Abraham Verghese’s novel is about a family in Kerala living among the backwaters and canals, but for whom water is an anathema, vehemently disliked! With my Malayalee background I was amazed at the idea that persons in Kerala were afraid of the water? Abraham Verghese’s novel is about a family in Kerala living among the rivers, backwaters and canals, but for whom water is an anathema, vehemently disliked! With my Malayalee background I was amazed at the idea that persons in Kerala were afraid of the water? Read ‘The Covenant of Water’ to understand this ‘condition’.