Let me warn you at the beginning itself, this travelogue is going to be pretty long but worth a read about the myths and history wound around this place- Kanyakumari. Well if you don't have time to spend, just scroll through the pictures!
The southernmost district of Tamil Nadu, ruled by various dynasties- cheras, cholas, venad and many others has been a tourist destination for a very long time. It was under a long time possession of Travancore king Marthanda Varma and eventually, based on the majority Tamil speaking people, the land was assigned to Tamil Nadu shortly after Independence. Kerala in exchange for Kanyakumari took up the northernmost district of Palakkad.
Saturday, 3:15 pm :: Well the trip began from Trivandrum and Kanyakumari city is 94 km away from Trivandrum which is around two and a half hours of drive by car. The roads are far better than Ernakulam-Trivandrum road via Kollam and most of the roads have been widened and the rest have been acquired for widening. Soon the roads would be better than Mysore-Bangalore roads. The roads recently acquired are under construction and they have to be avoided when saying 'far better than other roads'. They are hell now. But soon everything would get better.
On the way to Neyyattinkara there is a 'vedivazhipadu' temple and all people travelling through this route including the bus drivers stop their vehicles to offer the vazhipadu for three rupees per vedi. In Hindu culture the sound of 'vedi' seems to shoo away evil spirits. I do not know the exact name of this temple.
Later on we passed by the roads to 'ammachi plavu' of Sree Krishna Temple. It is situated in Neyyattinkara where Marthanda Varma took refuge in the giant hole of this jackfruit tree from his enemies.
After the checkpost at Amaravila I could see that many of the nameboards started appearing in Tamil too. The transport buses passing by all had marked on them 'Nagercoil' to which we were almost nearing. The roads started narrowing as we approached a well populated busy junction which marked the beginning of Nagercoil. The streets were filled with people and vehicles and roads became too narrow for two way traffic. Within a few kilometres away from this city the roads started widening once again. Now no more Malayalam and I found it too difficult to read the name boards except those having an English translation. Somehow I learned on the way to read 'Kanyakumari' in Tamil. On the way to Nagercoil we also passed the roads to Padmanabhapuram Palace in Thuckalay which is always worth a visit.
Soon the roads seemed to swerve into ones having huge neem trees on either sides providing shade and shelter from the burning sun to the poor 'ilaneer' and 'nongu' vendors on the road. The view of the Western Ghats was breathtaking and continued in view until we passed by the entrance to Kumaracoil Murugan temple. Later we could see the roads to 'Maruthuva Malai' (Lord Hanuman dropped this portion of a medicinal mountain here while carrying it to heal wounds of Lakshmana, the brother of Rama) and Suchindram temple. The ghats faded into view as we approached roundanna of Kanyakumari- the land of Devi Parvati who turned into stone while waiting for Lord Shiva to arrive and tie the knot with her. As the mythology goes, Lord Narada tricked Shiva so that he could not arrive on time for the marriage and the Maangalyam never happened. She remained in meditation and turned into stone and the rice and grains for the feast after marriage turned into the rocks and stones of Kanyakumari shore. To be frank if we watch closely the small stones do resemble rice grains!!! ;)
The month of July does not have sunset in Kanyakumari, as we all know its one of the places where we can see both sunrise and sunset on the sea horizon. As we reached Kanyakumari at 6 pm, we opted to stay at Kerala guest house for the night (supposed to have the best view of sunrise at an affordable cost for night stay) and decided to roam the streets selling beautiful key chains, the 'shankhu' shaped artefacts, jewellery, sugar cane juice, baked corn, t-shirts and many more attractive materials. I watched the whole city but i couldn't find it polluted with plastic remains or bags. I later learned from the people that the city has been banned from most forms of plastic. A very good act! An act capable of earning a salute to the governing authorities there.
There is a small beach like area, down a flight of stone cut stairs and we spent the evening getting the foot wet in the cool waters of this small beach. The atmosphere was too much windy and unexpected waves could get you completely wet! The night came to a close and rain started pouring as we hurried back to our place of stay having some baked corn stuffed into our mouths. The fans in the room were of no use as the night seemed to be too cold as the sea was near and the rushing sound of the waves can keep you awake if you are not used to sleeping near a seashore.
Sunday, 5:30 am :: We forced ourselves out of bed the next day to watch the sunrise at the brim of the sea. We climbed three sets of stairs to reach the terrace of the building which had the most beautiful view of the sea and the whole city. Peacocks were very common within the grounds of Kerala house and they hopped in human inhabited areas. As time passed by the sky turned orange at first and then in between the clouds I could see the golden globe rising with dignity out of the sea. What a view!
As we had to return to Trivandrum back in the evening on the same day, we scurried past the vendors on the streets once again to get to the Vivekananda rocks situated in the middle of sea. Obviously we need boats! While having breakfast, the attender at the canteen said the normal queues are too long and tiring. As he directed we took the special queue which is thrice the normal ticket rate. The normal queue almost seemed to extend up to the archway at the entrance of Kanyakumari. We easily got past to the second boat to the rocks. All were given safety jackets and soon we reached the rocks. A splendid rock cut area in the middle of the sea. There were several Mandapas and two of the main ones were astonishingly beautiful, One had Devi Parvati's footprint and the other had Swami Vivekananda's statue. Photography is prohibited within all the mandapas.
It also had a meditation hall that really could put you into deep meditation unknowingly with the soothing enchantment of 'Om Namasivaya' and the calming blue and green lights. At one end you could see the marking of Uttarayanam and Dakshinayanam on the marble facing the sun. The stores inside the Vivekananda rocks had one beautiful and best seller idol of Dancing Krishna. We also got one of them. A naughty and dignified posture of Lord Krishna!
The footwear we left at the entrance of the rocks were collected back and waited in queue for the boats back to the mainland after posing for some photos in the breathtakingly beautiful background. Well eyes are the most powerful lens in the world and we ought to see them with our own eyes! Thiruvalluvar statue could also bee seen from this place.
By the time we reached mainland we only had time to pass by the Kanyakumari temple and missed the view of the nose ring on the idol which was believed to be the light at the lighthouse that protected men fishing in the deep sea. The nose ring is shiny enough to blow your mind says others who have seen it.
We paid a short visit to the Triveni Sangam where all the three seas meet- Indian ocean, Arabian sea and Bay of Bengal. The pearly white waves smashing and splashing across the rocks was worth fixing my eyes on them forever.
Now it was time to say goodbye! On the way back to Trivandrum, when we left the city of Kanyakumari and could see portions of western ghats, I really felt I should visit the place again for the wonderful memories that it gifted me. Hope you enjoyed this travelogue and I still feel many of my experiences untold. See the place for yourself at least once in your lifetime and you would know only then why I said so. As always. Keep smiling. Keep travelling! :D
Photo courtesy: pictures taken all by myself.
The southernmost district of Tamil Nadu, ruled by various dynasties- cheras, cholas, venad and many others has been a tourist destination for a very long time. It was under a long time possession of Travancore king Marthanda Varma and eventually, based on the majority Tamil speaking people, the land was assigned to Tamil Nadu shortly after Independence. Kerala in exchange for Kanyakumari took up the northernmost district of Palakkad.
Saturday, 3:15 pm :: Well the trip began from Trivandrum and Kanyakumari city is 94 km away from Trivandrum which is around two and a half hours of drive by car. The roads are far better than Ernakulam-Trivandrum road via Kollam and most of the roads have been widened and the rest have been acquired for widening. Soon the roads would be better than Mysore-Bangalore roads. The roads recently acquired are under construction and they have to be avoided when saying 'far better than other roads'. They are hell now. But soon everything would get better.
On the way to Neyyattinkara there is a 'vedivazhipadu' temple and all people travelling through this route including the bus drivers stop their vehicles to offer the vazhipadu for three rupees per vedi. In Hindu culture the sound of 'vedi' seems to shoo away evil spirits. I do not know the exact name of this temple.
Later on we passed by the roads to 'ammachi plavu' of Sree Krishna Temple. It is situated in Neyyattinkara where Marthanda Varma took refuge in the giant hole of this jackfruit tree from his enemies.
After the checkpost at Amaravila I could see that many of the nameboards started appearing in Tamil too. The transport buses passing by all had marked on them 'Nagercoil' to which we were almost nearing. The roads started narrowing as we approached a well populated busy junction which marked the beginning of Nagercoil. The streets were filled with people and vehicles and roads became too narrow for two way traffic. Within a few kilometres away from this city the roads started widening once again. Now no more Malayalam and I found it too difficult to read the name boards except those having an English translation. Somehow I learned on the way to read 'Kanyakumari' in Tamil. On the way to Nagercoil we also passed the roads to Padmanabhapuram Palace in Thuckalay which is always worth a visit.
Soon the roads seemed to swerve into ones having huge neem trees on either sides providing shade and shelter from the burning sun to the poor 'ilaneer' and 'nongu' vendors on the road. The view of the Western Ghats was breathtaking and continued in view until we passed by the entrance to Kumaracoil Murugan temple. Later we could see the roads to 'Maruthuva Malai' (Lord Hanuman dropped this portion of a medicinal mountain here while carrying it to heal wounds of Lakshmana, the brother of Rama) and Suchindram temple. The ghats faded into view as we approached roundanna of Kanyakumari- the land of Devi Parvati who turned into stone while waiting for Lord Shiva to arrive and tie the knot with her. As the mythology goes, Lord Narada tricked Shiva so that he could not arrive on time for the marriage and the Maangalyam never happened. She remained in meditation and turned into stone and the rice and grains for the feast after marriage turned into the rocks and stones of Kanyakumari shore. To be frank if we watch closely the small stones do resemble rice grains!!! ;)
The month of July does not have sunset in Kanyakumari, as we all know its one of the places where we can see both sunrise and sunset on the sea horizon. As we reached Kanyakumari at 6 pm, we opted to stay at Kerala guest house for the night (supposed to have the best view of sunrise at an affordable cost for night stay) and decided to roam the streets selling beautiful key chains, the 'shankhu' shaped artefacts, jewellery, sugar cane juice, baked corn, t-shirts and many more attractive materials. I watched the whole city but i couldn't find it polluted with plastic remains or bags. I later learned from the people that the city has been banned from most forms of plastic. A very good act! An act capable of earning a salute to the governing authorities there.
There is a small beach like area, down a flight of stone cut stairs and we spent the evening getting the foot wet in the cool waters of this small beach. The atmosphere was too much windy and unexpected waves could get you completely wet! The night came to a close and rain started pouring as we hurried back to our place of stay having some baked corn stuffed into our mouths. The fans in the room were of no use as the night seemed to be too cold as the sea was near and the rushing sound of the waves can keep you awake if you are not used to sleeping near a seashore.
Sunday, 5:30 am :: We forced ourselves out of bed the next day to watch the sunrise at the brim of the sea. We climbed three sets of stairs to reach the terrace of the building which had the most beautiful view of the sea and the whole city. Peacocks were very common within the grounds of Kerala house and they hopped in human inhabited areas. As time passed by the sky turned orange at first and then in between the clouds I could see the golden globe rising with dignity out of the sea. What a view!
As we had to return to Trivandrum back in the evening on the same day, we scurried past the vendors on the streets once again to get to the Vivekananda rocks situated in the middle of sea. Obviously we need boats! While having breakfast, the attender at the canteen said the normal queues are too long and tiring. As he directed we took the special queue which is thrice the normal ticket rate. The normal queue almost seemed to extend up to the archway at the entrance of Kanyakumari. We easily got past to the second boat to the rocks. All were given safety jackets and soon we reached the rocks. A splendid rock cut area in the middle of the sea. There were several Mandapas and two of the main ones were astonishingly beautiful, One had Devi Parvati's footprint and the other had Swami Vivekananda's statue. Photography is prohibited within all the mandapas.
It also had a meditation hall that really could put you into deep meditation unknowingly with the soothing enchantment of 'Om Namasivaya' and the calming blue and green lights. At one end you could see the marking of Uttarayanam and Dakshinayanam on the marble facing the sun. The stores inside the Vivekananda rocks had one beautiful and best seller idol of Dancing Krishna. We also got one of them. A naughty and dignified posture of Lord Krishna!
The footwear we left at the entrance of the rocks were collected back and waited in queue for the boats back to the mainland after posing for some photos in the breathtakingly beautiful background. Well eyes are the most powerful lens in the world and we ought to see them with our own eyes! Thiruvalluvar statue could also bee seen from this place.
By the time we reached mainland we only had time to pass by the Kanyakumari temple and missed the view of the nose ring on the idol which was believed to be the light at the lighthouse that protected men fishing in the deep sea. The nose ring is shiny enough to blow your mind says others who have seen it.
We paid a short visit to the Triveni Sangam where all the three seas meet- Indian ocean, Arabian sea and Bay of Bengal. The pearly white waves smashing and splashing across the rocks was worth fixing my eyes on them forever.
Now it was time to say goodbye! On the way back to Trivandrum, when we left the city of Kanyakumari and could see portions of western ghats, I really felt I should visit the place again for the wonderful memories that it gifted me. Hope you enjoyed this travelogue and I still feel many of my experiences untold. See the place for yourself at least once in your lifetime and you would know only then why I said so. As always. Keep smiling. Keep travelling! :D
Photo courtesy: pictures taken all by myself.
sure .. i will find sometime to visit this place.. :)
ReplyDeleteDo visit! :)
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