Solo Backpacker - 4 #Kanyakumari - The Tale of Sunrise and Sunset

 “ I awoke at 5:30 a.m. The sole purpose of this trip was to see the sunrise in Kanyakumari.  I quickly freshened up and walked towards the seashore, which is just a few minutes away from the hotel and to my surprise, there was already a large crowd waiting for the sunrise. I somehow made a gap and got the best seat to watch it along with my camera. But the sun and the sea had other ideas “

It was always on my mind to visit Kanyakumari, India's southernmost tip, at least once in my life. As is typical, I planned to visit in the middle of August 2019, during Independence Week, as well as a long weekend. The intention was to visit Kanyakumari and then return to Coimbatore to visit the Isha Adi yogi centre. I reserved my train ticket from Bengaluru to Nagercoil. Once I reach Nagercoil, I'll need to take a bus from there to get to Kanyakumari. Since I hate detailed planning, I normally make just a few arrangements for places to visit, hotels, and so on.

On the evening of August 15th, I boarded my train from Bengaluru. I reached Nagercoil the next day early morning i.e 16th about 7:30 a.m. It was a one-night journey to reach the destination. From Nagercoil, I took a local bus to reach Kanyakumari, which is 20KM apart. I had always imagined Kanyakumari as a big and sprawling community. But to my surprise, when I entered the city, it was as calm and cool (not weather 😉) as our Mysuru, though with a little more chaos. In the city centre, I got a budget room. I quickly freshened up, had a light breakfast and started to roam the city with my camera bag around. The first iconic location, I planned to visit was Vivekananda Rock Memorial. There is a ticket counter where we can purchase a ferry ticket to get to the memorial. Since it was a long weekend, there was a large crowd there. As I waited for the ferry to arrive. I became dizzy and uneasy and stood near the counter for 5-10 minutes. I eventually recovered and boarded the ferry to the memorial. The Vivekananda memorial was massive and well-kept. I entered the main building and there were a lot of descriptions about the life events of Swami Vivekananda and his teachings too. I spent some quality time there reading all those stuff and taking photos of the memorial and other things. Unfortunately, I was unable to visit the Thiruvalluvar Statue, which is located near the monument, because it was closed due to adverse conditions. After that, I ate some food and went back to my room to relax.

Vivekananda Rock Memorial🙏

The Iconic Image😍

I was looking forward to the next morning because Kanyakumari is famous for its stunning sunrises. But I set an alarm for 5 a.m. and slept soundly. I awoke early the next morning, instantly freshened up, and arrived at the sunrise point at 5:30 a.m. It was barely a 10 mins walk from the hotel. When I arrived, there was already a large crowd gathered. Somehow I made a gap in between and got a nice seat to view the sunrise. The clock was ticking, it was 6:15 a.m., but no sign of the sun, and I looked again after some time, it was about 6:30 a.m. Nonetheless, the outcome is the same. Huge clouds were blocking the sun. I could see only the fresh rays. As time elapsed, I was unable to witness this magic. All the people over there left with a gloomy face. It was a sad start for the day. When I was taking pictures around there, a baba asked me to take a picture of him when he saw my camera. He told me that he is from UP and came to see the memorial. I clicked the pic and showed it to him. He was delighted with himself and the photo and asked me to send that photo through the post. He gave all the detailed address. But till now I couldn’t send him the photo. I'm such a slacker. But I will make sure, by the end of the month I sent him the printed pic.

The Rays of Hope🌅

Tranquillity👀

Post breakfast, I started to roam inside the city. At first, I visited Mahatma Gandhi Mandapam where Gandhi's ashes were held after his death. Following that, I visited a wax museum near the railway station. It was a nice museum to visit because it featured wax statues of public figures as well as surreal 3D artistic images. It was well maintained too. The staff was very supportive in explaining whatever was asked. Later in the day, I visited an old church called Our Lady of Ransom Church situated in the middle of the town. The church was built in the 18th century. It was a large and magnificent church. It was around 5:30 PM, I intended to travel to a sunset viewing location 2 kilometres from the centre. I walked along the seashore to reach that point. It was about 6:15 p.m., and I was hoping to see the sunset. But again, hard luck, couldn’t able to witness. All thanks to bad weather conditions. Such a hard day for me..!. I immediately said to myself, "I need to come back here in perfect weather." I hurried back to my room to vacate because I needed to catch a bus to Nagercoil and then to Coimbatore. Since I had decided to visit Isha Adi yogi centre the next day with one of my friends.

Mahatma Gandhi Mandapam😇

Our Lady of Ransom Church🙇

Dr APJ Abdul Kalam👌

I boarded a train from Nagercoil and arrived in Coimbatore the next morning, on August 18th. My friend had already arrived and was waiting for me. We checked into the hotel and immediately freshened up. We went to the bus station after breakfast to take the bus to Isha Center. It took nearly an hour to get there from the town. It was about 11 a.m. when we arrived. We entered and noticed a massive campus that was quiet and peaceful. We proceeded to the Lord Shiva statue. The sculpture was enormous and awe-inspiring to see. It was surrounded by mountains and lush greenery. What else is needed to experience this iconic structure? We began roaming the campus after taking some fantastic photographs. It was kept in excellent condition and was still very tidy. A magnificent temple and a meditation hall with a shiva linga were also located in the centre of the campus. We returned to the bus stop after seeing these. As we were waiting, we spoke with a local who recommended a small waterfall nearby. We took an auto to get there. However, it is not a worthwhile place to visit since there is no water. We then boarded a bus to get into the town. However, there was a bus breakdown in the middle of the trip, so we had to wait for the next bus. Despite the circus, we arrived in the city late in the evening. We had a bus reservation for the same night to get back to our respective locations. As a result, we checked out of the hotel and made our way to the bus stand. I said my goodbyes to my friend and boarded the Coimbatore-Mysuru bus. Early the next morning, I arrived at my room.

The Gigantic Shiva🙏🙇😀

Wow, it was a fascinating journey that provided me with some wonderful memories. However, the Sunrise moments seem to hurt me. I'm hoping to return to these locations after a world is free from corona or without fear of covid. Keeping my fingers crossed :)

Until next time .. Ciao ..!!💚🙏😀

Solo Backpacker - 3 #Matheran

“The trail ahead was fully covered with fog and mist. It was surrounded by forest area and I couldn’t see anyone behind or ahead of me. The langurs were staring at me as if I am going to kidnap them. I was shivering and I could feel the Goosebumps in my body”

It became an annual ritual for me to go for a solo trip to any place, as of now in India. There was the only place, which was coming in my mind i.e. Matheran. Matheran is famous for its breath-taking views and mainly the place is completely free from automobiles. The bio-diversity is well preserved. So, I decided to visit Matheran and some surrounding places. I know it been 2 years since I visited there, but the memories are still fresh. I researched a bit about the place, travelling and other kinds of stuff. Usually, I would book only for my onward and return journey. Hotel booking and other stuff, I would look once I go into the place (I almost do a budget trip😉). It was the start of the monsoon and a perfect gateway to explore these places.

After taking all the necessary things in my backpack, I started my journey from Mysuru to Bengaluru and from there I took a train to Pune. It was one night journey and I reached Pune in the following evening. From Pune, I took a local train to reach Matheran city. I reached almost late at night and started to search for a few budget hotels. Sadly, I couldn’t find any. But I had noted about a Dharmashala in my dairy. So, I went in search of that. Luckily, it was near and was able to find it. Initially, when I asked for the room, they refused to give. But after some time, I was able to convince them and told them it would difficult to search for a hotel at this time. They agreed and gave me a room which is kind of a storehouse. I was scared a bit seeing the room condition, but I thought, Ok, Just one night. Somehow I would able to adjust. While I was sleeping, I could sense a few rats passing near my legs. But somehow I survived that night. Sorry, I forgot to mention, one of the main attraction of the Matheran is the Toy train which runs from the place called Neral which is near to the city, to Matheran Hilltop. From there we can explore the viewpoints.

The Foggy Railway Tracks

Next day morning with much excitement, I took a local train to reach Neral. To my shock when I enquired about the toy train timings, the railway personnel told that the train has been cancelled due to the massive rainfalls. I was disheartened. Since I had no other option, I took a shared taxi to reach the hilltop.  It was around 45mins of the journey. Once I reached the top, my adventure begins. Initial few kilometres were completely commercialized with the hotels and fancy shops. Usually, the tourist who would come will take a horse ride to see some main viewpoints. But I had a complete day to explore and the weather was so pleasant and kind. So, I decided to walk alone with my camera as a companion. The initial viewpoints were good and each of the viewpoints was having some kind of peculiarity. For a few places, we need to trek a good amount of distance and for few, we need to climb the iron rails carefully. But I was enjoying all these adventures and clicking the pics all along. While I was enjoying the place, I used to interact with a few tourists who came and they were surprised that I came alone till here. I remember in one instance, where one of the tourists offered me some snacks and asked my where-about and we had a good conversation. This made me feel good.

The Road not taken | Scary Roads ahead

By noon, I had completed 6-7 viewpoints like Panorama, Monkey, Heart viewpoints etc. As I was going towards another one, I entered a thick forest area and by then it was around 1-1.30 PM I guess, the sky was getting darker and the whole area started to cover with fog/mist. The visibility was only a few meters. I couldn’t see anyone behind or ahead of me. The langurs were in a huddle and were staring at me. I didn’t have an idea of what road lies ahead. I felt scared and started to walk back. Within a few hundred meters, I could see a couple of people coming in the same way. I was more than happy seeing them and slowly I followed them acting as nothing happened to me ;). After some distance, they parted away and I reached one more point. I guess its Gurbut point. It started to drizzle, so I thought to stay back and rest while experimenting a few shots using the camera. Once the drizzle stopped, I decided to go to the final viewpoint i.e. Sunset or Porcupine point. I reached there early to have the best seat to see the sunset and to take some amazing pics. But again due to bad weather and cloudy conditions, I couldn’t gaze the view and decided to go back to the start point before it’s too dark. I returned to the taxi point using the railway track as the navigation. Luckily, I found the last share taxi and reached Neral and from there to Matheran. When I reached the city, it was raining heavily, with the help of a local autoricksaw guy, I got a room in the hotel since I decided not to go to that dharma shala thinking what I had experienced in the previous night. I had a nice peaceful sleep thinking about the beautiful place which I had visited in the morning. 

The Majestic Mountain Ranges

Next day morning, I had planned to visit Karla caves and Ekvira temple. The temple is next to the caves. The place is one hour journey from Matheran and I took a local bus to reach there. To reach the caves and temple, we need to climb for around 30mins and the elevation is relatively easy. One need to purchase tickets to see the caves. It’s an ancient Buddhist rock-cut cave and ASI protected Site. It was maintained well. What I had liked, is the architecture, sculptures and the patterns of the hall called Chaitya. After seeing the cave I went to visit the temple but it was a weekend and had a huge rush to see. So I just prayed from outside and climbed down to the base. Once I reached down, I couldn’t see any private buses to go back. I thought to wait for some more time and check. But I couldn’t see any buses or rickshaw. I decided to go by walk to the main road which is around 2-3 km. As I was walking, I was hungry and was searching for a hotel. For my goodness, I found a Udupi hotel. I ordered some food and I got to know the hotel owner was from Karnataka. I started to have a conversation in Kannada with him and asked his experience living here and other few things. I had tweeted the same. Link Below 👇
(https://twitter.com/mundak_hogona/status/1008301287975342080?s=03).

The Grand Hall inside the Caves

Patterns Everywhere..!!!

Once I had my food, the owner helped to get an auto to reach Lonavala which is around 10kms. I reached Lonavala around 03.30 PM. I had a few places in my mind to visit in Lonavala. But due to persistent rains, I decided to explore the city limits and besides my return journey was on the same night. I went to a dam and a park which was nearby. By then, the sky had opened too much. So I decided to go to the railway station. I did a hitchhiking to reach there (May God Bless Him😀). Not to forget, Lonavala is famous for Chikkis😋, which I like so much. I bought a few packs of that from an authentic shop. Later I boarded the train and reached Bengaluru and from there to Mysuru🚉.

Lonavala Railway Station

This trip gave me a lot of memories as well as life lessons including the value of self-belief. Nature was at its best and amazed me each time when I visited new places. Finally, I can tick the Journey to Matheran in my Wish-list and I wish many more of these journeys would come in the future😇.

Ciao🌝😃🙂

Solo Backpacker -2 #Central India

It was mid of 2016, my earned leaves in the company were getting lapsed due to the year-end rituals. So, I thought to go on a trip outside of Karnataka to utilize those leaves effectively. There was a thought flowing in my mind to visit Central India places like Shirdi, Nashik, Trimbakeshwar, Bibi ka Maqbara etc. I had a desire to do a solo trip on my wish list. So, I decided to let this trip me my first solo trip (Earlier blog was 2nd solo trip link given at end) After committing myself to go for the solo trip I did some research on places to visit, stay and other stuff and booked my train journey for both onwards and return. I made a few handy notes of the necessary things. Once I have done with the research, I applied for leave and called my mom to inform about things which I had planned and I told her that I am going alone for this trip, she was shell-shocked and then she asked me that "Are you serious?" , “Hudagata adbeda!” I told no and somehow I convinced and assured her that I would be safe and secure. Even though I was away from home for around 10 years, my mom still thinks that I am a small child and have that fear to send me out, yeah that's the mother's affection:). After that, I packed all the necessary things with extra caution. 

My journey started on June 20th from Mysore to Shirdi. During my train journey, I met a big family who were heading towards Shirdi from Mandya and they were also shocked when they got to know that I was travelling alone. The family asked where do I come from, what I do for living etc. and they told me to join with them. Luckily, one gorgeous girl in their family gave me company *blushes* throughout the journey. And they made me so comfortable to a whom they met a few moments ago. Yes, Humanity exists:). Once we reached Shirdi they offered me to stay with them. We had a very delicious dinner and a good rest that night. Next day, early morning we visited the very famous Shirdi temple. The temple was calm, blissful and very well maintained. It was not so much of rush compared to other elite temples. We had good darshana of Shirdi baba and we headed to Shanisingnapur which is very famous for shani devaru (god) and we returned back to Shirdi. That concludes Day 1. 

Next day morning we travelled to visit  world famous UNESCO heritage site Ellora caves which are in Aurangabad. It was around 3hrs journey from Shirdi. The caves in the Ellora are magnificent and those sculptures are a visual treat to eyes. The caves feature Buddhist, Hindu and Jain monuments. One special mention is the Kailasa temple. The temple is built from top to bottom from a single rock and it is the largest monolithic rock-cut temple in the world. The place was incredible and worth to visit. After lunch, we visited Bibi ka Maqbara also known as Mini Taj Mahal. It was built by Aurangzeb son Azam Shah in the memory of his Mother. The monument replicates the Taj. The place has well-maintained gardens and a good place to hang out. In the evening the family left from there heading to Pune to catch the train to their home town. It was a great stay with them and they treated a stranger as their family member. It was a good moment to cherish forever. From there I came to Nashik that night. 

Following early morning, I  took a bus to visit Trimbakeshwar, which is one of the 12 auspicious jyotirlingas in India. The temple was calm, serene and no rush probably due to offseason. I tasted a very famous spicy Misal pav. From Nashik, I took a bus to Mangi- tungi. Mangi- tungi is considered as one of the sacred places for Jains. The hilltop has a monolithic structure of Bhagawan Adinatha, (1st Tirthankara of Jainism) which is of 108ft, tallest Jain statue. I stayed in a shared room where I met two more visitors who had come all along from Pondicherry and Kanyakumari. They were filmmakers and we had a good conversation on films, religion etc. Next morning, I climbed around 3000 steps to reach the hilltop. It was a tiring ascent but once I reached the top the view was breath-taking. After completing the pooja and ritual I took a bus to Manmad where I supposed to catch the return train to Bangalore. I reached the Bangalore subsequent night safely. 

This trip was so memorable because it was my first solo journey and it requires lots of guts to decide each and everything during the trip. I travelled to many new places and finally, I met several new people who are kind and generous to me. Indeed, a Special trip to treasure.

Thank you. 

Blog 1 link:

https://solobackpackerdiary.blogspot.com/2018/04/solo-backpacker-1-pondicherry_9.html?m=1 

Solo Backpacker –1 #Pondicherry

It was on 22nd December, 2017 people in my office were discussing about their Christmas and New Year plans with their friends, boyfriend and girlfriend etc. But as a Single stud I was thinking about what to do since I had no such plans. But suddenly an idea struck in my mind how about going to Pondicherry. It was a long cherished desire to visit once. I asked few of my friends and cousins but no one agreed since they had their own set of plans. So I thought that why can’t I explore Pondicherry alone and I heard that Christmas celebration would be good over there. So I decided myself to go over there as I wanted a break to come out of the busy schedule and some unexpected events occurred in the life. I checked for train and buses availability but sadly everything was booked, so the last option was available was to go in train but in General coach. I packed my bag and started my journey from Mysore to Pondicherry on 23rd December. I had no clear idea what to do over there. I had just listed out few places to visit over there. Since most of the hotels were booked I thought to stay in the Youth hostel because it would be affordable.

I reached Pondicherry early morning but the train journey was not so good because it was so much of rush. When I came out the railway station, Pondicherry welcomed me with a beautiful view backdrop behind the Church.  From there I reached youth hostel, luckily I got a room over there because I had not booked earlier. The youth hostel was near to a sea shore which give me a magnificent view of the sea. It’s very affordable and good for the solo backpackers. I got freshen up and after my breakfast I started my exploration. I hired a moped from the local shop which is the best option. I started my journey by visiting Auroville. The Auroville is such a beautiful and nice place to visit. This place represents the complete different perspective of the present world where we live in. It’s such a serene place to live in where there are no conflicts between mind and the body. There is a beautiful circular structure for meditation. The place was surrounded with calmness.  Near to auroville there is a beach called auroville beach. The beach was so good and the mild air breeze was moving around which I could feel. After spending some time over there I went to another beach called Serenity beach. The name itself suggest that it was so serene and peaceful. There were huge rock structures near the shore where we can sit and enjoy the amazing view of sea. Later moving out of that beach I went to the main beach of Pondicherry, its Promenade beach. There is Gandhi statue present near the beach. This beach was bit crowded since its present in the heart of the city. There are many restaurants and other eatable joints near the beach where we can sit, eat and enjoy the sea view. I enjoyed my evening by sipping a cup of coffee and gazing at the sunset. I met a guy over there who came just like me as a solo backpacker. We shared our experiences with each other.

After sometime I thought to return to my room to take some rest and I had planned to visit the church at midnight to see the Christmas celebrations. Around 11.30PM I left my room heading towards the church. The road was filled with lighting and it was so colorful to see. I reached the Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Jesus Church which is very famous over there. This was the main purpose to visit Pondicherry, to see the Christmas celebration. I reached the over there and the rituals were already started inside the church. I sat inside and observed all the things happening over there. At exactly 12AM, the bell rang and the celebration was at its peak. People were wishing each other and few were exchanging gifts too. It was so bliss to watch all these. I prayed over there and came back to my room. I made my plans to explore other places next day.

After having a good sleep, I woke up and got ready and started the journey. The first place which I visited was Sri Aurobindo Ashram. The ashram was very silent and peaceful. After spending a peaceful time over there I went to explore old French colonies. These colonies were constructed when Pondicherry was under French control in pre-independence era. The colonies were very colorful. It is very well planned and maintained well. Later on I visited French memorial opposite to promenade beach before heading to botanical garden. The botanical garden was big and beautiful to walk around. It has one small train which showed the entire garden on the rails. After spending some quality time over by interacting with few people I need to rush back to railway station since my train was at 04.30PM. I traveled back to Mysore via Katpadi, B’lore. Again sat in General coach since there was no reservation available. The journey was hectic due to huge amount of rush. But it gave some good experience in the middle of this. 

What I loved in Pondicherry is that those magnificent vast beaches and places, mouth-watering food especially wood fired pizzas, amazing people including foreigners and last but not the least the beautiful Christmas celebrations. I had captured all those moments in my camera. This solo trip gave immense satisfaction to myself and a huge sense of relief.