Inspired by Inspiration

DAY6 JAN 12

So we reached Kochi last night. Even though we were all exhausted and drained from the long drive yet still I managed to get out of the hotel, which is called Sarovaram, and get myself to a fruit shop nearby to buy a pineapple. The smell of the fruit here drives me nuts. Once again I am late to the lecture this morning. Skipping breakfast I head toward the conference room of the hotel and find myself in the presence of Sir. Jaygopal Rao. He is the co-founder of this amazing NGO called Inspiration. As early as 1988, Jaigopal G Rao started his mission to work and promote sustainability, passionately influenced by his interactions with Laurie Baker. His venture quickly evolved as an NGO called Inspiration pioneering sustainable development. Inspiration combines a team visionaries under one roof. With over 20 years of experience in the field of ecology and economy sensitive designs and constructions, this NGO attracts a wide variety of clients who aspire for sensitively designed habitat and environments. In his talk, Mr Jaygopal talked about the importance of having decentralized governance. He pointed out that many great visionaries like Frank Lloyd Wright, Gandhi, Laurie Baker…etc. all promoted the idea of decentralization. 

After lots of discussions and notetaking, the talk came to an end and the Inspiration people agreed to take us to their projects to see in first-hand how they work and create a sustainable environment. We started by visiting the Port of Kochi and the Xandari harbour resort which is a superb tourist attraction because of its sleek design.

For lunch, some of us decided to not go to the high-end places that we were supposed to but instead, we decided to hit a local joint and get a taste of the local food. Here I found out that some other cool dudes in our group with rebellious nature would prefer to eat with us at a local restaurant rather than following the rest of the group. Knowing that they shared a similar mindset kind of help me get to know them better, and thus become friends with them. After food, we headed towards the downtown area of Fort Kochi where we got to visit a very old Synagogue.

Towards the end of the day, we went to see a very traditional dance performance called Kathakali where through the language of sign Kind Nala was expressing his undying love for princess Damayanti. Kathakali is a major form of classical Indian dance. It is a “story play” genre of art, but one distinguished by the elaborately colourful make-up, costumes and face masks that the traditionally male actor-dancers wear.