Rameswaram Kanyakumari Kochi

 This year, we could not celebrate Dashain. This was first time that I was away from my home during this festival. I was about to miss everything, and it was not just me alone. So, six of us, we planned to go for South India Trip! And this is how we went...










Day 1 Tuesday Sep 30

Early 8 AM we took our breakfast, we took it more than we required, so that we could store it for our lunch too, and then we left our hostel and headed towards Tirupati. The bus journey was kind of hectic, because we had to stand for more than 45 kms. The excitement of travelling however did not allow us to feel the tiredness within us. So, we reached Tirupati at around 11, where we took light snacks at the Railway station and waited for the train. The train was on time, and six of us got into the train. 

After taking snacks on the very first day at Tirupati

Since this was the very first train journey to three, their level of excitement was different. The funny part was a fat guy was scolding us in his own language. Now, we had no idea what he was saying to us, maybe he was confused with his seat, the nearby guy who was local tried to help us, but he could not understand the language as well. We could speak Hindi and English and he could not speak and understand any.

Our lunch, our breakfast, our dinner on train!

Later, the case ended without any understanding. Maybe it was not necessary to understand as well. We travelled through the junctions of Chittoor, Katpadi, and lot more. We ate bread and jam, and aalu paratha as well as daalmot chiura which we had prepared for our train journey along with tomato’s pickle! That was then time for sleeping there!

Day 2 Wednesday Oct 1

Day 2 began as soon as I noticed the train being stopped at around 11, I had no idea where the train was. So I did not bothered, all I had to care was my luggage because I seriously fear of luggage in train. So, by the time it was 5, the train was half empty because maximum of them got out at Madurai. That was a great town I suppose. Or maybe not, I have no idea!

Now the best part was, looking the island connecting through the bridge. This was total surprise for me, because first, I had never been to island earlier, and I had never seen bridge above sea! That was great! I probably could not stop my heavy eyes to open and stare completely both on my right and left. I kept on watching both sides as if I had never seen anything as such. Locals around were sure about it that I was new there, so they let me see roadway on the one side and huge sea on the other.

Peacocks were surrounding there. I had never seen peacocks in free state, because Jawalakhel’s zoo’s peacock was in prison. So we were on time, we reached Rameshworam at 8 AM. We had the idea about the places to visit there, as we had searched it from the very day we booked ticket, so we went searching for Bangur Dharmashala. They charged us IRs 350 per room, and we took two rooms and booked it. That was just right in front of main temple. We took our lunch there itself, that was comparatively cheaper and tastier, and then we headed towards Dhanus Kodi Beach.

Our room of DharmaShala

It was obvious that anything private, let that be auto or taxi would charge us high. So, all we did was figured out where the bus station was and then we took a bus which charged us Rs 10 for 20 km of distance. I tried to take short nap, but there was fish smell all over the bus, at first I had the doubt that all fishermen were in the bus, but later I found that entire village smelled. So, we went further, and every time I woke up from the nap, I figured out that there were interesting things around to see. Again, I could see peacocks thereby, I could see different flora and fauna there, but still my nap was dear to me! So we reached Dhanus Kodi beach.

This is the place from where Ram, Hanuman along with their army were believed to travelled to Lanka.

After dropping there, we found out the beach with waves, and it was marked as something ‘Dangerous’ and we were not allowed to get into it. However, there was a bus service that would take us through sand till the top most point where Ram Setu (the bridge that Hanuman made). The bus charge was expensive, but we could not take second thought so we got into the bus. With huge bumping, the bus took us to that place, it was probably named Ganesh Kodi  and to surprise, that was the part of the sea where there was no waves.

Hindu Tradition believes, that in order to cross the Sea, Ram settled down the aggressiveness of the sea and made it calm so that his army could cross it.

That was interesting! We could not see the stones that Hanuman created; however, we could walk above the layer that was not so deep. It was assumed that the stones were below it. We walked till our shorts did not get wet, and then returned back.

Stone that never drowns

My friend checking it!

On our way we could see Old Church, and the bus stopped at the place where the Stone was kept.

So, we reached back to Dhanus Kodi, and back to our Dharmashala again. It was around 4. We were tired, however, we thought of not sitting idle in the room that day too. So we went to Ramanathaswamy Temple that very day.

This temple is one of the Char Dham. After Ram killed Ravan, he was on his way back, and here he wanted to pray to Shiva to forgive his sins, that he killed Ravan, Brahmin. So, he sent Hanuman to fetch Shiva Linga. Hanuman was late, so Sita made it herself. This is the temple where Shiva Linga made by Sita as well as that brought by Hanuman can be found.

We were confused, as we had never been to such huge temple before. People were taking baths, and we had no idea from where to take bath, so we got a guide, paid him extra and then we took bath over 22 kundas, and then changed clothes and worshipped.

It was already late that day, still we took walk over, where we even found Nepali dharmashala. At first we regretted for not staying there, later we were happy of our choice because the dharmashala was in really poor state.

That night we took our dinner in the dharmashala itself and slept!

Day 3 Thursday Oct 2

We woke up morning at around 7. We had to check out at 8, so we got fresh as quick as possible and hence went out with our baggage. We kept our baggage in the locker nearby the temple and had South Indian Breakfast of wada with tea. After having the breakfast, we walked all the way to Agnitirtham. From that place, we walked to the temple where Ram left his footstep. It was believed that Ram checked if the bridge Ram Setu was constructed or not from there, because one can have a wide view of island from here. Coconut water was great here. From here, we could not get an auto to Laxman Tirtham, that was 5 km away, so we walked 2 km in the hot sun, that gifted us sun burn. We got an auto after that, and the auto took us to Laxman Tirtham where it was believed that Laxman took bath. Nearby there was Hanuman Temple with five faces. From there, we went to Abdul Kalam’s house on foot. How can Kalam’s brother run it? We were surprised to see his brother there, running shop above! Now, we got inside a hotel. It was Nawami in Nepal, and we got mutton dish, so we took it like anything. We missed Nepal though’. 

Wada, our breakfast

Agni Tirtham

Coconut Juice

Abdul Kalam's House

Our lunch that day

Now, we took a bus to the bridge, that connected the island. Indira Gandhi Bridge! We got out in the one corner, and walked till the end! This day’s movement in sun probably was the reason that made all of us so dark! The walk over the sea, connecting bridge was a dream for me, and I was walking. How lucky I was to see train crossing down at the railway line? There were peacocks adding glory to our walk.

We now returned back to the temple! There we stayed near Agni Tirtham watching the water for more than an hour. I heard Nepali voice, and there was a Nepali family who came to visit the place, I did not thought to talk, so they passed by talking Nepali. Later, things went on my mind, I should have talked, but what would I talk of if I talked?

By evening, we took our stuffs out of locker and moved to railway station! We had to catch train to Kanyakumari at 8.45, so we reached there on time at 7.30 itself. This was the place from where the train would move, the train was same that brought us from Tirupati till Rameshworam. We got inside, and then the day passed!

Day 4 Friday Oct 3

Early morning we were dropped at Kanyakumari at around 6. We had plans to stay at Vivekananda Ashram. We therefore moved towards it, and the rooms were all booked. So we could not get rooms there, we tried other places but they were out of our budget. Now, we realized that because of Dashain the place was overcrowded. We searched room like anything, an auto took responsibility for finding room if we got into his auto, so we went in. He took us almost to every hotel, and we could not get a hotel. Finally, at the time of check out, we got one room luckily, where we managed to stay six of us!

That was how Kanyakumari welcomed us!

After getting room, we took slight rest and then went to nearby Gujrati Dhaba and took our lunch. And then we moved towards the Triveni where Indian Ocean, Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea met. This was the first time I ever saw ocean. How can I separate it? They were the one who told it that it was Arabian Sea on this side, Bay of Bengal on this side and Indian Ocean in the front! We tried to play with the waves getting inside the water, but it was not so safe, nor so fun filled. And we got back to room, and I slept for couple of hours, to make sure that my rest is all done with.

That point where Bay of Begnal, Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean meets

Now we got set to move around, we went to the beach, famous church of that place, Mahatma Gandhi’s memorial, view tower and took walk around. We could not see the sunset, because of cloudy weather. We however were in mood to see sunrise the next day! We returned back to that Gujrati Dhaba again, and had our dinner and went back to room and slept. Oh yes! This was interesting part, I had Pen Drive in my purse, and had Nepali songs in it. We listened to Anil Singh, Kamal Khatri in our hotel there in Kanyakumari on Dashain’s eve!

Shine of our lady ransom

Mahatma Gandhi's Memorial

Day 5 Saturday Oct 4

We had to check out at 8. We went early to see sunrise, and even planned to visit over the Rock Museum, but we were too late for the sun, and because of Dashara the crowd was crowded, we therefore did not make plans to stay there in the queue and took a bus to the fort nearby. The fort was so clean and wonderful, on the back of the fort you could see waves of the sea, and the front was with well planned garden. We had to wait for the bus, from where we reached again to Kanyakumari Bus Stand. Now, we took next bus to Nagercoil, Oops! Two of our friends missed out! We dropped at Sriddhi Sai Temple, and there we watched the Madhyana Pooja.

Fort at KanyaKumari

View from the fort, the sea waves

Sriddi Sai Temple

Now, we took next bus again to Nagercoil, and dropped at the temple of Brahma Bishnu and Shiva (Suchindram Temple). There we had our dinner, and in leaf of banana! 

Temple of Brahma Bishnu and Shiva

Our lunch

That was amazing experience. Now we were done with this place, but we had our train at 9.45. What could we do? We watched few buses moving toward Nagercoil, and then caught one that had enough seats. We dropped at Nager Coil and spent more than 3 hours at Raja’s Mall. The mall was small, but we had no place to go besides railway station.

Our Dinner!

This is how my friends passed time on train!

Now, when it was 6, we went to railway station taking some roti and omelets with us. The station was fine one, focused on bio energy there. We waited for the train, and finally got the train there with us! We almost woke up whole night!

Day 6 Sunday Oct 5

The night was giving us burden, and we had to drop at 3.30 in the morning. We had no where to go, so we slept at the railway station that night. I remembered Dinesh Wagle’s blog, where he mentioned that he slept at stairs when he didn’t find room in hotels. So we were at new state of India, Kerela! Kochi’s Railway Station gave us good welcome there!

We walked in search of hotels, and we found one good and reasonable hotel there after 20 minutes of walk. Unlike Kanyakumari, here the demand was less and supply was high of hotel, so we easily found it. We got fresh, we wanted to sleep but we were not on the tour to sleep, so we took the bus to Alappuzha. Here we took our lunch, and that was seriously, horrible lunch for me! The grains of the rice were thick! The fish curry was so spicy, we could barely eat. But something good happened that day, despite of our low budget we planned to take a small boat with one small room and go on for boat. Someone told me that Kochi was like Venice, and here I got to feel the same. The boat travelled through small narrow path, and kept on moving showing the village life of places nearby. It moved on showing us the boat house, where one could spend their holiday package, staying on the boat, there itself it was like AC room, kitchen, and balcony. Honeymoon there would not be a bad idea either. We were fascinated seeing this side of the world. The driving continued till it met the lake, the back water boat ride was really so fun. And then, we dropped back after our 2.5 hours of boat ride, and caught bus. It rained for a while we were in the bus. We went our room, got refreshed and then walked for Marine Drive. We almost forgot that our sleep was incomplete. The marine drive reminded me of that of Mumbai, however it was light, simple and fun. We heard Nepali voices on the street, but we were not sure who they were.

Boat that we took

Me driving the boat

Boat house! Oh! That was expensive for us!

Houses that we could see on the way!

Boat House... closer view

So, my friends on the terrace of the boat!

Susant and Amish enjoying the scenes from the boat!

Marine Drive

This is how my friends click photos!

That evening we had dinner chapatti and omelets and then slept so wild!

Day 7 Monday Oct 6

We woke up at 7, that was early, and intentional because we had limited time to spend there. We checked out of hotel after getting fresh! And then we moved towards the ferry service, taking it till fort. Now we were surprised to see the queue thereby. The charge was so low, however the queue was long. We some what managed to get our ticket, and on the way we could see big ships that we had never seen earlier. We thought of returning from there by 12, so that we could visit the largest shopping complex there, after all we thought it was a fort. But, the place was so amazing that we had to take cycle to get around the place. Our hungry stomach remained silent, seeing the Chinese Fish Net there. We took cycle and went around, we saw Jew’s community there, we then saw the palace there. We went to the beach, that was dirty indeed. On our cycling, we heard few Nepali slang words in the hotel thereby.

Chinese Fishing Net

Hotel where we heard Nepali Voices

Palace

Beach

Princess Street

Jews Community

Jews Community

After ending our cycling, we went to that very hotel where we heard Nepali voices. That was from people nearby Darjeeling. Those people were from village near Silgudi that was what they told us. We took our lunch at 2 there. We were so fascinated by the food that others were taking, so we could not stop ordering a medium sized fish, and four of us shared it! That was the best thing we did on this day, and best way to end the tour!

Fish that brought us to the end of tour!

Now, we realized that we were late, and there was huge queue to ferry. We had to take help of local who were in the front side of the ferry for extra ticket. Thank God! They bought us ticket, but only for two! It was me and my friend who went on the first trip, worried what the others four would do. They did the same, and bought four tickets asking help from people who were in the front. If we had to stay in the queue, we were sure that we would miss the train!

So in a rush we rushed to the train station, in auto after getting out. We got the platform quick, and after waiting for a while we got inside the train! We got the train, and there ended the tour formally.

We again ate our own dalmot chiura and achari and slept!

Day 7 Tuesday Oct 7

We woke up at 3, and then waited for Katpadi station. We got out of train at 3.45 and took bus till our hostel at around 5. We spent some time wandering here and there at station there. We reached hostel at 6. I opened my facebook, checked in my tweets, checked my gmail account, and then slept till 12 in the hostel! There ended the tour!

I know I have missed a lot here! Sorry if I made it a boring one! All the photos are my collection!

#Tourdesouthindia2014