Rae
The six remaining from Team 63 arrived at about 7:30 AM in Kanyakumari, the “Lands End” of the Indian subcontinent, where the Bay of Bengal meets the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean. From our train window we saw a surreal landscape of wind farms, fields of banana trees and gorgeous mountains.
Kanyakumari has a great spiritual significance for Hindus and is dedicated to the goddess Devi Kanya, an incarnation of Parvati. Pilgrims come here to visit the temple and bath in the sacred waters.
Larry, Marge, Peter, Anne, Helen and Rae were very well rested after their first Indian “sleepover” train ride and after checking into the Hotel Seaview, our first order of business was a hot shower and a hot breakfast. After breakfast we piled into a colorful burgundy Toyota SUV that had a wild jungle print on red velveteen upholstery that even covered the ceiling of the car. Our driver took us to the Suchindrum Temple, a 200 year old temple that required all men to remove their shirts before entering. Some of the highlights of the tour were an 18 ft. stone Hanuman statue, musical stone pillars, and seeing Peter and Larry without their shirts.
On the way into the Temple Anne bought a garland of roses that she planned on enjoying the aroma for the day. Anne found out during our tour that she was expected to leave the garland as an offering to Ganesch, which she graciously did.
Our temple guide was a very interesting fellow who kept saying “come on” as he quickly shuffled us through the 1000 pillar temple. We all had one of those “personal growth moments” when the guide told us at the end of the tour how much we were to pay him! Our tourist lesson of the day was to be sure we ask how much before we start the guided tour!
The driver then took us on a scenic route to our next sight, the Padmanabhapuram Palace. With several large lumberyards worth of carved ceilings and polished teak beams, this palace is considered to be the best example of traditional Keralan architecture today. The palace is situated in a way that has parts of it in Tamil Nadu and parts in the state of Keralan. Dating back to 1550, the 127 room structure it is the largest wooden palace complex in Asia. The entrance room had 90 uniquely flowers carved into the ceiling and a beautiful hanging brass horseman lamp that was 300 years old. Fourteen generations of Kings of Travancore made the palace complex their home. The Kings were very generous as they fed 2,000 Brahams every day for free in the huge dining hall. Chinese influence is evident in parts of the palace and the dining hall has large clay Chinese pots used to store pickles. Our bare feet felt so good walking on the highly polished, smooth black floor that was made from egg whites, limestone, sand, coconut and sugars. Our palace guide was absolutely the best as he made us feel like we living there in the 16th century and simply walking through our magnificent palace home. A very special building for us was the Thaikottarum, which was the oldest building in the palace complex and had 63 carvings on the ceiling. 63 for Team 63!
We were really hungry and especially thirsty so we headed out to find a place for lunch. As we went into a family restaurant called ASHAYATA , we were somewhat leery as we saw most of the patrons eating their food off of a banana tree leaf, but to our delight we had a delicious lunch!
Our jungle-mobile continued to head back towards Kanyakumari to make our last tourist stop at Vattakotthal, a circular shaped fort that was built by the Dutch in the 18th century. The fort overlooked the sea and we enjoyed the view of the distant windmills, the blue water and felt the ocean breeze cool our faces.
We headed back to the hotel for a little relaxation and refreshments before going to the beach in time for the sunset. Kanyakumari, also known as Cape Comorin, is the southern most tip of India and is famous for it’s sunrises and sunsets. In April on full moon day there is a simultaneous sunset and moonrise over the ocean. Peter, Helen and Rae took a cab to Sunset Point to secure a good viewing place on the beach of the Arabian Sea. The sky was a bit cloudy so the sunset was not real clear, but the clouds made some beautiful shapes and colors.
Marge and Larry did some window shopping in the shops along the way back from the sunset watching. Peter found an antique store where the owner, who was Italian, told him all about most of the treasures in the shop.
Earlier in the day Helen made arrangements for herself, Anne and Rae to get a 90 minute Auruvedic massage at 7:30 Saturday night. As much as they were looking forward to it, they decided to cancel it due to the late time and wanting to have dinner with their team. Helen forced Rae to be the one to tell the man at the desk that they were canceling their appointment. Helen’s logic for this was that it would be a good personal growth experience for Rae! Helen will pay big time for that one!
Although we may not have seen the perfect sunset that day, the remaining six from Team 63 had a perfect day which will be remembered when they make the time in their busy lives to stop and watch the sun set wherever they are.
Quote for the day
The stalk of a lotus blossom grows long enough to protect the pretty flower out of water, so too a man’s level of greatness is determined by his own will.
The Kural # 595
No comments:
Post a Comment