R. Doug Wicker — Author

One day after departing Colombo, Sri Lanka, Celebrity Millennium made port in Cochin, India. When I say “Cochin” I’m using the old British Raj (British Crown Rule over India) name. The correct name is Kochi, although Cochin is still used by the older generations, in historical context, infrastructure such as Cochin International Airport and Cochin Shipyard, and several other applications related to educational institutions. At any rate, you’re going to find dual naming conventions is much of India. The most famous example is Mumbai, formerly Bombay. And, yes, I’ll be showing you Mumbai later in this series, as this is where we disembarked from Celebrity Millennium and began our extensive land tour of India. But for the next five weeks I’ll be showing you Kochi and Goa, staring with…

The image above was taken at the first stop on our Day One tour of Kochi. This is the famous Dhobi Khana Public Laundry on these family-run laundries date back to the British Raj. The laundry site is located on the Veli Ground of the Fort Kochi area of Kochi, and the Veli ground runs along the extreme southern part of Fort Kochi. The playground with Tom & Jerry depicted at the top of today’s article is also located here. Departing Veli Ground and heading north to our next destination we came across Cochin Club, which was founded in 1914 as an exclusive men-only club strictly for British nationals and expats.

Walk across the street from the Cochin Club and you find yourself at the St. Francis CSI Church. CSI, in case you’re wondering, stands for Church of South India. St. Francis is one of the oldest churches in India, dating back to 1503. And while it may look a bit unimposing compared to the massive European cathedrals of that era, it does have one clear claim to fame. Can you guess what that might be? Hint: That claim dates to 1524, and it lasted for fourteen years.

While you’re pondering, here’s the inside of the church:

This next photograph is not a clue. It is instead an interesting plaque imbedded into the wall and dating back to the days of Dutch rule. It’s the tombstone from 1688. The translated inscription reads:

“Here rests Madam Lea van de Kouter, housewife [wife] of the Honorable Commander Isaac van Dielen, deceased on the 29th of December, Anno 1688, at the age of 32 years, minus a few hours, and Elisabeth Geertruydda van Dielen, her daughter, deceased on the 10th of November before, aged 5 months and 12 days.“

Figured out what the church’s 14-year claim to fame is? It’s this:

Still stumped? The body that once occupied this grave was interred in 1524. It was later exhumed, shipped (literally… by ship) to Lisbon, Portugal, and then interred in Vidigueira. As Billy Mays used to say, “But wait! There’s MORE!” in 1880 this individual was dug up again and relocated to the Jerónimos Monastery in the Belém district of Lisbon. One last hint:

The mystery former resident of that tomb in the floor of the St. Francis CSI Church is… drumroll, please…

Famed Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama

And he went from the simple grave shown above this this ornate marble sarcophagus (photo from Wikipedia):

I’ll finish up today’s article with these additional photographs of St. Francis CSI Church:

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