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Published: November 12th 2013
Glimpses of Kerala-2 : Kanniyakumari
Kanniyakumari is in the state of Tamilnadu. It can be included in the Madurai-Rameshwaram-Kanniyakumari circuit or perhaps easier option is to go via Trivandrum / Kovalam. From Kovalam, the distance is just 90 Km but like most of the places in India, the distance should be measured in time and not in kilometres. It takes three hours. We had omitted local sightseeing in Trivandrum to include Kanniyakumari.
Vivekananda Rock is the main attraction of the Kanniyakumari. The name of the place is derived from the temple of ‘Kanniyakumari’ – Parvati. Gandhi memorial is another place visited by tourists.
Island of Vivekananda Rock is about half a kilometre off the mainland shore (southern-most tip of India) and can be reached only through boat service run by the port administration. Mainly because it was festival season, the rush was extraordinary with a queue of about 1.5 Km to the ticket window (Rs. 34 per person, return fare). It took 3 hours in the sun to reach the ticket counter. Ticket can also be obtained without waiting in the queue on some higher payment (Rs. 169s – official rate). The sad part of the story was
not waiting in the queue but the fact that tickets at higher rate were available and we didn’t know. The information is not displayed anywhere except at the ticket counter – which you reach only after waiting in the queue! It is not displayed even at the gate of the port. Communication with local people is very difficult as very few people speak or understand Hindi.
Apart from historical significance of the Vivekananda Rock, cleanliness at the Memorial was noticeable in spite of thousands visiting the memorial on that day. There are several shops selling books and other memoires of Vivekananda. There is a meditation hall. Indiscipline of tourists was visible here. People just don’t understand the meaning or significance of the place they are visiting. Jostling and cell phone rings violated the atmosphere in the Meditation Hall.
Opposite the Memorial is Kanniyakumari Mandapam. Here there is a rock with natural shape of foot print – supposed to be foot print of Goddess Parvati who did tapasya at this spot to marry Shiva.
Close to Vivekananda Rock, on another Island, there is a huge statue of Tamil poet and Philospher, Thiruvalluvar.
Kovalam-Kanniyakumari-Kovalam is a morning-to-evening tour.
Our next destination was the back waters of Kumarakom.
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Travel Kerala to Tamil nadu
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Travel Kerala to Tamil nadu
Thanx for information about "Golden Triangle Tour: Classic Introduction To India "