With a mild thrust, I leap two metres forward and throw myself horizontally over the salt water. When the initial haze of bubbles subsides, I find a patchwork of colours woven on the sculpted humps protruding from the ocean floor. Thousands of years-old fauna revels underwater. Purple hued corals branch in a variety of shapes, so close that I could touch them; but I know better—the sight of the corals is to be enjoyed from a distance, even a slight touch can disintegrate them. I am 155 nautical miles west of Kochi, snorkelling in the turquoise blue lagoon of the uninhabited Pitti islet, a part of Kalpeni atoll in the…