The sunrise in Kanyakumari

 The sunrise in Kanyakumari is divine.There were a large number of people who had got up early to witness the sunrise. The Vishnu temple and the Vivekananda Rock looked very beautiful with the lights on and casting their shadows on the sea waves. The sun just peeped for a short time and then disappeared in to the clouds. A group of women who looked from North due to their dress lit up a Diya and prayed to the sun god. The whole environment was filled with spirituality. I felt very happy and an internal peace descended for I had witnessed the upper most tip of India when we visited Badrinath and in Mana saw the last tea shop of India and now here the lower most tip on India.

The Vivekananda Rock memorial

 In Kanyakumari the Vivekananda Rock memorial is built on a rock which is about 500 meters from the mainland and at the fusion of Arabian sea,Bay of Bengal and the Indian Ocean. We had to take a short ferry ride to reach here. Vivekananda came here and in December 1892 and meditated for three days on 24th,25th and 26th December and attained enlightenment. Before the construction of the monument in 1970, there was a conflict with the Christian community that put up a cross here and said that this was the Saint Xavier rock.On 17 th January,1963,after a judicial probe by the Government of Tamilnadu , with the permission of the Chief Minister Bhaktavatsalam a tablet was put up on the rock claiming it to be Vivekananda Rock. Vivekananda had come to worship in the nearby rock Sripada Parai which is believed to be the foor print of Parvati.Parvati had stood here on one foot and did tapasya to obtain lord Shiva. Eknath Ranade played a significant role in getting this Rock memorial built and inaugurated in 1972. Spread over six acres, the memorial is a fusion of Bengali and Tamil architecture and the design of the Ramakrishna math of Belur on West Bengal. There is a dhyan mandapam below this.A statue of Vivekananda made of brass adorns the main hall upstairs . This statue sees towards the Shripad mandapam.On another rock nearby is built the statue of the Tamil poet Thiruvalluvar.This statue is 133 ft tall denoting the 133 chapters of the famous Thirukkural couplets. As one visits this place one can feel the beautiful sea breeze and become very refreshed. The mainland of Kanyakumari today is dotted with few churches and a temple.

Kanyakumari the land of three seas

 KanyaKumari closely associated with Vivekananda is the land of the three seas.It is also known as Cape Comorin, Kumari and Kumari Munai. This is a ‘rocky mainland‘ on the Indian Ocean in the State of Tamil Nadu and located at the Southern most tip of the Indian Subcontinent. It is also popularly known as,Koodal, meaning it is situated at the Confluence of three oceans Bay of Bengal, Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean. Kanyakumari is popular because it is the only places on earth, where one can see the Sun Rise and Sun Set from the ocean. It is the only place in India where one can enjoy the unique spectacle of Sunset and Moonrise simultaneously on full moon days. On Chitra Paurnami one can view both the sun and the moon facing each other on the same horizon, a rare sight of unique grandeur, which seems to happen by prior arrangement. Next to the Vivekananda Ashram is a statue of Swami Vivekananda and the Samadhi of Eknath Ranade. Indeed a very spiritual experience to visit the confluence of religions and Indian culture.

Enroute to Kanyakumari

 Enroute to Kanyakumari amidst the diferent coconut plantations, we stop for a Kerala thali.

The Savouries of Uttrakhand

 Oh, the savouries of Uttrakhand. As we came down from the hills of Ranikhet, the taxi driver stopped the car in front of a small  sweet shop of a Shah ji that was making fresh Bal mithai and Singodi. These two are savouries of Uttrakhand and symbolise the place. Now there are efforts by people to create an awareness among the producers of these sweets with regards to Intellectual Property rights and protect  these under the Geographical  indication of Goods Act, 1999 and to preserve these as the symbols of this region, so that no one copies them. Bal mithai is made by cooking Khoya which is the thickner arrived at once  cream is evaporated and mixing it with canned sugar till it becomes dark brown in colour.This  is called chocolate locally and is also a favourite. This chocolate when hot and liquidy and made to cool and set in to trays. This is then  cut into square pieces. It is then folded with white crystal balls in the shape of small white globules which are made with roasted poppy seeds coated with sugar. This is how the bal mithai is finally produced. Bal mithai was first introduced in early 20 th century when Jogi Ram Lal Shah of Lal Bazar in Almora made it for the first time and this was offered to the sun God. Hence, even today the best Bal mithai and Singodi are attributed to Almora though it is sold all over the Kumaon, Gadhwal region. In Singodi the sweet Khoya is wrapped into maalu leaf. The maalu  leaf is made into the shape of a cone and then it is stuffed with the sweet khoya. This little shop in Ranikhet also specialised in these traditional sweets. We tasted the sweets and found them to be of equally good quality and carried few boxes home. May be carrying back these sweets  to Hyderabad will keep us connected to the region.

Jhula Devi Temple

 Another very important temple in Ranikhet is Jhula devi temple which is a Durga devi temple and recognised as a very powerful one. Located close to Chaubatia this is a 8 th cen temple. There is a dense forest this surrounds this temple and a number of wild animals such as leopards and tigers, who used to attack the villagers, inhabited these dense woods near the temple.According to legend then the villagers prayed to the Godess to save them and she appeared in the dreams of a  shephard and asked him to excavate her idol.After the idol was discovered a temple was built on this very spot. Hence this temple is believed to fullfill wishes of the devotee. Like  any other hill temple this temple has a large number of bells that hang around the premises. These bells are tied by devotees who want to ask for a boon or whose wishes are fulfilled. There are two shops that sell the beautiful odhnis or chunaris that are offered to the devi along with other pooja samagri.