For All the Egos Hurt

I really liked this article in Times of India

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/world/us/Would-Khan-have-fared-better-as-Kennedy/articleshow/4899589.cms

With news Channels airing the Shah Rukh Khan ordeal story 24 hours as if the world has come down, with Ambika Soni making knee-jerk comments (that shows how mature our ministers are. Old Age is on their side but definitely not the maturity), I wonder when will we wake up and shed our VIP disease?

It surprises me to hear even the younger generation talking complete rubbish on how the whole nation has been insulted etc.

Are we just too much egoistic ? Are we failing to get over the fact that everyone is equally likely to be questioned more? It just happened to be SRK this time?

Ahh!!! only pleasant thing in the middle of all this crap happening was a nice gesture by
P. Chidambaram to go and watch the World Badminton Championship sitting in the gallery. But again, if we were not stuck with this VIP culture and believed in equal treatment to everyone, we would not have even raised our eyebrow at this gesture of PC. But the very fact that we said,
"oh this is a nice gesture" shows that we do not expect this. That we expect PC to take special treatment. That is assumed.

And this assumption is the root of several evils.

Kanyakumari Trip

I cannot get over Kanyakumari.
The beautiful ocean view lingers in my mind
The thriving waves echo in my heart
The colors of the ocean paint my vision
A voice from the nature calls my soul

And this post gets delayed forever. My life has become hectic. I am not sure about what to give priority. Naturally, the one that does not pay but gives satisfaction got a backseat. It is around 12:50 in the night of a weekend. I am in front of my computer, staring at windows and suddenly got that urge to write with a delusive imagination that there definitely will be atleast one future reader : myself :-) And I am not sure if I will be able to complete it this time either.

And again a fortnight later, another attempt to add more details.

Introduction
Well. We had been planning for the kanyakumari for a long time. That beautiful image of southernmost tip of India used to linger in our minds. Finally, we decided to jump and go on a travel mission. This, we decided soon after we came back from Pondicherry.

Planning for the Trip
We looked at differen options of going to Kanyakumari. Naturally, two prime ones were by bus and by train. After some thought, we decided to go by train. Next was the search for the trains available. The train that we found was Kanyakumari. We went ahead and booked the tickets.

The Journey
I must say that Kanyakumari express is one of the slowest train and it can be extremely boring. The train left the Bangalore Central station in the night around 9:30 p.m. And it reached Kanyakumari only the evening of the next day. But the scenery of the journey is awesome. All over the journey were scenes of backwaters. What a heavenly sight it is.











At Kanyakumari

• Stay

We reached Kanyakumari around 6:00 p.m We had a booking at Vivekananda Ashram at Vivekananda Puram. We heard that it is a simple and inexpensive place and yet pretty good. So we wanted to try that out rather than a usual hotel. After getting down at railway station, we headed out for Vivekananda Puram in an auto rickshaw. Cost us Rs. 20. The station is around 2 kms from the Vivekananda Puram.

• Vivekananda Puram

We stayed in a small 2 bedroom accomodation. I must say that the room is pretty ordinary and like a hostel. But who cares? I didnt as loong as the environment is good. And we were not disappointed. The campus is awesome. It is quiet, simple and full of greenery. There were museum, temple, canteen etc. Even they have their own beach area.

• Sunrise
  

Vivekananda puram folks have their own beach from where sunrise could be enjoyed. So we woke early in the morning and walked through the nice garden of Vivekanandapuram and waited for the sun rise. I must say the sea was ferocious. The sunrise view was brilliant.

• Vivekananda Rock
  

There are ferries that take people to the rock. It feels like meditating here. The ferries take Rs. 20 per head to go to Vivekananda rock. It started raining as soon as we were about to catch the ferry. But thankfully, the clouds cleared. And we could enjoy the beauty on the rock.

• Other Places of Interest : Kumari Amman Temple, Wax Museum et al
  

Kumari Amman Temple is right on the shore. You have to drop off your cameras outside, open your shirts and then go in. Wax Museum is a place recently opened in Kanyakumari and hosts the wax statues of some celebrities.

• Return Journey
  

After two days of fantastic stay at Vivekanandapuram, it was time to bid adieu. The time was at around 10:00 a.m in the morning. A slow train, moving through the beautiful parts of the country. All along the route were backwaters, mountains and everything that make you dream and think "If I had a house here" :-)



The train finally reached Bangalore early in the morning.

• Epilogue

A great trip, a great place. Makes you feel like go back and enjoy the peace in the beauty of the Vivekanda Rock and the peace of Vivekananda Puram