So the next day I woke up at 5:00 AM, to go to the temple to witness the early morning procession… I quickly left towards the temple, but before that I had to check out the sea shore, which I hadn’t checked out the earlier night. Surprisingly when I started walking towards the temple… it didn’t even feel like 5:00 AM,  it was just like I was there the night before… People buzzing with chants, talking to each other, some groups of old ladies chanting mantras and singing their kirtanas… Rickshaw drivers waiting outside the temple, for people who are moving out… For them it was a routine… And why wouldn’t it be? This happens everyday out there…

 

Anyways I headed to the bus stop, not surprisingly, the rickshaw driver who was going to drop me today didn’t answer his calls, so I didn’t waste anymore time and decided to head off to the bus stand in another auto…

 

So here I’m at the bus stand and the only bus that goes to Kanyakumari is right there… And boy, was it a bus or what… A SETC ordinary bus, which was going to fill up loads of luggage of all the people going to Kanyakumari and it didn’t even have a luggage compartment at the back… The only one that was available was on the side.. Which mean’t my 20 KG something backpack would have to be crammed beneath the bottom of my seat.. Thankfully the guy sitting next to me didn’t mind and I was sorted…

 

After a gruelling long journey of 9 hours, mostly sleeping, some reading the book Tokyo Cancelled and some tweeting and facebooking, it was really amazing to reach Kanyakumari… Well, enroute Kanyakumari, you would find a lot of Windmills most of them by Suzlon power… a stock in which I used to invest once upon a time and then it fell.. 😦 Going by the looks of it, these windmills were there for a reason…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anyways as soon as you get off at Kanyakumari… it doesn’t feel anything like the  Kanyakumari you have imagined… the bliss, the enchantment and the convulsion of the tri-sea… The whole picture that you have about it, vanishes in seconds… It’s become a hub for all commercial dwellers… Most of the restaurants where I was staying are run by north indians, marwaris etc.. serving Punjabi food, heck I even ate at a place called ‘Punjabi Dhaba’ just near Hotel Sea View… enroute the sunrise point.

 

Now, speaking of the hotel that I stayed in… the biggest challenge out here arrives… Securing a hotel room because I’m single.. No I didn’t mean my marital status or relationship status on Facebook… I was alone.. 1 guy!! Yes, travelling like a nomad wanderer for 10 days, I hadn’t shaved and definitely looked like a terrorist with loads of weapons in my backpack 😛 Well anyways, seemingly as imagined, just like Rameshwaram, Kanyakumari also has a directive from the cops/govt. not to give accommodation to ‘single guys.’

 

So yes, it had to do with the high sensitivity around the area with the Sri Lanka issue… I was also told stories by some in Rameshwaram that there have been cases of guys who had come alone… and committed suicide in Lord Rama’s sharan… to get eternal bliss… What the hell… I just looked at myself in the mirror… Heck I certainly look like both of these potential cases… Damn, first thing I’m gonna do is get a shave… 🙂

 

Anyways, after loooking around for half an hour, carrying the heavy backpack on my back and shelling out a few extra bucks, I got myself a room.. decent enough, but not certainly for the price I paid Rs. 1200… woah… there goes my budget and I’m already two days behind now.. Most probably, will have to skip Kodaikanal…

 

So I settled down and decided to go out in the evening and get some nice shots of the beach to calm my mind especially after the rough ride that I had been through, esp with the constant honking of the bus driver as I was sitting a couple of seats right behind the driver…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, I visited the Mahatma Gandhi Mandapam and if you go the top section, you can get really great views of the ocean that sets you apart from all the madness of the world… An enchanting bliss with the breeze blowing in my face, made my irritation vanish in seconds… I was feeling much lighter and much better now… Certainly a Kanyakumari that I had imagined and hoped to look forward to early in the morning the next day… especially the Vivekananda Memorial Rock… I heard it is blissful 🙂