THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: This summer, take an invigorating dip at the Poovar beach where the backwaters meet the sea. From the city, travelling along the Kovalam road, carpeted with the golden showers, you reach Kovalam junction in an hour. Seventeen kilometres to the north from there, you reach the Poovar beach road.
Three kilometers further towards the EMS colony, you see a long stretch of sea sand on one side and shelter of the local inhabitants on the other. The road ends there. A bare-footed walk on the warm sand begins. As you walk towards the sea side, you get the faint smell of the sea and can see the fishing boats parked on the shores and the men sitting around it and chatting. You see the ‘pozhi’ or the estuary at a distance, a place where the sea meets the backwaters, which makes the Poovar beach special.
The destination has backwaters to the left with private floating resorts and motor boat facilities and the vast sea on the right. The beach, still not crowded, makes it a paradise with loads of privacy and quietness.
Tourists from India and abroad are lazing around, sun bathing and playing sports. Villagers jump in groups into the backwaters to cool off after a hard day’s work and remain in it for hours. Tourists leap into the gushing waters of the sea and swim to their hearts’ fill. They anxiously wait for the high waves to jump into. Kids are busy building their sand castles. Meanwhile, some of the families unpack their picnic baskets.
Far away, you see two rocks, one of which has a cross and the other a replica of Michelangelo’s ‘Pieta’. The rock, carved into a cave, is a worshiping place where Christians gather every Thursday. Visitors ride boats around the backwaters.
“The rides take them an hour, covering a distance of 5 kms and halting beside coconut groves and also for a closer watch at the brahminy kites and other diving birds,” says Emilias J, a motor boat driver. It is the privacy one experiences at this place that makes the time spent here memorable.
Dr Jaser Singh and his wife Merie Threse Singh, living in Paris, find the location entirely private and apt to be at ease. The exuberant lot were a gang of friends from London who were in Kovalam to attend their friend’s wedding. We also met honeymooning couples Chandra Shekhar and Vanaja from Andhra Pradesh and Rahie Bose and Sauradipa from Kolkata. Drenched in water and gleaming with joy, the occupants of the beach welcomed a warm sunset to colour a bundle of unforgettable memories.