Where three seas meet. Where three faiths meet. Where three great men of India are honored.
I am sure there are other trinities that can be mentioned of Kanyakumari. In fact, I am sure to be forgetting something and will be reminded later. (Incidentally, on one of the
Memorable Stops between Kanyakumari and Trivandrum, we stopped at Suchindram Temple in Nagercoil which highlights the Hindu Trinity; Shiva, and Brahma.)
We came to Kanyakumari on an overnight trip from Trivandrum. Krishna decided he would drive us both back and forth. Of course, he has driving experience in India as he grew up in Delhi, but not much in Kerala, yet. For instance, once he wanted to take a right, he stopped at the intersection letting the traffic on the main road clear so he could enter. Vehicles began slowing down wondering what was wrong. Usually the person on the side street inches out into the traffic and others on main roads yield in some way to the merging traffic, so very few actually come to full stops at intersections (maybe, unless there is a traffic signal). So, of course I knew I was up for an adventure.
The 105 kilometer (about 65 miles) journey was proposed to take about 2.5 hours. I believe it took us between 3- 3 ½ hours. We were told we would be on a highway, but only about a quarter mile of this ‘highway’ was clear of people, animals, had more than one lane and was easy to navigate. The rest of the highway was a bit more interesting to navigate- many times a question to the men on the sides of the road were a better gauge to where we were going than the signs- which incidentally were generally posted after they were required!
So, we landed in Kanyakumari around lunch time and checked into the Hotel Sea View. We were lucky enough to have a great room with a sea view four floors up.
After freshening up and eating a late lunch, we headed to the queue for the ferry to Vivekananda Rock and Thiruvalluvar Statue, two memorials off the coast of Kanyakumari, only accessible by boat.
Vivekananda was a great devotee of Ramakrishna and had traveled throughout India in the 1890’s making his way from Calcutta to the southern most tip of India, here at Kanyakumari. Here, he swam from the coast to the then barren rock island where this memorial now stands. His purpose was to meditate and pray to God and Sri Ramakrishna. In his meditations there, Sri Ramakrishna came to him and encouraged him to ‘go west’ to spread the beauties of Hinduism. Vivekananda is famous for coming to U.S. in the 1893, talking about Hinduism at the World’s Parliament of Religions at the World’s Fair in Chicago. He extensively traveled through the U.S. throughout different parts of the 1890’s to teach and enlighten people. He is hailed for being the first to come to the West and teach about Hinduism and from then Westerners took the faith and culture a bit more seriously than before his teachings.
It is at this rock memorial many come to feel the vibrations of his meditations and the messages of ‘Unity in Diversity’ and Vedanta that Vivekananda spoke of and learnt from Sri Ramakrishna. There are two massive buildings, one which has a bottom level and has a meditation hall. The three oceans- Indian, Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal converge here and produce cacophonous waves that continuously hit this rock island. The sounds outside are 
so overpowering it is hard to hear others talk or to ‘hear yourself think,’ but inside this meditation hall, you can not even hear a pin drop. It is indeed an amazing place. We were one of the last ones to enter and exit the island on this day as we took the last ferry in and out, so we had a chance to roam around when the place was slightly empty. Another item of mention on this rock is an old fashioned sun dial. It is no ordinary sundial, though, as it is an international sun dial! (Photo provided by Krishna Kumar. Click on it to see larger size.)
From Vivekananda Rock, the ferry takes you to the Thiruvalluvar Statue. It is 133 feet high. The number 133 was chosen as Thiruvalluvar is a famous poet who wrote the Thirukkural, famous, ancient Tamil poetry written in 1330 couplets under 133 chapters, each having 10 verses. We definitely did not have enough time to appreciate the full beauty of this statue as we were quickly shooed off the island before sunset.
It is true that as many before may have written in Kanyakumari diaries, there can be improvements made to the ferry carting people back and forth between the shore and the two islands. It was quite an adventure in itself as the boat landings do not efficiently connect to the islands with a ramp of any type. I remember jumping between the boat and the island and with the water in that area so choppy and a gap between the boat and the rock island, many of us were curious on how to make it on the rock or back in the boat. We all, of course made it without incident.
Of course, back on land the sun was about to set, and we were eagerly waiting to see if we would be one of the lucky ones to see the sunset. We were told that sunsets and sunrises are clearly visible only a handful of times a year. With our track record of sunset and sunrise viewing, the chances did not seem good. We stuck around on the rocky beach, taking photos of the waves and the pending sunset. Again, proving our track record to be right on mark, we were welcomed into the darkness of Kanyakumari by low lying clouds that prevented a clear view of the sunset.
From here, our guide then took us to the beach park and we saw the Tsunami memorial, the children’s park and the exterior of the Kanyakumari temple. The one photo we missed clicking was a sign in Tamil that said ‘Do not urinate on the side of the temple’ accompanied by a silhouette of a man urinating with a circle and a slash mark through it indicating the same for those unable to read. Of course, not far from this sign a person was urinating on the wall of the temple compound. We tried to enter the temple, but since they don’t allow cameras and Krishna was not appropriately dressed (some temples near the border of Tamil Nadu and Kerala require men to go in shirtless, though they can wear trousers, unlike in Kerala where men must go in shirtless with dhoti), we did not enter.
Since it was dark at this time, we decided we’d retire to our room for the night and have our dinner. We tried a local restaurant recommended by our guide in the tourist area of Kanyakumari. I forget the name of this place now, but we were not impressed. With the number of tourists coming through, I am surprised they serve anyone but locals. I am sure the food would have been tasty, but they made us wait along time, gave us menus, but after ten minutes did not wait on us, and when anyone in the establishment tried talking to us, they appeared not to know English. As Seinfeld would say, “That can’t be good for business… that can’t be good for anybody!” In fact, let’s replace the ‘anybody’ in that sentence with ‘tourists.’ Because of this experience, we ‘took all our meals’ in the hotel itself. The hotel had a nice mix of Tamil, North Indian and Indian Chinese dishes to choose from, so there was no lack of variety, where as that restaurant only had Tamil food.
We awoke after five am in hopes to see a Kanyakumari sunrise over the ‘Triveni’- the place
where the three oceans meet (sangam): The Indian Ocean, The Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal. Waking can be challenging so early without the taste of a good cup of South Indian filter coffee, as they say, ‘When in Tamil Nadu, do as the Tamils do.. .’ Ok, they don’t really say that, but I digress. Calling on room service was simple enough. Up came the boy with a carafe of coffee, two tumblers, and extra sugar. We finished the two cups each in no time and wanted more. Of course, the tumblers are miniscule in comparison to the monstrous ‘small’ sizes we find in U.S. We called him up again, and again our room was filled with the smell of fresh brewed filter coffee as the sun began to show signs of greeting us for the day. As the carafe was barely opened, we closed it tightly to retain the heat and immediately collected the photography equipment and went up to the hotel’s rooftop and set it up. As we eagerly awaited and prayed we again may be lucky enough to see sun on the horizon, the clouds because as heavy as our wishes for a clear sky and we had to search for the sun through the clouds. This, of course means we must come back again!
We went back to the room, had our still piping hot coffee and readied for our day. After a marvelous breakfast, of which I partook in Pongal Sambar in Tamil Nadu for the first time since 2001, we packed up our goods, placed them in our car and found our guide to finish our second day on the town.
We went back to the beach and saw all the things we saw last night, but in the light of day. Things definitely looked more interesting in the day time. From the beach, I wanted to find an Arun ice cream shop as I remembered seeing on the corner of two streets in Kanyakumari. We searched for about 10 minutes, and were unable to find it. So, we went to Gandhi Mandapam, a memorial near the coast. This building is an architectural marvel. It has a similar message to the Vivekananda Rock- “Unity in Diversity.” The building is constructed from three spiritual traditions- Hinduism, Christianity and Islam. Maybe we can return to Kanyakumari for a sunrise or sunset some upcoming year on the date of October 2nd. This is the date of Gandhi’s birthday, and is a national holiday in India; in some places it is called Gandhi Jayanthi. It is on this day that the architectural brilliance of this building is really illuminated- literally. It is said that October 2nd the light shines in at such an angle that they fall on the spot inside where Gandhi’s Urn was previously kept. It’s amazing that they can actually calculate this so precisely.
For me, it’s been a seven year wait to see Kanyakumari. After leaving India in 2001, I never thought I’d make it here to this part of Tamil Nadu. It proves life is long, and we can never expect what we will experience. So, if we may get a chance to visit this area again. If we do, I hope we can see a sunrise or sunset over the tricolor Triveni (Yes, another trinity- where the three seas meet, three colors of water can be seen.), spend more time on Vivekananda Rock, possibly visit a church in Kanyakumari as seen in the photos of the cityscape, visit the wind farm near Kanyakumari and the fort Vattakotti fort.
Part 13 in Series: Kerala 2007
See our Kanyakumari Photos Here.
Related Posts: Hotel Sea View (outside website) | Dress Code in Kerala Temple
Related Sites: Who photographed the Kanyakumari sunset? | The Rhythm of Kanyakumari | Hotel Sea View | Ramakrishna | Vivekananda Memorial | Swami Vivekananda | Kanyakumari Town | Thiruvalluvar Statue
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