phone 0484 4024444 Url : http://www.sfscochin.com/
Asset homes - 0484 6456474 http://www.assethomes.in/
Kristal group - 0484 3210998 http://www.kristalgroup.com/
Green vistas - 0484 2317318 http://www.greenvistas.net/
Oceanus - 9447170666 http://www.oceanus.co.in/
NCC Urban 0484 2324721 http://www.nccurban.com/
Mather 0484 2373179 http://www.matherprojects.com/
BCG builders 0484 2535085 http://www.bcgbuilders.com/
Skyline Builders 0484 2363695 http://www.skylinebuilders.com/
Jewel homes 0484 2335315 http://www.jewelhomes.net/
Galaxy homes 0484 2539311 http://www.galaxyhomes.com/
National Builders 0984 7544222 http://www.nationalbuilders.in/
SRK group 0484 4094444 srkconstruction@gmail.com

ABAD builders 0484 3294953 http://www.abadbuilders.com/

Hoysala projects 0484 391800 http://www.hoysalaprojects.com/

Santhi homes 0484 3232477 http://www.shanthihomes.com/

Rotal castle 0484 2366343 http://www.royalcastleconstructions.com/

Relcon properties 0484 2348420 http://www.relcongroup.com/

Heavenly homes 0484 2368075 http://www.heavenlyhomeskerala.com/

Mir Realtors 0484 3233230 http://www.mirrealtors.in/

St George Church - Edappally

To day I went for the English mass at 4.30 p.m, at the St. George church, edappally. We reached there by 4.00 p.m, half an hour early, and it gave me enough time to note down the mass timings;

Sundays
5.45 a.m
7.00 a.m
8.45 a.m
10.15 a.m4.30 pm ( english mass)
5.30 p.m

Normal days
6. a.m
7 a.m
6 p.m

First Friday
5.45 a.m
7.00 a.m
9.00 a.m
10.30 a.m
12.00 pm (latin)
4.00 p.m
5.30 p.m

First Post

This is my first post at Kochi Junction. I am wondering why I am starting this new blog. Will it end up like one more flavour of the week?. I am back at Kochi (I left Cochin and came back to Kochi), after living outside Kochi for almost two decades. Getting things done here is sometimes a nightmare, especially if you dont know the right people and places. One can easily get frustrated. I had to really try hard through my influences to get an electrician, plumber, gardner, doctor, a good car service center.......the list goes on. Whatever gyan I am gaining about Kochi through my experiences here, I am posting in this blog, hoping that it will help some one some day!.

I welcome all like minded kochinites to contribute to this blog, by posting to this blog. To become a contributor please email me at abrachan (at) gmail (dot) com