Sunday 20th October (cont.)
Basuto Hotel, Ernakulum, Cochin
The cemetery is on the point walled off from the beach, and it took Brian and I off our path. That had taken us to the old Jew Town with its synagogue, and down to the port to see the Chinese fishing nets.
The beach was like being in a French movie, long shots and silhouettes on the shore’s horizon, with lonely peanut roasters scattered around. Behind us and just beyond a grey and decayed wall, obviously of some antiquity, we could see the top of a mini Pisa Tower.
Investigation proved it to be the once crowning glory of a monumental tomb. Vaults were caved in and open to weeds and trees finding fertile soil; no bones remain.
Some ruins still show carved epitaphs, but barely legible as they’d been written in Dutch and carved in brickwork. Capt Harris had his epitaph carved in still decipherable marble so he is still remembered, albeit in name only.
Later we spotted a newly painted epigram which also deserves immortality:
YOGA RESTRAINS THE MINDSTUFF
Jakartass Travels 