The quaint little balcony was large enough to accommodate two cane chairs, a table and little else. To reach it we had to climb over the ledge of our bedroom window and since the projection had no protective railing we had to be careful not to trip or fall over into the water below. Yes, the compact little perch had been grafted onto the side of our houseboat which drifted down the Backwaters of Kerala, the vibrant, living, 1500 km network of canals, estuaries and lakes that serve as the highways, by-ways and lifeline of the people who live along its banks.

We got to be very attached to our precarious positioned balcony. Here we sat, sipping a on a cold tall beer (the camera within easy reach), sailing the Kerala Backwaters and watching the lazy rural world of Kerala, India, slip by. Women washing utensils, men paddling by in carved out canoes laden with a rich harvest of bananas and coconuts, the sapphire flash of a kingfisher, buffalos being ferried across the waters, rows of large spider-like Chinese fishing nets straining the waters, the faithful in their brightest Sunday best streaming out of a chapel along the banks, children with fishing rods waving gleefully out to us, the silhouette of a toddy tapper scaling up a palm tree...

Kerala