That afternoon, we leave Trivandrum
and head to our next destination, the southern most tip of India, Kanyakumari.
We reach our destination, late in the afternoon. The heat was now getting to
us. The car had become a boiling pot of sorts, with the rays of the sun
entering the car and being reflected and refracted through us. I was glad this
afternoon car journey lasted only three hours. Travel is hard work. Even though
it is romanticized as the ultimate cool thing to spend your time doing. Sitting
in a mode of transport for ten hours, staring out at an unchanging landscape,
is travel too. It is not just monuments and good food and all fun. But every
time you reach your destination, all the work you put into the long journey
seems worth the effort. Just to be in a new place with new people is such an
exciting feeling. The newness of the moment, the freshness of the experience
are things you want to hold on to. Jon Krakauer wrote about this in his book,
'Into the Wild'. The protagonist of the book Alexander Mccandies is quoted here
as such:-
Our hotel room is on the 7th or 8th
floor of an ocean facing hotel. Our room has a view of the famous Vivekananda
Shrine and the Thiruvalluvar Statue in the distance, that we plan to visit the
next day. We had nothing to do that evening, so we go down for a walk. We visit
the local market, and aunty buys some accessories for her daughter and some
other stuff too. Chai (Tea) is consumed. A confirmed ritual for tired out of
state travelers. Some of the locals at the tea stall, tell us to take the
shuttle to the sunset point a few kilometers away from where we were. We look
outside, and see a golf kart, emerge from a straight road in front of the shop.
'Sunset Point. Sunset Point'
screamed the driver. We jump in to watch the sunset at the southern edge of
India. What a beautiful sight it was. Aunty and her daughter take the shuttle
back and decide to do some more shopping that evening. I feel like taking a
long walk and tell them to go ahead. I then start walking in the direction of
my hotel, which was the direction the shuttle went towards. I thought I would
find my way somehow. The road was on a
high hill, the ocean waves, forming ripples of water below and crashing into
the rocks on the hills. I just walk and keep walking. It is such a beautiful
metaphor for life. Just walk and things my turn out alright. I find a sea
aquarium on the way and spend some time there. I then visit the Swami
Vivekanada memorial museum with images about Vivekanada's life. I was largely
inspired to go on this journey, because of people like Swami Vivekananda and
Jon Krkauer. The metaphor of travel for life was what I resonated with most. My
traveling companion watch a movie that night. I sit on the balcony, observing
the statues in the distance and sea beyond. I sleep when sleep comes.
We take a ferry to the Vivekananda
shrine. Swami Vivekananda was an Indian hindu monk, who was a chief disciple of
the saint Ramakrishna. He played a major role in the revival of Hinduism as a
major world religion in the 19th Century. He is well known for his,
"People of the world unite speech…" at the Parliament of the World's
Religions Summit in 1893. His story and idols and books were spread out across
the shrine. He visited Kanyakumari and this particular point in the middle of
the ocean, during his travel across India. A traveling monk, trying to
understand life, was definitely someone I wanted to get to know better. We are
done with Kanyakumari and head to our final destination, Madurai that night. It
is an overnight journey and I think about what Vivekananda would have seen in
his journeys across the country. I wonder why he felt the need to travel and
meet people? I wonder what impact these long journey and interactions with
people had on him? The road seemed endless and we had an overnight journey in
front of us. The car was cool, and I soon put my head on the window next to me
and shut my eyes, for a good long night of sleep on the road.
Sat-chit-ananda
@AbhishekShetty_
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