KOCHI - THE HISTORIC KERALA CITY
For years now, travellers and travel writers have built on the myth that Kochi is an ancient city; that it is over 2,300 years of age. A city sought and sailed to by a diverse group of sea traders; a melting pot of cultures that went back to the Phoenicians; a metropolis that had a place for everything, from imported Chinese fishing nets to fragrant spice bazaars; a city of strange tongues, customs, dreams, hopes and a million other little things that we think of as Kochi today. To this mix we can now add a new tag—city of arts. For Kochi is all set to host India’s first-ever three month-long biennale, starting on 12 December. With over 80 Indian and international artists participating (Subodh Gupta, Ariel Hassan, Sudarshan Shetty and Atul Dodiya among them), and curated by well-known painter Bose Krishnamachari, the Kochi-Muziris Biennale promises to be an unmissable event. In fact, in the name of the biennale lies the truth about Kochi. For it was Muziris, the once bustling