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Kovalam Village Life
It has been said that
the Keralan Christians
believe in serving three kinds of meat with every meal.
Perhaps so. In any case, that
statement crossed my mind
as I was offered a meal of fresh fish by Phillipe, a Christian, and his
best friend Kumar, AKA “Joey,” a Muslim (see Keralan
society). Walking
past fresh coconuts gathered in a meadow, we followed the path up into
their village where Joey barbecued the fish.
The taste was
everything one would
expect
from fish, mussels and lobsters caught that same afternoon in the
waters just off Kovalam
beach.
The plate was a banana leaf.
The
fuel was palm thatch, recycled from the previous  year’s
roof.
As roofing, it’s good for a season at most, so each year
it’s replaced with new. That which was removed becomes fuel
for the fire — just another use for the ubiquitous coconut.
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Kovalam Village Life
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The village above the beach at Kovalam, Kerala, India.