Frankly Speaking: The Garland Trip

Recently we undertook a trip to South India, covering parts of three Indian states-- Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala. Initially we flew from Calcutta (my present place of work) to Bangalore. From Bangalore we drove down to Srirangapatnam and visited various spots relating to Tipu Sultan, who went down fighting many a battle against the mighty British Army in 18th Century. We also visited Ranganathaswamy temple, an ancient Vishnu temple, short of Mysore city.

Next we headed for Mysore. The richness of Mysore palace and the soothing effect of lights and sounds of numerous fountains of Vrindavan gardens at night fall can not be explained by words alone. We drove up to Ooty the next day. Though the place did not look as exotic as we find it in hindi movies but, we certainly enjoyed the boat ride in the lake where Rishi Kapoor had sung a song for Tina Munim in the film 'Karz', and also visited the tea gardens of Cunoor where the film actress of yore, Ms Mumtaj, owns a few thousand acres of tea plantations in real life. We came back to Bangalore and spent a day going around the city. Last time I visited Bangalore way back in 1980. While the city seems to have traveled into future with its swanky malls and the silicon companies, the administration has been caught napping as the infrastructure is crumbling under the burden of increasing demands of high tech population. Its roads remain clogged with traffic all the time, making life miserable for the daily commuters, particularly during peak rush hours. At the Bangalore airport we had to stand for one hour in queue for security check alone. The queue had taken the shape of a coil and no one knew where it exactly ended. Thankfully, a new airport has been recently commissioned and will be put into operation soon.

Next we flew down to Trivandrum by a small low flight air craft of Jet Airways, overlooking the Nilgiri hills. At Trivandrum, we did some speed boating in the back waters of Velli, enjoyed sunset at Kovalam beach and next day left for Kanyakumari, the southern most tip of Indian peninsula. The confluence of three waters i.e, the Indian Ocean in the south, the Bay of Bengal in the east and the Arabian sea in the west, deserves to be called a wonder of the world. The different shades of the water on the three sides as well, as of the sands, is so evident of the marriage of three water bodies as mentioned above. However, the serenity of the place has been snatched by commercialization.

Kanyakumari (Cape Comorin) is named after Kumari Amman or Kanyakumari Temple, situated in the town, on the sea-shore. According to folk lore, Kanya Devi, an avatar of Parvati, was to marry Shiva, but as he did not arrive on his wedding day. Kanya Devi is now considered a virgin goddess who blesses pilgrims and tourists who visit the town. Swami Vivekananda swam accross to the rock and worshiped goddess Parvati.

The place is further embellished by two structures in the sea just a few meters away from the main land. One of them is Vivekanand rock memorial and the other, a 133 feet tall statue of Thiruvalluvar, a Tamil sage and a poet who lived in 6 century B.C. Thiruvalluvar wrote Thirukkural, which is a precious gem among the classics, unique in the deliverance of code of conduct to the mankind to follow for all times to come. It consists of 1330 couplets under 133 chapters, the chapters containing 10 verses each. The chapters again fall under three major divisions - Virtue, Wealth and Love. This classical work written in Tamil, has been translated in over 60 languages of the world.

There is a small wax museum near Kanya Kumari, having many wax idols of some celebrities of national and international fame. Though the museum may not be measuring up to the expanse and grandeur of Madam Tussaud of London but it certainly is an excellent attempt in that direction.

After getting back to Kerala, which is known for its spices and rubber plantations, Jeet was keen to see how these are grown, so we visited Ponmudi, a small hill station near Trivandrum, where she could pluck some raw cloves, peppers, cardamoms and coffee beans. We also saw how rubber sap is collected in small bowls fixed to the trunk of rubber trees. The panoramic view of the hills of Ponmudi was really breathtaking. It seems to have escaped the attention of our film makers.

At Trivandrum I took my folks to the cantonment where I had served as a young Army officer in 1980s. It was a nostalgic affair for me to have visited the place after twenty eight years, where our Battalion had been located at that time. I particulraly enjoyed the visit to bachelors' quarters where I had spent three years of prime of my youth from 1979 to 82. The life seemed to have stood still, as not a brick had been moved there. Only change was that of the wild growth of shrubs among the cashew nut grove which surrounds the Officers' Mess area. The cashew trees had now grown to full height, laden with fruit.

From Trivandrum we flew to Bombay and concluded our sojourn before falling back to Calcutta. Our line of travel looked somewhat like a garland around the feet of India, hence the title.

I have uploaded some photograhs of our trip to let the pictures speak for themselves as to how really we enjoyed our 'Garland Trip'.

I start the picture gallery with a photograph of a temple . The pictures are not exactly in the same sequence as we traveled :-

Ranganathaswami Temple -- an ancient Vishnu temple near Mysore built in typical south Indian style.

A short trek at Ponmudi , a place above the clouds near Trivandrum