Since some of my readers have not been to Cochin I thought I’d include a bit about the place. Cochin (and that includes Cranganore north of the city) is probably the oldest City and Port in India. It was a major port of trade between China and India, as well as, India and Arabia. It was a also a ship building centre.

Christianity came to India when St. Thomas one of the Apostles of Jesus Christ known as Doubting Thomas in the Bible, arrived at Cranganore around 70 AD. And the first converts were made!

Mohammed established Islam in 622 AD in Mecca-Medina. The first mosque outside Arabia was established in Cranganore, north of Cochin, probably around 629 AD. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheraman_Juma_Mosque)

Here’s an excerpt from Wikipedia which gives a snapshot of this fascinating place. For those hungry for greater detail you can go to the Wikipedia site: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Kochi

“Fort Kochi was a fishing village in the Kingdom of Kochi in the pre-colonial Kerala. The territory that would be later known as Fort Kochi was granted to the Portuguese in 1503 by the Rajah of Kochi, after the forces of Afonso de Albuquerque helped him fighting the forces of Saamoothiri of Kozhikode. The Rajah also gave them permission to build Fort Emmanuel near the waterfront to protect their commercial interests. The first part of the name Fort Kochi comes from this fort, which the Dutch later destroyed. The Portuguese built their settlement behind the fort, including a wooden church, which was rebuilt in 1516 as a permanent structure, today known as the St Francis Church. Fort Kochi remained in Portuguese possession for 160 years. In 1683 the Dutch captured the territory from the Portuguese, destroyed many Portuguese institutions, particularly Catholic including convents. The Dutch held Fort Kochi in their possession for 112 years until 1795, when the British took control by defeating the Dutch. Foreign control of Fort Kochi ended in 1947 with the Indian independence.

A mix of old houses built by the Portuguese, Dutch and British in these colonial periods line the streets of Fort Kochi. St Francis Church was built in 1503 by the Portuguese as a Catholic church. Vasco da Gama was once buried in this church which now falls under the Church of South India and is one of the national monuments. Santa Cruz Basilica, also built by the Portuguese in the 16th century, was later destroyed by the British and rebuilt near the end of 19th century. The landmark that causes more public and visitor interest is a series of precolonial Chinese fishing nets on the waterfront, believed to have been introduced by Chinese traders in the early 14th century.

Mattancherry, a township next to Fort Cochin has important tourist attractions the two famous locations being the Jewish Synagogue (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradesi_Synagogue)

and the Dutch Palace (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mattancherry_Palace) built for the Cochin Maharaja by the Dutch.”

Mattancherry was also the major trading centre for Spices and Tea for centuries and housed warehouses along the waterfront.

The Cochin Club is next to Bastions Bungalow, a fortified building at the mouth of harbour. This is the centre of what became known as Fort Cochin. In front of the Club is a huge maidan (like a Village Green) with old trees around it. On one side of the maidan is St. Francis Church where Vasco Da Gama was buried. A few years later his remains were taken to Lisbon, Portugal.
On the opposite side is the Main Post Office, followed by a row of managers bungalows.

Across the maidan is a large building of Portuguese / Dutch architecture called Bernard Bungalow. This is where J.Thomas & Co., Cochin, had their first office. I just had to get out of the Cochin Club gate, walk diagonally across to reach my office!

The building was at one point the residence of some important Portuguese man. Most of the useable space was on the first floor. 

The ground floor of the older Fort Cochin buildings was for storage and the use by servants.

We made cubicles and rooms in Bernard Bungalow using wooden partitions. My cubicle overlooked a side street and had a large window. T. C. Satyanath was the No.1 in Cochin, having come out from Calcutta in February 1964 to start the JT branch. He sat in a large room, which had another Desk for the No.2. I was the permanent No.3!

The No. 2 spot was somewhat nebulous. The first man to take that spot was John Jacques, who had returned to Calcutta before I arrived. He was sent to the Nilgiris to cold call and meet some Tea Factory owners. He came back and filed the following report: “Factory owners, no English. John Jacques, no Tamil.” End of story! (I have seen this report.)

I can see why Sat bought him a one way ticket to Calcutta!

Thereafter, we had a brief spell by Prafull Goradia, and fairly longish one by Richard Warren, about who I had written earlier.

JT’s came to Cochin at a time that the Tea Auction Centre and the Export Trade had decided to re-locate to Willingdon Island.

The Cochin Port Trust was established in the 19th century when a new Port was opened at Willingdon Island. This island which lay between Mattancherry and Ernakulam was originally a tiny lick of land when Sir Robert Bristow was assigned to develop it as the new Port. He struck on a great idea of reclaiming the land by dumping the soil that was dredged up to keep the shipping channel deep enough to draw larger ships. Cochin was also used as a re-fuelling centre during World War II.

Today Willingdon Island is the headquarters of the Southern Naval Command. The land is shared between the Port Trust and the Navy, who has the lion’s share. The Port Trust then built quays and modern warehouses to store goods ready for shipment.

The Port Trust also offered land to companies to build offices and private warehouses. The property could not be owned outright but many of the leases were for 99 years. The first to move were some of the Tea companies, including Forbes, Ewart and Figgis who were the first to start Tea Auctions in Cochin. They built an Auction Room as an extension of their office. With Auctions being held on Willingdon Island where the teas were stored, and shipping facilities at their door step, Tea Exporters could buy Tea on a Tuesday and actually ship them out within 48 hours – something unheard of in those days.

Inevitably Carritt Moran and J. Thomas also had to move to Willingdon Island to stay in the game. They applied to the Port Trust for allotment of land. JT got a nice plot between Lipton and Harrisons & Crosfield.

Work on the new Nilhat House would start by mid 1965!