Children plucking Water Lilies

Kerala is India’s spectacular geographical wonderland exhibiting diverse and bountiful natural wealth and a rich cultural heritage. Like the urbanized areas, the rural areas too have their own attractions.

Rural Kerala is a land crisscrossed by rivers, canals and streams that interstice the hills and roll down into the coastal plains and the paddy fields of Kerala. The natives or village folks are epitomes of hospitality, living closely with nature. Their dressing style, food, folk dances and other art forms speak about their daily life.

The video shows a lively picture of the children from a Kuttanad village engaged in plucking water lilies as they row a country boat in the cool waters of Manakkal chira lake.

The water lilies, locally known as ambal, belong to the Nymphaeaceae family of aquatic plants. Manakkal chira lake has plenty of them growing in shallow waters. And plucking them is a common activity in this part of the world. Many myths are attached to it. One such interesting myth considers the lily flower as the wife of the Moon, since it blooms to its maximum size during the night.