The week before Christmas was the school excursion season in Kerala. Depending on who you talked to, the school term had either finished for Christmas, or was still underway but it was Excursion Week.
Either way they were everywhere, and the big highlight for many of them was to bump into a foreign tourist or two. These two groups here were from a boys' and a girls' school, both Muslim schools, on their outings to Pookot Lake, a beauty spot in the Wayanad region.
You can tell that it's OK to photograph them - half of them are already photographing you, after all, as you approach! Then they bombard you with friendly greetings and questions, and introduce you excitedly to their teachers, and in one case, their school principal.
