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Kerala's
famous backwaters comprise of vast lakes and a system of narrow canals
and waterways linking them to one another. Not so long ago, these
waterways served as the backbone of Kerala's transportation. And Kumarakom
is the ideal place to experience the backwaters. Coconut Lagoon has
rightly carved its place among the top 10 heritage resorts of the
world. The resort is on a small island and can be reached only by
boat. The accommodation consists of individual cottages built in the
traditional Kerala style, relying heavily on wood and some with private
pools. The bathrooms are open to the sky and the restaurant specializes
in Kerala cuisine peculiar to the region. Activities here are just
lazing in the swimming pool with Jacuzzi, walks in the nearby coconut
groves or paddy fields, sunset cruises etc.
Muted
as the dawn itself, the alarm cry of a solitary pond heron breaks
the early morning stillness as a dugout canoe, paddled by two fishermen,
glides across the water at a determined but unhurried pace. The scene
is idyllic, the mood dreamlike. Kerala’s back country waterways seem
far removed from the universe most of us inhabit, yet they are linked
to the rest of the world in a very real way, and have been for at
least two millennia. In earlier times, if less so today, these very
waterways were the staring point for the transport of South Indian
spices, which eventually found their way to the distant shores of
Europe and beyond. Formed by the 40- odd rivers that flow down to
the Arabian Sea form the Cardamom Hills in the Western Ghats, this
network of rivers, canals, lakes and estuaries compromises one of
India’s most beautiful areas a rural, river in expanse of verdant
coconut groves and rice paddies. In Malayalam, the language of Kerala,
the backwaters are known as Kuttanad, "the land of the short people,"
a reference, perhaps, to the face that the farmers seen working here
are often knee-deep in paddy fields,
For centuries the backwaters have provided a safe and efficient means
of transportation for goods and people moving between the interior
and the port towns along the coast, Even today, coconuts, pepper,
coir, rice, and other such products of the region are carried along
these waterways in traditional boats called Kettuvallam (stitched
canoes), and village children are ferried off to school in all sorts
of country craft.
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