Cape Comorin

Cape Comorin

Thursday, Oct. 19, 2006--Madurai to Kannyakumari

Took three buses--local, long distance, and regional--and finally arrived here in Kannyakumari 8 hours after my departure. I was in a hotel room at 4:30 p.m. without having eaten all day. I even had to check about 5 hotels before deciding on a room. Some were dirty, one had mosquitoes, another offerred nice rooms at too high a price, etc. Where I am is clean and very reasonable ($5.39 per night). I can see the sea from one of the windows. And it has cable TV.

I sat beside a nice electrical/electronic engineer major who was headed home for the Diwali holidays. He spoke English well and without the strong accent of the typical Indian. We talked most of the time he was with me. I encouraged him to consider graduate work in the U.S. since he is interested in getting a Ph.D. and teaching at the university level. I think his lack of accent would make him a better candidate than most foreign Ph.D.s.

I went to the beach around 5:30 to watch the sunset. It was filled with people and lined with tour buses that had come just for the day. Clouds on the horizon kept it from being a spectacular sunset, however. But it was nice just to feel the cool seabreezes and to watch the people.

I ate dinner as early as they started serving it. I had chicken curry with chipatis. Since it was my first meal of the day, I was ravenous and ate it down fast!! That sure made it taste good, too.

Kannyakumari is the southernmost point of India--the Cape of Comorin. The Arabian Sea, the Indian Ocean, and the Bay of Bengal all come together here. But it isn't as dramatic as the cape in South Africa or the seas coming together at Skagen in Denmark. In those places, it is easy to see the waves coming against each other. Here, the cape is more rounded. The guidebook points out that there are some differences in the colors of the sands on various beaches because of the different seas, but I never saw that.

On the way here, we passed a great windmill farm nearby. I guess the cape causes winds to come strongly from various directions. And the land has already started to look like Kerala with lots of coconut palm trees and waterways.

Friday, Oct. 20, 2006--Kannyakumari

It was a sunny day, and I made it a lazy one. I walked down to the sea and relaxed a while. In the afternoon, I returned to my room and read while it was too hot to be out. Then I went out again around 4:30. People were already gathering for the sunset. I talked to a local man who said he was a fisherman before the tsunami, but he now operates a stand selling pearls to tourists. Yesterday, my regional bus followed the coast and passed a fishing village that apparently was destroyed by the tsunami and now has many new small houses built by a group of German doctors. I've seen work by British and German relief agencies, but I have seen no evidence of anything the U.S. did following it.

Today is the date, on the average, that the Northeast Monsoons begin. In actuality, they begin sometime within 7 days on either side of today. I've been fortunate that they have not begun yet. It's cloudier today than it has been, however, so they are on their way. I'll be leaving Tamil Nadu tomorrow and heading into Kerala, so I will have avoided them, since the mountains betwen the two states limit them to TN. During the monsoon days in late Oct., the state gets about 20% of their annual rainfall. And then during November, they get about another 40-50%. So missing them means having missed LOTS of rain!!

I bought fried snacks for my lunch. My favoirite is a patty made from cornmeal. Inside are whole kernals of corn and big chunks of hot pepper. They are sort of like an Indian hushpuppy. And, although they are not as light as hushpuppies (for lack of baking powder, I guess), they are very flavorful and would be good to accompany fish the way hushpuppies do.

Tonight and tomorrow families celebrate Diwali with food (especially sweets), gifts, fireworks, etc. The fireworks have been going off all afternoon already. And there is the sense of excitement in the air as people rush to be prepared.

I went to the point (Cape Comorin) tonight as the sun set. Again, it was too cloudy for a nice sunset. But many people were there. I watched a bunch of young guys swimming and wrestling in the water.

For dinner tonight, I had one of my favorites--paneer palak (spinach with paneer cheese). It was so much better than the versions that I get in the U.S. It was darker green. And there were slices of green chile peppers in it along with chopped garlic and other items. Oh, how I wish the Indian restaurants at home would be more authentic!!

Saturday, Oct. 21, 2006--Kannyakumari to Trivandrum

Happy Diwali! Since it is a holiday, I thought it would be a good day to travel. I was awakened early by very loud fireworks (the kinds that are illegal in the U.S. and Europe). One after another went off starting about 5 a.m. So I got out of bed and prepared to check out. It was a good day, because the buses were not crowded at all. How nice it was for everyone to have a seat. Normally, the aisles are full of people squeezed together like sardines and the doorways have men barely hanging on. There were even empty seats today!

I am now back in Kerala--God's Own Country (as the state slogan goes). It's nice to be back. It feels familier in looks and smell. It's one of the richer states of India, and I can see that when I look at the shops and signs and things. It was even obvious on the bus when the driver whipped out his electronic ticketing machine instead of ripping of a cheap newsprint paper ticket for my fare. This is my third time here. I'm in Trivandrum for the next couple of days. It's the southernmost city and the capital. I came here last year to meet with officials at the state office buildings, and I was a tourist here 4 years ago.