“ 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.
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| Vivekananda Rock Memorial🙏 |
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| 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.
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| The Rays of Hope🌅 |
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| 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.
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| Mahatma Gandhi Mandapam😇 |
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| Our Lady of Ransom Church🙇 |
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| 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.
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| 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 ..!!💚🙏😀
