SWe first discovered Kerala’s backwaters years ago in Alleppey, and immediately fell in love with its many charms. During the one-hour cruise in a hired motorboat, we purred down avenues of water whose banks were ablaze with a riot of vegetation; our senses assailed by green in all its subtle shades and hues. Surrounded by this overwhelming celebration of nature, we felt a sense of compelling calm and peace.
Life along the backwaters moved on as though there was nothing unusual about the setting. Children with satchels strapped to their backs skipped nimbly over log bridges on their way to school. Men paddled by in carved-out canoes laden with rich harvests of bananas, coconuts and farm produce. One canoe even ferried a buffalo across the waters! Large spider-like Chinese fishing nets strained the water for its riches. An agitated politician addressed his audience in rapid fire Malayalam. A toddy tapper scaling a palm tree was silhouetted against the blue sky.

The sight of schools and churches, a hospital with a water ambulance parked at its jetty, police patrol boats and thatchedhut provision shops along the banks testified to the ingenuity of the backwaters community. For here the realities of the modern world meshed comfortably with unchanging tradition.

‘We are the Venice of the East.’ We heard the phrase often enough in the backwaters’ most famous towns and all along the 1,500km network of canals, estuaries and lakes that comprise the backwaters. This refrain, however, is off the mark to the degree that while the setting in Venice is distinctly urban, in Kerala the backdrop is largely rural. If at all there are any similarity between the two, it is that both are vibrant, living waterways that serve as the highways, by-ways and lifeline of the communities that live along their banks. And both romance the tourists.