Early morning of 21st April 2011, my train was nearing the Nagercoil station. I was aboard the Kanyakumari Express. The train passed the small town of Aralvaimozhi. Soon after, I saw huge wind mills, the big fans going round and round, plenty of them, thousands actually. It was amazing to know that this small and obscure town can generate this amount of clean energy.
I reached Nagercoil at seven. After breakfast, we started exploring Parvathipuram, the place where my in-laws stay. We went around the pond (kulam) located right behind their home. We found plenty of white lotuses abloom. Just when we thought to climb down the water to pluck some lotus, a man came in and offered to get into the pond and pluck some for us. Good to have a beautiful pond near your home. We joyfully took the fragrant flowers back home to place it in the Uruli (An Indian vase).
Then as a family we headed down south, 10km from Parvathipuram, towards Muttom beach. It was rocky, lot of large stones, we enjoyed sometime at the beach. We sat near the rocks and gazed at the waves coming and hitting the big rocks and go back. It was amazing to see the speed at which the large waves come and hit the rocks. Later cruised by the South coast road, and reached the Muttom fishing hamlet, where we found a Tsunami Memorial stone, a huge catholic church. Behind the church was the fishing hamlet, covered by a huge wall to protect the fishing boats from the dangerous waves. The boats were lined up near the shore. There were fishermen homes near the hamlet. People go fishing from here.
We then went cruising past the south coast road, to visit another beach, the Sanguthurai Beach. It’s a virgin beach, it had a huge Conch or Sangu and a view point. Spent some time enjoying the waves and headed back home. Overall it was a great day, spending time with family.
22nd April 2011 was our first wedding anniversary; we prayed in the morning and opened our gifts. Thanks to all for all your gifts. We went off to Christopher Nagar church, to attend the Good Friday morning service. We had 7 people giving messages on the last words of Christ on the cross. After the service, the church members were served with special Kanji with 2 chutneys and a vegetable kurma. It was amazing to have fellowship lunch after the Good Friday service with all church members. In the evening I went for a walk around Parvathipuram, and I met Raja Jenish, who knows a lot about Nagercoil. He took me for a ride all around Nagercoil, lot of important places, how the name Nagercoil came up, from the Nagaraja Temple, we went past Home church, WCC, Clock Tower.
We had a lot of places planned to visit on the 23rd April 2011, plus some of our relatives were to arrive that morning from Trivandrum. Once they arrived, we spent time catching up and then had a sumptuous meal. We had hired a vehicle to go around the various places. We first headed to Padmanabhan palace in the afternoon. It is about 20kms from Nagercoil. It is a very old palace. If you love History, Kings, Queens; this is the place to be. It was good to know about the history of the place.
Later, we moved to Mathur Aqueduct (Mathur Hanging Trough). An awesome place, the view from the top of the bridge is breathtaking. We were able to view water streams on both sides. It was like walking on top of the world. Although a little scary to walk at that height, the view was just worth it.
Next we moved to Tiruparappu falls. The falls was crowded. People were enjoying the water, though the water was a little dirty. We went over to the top of the falls, from where the water was originating and took some photographs. It was thrilling to walk past the water streams at the top, the stream had a few pits, through which we were not able to pass through, hence got some help from people around to pull us from the water streams. It was the most thrilling moments of the trip.
For our last place for the evening we headed to Pechiparai dam. Pechiparai reservoir is a reservoir 43kms from Nagercoil, near the village of Pechiparai in Kanyakumari District. There are no words to express the beauty of this place. It looked like a wallpaper. The reflection of the hills on the water, the mountains surrounding the three sides of the water was amazing. It was a good day to visit all the beautiful places.
Easter Sunday, 24th April 2011, another beautiful day, we headed to Christopher Nagar church, early morning for the 6:00 AM Service. It was a special NMS Missionary dedication service. The songs for Easter Sunday were amazing. The Choir sang….Up from the grave he arose..a special song. A young boy played the organ; they had a sax player who danced to the singing of the choir. At the end of the service, we had a chance to meet the pastor, the NMS promoter at Nagercoil and the new missionary. The service was followed up by a fellowship breakfast at the church. We had Appam, Chappathy, Veg kurma, chutney and sweet kesari(really mouth watering stuff). We left for home after the service.
We planned to go to Keeriparai forest stream in the afternoon. We headed north of Nagercoil to Keeriparai, then to Kalikasam. This is a reserved forest area; tourists are not allowed to go past this place. We got special permission, since my friend knew the forest officials, and owners of the estate who pass by the place. The roads were rocky, we had a tyre puncture, and we had to change the wheels. It was getting interesting, we stopped half way, since the road was bad, and we were travelling without a spare wheel, we halted half way to see the beautiful view from the top.
Then headed down, half way through, we stopped to feel the water stream; this place was called Vattaparai Falls which is located at an elevation 40m in the Keeriparai reserve forest near Bhoothapandi village on the Pazhayar River, 32km northwest of Nagercoil.
On the way we passed by a water stream. It was a long drive, travelled a lot of distance. It was thrilling, since we passed by a place not allowed for tourist. It was a good day overall, a must see place.
Hope you all enjoyed the photos and videos.
