Kanyakumari
I went with Pramella Aunty to Kanyakumari, which is located on the southern tip of India in the state of Tamil Nadu. It is known as the meeting point of three bodies of water: the Arabian Sea, the Bay of Bengal, and the Indian Ocean. It is a very beautiful place and one of the main reasons that people visit there is to see the sunset and sunrise over the ocean. We were able to see the sunset, but the most glorious part was the sunrise. We were awakened by knocking on our door in our hotel at 5 AM! This knock was the call to get up for the sunrise. I was tired from traveling the day before, so I really wanted to sleep, but I got up reluctantly. I was thinking, why should I get up to see a sunrise this early? I can see a beautiful sunrise anywhere. My complaints were soon drowned out by the thousands of people heading toward the beach at 5 AM. I couldn’t believe it! It seemed like the whole place was up. There were Indian tourists, people on their pilgrimage, families with their children, shop keepers, and street vendors who were all waiting for the sunrise. This month, many men and boys were on their pilgrimage. Men, boys, and some women dress in black and make a trek to Subrimala Temple, a famous temple in Kerala and also make stops at other temples like Kanyakumari. There are only a few women because only girls younger than 10 and older than 55 are the only ones allowed to go on the pilgrimage. For 45 days during the pilgrimage, they only eat vegetarian food, the men are not allowed to touch the women and live in a separate facility, they wake up at 4:30 each morning, and are only allowed to eat after bathing. For part of the pilgrimage they have to walk 5 kilometers (3.1 miles) barefoot on rocks as part of the ritual on the way to the temple. After 45 days they put away the black cloth and prayer beads around their neck and go back to their daily lives. I saw thousands of boys and men bathing in the ocean for their ritual at 5 AM! It was an incredible sight and feeling to be united with so many people to witness the beauty of God’s creation. It seemed like it took so long for the sun to come up because so many people were waiting for it! Once it came up, my complaints soon faded away. It was a glorious sight! An interesting side note is that Pramella Aunty told me that the tsunami came to this place. The water covered the temple and statue, but it didn’t wash away at all. Only the people died who were on land and in the temple. I thought it was incredible that the architecture was that sound even though it was built so long ago! We also went to Kanyakumari Temple. It was a Hindu Temple, and I was lucky that I looked like a Hindu so I could see inside! It was so interesting. There were stone carvings on each wall in all the rooms and it was so big that I felt as if I would get lost. There were different statues and paintings or each of the gods along with candles in front of each god. There was also the smell of incense in each room. I’ve never been in such beautifully carved stone rooms. It reminded me of old movies I used to watch with my family like Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom because of the mystery and allure of it.



Trivandrum
Next week went the capital of Kerala which is Trivandrum. We went to another temple known as Padmanapha Temple, it was bigger than the one in Kanyakumari! There was also a palace next to it in which kings used to live. Because of the pilgrimage, many people were waiting for 2-3 ours just to get into the temple. After waiting for awhile, we went in but couldn’t see very much because of the huge rush. Finally we got to the main room where the statue was. It was a statue of a famous god, Sree Ayyppian. About 2/3 of the room was entirely made of gold because the statue was so big it took up most of the room. I couldn’t believe it, I had never seen so much gold! Bobby later told me that she visited it 9 years ago, and no one had known that there was gold because it was covered with black so people thought it was stone. She went on to say that it was only four years ago when they were doing the yearly cleaning that people realized that there was gold underneath. When the British came the Indian people had to hide all the gold and jewels so they covered up this statue with a mixture of ashes and other materials that lasted more than 200 years. As for the rest of the things, many people known it is buried somewhere beneath the ground but no one knows exactly where. I thought that was so fascinating! Next we went to Veli Tourist Village. It had a nice beach and some interesting statues. It is used a lot for film shootings and music videos.


“Paka India”
Many people have referred to me as a “paka” Malyalee, which means true or genuine. While I was traveling to Kanyakumari and Trivandrum, I saw “paka” India because we passed through small villages and towns. In Cochin, I feel as if I don’t really see the real India because Kerala is such an educated state and there are few beggars. Tamil Nadu is quite the opposite. I felt as if I was truly experiencing India because it was so different. Men rode bicycles with coffee and tea on the back in metal containers chanting coffe-chaya, coffee-chaya in an Indian accent. People were sitting on the side of the road selling small things such as seashells, hairbands, and cheap jewelry. It was sad because that is their job. It made me even more sad to see young children as young as five years old working. They were carrying large bags of rocks on their backs which weighed more than them. With their unclean hair and disheveled appearance I couldn’t believe that they were only 5-7 years old. I thought about how at that age I went to school and played with toys. These kids don’t know the concept of fun because from the time they can walk they have to toil and labor for their survival. I also saw litter carelessly thrown along the road, small shops filled with snacks and colorful vegetables, shacks selling coffee and tea, dirt floating around as autos as autos and cars whiz by, and heard the loud and annoying honking of buses and cars. There were also Hindi, Tamil, and Malayali film ads plastered all over featuring women wearing barely any clothes. This contrasted with the ordinary women who wore churidars and saris. This “paka” India, I loved and hated it in the same breath. Yet all of these things unite to create the very tapestry of India.