51�Թ�

Shilpa, who lives in the town of Alleppey, told the BBC she had taken out a bank loan at a 13% interest rate to pay Mr Poulos, who gave her a fake certificate of sponsorship.

Another resident, Karni Kumar, lives far enough away from the main road that it’s more convenient to use a wooden boat to cross a small stretch of backwater to get fresh water from the neighboring district of Alleppey.

But so many other Chellanam families do the same thing that it can more than double the demand on a single tap in Alleppey — leading to long waits and occasional conflicts with Alleppey residents.

Ask for scallop alleppey, and you’ll get outsize bivalves draped with a sauce of mango and curry leaves.

At the Alleppey backwaters, we paddled quietly past families at work or play, spotting abundant birdlife on the way.