Malabar Coast - August 2005 - Kanyakumari

Well, I found some pieces of paper on which I had scribbled about the last leg of the trip. Not complete by any means, so I am trying to reconstruct whatever I remember. Remember the famous quote? “Like all great travelers I have seen more than I remember and remember more than I have seen”. Ha ha! Anyway, continued from the previous posts ..

14th August, 2005
Woke up early to the crowing of the rooster and set off from Palmgrove. I will surely love to come back to this place someday. Walked long, almost to the jetty, before I got an autorickshaw for the station. Alleppey station is a tiny neat station. I met Auriley there, she was traveling to Kochi and then further north.
As I was still undecided, I bought a ticket till Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum) and boarded the next train. Should I drop by at Varkala? Then I should get down at Kollam and take a bus to Varkala. I decided to go to head for Kanyakumari instead. I would go to Trivandrum and take a train to Kanyakumari. The novelty of the thought of being at Kanyakumari, the southern most tip of the mainland, on Independence Day must have influenced the decision. Little did I know of things to come...
Train to Trivandrum took about 3 hours from Alleppey. Found out that the next train to Kanyakumari is at 2:15 pm. It was 11:30 and good couple of hours to kill. Called Sebin, who came and picked me up at the station and we went to a place close by for a quick beer and lunch. Yummy fish curry rice! It was good to meet Sebin after so long, since his Bangalore days. He is now part of the MSG (married and settled group) and has a baby.
Train to Kanyakumari was absolutely empty. Reached just before the sunset and headed straight to sunset point. Sunset was beautiful, its quite something. People say that you can see the colors of the 3 ocean waters (Bay of Bengal, Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea), but there were more colors during the sunset that you can imagine. Awesome but sunset point usually gets swarmed by people, I thought of finding a better and deserted spot along the coast next day.
What followed next was a complete shocker! Autorickshaw driver told me that “single” person was not allowed at all in any hotel. What!! I found it hard to believe! Apparently cops had instructed all hotel owners not to allow any single Indian traveler!!!! What bullshit! Reasons? Never got any valid reasonable answer! Common answers being
- Suicide. Apparently people come here to commit suicide in this holy place. Joint suicide cases are improbable! Single person – yes!
- LTTE. What a stupid stupid reason. One hotel owner even looked at me suspiciously and asked to get “No objection certificate” from the local police station. Never mind that I didn’t speak Tamil or Sinhalese!
- Oh! The rule didn’t apply for single “foreigner”!

Mohit had traveled to Kanyakumari only a few days back, he never mentioned any such thing! Even offering valid, authentic identification in forms of driving license, credit card etc would not help! I went from place to place, and everywhere it’s the same. I had called KTDC kerela house but I was sent back from there as well, albeit having a note from KTDC Kollam. Imagine, 58 years of independence and we are far far away from being free. Isn’t this a clear violation of article 19A of the constitution by which any citizen of India is allowed to travel and stay anywhere in India? After a long days travel, last thing I wanted is to go to the local police station, arguing with cops, (who would haggle for money of course) and having to answer questions where I didn’t need to. Finally found a lodge, courtesy the autorickshaw driver. 250 Rs for the crappiest of a room! Dark, dingy, dirty, no window! What a rat hole! One ventilator of size of a pipe. Gas chamber or what? Less said about the loo/bathroom the better; I shuddered at the thought of taking a bath or a dump there! (But I had to .. )

I needed to find a bar real quick. Thought the best option is to get drunk before returning to the room. Found one, where the captain, Peter, seemed like a nice person. The bar seemed quite popular, assuming from the crowd there, coming for a quick drink! Zig zag lighting decors at the bar counter, playing “I am a Barbie girl” and other songs of AQUA endlessly in a loop! Anyway, better than the permit rooms! They must have paid a lot to Amma to get persmission! Oh! Not to mention, the numero uno drink around this place seemed to be Brandy. They even have “brandy shops” here! Some interesting drink I saw at the menu - MGM vodka, and a cocktail of black grapes with MGM Vodka! MGM vodka is manufactured somewhere in Coimbatore, by “Shivas Regal”. I avoided that!
(However, later in life, I had the opportunity of trying MGM vodka at Masinagudi. That’s a different story)
Interesting glow sign in front of hotels – “Chinese music at bar”! Whatever that meant.

Had a nice Malabar fish curry rice dinner. I was still cribbing and wondering what made a phirang passport valid and an Indian DL invalid for purpose of a room here. Thought Kerela and Goa was pro-phirang in attitude than other states but Kanyakumari is surely changing and not for the better. Would advice all travelers to book by phone in advance.
Oh! Subrato became father of a baby girl today. Would he name her “swadhinata”?

15th August, 2005
I had a horrible night’s sleep. Anyway, got up early to see the sunrise, and that had immediate effect on me. I forgot about all the indifferent behaviors, and the sleepless night and the bed-bugs, I was full of energy! I went walking down the streets about the temples. And all of a sudden decided to go visiting the famous Kanyakumari temple. No, I didn’t have to stand in queue, there were priests wanting to make some quick bucks, who would make all the arrangements like getting flowers and other offerings to the Goddess, avoiding long queues, escorting though the mazes of the temple etc etc. Yeah, moved about bare-chested and did all the “shashtang pranams”. Then I went on to see the Gandhi memorial, the “Bharat Mata” statue. Took a boat to the Vivekananda rock. It was bliss. Looking at both sides the mainland coast from the furthest point (not exactly) evoked some indescribable feelings on day when I think we want to feel bit Indian! I bought Swami Vivekananda’s Chicago speech and set on the steps reading it. It’s a beautiful place, peaceful, the strong wind blowing and the grand views. Atop the adjacent rock, Tamilnadu tourism is building another such memorial for “Tiruvalluvar” and a gigantic statue adorns it.


When I got back to the jetty, I tried to find out about the "medicinal hill". Legend has it that Lord Hanuman carried the “Vindhamadhav parvath” to Lanka, because he didn’t recognize the medicinal plant that was to cure Laxman, after he was stuck down by Indrajeet, Ravana’s son. While Hanuman was carrying the mountain, part of it chipped off and fell somewhere around here and a hill was created. Supposedly there are few caves in the hills where all the “sadhus” stay and it is quite a treacherous trek to the top. The hill is also inhabited by poisonous snakes and insects and it is also supposed to be a medicinal goldmine, which the sadhus can administer. I asked around but none seemed to know about the hill. One person gave some vague direction towards Nagercoil but seemed unconvincing. The tourism department clerk seemed to know none of it (my communication sucked but why would you put someone who doesn't speak english/hindi there?)! I tried calling few of my Tamil friends but none knew about such a place.
(I found out later that it is called “Maruthuvazhmalai” hill and does exist near kanyakumari)

I came back to the hotel and enquired about my bus ticket which I had asked one of the travel agencies to book. I learned that only Tamilnadu state buses were available till Chennai. The thought about spending the night again in the room psyched the hell out of me! The train to Bangalore, Island Express, was leaving in less than 20 mins and all of a sudden, I decided to take it. Took an autorickshaw to the station, but I would not get any reservation, hence was forced to buy a general compartment ticket. It’s a long long journey of 20 hours to Bangalore! All the fatigue seemed to cover me just at the thought of traveling in the unreserved compartment. I got in one of the reserved compartments and found a seat which was meant for someone getting up from Ernakulam, which would only come at 8 pm. It was a long weekend and hoards of people were returning to Bangalore and the train was packed. Soon the usual story of haggling between unrelenting TT and stoic unreserved compartment traveler followed at Trivandrum and beyond. After much pestering, TT took the extra reservation charges and allowed me his seat. No sleeping berth, only a seat to sit on. The benevolent great Indian railways. Later in the night, one railway policeman came and dragged me off my seat, threw my bag onto the floor, and even after showing him the paper which TT had issued to me, refused to allow me my entitled seat, and sat down his fat ass on it and went about snoring. Knowing well that he can easily harass me to no ends, I digested the insult, and sat down at the door. There were many like me, sitting on the floor, and all around. In the morning, when I got down at Bangalore station, just for fun, I told the policeman that I am going to complain to the station master about him, to which he shouted some obscenities to me in Tamil. I gave some back and before he could react, got lost in the crowd.