The 2nd and 3rd of October 2014 were holidays for Infosys. And for a long long time, everyone has been looking forward to these two days because of the simple fact that it was a Thursday and a Friday. Couple that up with the normal weekend and you are left with 4 consecutive days to do whatever the hell you want. Erase from your mind that damn cubicle, those TL's, the ever annoying PM and the stupid formalities that you have to adhere to, even if its just to ask someone 'Hey, can I do this instead of that?'. Thank god they haven't laid down ground rules and policies for farting.
Driven nuts by various reasons, which I am not at liberty to discuss here, I decided to go on a trip. The only place close enough so that I can be back home the next day was Kanyakumari or Cape Comorin. Travelling along with me was my close friend Bichu and his brother Kichu. On the 2nd of October we took the 9:10 train (a MEMU) from Kollam To Kanyakumari.
The train was almost empty as we left Kollam Junction and after three or four stops it was gradually getting filled. It stopped at every station between here and Kanyakumari. After an hour or so, we started feeling down. We were looking at our watches, staring at people and just gazing outside the window. It was also the day when our PM had started the 'Swacch Bharath' initiative. All the railway stations were teeming with volunteers. Its kind of sad that we always need to put a label on things to give it more of an importance. Only when there is a name and some publicity attached to these things do we get into the groove of it. We had started wishing for the train to somehow reach our destination. The heat was also becoming a bit of a bother when it was noon. After Trivandrum Central Station, the views were all new to me. Half an hour later we passed into Tamil Nadu, the station names printed in Tamil confirmed this. After another grueling hour or so, we started seeing mountains on either side of the horizon.
We were nearing Nagercoil, which meant that we were getting close. On stopping at Nagercoil Town I was disappointed to see such a small station. But I was proved wrong when the train halted at the next station, the real Nagercoil. The place looked really good. Maybe next time I'll come here.
After some more time, and a couple more stations we halted at the Cape. Not a very busy station from the looks of it. Could be because the majority who come here are tourists. Besides it was almost 2 in the afternoon. Anyway we needed to find accommodation for the night. So we just walked into the station building and asked the first auto-rickashaw guy we saw, to take us to a lodge/inn. He was more than happy to help. And the only condition that we put-forth was that it should be as close to the town as possible. This way we could walk around the town and always make it back to our room. Had a short chat with the guy along the way. It turns out that his name is Michael, and it was no surprise that he could speak as well as understand Malayalam. After all, we were only just a couple of hours away from Trivandrum. There was this sloping path which went up from the main town center and on both sides of this path there were many lodgings. He first took us to a place run by some christian priests. But it was already at full capacity. And then it was another hotel, but the guy there tried to swindle us. Then finally as were coming downhill, there was a hotel where we didn't stop because Michael said that it was full. I just asked him to stop and said that I'll enquire anyway. By some weird stroke of luck it turned out that there was a party checking out and we grabbed the room right away, The guy there charged us Rs. 750 per day. It was a pretty good deal, and we were also not in a position to bargain. And we gave Rs.50 to Mr.Michael for his 'services'. This unprecedented rush was due to the long weekend and you could say that the town of Kanyakumari was at it maximum capacity.
Let me quickly describe the room. There were two beds, an attached bathroom and a washbasin. Sliding windows will sun-film coating were present on either two opposite walls and a ceiling fan were the air-conditioners present. A table and a chair were the only piece of furniture that I could notice. There was a TV which mostly had Tamil Channels and one or two Malayalam ones. After checking in we immediately went to have lunch. By then it was almost 2 pm. We found a decent looking place and ordered lunch for Bichu and myself and dosa for his brother. Afterwards we walked towards what seemed like the heart of the town. To be honest there were no plans in place. We just walked.
The first place that we went to was the most rated and touted as the number one to do thing in Kanyakumari - Vivekananda Rock Memorial. We didn;t have any difficulty finding the place, because the queue to the ferry service that takes you there was winding along through the streets. It was almost evening, around 3 pm and after a close look at how the queue was progressing and at the length of it, (which was increasing even while we were contemplating what to do) we decided that it was not gonna happen today. The main reason was that there was no guarantee that we were going to get that ferry, even if we stood in that queue for a full hour or so, because the ferry operated only till 4 in the evening. So there was a good chance that we might end up wasting a full hour doing nothing but moving in queue.
Instead we decided to explore the beach. We walked towards the temple which was clearly visible from where we stood and went through it to the other side which opened into the beach. There was a multitude there just loitering here and there, not really sure of what to see and do. I was expecting a huge beach with lots of sand, a place to sit down and stare at the sea. Always expect the unexpected, this is what I got instead. Rocks, rocks and very little 'beach'. Accustomed to the unending stretches of beaches in Kollam and Thirumullavaram this really disappointed me. However the view of Vivekanda Rock Memorial and Thiruvallavur Statue is quite imposing. Very close to the beach there's a Gandhi Memorial. Gandhi had visited Kanyakumari in 1925 and 1937. After his death in 1948, his ashes were brought here and kept for public to pay their respects. The memorial now stands where the ashes were kept before it was immersed into the sea. The memorial was completed in 1956. Entry is free, though you need to keep your footwear outside and that 2 rupees (Ha!!)
The monument looks like this. The architecture seems to be inspired from the sun temple at Konark. It is designed in such a way that on 2nd October, the rays of the sun, through a hole in the roof fall exactly on the place where the urn was kept.( I didnt know this neat piece of fact when I visited the place, that too on the exact same date. If only I'd known this earlier, I could have clicked some photographs)
We went inside the monument....
To be continued in Part II.
The train was almost empty as we left Kollam Junction and after three or four stops it was gradually getting filled. It stopped at every station between here and Kanyakumari. After an hour or so, we started feeling down. We were looking at our watches, staring at people and just gazing outside the window. It was also the day when our PM had started the 'Swacch Bharath' initiative. All the railway stations were teeming with volunteers. Its kind of sad that we always need to put a label on things to give it more of an importance. Only when there is a name and some publicity attached to these things do we get into the groove of it. We had started wishing for the train to somehow reach our destination. The heat was also becoming a bit of a bother when it was noon. After Trivandrum Central Station, the views were all new to me. Half an hour later we passed into Tamil Nadu, the station names printed in Tamil confirmed this. After another grueling hour or so, we started seeing mountains on either side of the horizon.
/Nagercoil.jpg)
We were nearing Nagercoil, which meant that we were getting close. On stopping at Nagercoil Town I was disappointed to see such a small station. But I was proved wrong when the train halted at the next station, the real Nagercoil. The place looked really good. Maybe next time I'll come here.
After some more time, and a couple more stations we halted at the Cape. Not a very busy station from the looks of it. Could be because the majority who come here are tourists. Besides it was almost 2 in the afternoon. Anyway we needed to find accommodation for the night. So we just walked into the station building and asked the first auto-rickashaw guy we saw, to take us to a lodge/inn. He was more than happy to help. And the only condition that we put-forth was that it should be as close to the town as possible. This way we could walk around the town and always make it back to our room. Had a short chat with the guy along the way. It turns out that his name is Michael, and it was no surprise that he could speak as well as understand Malayalam. After all, we were only just a couple of hours away from Trivandrum. There was this sloping path which went up from the main town center and on both sides of this path there were many lodgings. He first took us to a place run by some christian priests. But it was already at full capacity. And then it was another hotel, but the guy there tried to swindle us. Then finally as were coming downhill, there was a hotel where we didn't stop because Michael said that it was full. I just asked him to stop and said that I'll enquire anyway. By some weird stroke of luck it turned out that there was a party checking out and we grabbed the room right away, The guy there charged us Rs. 750 per day. It was a pretty good deal, and we were also not in a position to bargain. And we gave Rs.50 to Mr.Michael for his 'services'. This unprecedented rush was due to the long weekend and you could say that the town of Kanyakumari was at it maximum capacity.
Let me quickly describe the room. There were two beds, an attached bathroom and a washbasin. Sliding windows will sun-film coating were present on either two opposite walls and a ceiling fan were the air-conditioners present. A table and a chair were the only piece of furniture that I could notice. There was a TV which mostly had Tamil Channels and one or two Malayalam ones. After checking in we immediately went to have lunch. By then it was almost 2 pm. We found a decent looking place and ordered lunch for Bichu and myself and dosa for his brother. Afterwards we walked towards what seemed like the heart of the town. To be honest there were no plans in place. We just walked.
The first place that we went to was the most rated and touted as the number one to do thing in Kanyakumari - Vivekananda Rock Memorial. We didn;t have any difficulty finding the place, because the queue to the ferry service that takes you there was winding along through the streets. It was almost evening, around 3 pm and after a close look at how the queue was progressing and at the length of it, (which was increasing even while we were contemplating what to do) we decided that it was not gonna happen today. The main reason was that there was no guarantee that we were going to get that ferry, even if we stood in that queue for a full hour or so, because the ferry operated only till 4 in the evening. So there was a good chance that we might end up wasting a full hour doing nothing but moving in queue.
Instead we decided to explore the beach. We walked towards the temple which was clearly visible from where we stood and went through it to the other side which opened into the beach. There was a multitude there just loitering here and there, not really sure of what to see and do. I was expecting a huge beach with lots of sand, a place to sit down and stare at the sea. Always expect the unexpected, this is what I got instead. Rocks, rocks and very little 'beach'. Accustomed to the unending stretches of beaches in Kollam and Thirumullavaram this really disappointed me. However the view of Vivekanda Rock Memorial and Thiruvallavur Statue is quite imposing. Very close to the beach there's a Gandhi Memorial. Gandhi had visited Kanyakumari in 1925 and 1937. After his death in 1948, his ashes were brought here and kept for public to pay their respects. The memorial now stands where the ashes were kept before it was immersed into the sea. The memorial was completed in 1956. Entry is free, though you need to keep your footwear outside and that 2 rupees (Ha!!) |
| Pic taken from Wikipedia |
We went inside the monument....
To be continued in Part II.
No comments:
Post a Comment