Liquid langour in the Backwaters

I have just finished a meeting at the Backwater Ripples in Kumarakom on the banks of the Lake Vembanad. To the observant there is a quiet but efficient traffic traversing the lake waters. Local fishermen in black, low-slung dugouts of wood slide by, manning their oars with a fluid grace. Larger boats laden with hay are steered with an indefinable accuracy with a single oar by lean men clad only in white ‘lungis’. Every few minutes a houseboat majestically decorated with golden filigreed prows and canopied in graceful cane weavings floats gently by. Some are occupied by visiting holiday makers from Europe, others by locals headed to an adjacent resort. While I lie on the hammock drinking in this serene waterscape, the sun sinks gracefully over the distant horizon painting the sky in exotic washes of purple, blue, and gold while its reflection shimmers down the lake.

I wake the next morning at 5:30 determined to capture the passage of the sky from a deep blue to robust cobalt as the sun ascends the skies, with my digital camera. I have already set up my tripod at a strategic spot on the jetty by the lake. The banks of the lake canopied by dense palm plantations are inky black and just barely reflected in the deep blue waters. Over the next 75 minutes the sky undergoes a magical transformation. Shades of pink and purple intrude into the deep blue hues to cast a pale glow over the horizon. A long streak of mist dissects the banks of the lake before innocuously merging into the air. The lake, not to be outdone, matches the panorama of colours gracing the sky in an almost perfect reflection. Intermittently the fishermen in their dugouts purposefully ply their oars as they return from a night of systematic fishing. I am quick to capture their magnificence as they scud by, my shutter snapping incessantly. A large cloud awash in the glory of the rising sun turns a riot of pink, pale orange and white as it straddles the horizon in a gentle embrace. Its reflection in the waters is only broken by the passage of the fishing boats. Egrets and cormorants have already started to swoop into the waters for their piscine breakfast.

A few islands of water hyacinth break the seeming monotony of the placid waters near the shore. I am filled with a sense of sheer pleasure as I take in this almost palpable canvas of visual imagery unlike any I have seen before. I wonder whether I have managed to capture the essence of the magnificent sunrise on my compact flash card for my colleagues and family to savour. I would prefer my morning adventure with the sunrise to any session of meditation to maintain my peace with the world at large.