Kerala state was littered with churches. Spanking brand new ones all over the place, sitting next to paddi fields, paid for by the rich. Mosques like to mark their presence too, with loudspeakers blaring out the call to prayer five times a day plus the endless Friday sermon/rant. There were also madrasas dotted around - schools where the kids are indoctrinated onto the 'true' path in a world that is flat.
In Fort Kochi the Jews and Moslems were clustered together in a ghetto neighbouring the more affluent Christian quarter with its grand cathedral and uniformed schoolgirls off to convent school, and generally it did feel like a peaceful co-habitation.
"The young ones go a little crazy with calls for Jihad and such like," a waitress told me. "But the older ones calm them down."
The Hindu temples representing the majority (80.5%) religion were conspicuous by their absence, or more like modesty, reflecting the faith's famed tolerance, out of sight, tucked away down back alleys or beneath the huge branches of ancient Tamarind trees in villages, candles smouldering on tin dishes, sacred cows munching on garbage, kids chasing balls ... cricket being number one for devotees.
In Fort Kochi the Jews and Moslems were clustered together in a ghetto neighbouring the more affluent Christian quarter with its grand cathedral and uniformed schoolgirls off to convent school, and generally it did feel like a peaceful co-habitation.
"The young ones go a little crazy with calls for Jihad and such like," a waitress told me. "But the older ones calm them down."
The Hindu temples representing the majority (80.5%) religion were conspicuous by their absence, or more like modesty, reflecting the faith's famed tolerance, out of sight, tucked away down back alleys or beneath the huge branches of ancient Tamarind trees in villages, candles smouldering on tin dishes, sacred cows munching on garbage, kids chasing balls ... cricket being number one for devotees.