Nagercoil Diaries – Day 9, Final Day

I was crazy to even think of it but I was hoping we could go see Lemur Beach in the morning. But that was highly unlikely. We had a tonne of stuff to pack and it was not going to be easy. Things were strewn all over the home, upstairs, downstairs and everywhere. It would be a great task to gather everything into one single place and get it packed but we were going to have to do it. My husband went out to buy some stuff to take back to Chennai. It was a very slow day. One by one we were doing all the stuff we had to before we left. We washed some of the dirty clothes early in the morning so that they would dry off before we could pack them up.

The packing kept going on and on, I was kind of exhausted and couldn’t do much. Till we had to leave to the bus station we were packing and we were running late. We loaded everything into the car and were on our way and were hoping we could make it on time to the bus station. We boarded the bus exactly as it was about to leave the bus station at 8:30 PM. The driver wasn’t amused. Our luggage had to be loaded at another pick-up point, which is where my husband boarded the bus. With the little ones I’ve got so accustomed to being late for every thing so the drivers annoyed attitude didn’t bother me one bit.

The kids were so excited to ride in a bus. This was their first experience. It was a sleeper bus so there was no option of sitting. The kids all settled down in the upper berth while we lay down in the lower one. They slept off instantly. For a while I was trying to look outside through the window to see if I could recognize the places the bus was stopping at. But then it was so dark, that it was pointless even trying to do it. Such journeys remind me of my younger years when we would often travel to mom’s village and back. It was a tiring night. I ate a bit from the food (boiled egg) I had packed and retired for the day. Thus ended our super duper trip to Nagercoil, the place that captivated my heart at first sight.

Nagercoil Diaries – Day 8

This was a very slow day. We were very tired from the previous day’s venture and the need to start packing for our trip back was looming over our heads. We hadn’t booked our tickets yet mainly because there were no seats available on trains or buses and flights were too expensive. But we had to leave Nagercoil by tomorrow as my husband had to rejoin office soon.

One of our friend’s dad had come home with a huge jackfruit for us to take back to Chennai. Luckily we told him about our plight of not being able to get tickets back home and he helped us secure tickets on a sleeper bus for the next day. One issue was sorted.

In my mind, I was still longing to visit at least one place that I had missed out in the last few days. One of the beaches, Lemur beach, that people had recommended came to mind. I was trying to find a way to squeeze in that one place into our itinerary, but I knew I was aiming for the stars.

The rest of the morning went in relaxing and having our breakfast. One of my husband’s cousin invited us to go out with him for lunch. In the evening we had to go to Pothys to exchange some stuff I had picked up accidentally, last time we went shopping. We got ready for lunch and headed out by around 1 PM. My husband’s cousin picked us up and we headed to a nice area with a multicuisine restaurant. The dining area was in the topmost floor. It had a nice view of Nagercoil. How lush and green the place was. Never in my life had I seen a place more greener that this. We all ordered food and had a lovely lunch with our cousin. He offered to drop us at Pothys. We reached Pothys at around 3:30 PM. We didn’t know how time flew by, but by the time we were done at Pothys it was almost past 6 PM and I knew we wouldn’t be able to make it to the beach. I was a bit upset.

We finished shopping and then headed to the bride’s mom’s home to say farewell to them as we wound up our small trip to nagercoil. We spent some time chatting with them. The kids were playing. We then had dinner. They ordered some ice cream for the kids. We all enjoyed the ice cream and then took leave. By the time we reached home it was very late and we decided to get to sleep as soon as we could because the next day was a very long one.

Nagercoil Diaries – Day 7

Today was a long day with a laundry list of stuff to do. We were supposed to leave home by 9 AM to head to the bride’s home so we could pick up her sister and visit her husband’s home. As usual we were late, we reached there only after 10 AM. The cab we had booked for today had a slow driver, he drove at snail’s pace! Over the journey I’m worried about how this is going to work out for all the stuff we have planned for today.

The drive was scenic. Everywhere I turned my head around, all I saw was greenery and water bodies. I was just immersing myself in this natural beauty, which I had never witnessed before. I am such a nature loving person, always looking for a natural spot to bask in, and for me, those views were like a dream come true.

After a 40 minutes drive we finally reached the young couple’s home. What a lovely location to have a home in. There were no other homes nearby. The home itself was on a huge plot. Loads of outdoor space, just the way me and my hubby love it. They have a few pets. They had loads before but couldn’t manage them. Their home was huge, with an elegant and beautiful stairway to one side of it, near which the sofas were placed. The home didn’t have too many furnitures, which made it appear neat and pleasant. We loved the look of it. The home was completely self-designed by this young girl’s husband. We sat and spoke for a while. I admire the demeanour of the guy’s mother. She was so humble and soft spoken and had accepted her daughter in law with no strings attached. Hence, I held her in very high esteem. I wish there were more women like these, who didn’t follow the crowds and their conventional ways and dared to be different, making the world a better place.

We ate some snacks and then headed upstairs to look around the home. Behind their home was vast, vacant, green land. Most of it belonged to them. The front balcony had a view to die for. It overlooked a mountain range and the greenery preceding it. The light misty appearance was extremely captivating. My heart was sold to this place. I wanted to live in a home with a similar view and surroundings. I’ve hated city life for as long as I can remember. Nagercoil will be one place that I won’t be letting go of easily. We clicked snaps and made memories and we invited them to make a trip to Dubai. We took leave.

We were back off to the bride’s home to drop her sister and from there we would be heading off to Kanyakumari. Many folks adviced us to visit the Eco Park on the way to Kanyakumari. But the rate at which this driver was driving, we’d be lucky if we even made it to Kanyakumari on time for the boating ride. Folks told us that the boating ticket counters closed by 3 PM. It was already past 12 PM as we started our ride to Kanyakumari. My MIL said it should take about 2 hours to reach. In my mind, I was wondering if we’d make it before 3 PM. By around 2 ish we crossed Eco Park. My heart broke for not being able to visit the place. We were rushing to Kanyakumari so that we wouldn’t miss the boating ride. We finally make it to the venue by 2:30 PM. It was scorching hot. To our dismay the ticket counters were overcrowded. It was so overwhelming especially with small kids. There was a VIP counter where each ticket cost 150 rupees more but saved us the hassle of having to wait in a queue to board the boat. But we opted out. We felt all the extra money wasn’t worth it. But boy were we mistaken! It was Sunday, it was vacation time and the queue to board the boat kept twisting and turning endlessly like a long snake basking in the sun. I am glad they had access to the restroom even in the middle of infinity queue, because my bladder would have popped if otherwise. One thing I hate is holding my pee while I go about doing other stuff, so I am relieved to have an empty tank. It eventually took us 2 hours to reach the end of the snake-like queue. The kids were absolutely fed up, we were exhausted and had depleted all our snacks (boiled eggs and chips) and drinks.

The way the whole boating scenario was being managed was nothing short of chaos. We were split into two groups of men and women. The waters were raging, so much so that the boat parked beside the platform we were standing on, was tossing up and down, and sent out a huge splash to greet us. When the doors of the boat opened, we ran like we would for our lives. The crowd was as boisterous as the sea. Everyone was running helter-skelter. There were no proper instructions, no people responsible to help put the futile life jackets on for kids and women with infants and yet there were men screaming loudly to grab one and put it on before jumping onto the rusty, old boat. The funny, shapeless jackets that seemed like mere props in a show really got me wondering what their safety standards were. Kids were running all around. I swear I felt scared at many points before boarding this aged vessel, wondering what would have happened if one of my kids got pushed into the sea or got lost in this maniac crowd. Thank God we were safe and we were seated. There was an unfortunate crowd that had to actually stand through this journey. I was not really enjoying the ride but I was trying to make the most of it. There was a strong wind and the seas were rough. It was a bit scary to ride on this vessel as it got tossed and turned with the boisterous waves. I finally got a feel of what it was like to be sea-sick because the way the vessel moved in water made me feel nauseous. It was a 5 minute ride. My husband was stuck somewhere behind us with one of our kids. We reached Vivekananda Rock. Getting off was another chaos and I was tense for my kids because there was so much commotion. Finally when we decided to go up and look around they asked us to pay again and we decided it wasn’t worth viewing for additional money, so we clicked a few snaps and because we turned around immediately we got into an express entry line for boarding the boat back. The view from that rock was amazing. I have never visited places like this. The sea was beautiful in all its glory. The wind, waves are all reminders of what a beautiful world, an amazing God created. We boarded the boat as soon as it arrived and we all sat together this time and I was finally able to take a video of all of us. We had a peaceful ride back. I did enjoy the ride on the vessel this time. I loved watching the aggressive sea. We reached our starting point and as we walked back we stopped at a few places to take a few pics.

We walked out slowly, we were knackered and also in intense hunger. As we were stepping out of the boating area entrance, we spotted a vendor selling sugar cane juice. It was very refreshing, we all had a glass. It was interesting to watch how the vendor made the juice using his machine. Along with the sugar cane he also pushed in some ginger and lemon which added a lovely taste. Then we got into the car and as we drove by we were looking for places where we could eat. We tried at one place that looked decent but there was no food available there. The driver then took us to a useless restaurant where there were no people and out of desperation we actually ended up eating there and deeply regretted for doing so. The dosas we had were made of stale batter and tasted crap. We consoled ourselves by deciding to have dinner at a good restaurant.

Our next destination was the sunset point in Kanyakumari. The car dropped us off somewhere on top and we had to walk downhill. The scenic walk was beautiful, with large boulders to the left and waves crashing against them. We kept walking downhill and reached the point where the sunset was clearly visible. There was a mob everywhere we turned and it was hard for us to find a place to perch and relax. We had to do a bit of walking to reach a spot with two big rocks and finally we sat down to enjoy the sunset.

The view wasn’t that great because of a few people and stalls obstructing our vision. But we were too tired to move around and find a spot. The kids were having fun running around and enjoying themselves. Me and my hubby were clicking pictures and enjoying the view. I felt elated to stand at the southern tip of India. As time went by and the sun was about to set, everyone’s focus fixated on the sun and its magnificence. The sky had a light orange tint as the sun was setting. The sunset wasn’t too clearly visible as there were some small clouds near the horizon, so we didn’t really catch the sun drop down all of a sudden, but witnessed a kind of slow fading. It was beautiful nonetheless. But as the sun set, it started getting dark and we made our way back up to the road and called up our driver to come pick us up.

It must have been around 6ish. The plan was to have dinner at a decent hotel before returning home. On the way, me and my husband tried to see if we could visit any other places since we’d come all the way and it would be a shame to waste the remaining time we had left in the evening. We stopped at a certain 3D show place and enquired about the tickets but the rates were too high and the place would close for the day in about an hour. We decided not to go. That’s when I remembered one of Raj’s cousins telling me to visit the wax museum near Kanyakumar railway station. We asked the driver to head there. We got the tickets and went it. We were greeted immediately by Mr. Amithab. I must say we had a lot of fun posing with wax statues of the great and famous like Albert Einstein, Shah Rukh, Mother Teresa, Mr. Modi, Arnold, etc. We did two rounds of clickng pictures with these folks since the first time around the photos didn’t turn out so great. A small boy from the museum assisted us the second time.

There was a room where we could click pictures against 3D paintings done on the walls and floors, which made it appear like we were within the scenery. It was amazing. The manager of the place had her kids around, and one of them came around and helped us click some of the pictures. There were a few lovely paintings too. We had a lot of fun there. We must have spent a good 1.5 hours there. We finally used their restrooms, said thank you, waved goodbye, and left.

We went out to eat dinner at a decent place and then headed home. We were knackered. But it was one of the best days of our trip! We did so much and really had fun doing all of it. We did skip visiting Ecopark which came by highly recommended, but that’s on our bucket list for next time, just like the loads of other stuff we’ve got on there.

I know that in the future, when my kids read this blog, they will reminisce these with a smile on their face. What a memorable day indeed! 💛

Nagercoil Diaries – Day 2

Woke up very late close to afternoon. Prepared some non-spicy food for the kids. We had lunch and then headed out to visit a few relatives and do some shopping.

We visited one of my husband’s relatives. It was my father in law’s brother and his wife. Was nice to meet them. Heard so many stories of how this uncle used to help look after my hubby’s siblings when they were younger. He looked so much like my father in law. They were so happy to meet us as well. After that we headed out for shopping.

We went to Pothys and it didn’t feel any different from Chennai. The city is quite densely populated. India is definitely the best place to shop. I love shopping here. The cotton stuff is so so good. We spent a good 3 hours shopping at Pothys picking up stuff we waited 2.5 years to buy. Busy and happy day. The billing took forever that day as me and the kids waited in the car. But still worth all the effort.

We then went to another relative’s home, one of my MIL’s sister’s son’s home. This aunty was very aged. Her son, granddaughter and daughter in law lived together with her. By the time everyone reached home from work it was very late. His cousin also was out and only came back home when we called him over the phone. No one had expected us as it was a surprise visit. This cousin was the one who helped us a lot during our stay in Nagercoil. Their home had many floors and looked very different from the other homes I had visited. I was surprised to see so many CCTV cameras installed in all the homes on their street. We spent a long time there. It was almost 10:15 pm when we left from their home.

He took us out to dinner at a restaurant, Arya Bhavan. Everything was a bit too spicy for us, but we managed. By the time we started home it was 11:10 PM and we reached our place of stay by 11:30 PM. It was a bit too spooky at that time in the night. We were actually staying at another cousin’s home. Theor home was nice and had a lot of space for the kids to play. The staircase inside their home entertained my kids for hours. It was a memorable day of meeting a lot of people whose stories I’ve only heard from my mother in law. The end of another beautiful day.

Nageroil Diaries – Day 1

For the first time we landed in Trivandrum. This is also the first time I’m setting foot in Kerala. I had my apprehensions about the trip since we had small kids. But 2 days into it and I’m so thankful we decided to make this trip.

I was teary-eyed at the airport. It was the place my dad had spent 28 prime years of his life working. We flew so frequently, almost once every year. My memories of him came rushing back like a flood. This was the first time I didn’t have a home to go back to and a daddy to welcome me to his home. He always enjoyed serving us grand meals and always sat on the terrace to see the flight we were leaving on.

My husband’s native Nageroil is simply beautiful. After a long long time of living in a desert and hot places like Chennai and Tutucorin my heart finally revelled in all the natural beauty this place had. The weather was lovely, the slight drizzle, the dense green cover, the early morning 4:30 AM fresh milk tea, the tall coconut trees along the beaches are all too lovely to ever forget. I’m glad that prior to this I got to spend time with my mother in law and learn about her family and my father in law’s family. Now I’m seeing all these people and places in person.

I’m so awestruck by how lush this place is. I have to admit, I wish I could make this place my forever home.

The kids are fascinated by all the simple things that are missing in Dubai like insects, ants, plants, trees, stones, sand, etc. Their biggest time pass was the staircase. They’ve never seen a home with a staircase on the inside. While I was losing my breath and my legs ached like crazy by climbing up, that’s all my kid did the entire day.

Thankfully Nagercoil doesn’t have as many mosquitoes as Chennai does. We were lucky to have no mosquitoes for company as we slept. The nights are bit stuffy due to the rains but still a minor setback to such a beautiful place. For once I’m so happy to discover a place where we can survive without air-conditioning. I was so fed up of Dubai, of the constant usage of AC and the various ailments that came along with it for each one of us. We found immediate relief with many of the health issues my children faced due to the polluted atmosphere there. If we opened our windows there we had to deal with dust pollution and what not. We were literally confined to our apartment 24×7. For the first time my family is breathing fresh air.

We visited a relative whose daughter was getting married in 3 days. We rode to their home in an autorickshaw. That was a treat for my kids. They were fascinated. I actually got to see a river with water in it, for the first time in my life! We spent the evening in their home talking and getting to know each other. Had dinner in their home and left.

It was a bit inconvenient to live out of a suitcase but then this trip was definitely worth the hassle. Loving every aspect of this green beauty. Nagercoil, you’re so beautiful, I don’t want to leave.