PDF · A3 print
Old Harbour Map
A drawn map of the old harbour, with every place from the first season marked.
A free letter, every Sunday
Harbour Letters
A letter every Sunday with the new episode and one record from the archive.
Admit one reader
Reader’s ticket
NextSun 15 NovemberThe shipyard by the backwaters
- Sun 20 September
Fishing boats and the monsoon rules
The old agreements about who could fish, and when.
- Sun 27 September
The pier at first light
What the old pier saw, from fishing boats to steamers.
- Sun 4 October
How I research an episode
My desk, my notebooks and the archives I use.
- Sun 11 October
Reading a Dutch sea chart
What the marks and soundings tell us about the harbour mouth.
- Sun 18 October
Walking the old warehouse street
The arcades, the scales and the smell of ginger.
- Sun 25 October
A merchant’s ledger from 1890
One book of accounts, and the family it leads to.
- Sun 1 November
When the monsoon closed the port
Four months a year with no ships, and how the city lived through them.
- Sun 8 November
The pepper ships of the old harbour
Who loaded them, who paid for them and where the pepper went.
- Sun 15 NovemberNext
The shipyard by the backwaters
- Sun 22 November
Letters from a tea trader
- Sun 29 November
The great flood of 1924
- Sun 6 December
Finding a family in the port records
Latest episodes
A new episode every Sunday on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and YouTube.
Nov 5, 2026 · 44 min
The pepper ships of the old harbour
Who loaded them, who paid for them and where the pepper went.
Nov 4, 2026 · 39 min
When the monsoon closed the port
Four months a year with no ships, and how the city lived through them.
About
Hello, I’m Lakshmi
I taught history for twenty years in Kochi, a few streets from the old harbour. Now I spend my mornings in archives and my evenings at a desk under a ceiling fan, writing the next episode.
Each season follows one thread through the port’s past: the pepper ships, the monsoon, the warehouses. I make maps, timelines and guides for each season, so you can walk the places yourself.
Digital downloads
Downloads
Download as soon as you pay. Yours to keep.