Fri 12 Feb - Public Holiday

Today is the Hindu festival "Shivarathri" so we have the makings of a long weekend. We all take the day off work and pack our bags.

A trip is a must and we have set our sights on the furthest Southern tip of the Indian continent -
KANYAKUMARI, over the border of another Indian state - Tamil Nadu.

There is something compelling about the furthest or the highest point of land that demands a visit by the questing traveller, and this is no exception. The travel guides promise there are things to see and do, and a train ride to get there, so we are off!

Babu drops us at the back entrance to the station which is a sneaky thing to do as there are NO queues for tickets and virtually no traffic. It's a good start.

Our Mumbai Express is half an hour late arriving but we are patient. It unloads most of its passengers so we have a whole sleeper section to ourselves.

In a mere two hours we arrive at our destination. There is a stiff sea breeze and the sky is cloudy, which turns out to be a blessing as we spend the rest of the day outside and don't get scorched.

We walk into town and find our budget accommodation - the Manickham Hotel. We are on the ground floor with rooms at  Rs. 550 (£8), as the floors rise they charge an extra Rs. 100. The rooms are basic and functional. They also seem relatively safe - an important detail for 4 ladies.

After a quick lunch, we head for an inviting ferry out to a rocky island where there is a memorial monument to the wandering monk Swami Vivekananda (1863-1902).


His period of wandering or "prabrajya" all over India is documented in some well preserved letters where he details his spiritual growth. He developed a synthesis between the tenets of Hinduism and concepts of social justice.

While visiting this part of India, he is said to have spent 3 days alone on this rock meditating on the message he was to deliver to an important comparative religion meeting in Chicago.

The place is windswept and packed with tourists, yet affords beautiful views and even quiet spaces. We met some lovely groups of Indian families on pilgrimage here from huge distances..

The second rock holds a colossal statue to the memory of the Tamil poet Thiruvalluvar. It is known as India's "Statue of Liberty".

After the rough crossing back to terra firma, we proceeded to the bathing ghats at the very tip of the promontory and waited for sunset sitting on a wall.
We were stared at and photographed many times.

We are not alone. There must be over two thousand people here today and there is a carnival atmosphere in the air. vendor selling every imaginable food and trinket.

There are bathers (mostly male) fully clothed and cavorting about in the surf. This very spot is a confluence of three seas - the Arabian Sea, the Bay of Bengal and the Indian Ocean. It boggles the mind just to think of this.




We get tired of sitting around and decide to go The sunset is not looking too promising at this point - the cloud cover is 80% and we cannot see the sun at all. Nobody seems to mind a bit.



We decide to go walkabout and explore a few more of the monuments which litter this area.






The memorial to the victims of the Tsunami monument is original and I quite like it. I think it is actually quite tasteful and discreet, though the travel guide book describes it as blasé. What do you think?

We make our way to the Gandhi memorial, which we intend to climb and from where we hope to view the sunset if there is one.

The ground floor of this Orissan style temple contains a rock, the plinth of which used to contain the Mahatma's ashes.

There is a hole in the ceiling through which the sun's rays penetrate on 2nd October - Gandhi's birthday - and fall on the stone. Ingenious.

We do climb the structure and there is a great view but the cloud cover has not shifted and we lose interest.

 Just as we are going down the stairs I look back to check we haven't left anything behind and the whole sky instantly flushes pink.

It is miraculous and stunning. We all retrace our steps and prepare for the light show.

Sunset extraordinaire

Getting better all the time!

It was well worth the wait!

After dark, we wander back through the bazaar and come across a lovely antique shop. Unusually, it is manned by an Italian, "Justo", who came to India years ago as a self-professed hippy, married a local and now is a well established tradesman.

He has a marvelous collection of mostly North Indian artefacts and I am very attracted by some wooden handblocks, a fine buddha's head and other curiosities.

He says he has closed his books for the night, so if we want to come back tomorrow we can chat further and maybe buy something. This removes the pressure on is and the girls feel free to come in and look at the nice pieces.

Justo shows us his top selling item - an antique brass lamp and demonstrates the method of lighting it. He turns the lights out and....


The effect is magical!