A mosque right on the beach! The Kovalam Juma Masjid is a mosque on the famous Kovalam beach (arguably India's second-best beach after Goa) near Thiruvananthapuram (a.k.a. Trivandrum) in the Kerala state of India.
The mosque's fortunes are directly related to the tourism at Kovalam. The mosque regulars are fishermen, who cannot afford to contribute much more than 10 rupees a month - thus the mosque relies on the rent from the four shops it rents out to muslim traders (who in turn depend on tourists to purchase their goods). The income of the traders has been further diminished by the fact that surrounding hotels have set up their own shops.
Within the Kovalam Juma Masjid is the Hidayuthul Islam Madrasa, a school where 63 children from the 1st to 5th standards are taught.
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