This morning visit one of Asia’s largest freshwater lakes spread across the land of green magic, Kerala. Vembanad Kayal, as it is called in the regional language, acts as a giant reservoir, a balancing tank against floods, and a major ecological resource, which has conditioned the flora, fauna and lifestyles of the people who live on its banks. Its wooded banks, chirping birds, fishermen with large palm-leaf hats, and the shallow edges where women immersed upto their necks in water searching for the shy but tasty Karimeen fish, will tempt you to explore more. The boats that ply on the Vembanad vary from the large stitched-hull, cargo carriers with domed mat-roofs to houseboats.