KARA IN FORT KOCHI STRIKES A DELICATE BALANCE BETWEEN HISTORY, TOURISM AND ITS AUTHENTIC MALAYALEE ROOTS.

Down the road from where the explorer Vasco da Gama reportedly lived in Fort Kochi, two alluring white structures linked by a Bauhausian grey iron bridge house Kara, a quaint boutique hotel that is among the newest additions to the local art scene.

- PRASAD RAMAMURTHY

In the 1960s, the two buildings, which were once part of the Portuguese East India Company's mint, were acquired by Bengaluru-based art collector Abhishek Poddar's family from the English, who, in turn, had acquired these from the Dutch. The Dutch East India Company's emblem can still be seen on the lintel above the hotel's main entrance.

Poddar recruited prominent architects Götz Hagmüller and Bijoy Jain (at different points in time within the last two decades) to work on a wing each, resulting in the art-deco-meets-Bauhaus edifice visible today. However, Kara, meaning "shore" in Malayalam, is the handiwork of Maneesha Panicker-known for her experiential travel company Silk Route Escapes and Kayal Island Retreat, an art residency turned boutique hotel-who has leased the buildings from Poddar.