It's customary to swap stories over a glass of freshly tapped toddy. Especially if you're in the middle of a shady coconut grove surrounded by wise people who appear to be natural storytellers. As luck would have it, I was on the picturesque Kuttanchal island in Kerala on a balmy morning. The tranquility of Vayalar's waters was helped by the fact that, apart from the occasional mussel diver, there were no other souls on the horizon. This is in stark contrast to what many of us have seen in holiday hotspots like Alappuzha and Kumarakom, where glitzy houseboats crowd the rippling algae-green rivers.