A whirlwind tour of South India - Day 6

We headed out at 8:30. But since we didn’t have cash at our disposal, we had to go back into Alleppey, withdraw cash and hand itover to “Jain” who accompanied us to the ATM. Then we dropped him to the Shri Krishna Ayurvedic centre and started on our way to Trivandrum. Since we were late, we had to face all the day traffic and we made real slow progress on this road. The road condition is very good. But the road passing through small towns, hamlets becomes quite narrow in places. This part of the trip is now a blur in the memory lane. But overall I remember that day 6 was a very tiring day. At some places, road widening work was under way and we got caught in very nasty jams. Standing in a traffic jam with dust flying around, humid climate and the sun beating down incessantly on you, it really tests your patience. I mean we were wearing our riding gear and all and sweating like crazy. It was energy sapping. This time the breaks were frequent and longer and it took us forever to complete the 230 odd kms to Kanyakumari. I was really tired and wanted to halt but Rohit kept on pushing and pushing and pushing harder each time I made a request to halt. Finally we made it to Kanyakumari, parked our bikes and started walking towards the beach. Once we reached a spot where we could sit quietly, we started contemplating on what we had achieved in the past 6 days. Looking at my face, Rohit was sad. I was very tired and had a long drawn face. But 2 cups of coffee, some cigarettes and finally it started sinking in.
The water was cool and clear and the sun was beginning to set. We had not missed the sunset this time. The beach was crowded as ever and everyone wanted a glimpse of the setting sun. It looked beautiful. There was a lone cloud in the sky and it had to be in the way of the setting sun. The setting sun coloured the sky with various colours of bright yellow, orange and red and we could click a few nice snaps.
After the sunset we tried to figure out the next POA. Stay overnight in Kanyakumari and head towards Bangalore the next day, but Bangalore was a good 650 Kms from Kannyakumari according to the map. It would be a stretch. So we decided to head out to the nearest big city/town towards Bangalore. We decided to take an overnight halt at Tirunelveli which is around 85 Kms from Kanyakumari. That brings down the distance to Bangalore to a more manageable 560 Kms. A psychological advantage of not doing 600 Kms in a day.
Most of the road was OK and after travelling around 20-25 Kms, we came at a junction which connected to the 4/6 lane NH-4. Most of this road is under construction and at a given time either one of the side is open to traffic. So even though the road is broad and open, the traffic is 2 way and as always we have over enthusiastic bus drivers making full use of the available width. At many places you can see long winding tire marks on the road where these bus drivers have had to brake hard to give way to oncoming traffic. I think these drivers are not used to having good roads around these parts. These guys are serial killers on the move.
Anyways, had to travel 60-70 Kms in darkness on this road and the road lane markers (white lines) on the road were our only guide. There are no street lamps, the traffic is sparse in the night (only heavy and long trailers seem to operate these roads) and the new road asphalt makes the road a near “black body” which does not reflect light at all. Man, are we blinded or are we blinded. At some places, the lane marking has also not been done and we are at a loss as to what side of the road we are travelling on. But we make it to Tirunelveli successfully.
On the way we pick up half rum and a cola at a liquor shop. The sight at this shop was one which I have never seen in or around Pune. The liquor store has a wide court yard in front of it and there are tables and chairs arranged there. People are sitting chit chatting and having a few drinks. This liquor store also has a kitchen attached to it. Here people are served “chakhna” as well. No food is served though, mind you.
I was earlier told by a friend of mine that in Tamil-Nadu this was the norm if you had to have a drink. Restaurants mostly do not serve liquor. I experienced it firsthand.
We checked into a hotel, had good “Rava-Dosa” and “Uttappam” and went to sleep.
Sunset at Kanyakumari - This time we made it:
Target accomplished:

The Vivakananda Memorial: