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MARARI’S MAGIC Discover rustic Kerala here

Kerala is hot and humid in summer and is also the reason why tariff cards shift down a gear to a lower rate. The high season ends and the low season begins somewhere around the end of April. And being on the coast, with the Western Ghats harnessing all the rain laden clouds that come in from the Arabian Sea, in Kerala, when it rains it pours - for days together sometimes, and you'll really be stuck indoors if you visit during the height of the monsoon season. But a visit when the monsoons are doing a trial run, before they firmly set in and you'll be richly rewarded.

Oh there will be rain, but no incessant blinding showers; you'll have enough dry spells to enjoy the region, which is a little beach town a 90-minute drive from Cochin or 6 hour drive from Coimbatore. Mararikulam, or Marari as it is more popularly known is a little fishing village lying between Cochin and Alleppey. Properly off the tourist trail due to very few exclusive resorts and not that much publicity, this is a place where you can get under the skin of the state and see it in its authentic rusticity.

Having said that there will be children who'll shout "Hi, hello" at tourists but you won't be hassled by touts or have your sleeve tugged at by hawkers selling souvenirs. Here is a beach that you will share with the local fisher folk and that too only when they are setting off to or arriving back from their sojourn in the sea. A short drive away is also Alleppey with its canals that have earned it the sobriquet `Venice of the East'.

At Marari what you can also do is go for a interesting bike ride, chase butterflies, visit coir factories and go for a spin in a dugout. But the odds are that the sea will seduce you to lie by its shore and sip an exotic cocktail while reading a book or lie limp on a hammock between two coconut trees. Don't feel too guilty about it. That's exactly what I did too!

The road from Coimbatore to Kochi is simply fabulous. Leafy avenues, wide roads and sparse traffic make this drive a breeze. Yes there is a little congestion getting out of Coimbatore for the first five kilometres but after that its comfortable driving. The roads are also pretty good and since there aren't many villages on the way, pedestrians are not much of a bother.

From Kochi, however, you'll definitely get ensnared in traffic and even though you don't go off NH47, the city's traffic invariably spills over onto the highway. But since you don't have long to go the crawl is quite bearable. And, 17 km from the airport the traffic thins out and then all you have to watch out for are those Kerala State Road Transport Corporation buses which invariably have Michaelaswaminarayana Schumachera at the wheel giving the decrepit old bus a 110 per cent. Once you turn off the road to Alleppey towards Marari, the state starts revealing her rustic side and the roads are narrower and quieter.

For a good stay contact Marari Beach Resort, Mararikulam Beach Dist, Alleppey.

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