Villa Mermaid

A house that leans out over the water.

Villa Mermaid sits right on the Mulki backwater, with cantilevered rooms that float out toward the palms and the river beyond. Mornings are still and silver; by afternoon the pool throws light back up onto the white ceilings.

Inside it's open and unfussy, glass on three sides, laterite walls left honest, and a living room that simply pours out onto the pool deck. The kind of home where the doors stay open and nobody's quite sure where outside ends.

A short, easy drive from Mangaluru, yet it feels like another, slower country.