Kanyakumari

We drove to Kanyakumari at the very southern tip of India following our wedding adventure in Tuticorin. We arrived just in time to take the last ferry ride of the day out to the Vivekananda Memorial Rock and the towering statue of Thiruvalluvar. The Vivekananda Rock Memorial and Thiruvalluvar statue are rather recent additions to the tourist map in Kanyakumari. They overshadow the more ancient mainland based Kanyakumari Temple.

Awash in the mingling waters from the Arabian Sea, Bay of Bengal and Indian Ocean the Vivekananda Memorial and statue of Thiruvalluvar are just magnets for tourists.

Ferry service to these tourist attractions costs Rs. 20 (45 cents) "to and fro” and carries the stipulation “no ½ service.” Fine with us. Ferry service consists of two rusty scows that pack travelers onboard with a focus on utilizing all possible deck space. We’re sure the signs inside the ferries that say, “All passengers must be seated while the boat is moving” are for legal reasons only. We were packed in like sardines.

The Vivekananda Memorial Rock is dedicated to Swami Vivekananda who, by legend, spent days in meditation upon the rock. Swami Vivekananda (1863 – 1902) was an influential spiritual leader and devotee of Ramakrishna (1836-1886) and his teachings of Vedanta. Swami Vivekananda was something of a religious superstar in his day, traveling about Europe and America sharing his teachings of the unity of existence. He taught that all religions lead to the same goal. Expressed later by the founder of the Vedanta Society of Southern California, "If you put Jesus, Buddha, and Mohammad in the same room together, they will embrace each other. If you put their followers together, they may kill each other!" Maybe we need to get a Swami to Baghdad.

Barefooted, we toured the windswept Vivekananda Memorial. To our surprise, we actually witnessed a slight difference in color of the waters that mingled at the meeting place of the Indian Ocean, the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea, the great bodies of water that surround the rock outcropping.

The second ferry stop was the 133 foot statue of Thiruvalluvar. The statue is dedicated to the 1^st millennium Tamil poet who authored the Thirukkural, one of the oldest and most revered works in the Tamil language. In an ironic juxtaposition to Vivekananda’s teaching of oneness, Tiruvalluvar's faith is disputed, with Hindus claiming him as one of their own and Jains doing the same. Divinity by many paths.

Back on shore from our raucous, wave-tossed ferry ride, we headed to Sunset Point. Unfortunately, a heavy overcast sky muted our sunset experience. We expected this….

but experienced this.

Only moderately disappointed in our sunset experience, we climbed back into our car for the two hour drive to Trivandrum. We were thankful that we were blessed with another adventure-filled day in our travels in India.