What can I say, I had been to this place last year, but I just had to go see it again. So I boarded the express at 5:40 in the evening and was at Kanyakumari at 7 next morning. I knew just where I was headed, the same hotel I had boarded at last time, only this time I was staying alone, but they don’t have any single rooms, so took a double room at 500 per night. Took a shower, a quick sandwich and set out. Unlike the last time when it was raining, this time there were no clouds in the sky, ergo, the cap and sunscreen were on. The Vivekananda rock memorial ferry line seemed a mile long, and I had to wait for almost 45 minutes before it was my turn to board the ferry.
The ferry takes a nice 10 minutes to get you to the rock memorial about 300 meters into the sea. The nice sea breeze, and the small ferry (carrying about 60-70 people I guess) jumping up and down on the waves, all makes for a nice waterborne trip. I’m afraid of water and don’t know how to swim, so anything which keeps my journey on water to within lifeguard distance from shore, I enjoy. But here I do have to mention one important point, there were absolutely no good looking females on my ferry, none, zilch, and to rub salt to wound, I saw a whole group of young girls boarding the ferry when I returned back to shore. There really is no justice in this world.
Anyway, the memorial has a couple of temples erected now, its like a big rock in the sea which has a couple of structures on it. Obviously I did not study which deities are inside, but I did sit for a good 20 minutes inside a nice meditation room that they have there. It’s a dark room with the Om sign in front, and obviously you have to keep quiet. The afternoon heat was a bit too much to handle, so I clicked snaps from whatever shade I could find, but eventually I would end up standing next to the railings at the edge of the rock memorial. You get the best view, just nothing but empty sea in front and the breeze trying to knock you, well, at least your cap over. From here you can just about see the entire KK shoreline, I could see the stony piers, the church at the end of it, the shore temple and the old lighthouse beyond the bend. I sat here and enjoyed the view for a very long time, then took the ferry to the Thiruvallur statue next door (about 30 meters away). The giant statue again looks majestic standing out into the sea, staring back at the Indian landmass.
The last time the statue was closed for renovation, but this time it was open, so I climbed up the inner steps to the feet of the statue, that’s till where you’re allowed to go. But even this height matches the top of the rock memorial, so it really is quite something. Had a quick meal after returning, and then ventured out into the evening, I wanted to hit the old lighthouse. Believe it or not, this became my favorite spot in KK, and I visited this place once more the next morning. Its nothing great, situated about 200 meters from the shore temple, the about 7-8 storey high lighthouse is not in use anymore. It’s a place rarely any tourist frequents, so it’s a great place to be alone and just take in the beauty around you. You can get an entry ticket for just 3 Rs, and then hike up the winding stairway (not steps, a gradient) with the wind rushing in from all sides. From the top you can look down on the waves breaking on the rocky beach, the memorial and statue in the distance, as well as the beautiful greenish tinge of the sea in front of you. I played with the wind, and let it play with my tee for some time before heading down. In another hour it would be getting dark, so I headed towards my other favorite destination here, the end of the stony pier.
Now, there are a few stony piers farther away as well, but this one is closest to the town , and well, again, has almost noone on it. So I cross the ferry booking gate, and walked through the local fishermen houses next to the sea to get to the pier. Its about 400-500 meter long, jutting out into the sea, bending slightly mid-way. It’s a little tricky because it get splashed with some waves, not very big ones though, and the closely arranged big rocks can get a bit slippery. I did see a couple walking back, but for the rest of the 1.5 hour I was there, I met noone else. I walked down to the very end of the pier and looked back at the beautiful town, with the sun almost down behind it. Before I could decide to turn around and sit down, a wave splashed in to the rocks behind me, and sprinkled a generous dose on my backside as well. I decided that this was where I wanted to sit, so for the next 40 minutes I sat enjoying the place, with the waves splattering me with water, as if giving me company.
The next morning I got up at 5 am as I wanted to see the sunrise, the waiter came to wake me up at 5:30, and I had to reluctantly tip him 20 bucks. I spent the first 30 minutes on the hotel roof, where I could see the dark sky still very much there. I then decided that the shore temple would be a much better place to witness the sunrise, and what do you know, there are already almost 150-200 people on the shore. I joined the horde with my camera in hand, ready to click the moment the sun came out, which happened after 20 minutes. It’s a sight completely breathtaking, you see the sun rise out from behind the rock memorial and Thiruvallur staute, the silhouettes making it even more amazing. After I had visited the old lighthouse again, I headed back to the hotel.
I enquired about the bus to Vattakottai, as there was the fort I wanted to see, and the owner told me that he could arrange a cab and guide for a nice sum, but I decided to take the bus instead. Caught the bus at the bus stand very close to the hotel and after a 25 minute ride for the 10 km or so, I got down at Vattakottai. I confirmed the stand thrice from my fellow passengers as I was the only one getting down, and the bus stand is simply a small crossroad made up of small tea shops and general stores. Nothing here says bus stand. So I asked around for the fort, and set out on one of these roads. Turned out to be about 2-3 km to the shore and the fort, and it was blazing hot. The fort was almost like what I had read and seen on the net, a small rectangular wall, with the four corners having small elevated grounds, and a pond in the middle. Nothing else, but a few store houses, and a few workers working on renovation. I rested in the shade of neem trees at one of the corners and clicked snaps from there. I asked the caretaker of the fort on how to get to the beach on the right side of the fort, and he told me to walk around the fort next to the sea. I thought he was out of his mind, as I had not seen any route between the fort and the sea. I still decided t check it out, and on the left side I passed through the bushes for 60-70 meters, before I came to a path made up of big rocks next to the fort. Its about 10-12 feet wide on the outside, so was easy to cross over on to the other side, where the beach is quite serene and, again deserted. I guess noone makes it an effort to see this fort out of town, or the rocky beach on a sunny afternoon. I wanted to walk on the beach down to the settlements about a km or so away and the rocks over there, but a few more steps in the sun and sand and I was tired and dehydrated already. The only day that I venture out without water and there’s none to find in this deserted place. I walk back to the fort gate where there is a small water tanker, I don’t drink, rather I doused my head to keep it cool. Thankfully I find a shop on the route back, and its open, and serves maaza and cold water, heaven be praised. The dear shop lady even offered me a chair and switched on the fan, now that’s hospitality! In the 3 hours that I spent in the fort area, I saw just one jeep come with a coupe of people who left within 10 minutes, but if the weather had been nicer I would have spent some more time here. Even the hills on the other side of the road seemed quite alluring, but I had an evening train, and I got my rear back in the gear. Not surprisingly, I got a bus only after waiting for 20 minutes in the sun, but that still did not take away the high that this trip had put me on. If you want to go there, let me know, I’m game for a third time as well!
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Kanyakumari - The (UN)Planned? Adventure
DAY 1
18:30 Hrs - The markets had not witnessed a good day, with the overall index falling 11%, with the gloomy outlook reciprocated in the dark weather outside. The cats & dogs have just barely stopped dropping from the heavens, and its time to head out. The only problem is there is no f*$#@ booking on the trains, the buses, and I can’t believe this (even after extensively searching for the Kanyakumari specials) – no hotel booking. No problem, we decide to take the auto to the Koyambedu (I know, all kind of weird names will come up), but as all good things end up in shit, none of the dear m%#$@#fu%$ers are ready to go anywhere near our first destination. So we stand like 3 dicks in the light rain on the road, waving to every auto empty or full. And finally one of them decides to drop us off to the T Nagar bus stand (which is like 1.5 km from our office). With no choice left, we take him up on his offer, and the journey is on the road!!!!!
19:20 Hrs – we reach the T nagar bus stand with no idea whether we’ll be able to get a bus to Koyambedu (I really hate saying this word again and again). But our trusty guide Ashish tells us that there is in fact a bus plying from here to Koyambedu (here I go again!) and we get into the bus most jam packed on the bus terminus, but praise the holy god, it’s an AC service. So there we are crammed in a bus running at 2x its capacity (if only the flights could also be run this way, you’re pushing the guy next to you, while holding on during the take offs, there’s a thought. Could reduce a lot of their losses, and help them to reduce air fares without a hoot for ATFs. I’m planning to take the LCC model to a whole new ground breaking level here! Mallya here I come). But for the moment we are still in the bus which is trying really hard to bread the speed barrier for the slowest f*%$#ing time set on any trip. In all fairness to the driver, 1 feet rain water clogging all the roads, the holes in the roads, and the smaller vehicles holding up the proceedings hardly were a help.
Ashish was lucky to be standing on a small pedestal in the bus, as he missed the beautiful experience of all the sewer water coming into the bus, yes, inside the bus, even with the roads closed, while Vikas and I enjoyed having our shoes and socks completely soaked. And the bus is still going at 10 Km an hour. Finally about an hour later we decided it was enough as the bus was not moving at all in the traffic, so we got down and hiked it for 15 minutes, trying to avoid all the water once again, which was not quite easy to do. Our trusty guide (more like a brilliant hound with an extraordinary nose for direction) Ashish led us onwards, till we hit another long stretch of swimming pool on the road. We were standing right there at the crossroads, and we decided to jump into the next empty auto; Vikas and I were in no mood to treat our soddy feet to another taste of the water. So we sat in the auto for a 300 meter journey with our feet up to avoid the splashing water from all sides.
21:00 Hrs – we finally reach the famed KOYAMBEDU bus stand, where we should have been an hour back atleast. So we decide to approach the touts for the bus tickets, and, well no surprise, there are no tickets available for KK, the only thing available is Madurai, which we are told is like 5 hours from KK. We try a few of the tour operators in the shops and it’s a f*%$#ing cartel, no seats for KK. So we take the only available non-a/c seat for Madurai, and get the last seats, literally the last ones! And we wait for the next 45 minutes for the bus to get filled up enjoying the humidity after the rains and donating our blood for the poor hungry mosquitoes.
22:00 Hrs – finally the driver decides he’s good and ready to put his foot to the accelerator and we’re offffffffff, well once again trying to match a snail’s pace, covering a whole km in an hour. And just when you think that the bus ride couldn’t be more enjoyable – the unthinkable happens – the only hole that scores of vehicles ahead of us had avoided, well our brilliant driver decides to test that one with the wheels of our bus. No surprise, the tyre gets wedged in the hole and the engine gives way. The driver tries in vain time after time to resuscitate the engine, but it just won’t start up. So there we are stranded right in the middle of the road, with traffic moving slowly and slowly around us as the driver calls for backup. The backup arrives in the form of a motorcycle bearing the mechanic, who tinkers around for 20 minutes and he too decides that the bus is not going anywhere for some time. And then inexplicably the mechanic and driver both ride off into the twilight on the bike, leaving all of us stranded there. And all of this reminds us that we were supposed to eat something, its been since more than 8 hours since we ingested anything, and in all our running around, we had skipped dinner altogether. But like all amazing places in south India, nothing is open after 9:30. We roam around here and there, but the only thing that is open at this hour is the police station, and none of us is crazy enough (YET!) to go inside there and break bread with them.
So we wait with growling stomachs for the return of the driver, and this was the time that our unified front started to show chinks of weakness – 3 different views surfaced from 3 minds, the first one (Vikas) spelling out that we call for call cab and get our asses back to our beds in dear city Chennai (it suddenly sounded so sweet a name), the second one (Ashish) asking us to wait for some more time and then decide, and the third one (Saubeer) saying that we head back to the bus stand 1 km back and get a bus to Pondicherry (which would be a 2 hour bus journey) for the morning. Well, we decided to go with the second view for the time being, and the mechanic did come back with some spare piece of machinery which he replaced, and praise the lord, the slumber-fed beast that was to transport us to Madurai roared back to life.
DAY 2
01:30 Hrs – its already 130 in the morning on day 2 and we’re still very much within the city limits, so I guess the trip is going well. With empty stomachs and the back seat ride with all the holes in the road not helping, sleep is not easy to come, though Vikas is enjoying a deep slumber and Ashish is also tucked in the other corner along with a fat chap. Eyelids finally drift closer and closer, till its 4 hours later and the bus makes its first pit stop at a highway-side recluse. When I say recluse, I meant a place for, well, I forgot I was sleepy, I just remember I went to the bathroom, did I pee? Don’t remember, and we picked up some biscuits to nibble on. And then we were back on the metal chariot that was our ride.
06:00 Hrs – I wake up, am never able to sleep for long periods of time on bus rides. Ashish and Vikas are still very much in dreamland, but the weather outside looks awesome, dark clouds still there bringing a little smell of the rain and damp soil. We’re still going through the never ending road, took a few snaps and finally rested back on my (is it still there?) spine.
10:00 Hrs – The bus driver makes a second pit stop in some town, don’t ask me the name, almost all the boards on the shops are in a language long forgotten by my ancestors (if they ever used it). Vikas and I had no intention to get off into the blazing sun, so it was up to Ashish to get us some food. He was the only one who had the sense to wear floaters while we picked out shoes with mile long laces for the trip. So we had a hearty breakfast of some pakodas and Ashish downed his third coconut water of the journey. The first base camp, that is Madurai, is still 70 odd km away, which we reckon we can reach in another couple of hours, so we sit back and try to enjoy ourselves with the beautiful scenery, rather the lack of it. All I could see were hilltops in the distance, but the terrain was no heavenly lush green, just a light green.
12:00 Hrs – The driver decides he needs to earn a little bit more commission for this trip so he makes a third pit stop, and Ashish decides that it is time for a fourth Coconut water. While he is down, we’ve asked him to pick up something salty to sink our teeth into. But before Ashish can come back to the bus, it has somehow started to move, or is it my imagination? We scream at the driver to stop the roll forward, which he decides to do after 100 metres. And we’re looking back at where mister Ashish is, and we can see no sign of the chap. We do see another couple running towards the bus, but still no Ashish, and then you catch sight of, can it really be true, Ashish, MINUS the packet of chips he was supposed to pick up. And on top of that, he is walking like a leisurely walk in the park, until he sees the bus, when he breaks into a little jog. So, we’re still three out of three on the journey.
But the fun is far from over, as the driver decides he needs to take a break and hands over the steering wheel to his assistant, while he comes and sits next to Ashish, the seat having been vacated in the meantime. You can distinctly smell the booze that the driver had been drinking, and this is the guy who had been driving us for the past 12 hrs or so. I suddenly felt safe knowing that his assistant was driving, but that moment was short lived, as, half an hour later, the driver gets up and takes over the wheel again. We carry on for another half an hour of bumpy ride, only this time I’m holding on tightly to the sides of the seat, holding on for dear life, in the know that any moment now the driver could decide to reach behind his seat with both his hands to get that unfinished bottle and leave the bus on auto pilot. At times like this I get somewhat philosophical, and the question of religion and the presence of a higher power comes to mind. I can clearly see god and Lucifer sitting side by side betting over whether we will make it to our destination or not. I can see the wry smile on the dark one’s face, but I wonder has god really bet on our winning, ‘cos I don’t see any help from his side, or maybe the bet is what is the point at which we’ll give up and turn back or kill one of us. Hmm, the last thought does come to the mind.
13:00 Hrs – we finally hit Madurai, and I’m glad enough to kiss the ground (not YET!). We enquire for a bus to KK and the tout sells us a ticket for a semi-deluxe bus (it eventually turned out that the only add-on that the semi-deluxe had relative to the normal buses was a small extension of the seat which served as a head rest). We picked up 6 apples (health always comes first) and two cakes (junk food, though second, is equally important) for the 5 hour journey ahead. The bus finally leaves at 14:00 hrs and sit back for the fun filled ride, but apparently there is not much to do, we eat the 6 apples and the cakes and have a drink of the heavenly water and miraculously fall asleep counting the peacocks outside (yes, there will be peacocks, and there were lots).
17:30 Hrs – The first pit stop for this bus ride, we should be there in another half hour, but the distance seems to have gotten bigger, as the conductor tells us that there is still a couple of hours atleast left. Its close to 24 hours since we left the office yesterday and it still is nowhere near the place we want to be at. You can feel the cool damp air outside, and it starts raining as well, just what you need, if it continues to rain, we can’t even go out to look for a hotel room, which incidentally we haven’t booked.
I’m looking out at the big windmills now, and the picture of Don Quixote on Rozinante comes to mind, but even the old Don would’ve been too tired to do anything if he had a rickety bus as his steed for 24 hours. And just when you think it can’t get any worse, we’re there, no, hold it, the board says Nagercoil, not KK, what the f*#@ is going on? Well, it seems that the driver has decided that he will take up a siesta, even though it is way past afternoon. So we stop at 8 pm in the night at the Nagercoil bus stand, and then we go ahead and board our fourth bus for the journey. But this time we have come full circle, we are doing the exact same thing that we did on the first bus ride, sitting and watching the bus move slowly through the city, but to be fair, this city is not that big, neither is it flooded. So we make good progress, and its only one more hour to cover the 15 kms between the two towns.
21:00 Hrs – Success, we’re in KK, and would you believe it, the street lights are working here and some shops are open, god is gracious to us right now. But then again, we’ve no booking at all, so we do another few minutes of walking till we reach our hotel, the double room seems about okay so we take it for the day. And surprise surprise, the hotel’s in-house restaurant also serves north Indian food, (even gujarati, the board outside it proclaimed in bold letters). We were the only people in the place at that time, it was almost the time that the sleep clock of all the inhabitants in South India commands for a slumber. We ordered paranthas in true north Indian style and some daal, ecstatic at being able to find something to eat at this time, and that too North Indian (none of us was particularly inclined to go for any of the dosas that we had fled from in Chennai), but the pleasure was short lived as the waiter came back and informed us that the ‘tandoor’ was closed for the day. So it was plain chapattis, but as you can expect, they were a far cry from the ones made up North and the daal was, well it was different, not the different like Maggi tomato ketchup though. It was barely edible, but if you’ve lived on 2 apples, some soft cake and some biscuits for more than 28 hours, you’ll find even turd laced with frosting the best treat ever (Okay, maybe this last metaphor was a bit too much!!). It was close to 10 by the time we were through with dinner and Vikas and I decided to take a look around while Ashish decided to take care of all the coconut water that he was storing in his stomach. Another 15 minutes and we were out to enjoy the beautiful KK in all its glory, okay a little weird to go out at this time when there is absolutely no soul on the road, but after having traveled so long, I was really in no mood to even wait to change before exploring a little bit of this city.
The wind was laced with a few drops of the rain that was dropping just so lightly that there was no need to open the umbrellas we were carrying, so we had a little photo session in front of the lighthouse. Then we headed to the southern most tip of Indian mainland, the temple of …………., the path leading up to it still had a few headlights, the shops all had the covers down, and the beach right next to it looked totally beautiful. The combination of the dark sky, the sound of the rushing waves, the cool wind (it was rather a gushing gale which could tip a little child over, refreshing nevertheless), just the openness that you could feel as you gazed out into the dark sea standing out near the tip.
At this point as you can imagine, I’m speechless at the beauty of it all, the shadows of the temple and the huge state out in the sea, the lonely beach, the shimmering moonlight mixed with the lamps set up there, the amazing sea breeze, and not any f*%$#ing soul in the world there, this I guess is tranquility.
MAYBE next time, I’ll take an easier route, just maybe.
18:30 Hrs - The markets had not witnessed a good day, with the overall index falling 11%, with the gloomy outlook reciprocated in the dark weather outside. The cats & dogs have just barely stopped dropping from the heavens, and its time to head out. The only problem is there is no f*$#@ booking on the trains, the buses, and I can’t believe this (even after extensively searching for the Kanyakumari specials) – no hotel booking. No problem, we decide to take the auto to the Koyambedu (I know, all kind of weird names will come up), but as all good things end up in shit, none of the dear m%#$@#fu%$ers are ready to go anywhere near our first destination. So we stand like 3 dicks in the light rain on the road, waving to every auto empty or full. And finally one of them decides to drop us off to the T Nagar bus stand (which is like 1.5 km from our office). With no choice left, we take him up on his offer, and the journey is on the road!!!!!
19:20 Hrs – we reach the T nagar bus stand with no idea whether we’ll be able to get a bus to Koyambedu (I really hate saying this word again and again). But our trusty guide Ashish tells us that there is in fact a bus plying from here to Koyambedu (here I go again!) and we get into the bus most jam packed on the bus terminus, but praise the holy god, it’s an AC service. So there we are crammed in a bus running at 2x its capacity (if only the flights could also be run this way, you’re pushing the guy next to you, while holding on during the take offs, there’s a thought. Could reduce a lot of their losses, and help them to reduce air fares without a hoot for ATFs. I’m planning to take the LCC model to a whole new ground breaking level here! Mallya here I come). But for the moment we are still in the bus which is trying really hard to bread the speed barrier for the slowest f*%$#ing time set on any trip. In all fairness to the driver, 1 feet rain water clogging all the roads, the holes in the roads, and the smaller vehicles holding up the proceedings hardly were a help.
Ashish was lucky to be standing on a small pedestal in the bus, as he missed the beautiful experience of all the sewer water coming into the bus, yes, inside the bus, even with the roads closed, while Vikas and I enjoyed having our shoes and socks completely soaked. And the bus is still going at 10 Km an hour. Finally about an hour later we decided it was enough as the bus was not moving at all in the traffic, so we got down and hiked it for 15 minutes, trying to avoid all the water once again, which was not quite easy to do. Our trusty guide (more like a brilliant hound with an extraordinary nose for direction) Ashish led us onwards, till we hit another long stretch of swimming pool on the road. We were standing right there at the crossroads, and we decided to jump into the next empty auto; Vikas and I were in no mood to treat our soddy feet to another taste of the water. So we sat in the auto for a 300 meter journey with our feet up to avoid the splashing water from all sides.
21:00 Hrs – we finally reach the famed KOYAMBEDU bus stand, where we should have been an hour back atleast. So we decide to approach the touts for the bus tickets, and, well no surprise, there are no tickets available for KK, the only thing available is Madurai, which we are told is like 5 hours from KK. We try a few of the tour operators in the shops and it’s a f*%$#ing cartel, no seats for KK. So we take the only available non-a/c seat for Madurai, and get the last seats, literally the last ones! And we wait for the next 45 minutes for the bus to get filled up enjoying the humidity after the rains and donating our blood for the poor hungry mosquitoes.
22:00 Hrs – finally the driver decides he’s good and ready to put his foot to the accelerator and we’re offffffffff, well once again trying to match a snail’s pace, covering a whole km in an hour. And just when you think that the bus ride couldn’t be more enjoyable – the unthinkable happens – the only hole that scores of vehicles ahead of us had avoided, well our brilliant driver decides to test that one with the wheels of our bus. No surprise, the tyre gets wedged in the hole and the engine gives way. The driver tries in vain time after time to resuscitate the engine, but it just won’t start up. So there we are stranded right in the middle of the road, with traffic moving slowly and slowly around us as the driver calls for backup. The backup arrives in the form of a motorcycle bearing the mechanic, who tinkers around for 20 minutes and he too decides that the bus is not going anywhere for some time. And then inexplicably the mechanic and driver both ride off into the twilight on the bike, leaving all of us stranded there. And all of this reminds us that we were supposed to eat something, its been since more than 8 hours since we ingested anything, and in all our running around, we had skipped dinner altogether. But like all amazing places in south India, nothing is open after 9:30. We roam around here and there, but the only thing that is open at this hour is the police station, and none of us is crazy enough (YET!) to go inside there and break bread with them.
So we wait with growling stomachs for the return of the driver, and this was the time that our unified front started to show chinks of weakness – 3 different views surfaced from 3 minds, the first one (Vikas) spelling out that we call for call cab and get our asses back to our beds in dear city Chennai (it suddenly sounded so sweet a name), the second one (Ashish) asking us to wait for some more time and then decide, and the third one (Saubeer) saying that we head back to the bus stand 1 km back and get a bus to Pondicherry (which would be a 2 hour bus journey) for the morning. Well, we decided to go with the second view for the time being, and the mechanic did come back with some spare piece of machinery which he replaced, and praise the lord, the slumber-fed beast that was to transport us to Madurai roared back to life.
DAY 2
01:30 Hrs – its already 130 in the morning on day 2 and we’re still very much within the city limits, so I guess the trip is going well. With empty stomachs and the back seat ride with all the holes in the road not helping, sleep is not easy to come, though Vikas is enjoying a deep slumber and Ashish is also tucked in the other corner along with a fat chap. Eyelids finally drift closer and closer, till its 4 hours later and the bus makes its first pit stop at a highway-side recluse. When I say recluse, I meant a place for, well, I forgot I was sleepy, I just remember I went to the bathroom, did I pee? Don’t remember, and we picked up some biscuits to nibble on. And then we were back on the metal chariot that was our ride.
06:00 Hrs – I wake up, am never able to sleep for long periods of time on bus rides. Ashish and Vikas are still very much in dreamland, but the weather outside looks awesome, dark clouds still there bringing a little smell of the rain and damp soil. We’re still going through the never ending road, took a few snaps and finally rested back on my (is it still there?) spine.
10:00 Hrs – The bus driver makes a second pit stop in some town, don’t ask me the name, almost all the boards on the shops are in a language long forgotten by my ancestors (if they ever used it). Vikas and I had no intention to get off into the blazing sun, so it was up to Ashish to get us some food. He was the only one who had the sense to wear floaters while we picked out shoes with mile long laces for the trip. So we had a hearty breakfast of some pakodas and Ashish downed his third coconut water of the journey. The first base camp, that is Madurai, is still 70 odd km away, which we reckon we can reach in another couple of hours, so we sit back and try to enjoy ourselves with the beautiful scenery, rather the lack of it. All I could see were hilltops in the distance, but the terrain was no heavenly lush green, just a light green.
12:00 Hrs – The driver decides he needs to earn a little bit more commission for this trip so he makes a third pit stop, and Ashish decides that it is time for a fourth Coconut water. While he is down, we’ve asked him to pick up something salty to sink our teeth into. But before Ashish can come back to the bus, it has somehow started to move, or is it my imagination? We scream at the driver to stop the roll forward, which he decides to do after 100 metres. And we’re looking back at where mister Ashish is, and we can see no sign of the chap. We do see another couple running towards the bus, but still no Ashish, and then you catch sight of, can it really be true, Ashish, MINUS the packet of chips he was supposed to pick up. And on top of that, he is walking like a leisurely walk in the park, until he sees the bus, when he breaks into a little jog. So, we’re still three out of three on the journey.
But the fun is far from over, as the driver decides he needs to take a break and hands over the steering wheel to his assistant, while he comes and sits next to Ashish, the seat having been vacated in the meantime. You can distinctly smell the booze that the driver had been drinking, and this is the guy who had been driving us for the past 12 hrs or so. I suddenly felt safe knowing that his assistant was driving, but that moment was short lived, as, half an hour later, the driver gets up and takes over the wheel again. We carry on for another half an hour of bumpy ride, only this time I’m holding on tightly to the sides of the seat, holding on for dear life, in the know that any moment now the driver could decide to reach behind his seat with both his hands to get that unfinished bottle and leave the bus on auto pilot. At times like this I get somewhat philosophical, and the question of religion and the presence of a higher power comes to mind. I can clearly see god and Lucifer sitting side by side betting over whether we will make it to our destination or not. I can see the wry smile on the dark one’s face, but I wonder has god really bet on our winning, ‘cos I don’t see any help from his side, or maybe the bet is what is the point at which we’ll give up and turn back or kill one of us. Hmm, the last thought does come to the mind.
13:00 Hrs – we finally hit Madurai, and I’m glad enough to kiss the ground (not YET!). We enquire for a bus to KK and the tout sells us a ticket for a semi-deluxe bus (it eventually turned out that the only add-on that the semi-deluxe had relative to the normal buses was a small extension of the seat which served as a head rest). We picked up 6 apples (health always comes first) and two cakes (junk food, though second, is equally important) for the 5 hour journey ahead. The bus finally leaves at 14:00 hrs and sit back for the fun filled ride, but apparently there is not much to do, we eat the 6 apples and the cakes and have a drink of the heavenly water and miraculously fall asleep counting the peacocks outside (yes, there will be peacocks, and there were lots).
17:30 Hrs – The first pit stop for this bus ride, we should be there in another half hour, but the distance seems to have gotten bigger, as the conductor tells us that there is still a couple of hours atleast left. Its close to 24 hours since we left the office yesterday and it still is nowhere near the place we want to be at. You can feel the cool damp air outside, and it starts raining as well, just what you need, if it continues to rain, we can’t even go out to look for a hotel room, which incidentally we haven’t booked.
I’m looking out at the big windmills now, and the picture of Don Quixote on Rozinante comes to mind, but even the old Don would’ve been too tired to do anything if he had a rickety bus as his steed for 24 hours. And just when you think it can’t get any worse, we’re there, no, hold it, the board says Nagercoil, not KK, what the f*#@ is going on? Well, it seems that the driver has decided that he will take up a siesta, even though it is way past afternoon. So we stop at 8 pm in the night at the Nagercoil bus stand, and then we go ahead and board our fourth bus for the journey. But this time we have come full circle, we are doing the exact same thing that we did on the first bus ride, sitting and watching the bus move slowly through the city, but to be fair, this city is not that big, neither is it flooded. So we make good progress, and its only one more hour to cover the 15 kms between the two towns.
21:00 Hrs – Success, we’re in KK, and would you believe it, the street lights are working here and some shops are open, god is gracious to us right now. But then again, we’ve no booking at all, so we do another few minutes of walking till we reach our hotel, the double room seems about okay so we take it for the day. And surprise surprise, the hotel’s in-house restaurant also serves north Indian food, (even gujarati, the board outside it proclaimed in bold letters). We were the only people in the place at that time, it was almost the time that the sleep clock of all the inhabitants in South India commands for a slumber. We ordered paranthas in true north Indian style and some daal, ecstatic at being able to find something to eat at this time, and that too North Indian (none of us was particularly inclined to go for any of the dosas that we had fled from in Chennai), but the pleasure was short lived as the waiter came back and informed us that the ‘tandoor’ was closed for the day. So it was plain chapattis, but as you can expect, they were a far cry from the ones made up North and the daal was, well it was different, not the different like Maggi tomato ketchup though. It was barely edible, but if you’ve lived on 2 apples, some soft cake and some biscuits for more than 28 hours, you’ll find even turd laced with frosting the best treat ever (Okay, maybe this last metaphor was a bit too much!!). It was close to 10 by the time we were through with dinner and Vikas and I decided to take a look around while Ashish decided to take care of all the coconut water that he was storing in his stomach. Another 15 minutes and we were out to enjoy the beautiful KK in all its glory, okay a little weird to go out at this time when there is absolutely no soul on the road, but after having traveled so long, I was really in no mood to even wait to change before exploring a little bit of this city.
The wind was laced with a few drops of the rain that was dropping just so lightly that there was no need to open the umbrellas we were carrying, so we had a little photo session in front of the lighthouse. Then we headed to the southern most tip of Indian mainland, the temple of …………., the path leading up to it still had a few headlights, the shops all had the covers down, and the beach right next to it looked totally beautiful. The combination of the dark sky, the sound of the rushing waves, the cool wind (it was rather a gushing gale which could tip a little child over, refreshing nevertheless), just the openness that you could feel as you gazed out into the dark sea standing out near the tip.
At this point as you can imagine, I’m speechless at the beauty of it all, the shadows of the temple and the huge state out in the sea, the lonely beach, the shimmering moonlight mixed with the lamps set up there, the amazing sea breeze, and not any f*%$#ing soul in the world there, this I guess is tranquility.
MAYBE next time, I’ll take an easier route, just maybe.
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