Around the Kulams

Kulam (குளம்) is a word of Tamil language which stands for the pool or the pond. I had noticed the use of this word as a suffix with some places of the south India like Koondakulam, Kunthakulam etc., but had never known its meaning until I landed in the state of Tamil Nadu. Although I had seen many ponds, lakes and wetlands before, the chance to visualise the life around any place with suffix Kulam was received at Kanyakumari, the southernmost tip of mainland Indian subcontinent.

Earlier I used to imagine the Kanyakumari as a place where the land ends and the realm of the endless ocean begins. But I had no idea that besides the seashore, Kanyakumari was also the place of mountains of the southern extension of western ghats, which sometimes referred as southern ghats, and of lakes and wetlands. During my visit to Kanyakumari, I spent a considerable time around the wetlands of Kanyakumari, Suchindram Kulam and Theroor (Thesur) Kulam to be particular. In those days it was rainy weather and so the fields and most of the surrounding areas had also taken the shape of wetlands. While walking through the showers, I came across some villages around the wetlands and witnessed different colours of life of the area. Although the people of the town of Kanyakumari can speak and understand Hindi, the same is not the case with many interior villages.

The understanding imparted by the visuals is far much greater and permanent than achieved by just hearing and knowing about something. This photo essay is an attempt to pictorially show what I have witnessed with the reference of the life, beliefs, nature and animate and inanimate objects around the wetlands of the southernmost region of mainland India.