Backwater Breeze

As you float down the backwaters, past little canoes piled high with fruit and vegetables or a village wo

As you float down the backwaters, past little canoes piled high with fruit and vegetables or a village women expertly negotiating the bends, a fisherman spreading his nets. Coconut palms lean over the water, hoping to catch their reflection in the still, green depths. Women wash clothes and dishes in the shallows, turning shyly away from curious eyes. At places, the waterways taper into narrow streams, and the boat pushes past a carpet of water hyacinth, within touching distance of thatched houses, village schools and small shrines.

Kerala's famed backwaters is nourished by over 40 rivers, and with 29 major lakes, innumerable streams, tributaries, canals, ponds, deltas and estuaries. These waterways are almost ubiquitous along the cost, stretching 560 kilometres down its length from Hosdurg in the north to Thiruvananthapuram in the south. At the centre of it lies Kerala's largest lake, the Vembanad Lake, with an area of 205 square kilometres, sprawling over three districts. Three large rivers pour their souls into the Vembanad - The Periyar at Kochi, the Meenachil at Kottayam and the Pamba, at Alappuzha. At the scenic village of Kumarakom, the lake is six kilometres wide, its opposite bank out of sight, and the strong breeze that billows in lashes the water surface with huge waves, on a sliver of land sandwiched between Vembanad Lake and paddy fields is Backwater Breeze.