Vellayani Lake – A Greenish Hangout

You will surely love the solitude, greenery and the misty, yet warm climate of this lake. Vellayani Lake, some 15km from Thiruvananthapuram city offers a nice hang out for the local people and for anyone who loves to spend some time, detached from the maddening pace of life.

Taste a tender coconut. Sit there idly. Watch a stroke or a kingfisher lifting a fish or a crab, which surfaced at the wrong time. You will instantly know this is the place of water and coconut trees.

Tens of thousands of coconut palms line the waters – you just can't take a photo here, without coconut trees in your frame. You will also find a stretch of islands, each one offering home to one or two coconut trees.

Drive or walk the unpaved path that divides the water into two. Move away from under the scathing sun and to below the shade of coconut crowns, where you feel the warmth that no air conditioning machine in the world can match.

Also find how farmers here grow plantains, vegetables and fruits of various kinds. And learn from where our food actually comes from.

The place has never been a tourist destination, except for a day or two of boat races. It is better left that way, we can drive in any day of the year; spend as many hours as we want and return home as a refreshed soul.

I say this, even after fully knowing the place has everything it takes to make it to Kerala tourist map, as a jewel to the string of much touted Kerala backwaters.

My trip to the place was with a friend of mine, from near this lake and hours just flew by, before we knew it is sunset and it is time to say goodbye to this blessed village.