Kanyakumari

With other terms it is Cape Comorin or the Lasnd's end. Actually it is the end of the Indian subcontinent, it is the most Southern corner of the land, where the Indian Ocean meets the Arabian Sea and the Bengal Bay. This is our first destinantion after leaving the Ashram to spend a day or two to be blown away by the wind and enjoy the breeze from the ocean from the 12th to the 14th of February. The city itself is very tiny in Indian scale, onlt 20 000 people, but a real pilgrimige site with its' temples, Gandhi Memorial and all the time ongoing spiritual rituals. As we learnt, Gandhi's ashes were kept in this memorial until they were spread in the ocean. Around the main temple there is as usal a bazaar with wonderful shells from the sea and smelly spices. After Tomek sent me alone to the temle - which is devoted to the Hindu Goddess, the Devi Kanya Kumari - to check out if it is worth seeing, I had the privilige to be shown around by a pilgrim. He did not speak English, but was very keen to show me every corner and introduce me to all possible ceremonies performed by the visitors, including climbing to the rooftop. I ended up with a big black and red mark on my forehead which was eventually quite difficult to remove later the day.

The highlight of the day was a small boat ride to the two rock islands along the shore, one with the giant 133 ft high statue of Tamil poet-saint Tiruvalluvar , the other a beautiful, clean and peaceful temple erected for the memory of Vivekananda, the 19th century wondering monk, who revolutionized India's spiritual life. We spent most of the day around these rocks enjoying the wind, the violent waves and the peace. In the evening we - accidentally - ended up scrolling the narrow streets of the local "residential district" along the sea side with fishermen. This are was hit by the Tsunam in 2004, but most of it was nicely renovated.

On the morning of the 14th of February we hit the road towards Varkala to meet our Polish friends from Warsaw.