Whims published... It's not an expert's opinion, It's not an online diary, It's not a web journal... It is just my whims published

Mohan, my colleague and I reached Kanyakumari around 8 AM on 28th Nov. The plan was to roam around Kanyakumari that day and travel to Tirunalveli to attend my team mate's marriage the next day. We reached a hotel named Cape Residency, where Mohan had already booked a double bed room for our stay. The hotel is situated on the same single main road of Kanyakumari but away from hustle and bustle of the town. Kanyakumari is a small laid back town, more or less sprawled along NH-47, the only main road of the town.

After loading our stomachs with a delicious breakfast served in the hotel, we headed straight towards the Vivekananda Rock by walk. NH-47 diverges into narrow shopping streets leading to the beach. Frankly speaking the beach near the Vivekananda Rock and Tiruvalluvar statue could well be called as a rocky shore than a beach. Mohan said, Kanyakumari does not have a great beach and most of the tourists head towards Kovalam beach after paying a brief visit to Kanyakumari.

3-4 ferries commute from the shore to Vivekananda Rock Memorial and Tiruvalluvar Statue. We waited for the ferry in a long but fast moving queue. Those ferries had the capacity to transport at least 100 people at once. The life jackets meant for the passengers were safely placed on the rack of the ferry! I believe the ferry was not over crowded but it certainly reminded me of the recent boat tragedy in Kerala. Assuming that those life jackets were in good condition, I think if each of the passengers is allowed to wear while embarking the ferry and return the same while disembarking, it would take at least 20 minutes extra for each of the trip for a ferry. Which would mean the ferry guy is losing the business of another trip in those 20 minutes. So it was a trade off between 100 lives and few hundred bucks for the owner of the ferry, and the owner had chosen the latter!!

Vivekananda Rock Memorial is a magnificent monument built in the year 1970 as a tribute to the sacred place where Swami Vivekananda was enlightened while meditating on this rock. The Rock Memorial has a tall bronze idol of Vivekananda. This rock also has a Mantapam of Sri Padhaparai, the place where it is believed that Devi Parvati stood on a single leg for Tapasya to propitiate Lord Shiva. Going on a PradakshiNa around the Rock Memorial, it is really a breathtaking view of the confluence of Arabian Sea, Indian Ocean and Bay of Bengal. But as many people had told me, I did not see the color difference in the water of 3 oceans. The wind was strong enough to sweep off any puny human being. Then the ferry took us to 133 feet tall Tiruvalluvar statue, 200 mts away from the Vivekananda Rock. The statue is 133 feet tall signifying the 133 chapters of Tirukkural penned by Tiruvalluvar. This is supposed to be one of the tallest statues in Asia. To be frank, I would have admired the beauty of the statue more, if it was monolithic and the structure of the statue had been more proportionate. Then we gave a brief visit to Gandhi Memorial. The Kanyakumari temple was closed during the afternoon.

After resting for few hours in the hotel after a heavy lunch, we caught an auto to the Sunset point. As I mentioned in the previous post, Sunset and Sunrise are special in Kanyakumari. It was really a unique Sunset of all the ones I have seen till date, because while Sun sets in the Arabian Sea, it appears so that only a portion of the horizon is set as a platform for the Sunset, the rest of the long horizon being stretched in the direction of South and East.

The next day though we woke up early to see the Sunrise, clouds denied us the sight of Sunrise :( After checking out from the hotel we headed for the marriage of colleague in Tirunalveli. After wishing the newly wed couple and having a nice lunch, we boarded the bus back to Bangalore in the evening..