Poovar

Poovar sits at the very bottom of Kerala, a few kilometres from the Tamil Nadu border, where the Neyyar river slows, spreads into a lagoon and finally meets the Arabian Sea across a long spit of golden sand. On one side of the sandbar the water is still and brown and lined with mangroves; on the other the surf breaks hard. You can stand between them with a foot in each world.

For centuries it was a fishing and trading village, its harbour used by small coastal boats. Tourism came late and arrived by water: most of the resorts are on islands or along the estuary and can be reached only by boat, which has kept the village itself unusually untouched by the industry around it.

The life of Poovar is the water's. Fishermen go out from the beach before dawn; boatmen ferry villagers, school children and guests along the backwaters; women dry fish on the sand. The coast here is mixed, and the churches and mosques along it are as much a part of the landscape as the temples.

Just up the coast at Azhimala, a Shiva temple stands on a rocky headland above the waves, and beside it a modern statue of Shiva as Gangadhareshwara, tall enough to see from the sea. The food is the far-south Kerala coast at its simplest: fish curry with tapioca, karimeen pollichathu wrapped in banana leaf, appam with stew, and ada pradhaman at festivals.

Do not swim at the sandbar. The point where river meets sea has strong, shifting currents that catch even good swimmers; admire it from the sand. Take the boat cruise at dawn or in the late afternoon, when the birds are out and the mangroves are cool. If you are not staying at a resort, ask your Saint to arrange a country boat from the village jetty rather than the motor launches. And go to Azhimala at sunset, when the headland is golden and the sea turns silver. Mosquitoes arrive with the dusk on the estuary; bring repellent and long sleeves.

The mangroves are a nursery for the fish the village lives on. Ask your boatman to keep the engine low near them, keep your hands and rubbish inside the boat, and choose operators who use oars or quiet motors. Dress modestly in the village and at the temple, and buy fish and coconut from local sellers rather than the resort shops.

From Poovar the coast runs on south into Tamil Nadu and ends, about two hours away, at Kanyakumari — the tip of India, where three seas meet and the sun rises and sets over water.