A very English experience
..Having moved on from Adoor to the rather lovely town of Fort Cochin on the coast , I decided to go the English service at St Francis CSI ( Anglican) Church . The 16th century church reflects Cochin’s history. The church has changed from Catholic to Reformed to Anglican as Cochin founded by Portugal in the 16th century was taken by the Dutch in the 17th century and annexed by Britain during the Napoleonic wars. The 16th century exterior has provided the model for South Indian Catholic churches , but the interior is decidedly low Anglican, with Dutch tombstones and inscriptions set into the walls.
The service was conducted very much as an Anglican service might be at home, there was no need to display one’s enthusiasm sing loudly, offer more than a polite smile and handshake to anyone there, but the preaching and the hymns were Biblical and gave food for thought without the need for hype or melodrama. It is nice to know that there some pockets of quiet middle-class Englishness left in India. A most pleasant experience
