The picture shows the lovely beaches on the Arabian Sea coast, near Trivandrum, Kerala, India.
I had been on some work to Trivandrum in 1974.
In those days Trivandrum was called Trivandrum.
It is now called Thiruvananthapuram.
The journey was by train from Cochin to Trivandrum.
I was very impressed by the greenery all around.
I had not seen such a green countryside in India before.
At Trivandrum I moved out and noticed the city had slopes in some places.
As I walked a few clouds suddenly came from somewhere and drenched me thoroughly.
The area around was dry.
I wondered why the rain gods had chosen me for a VIP shower.
The houses were good and had small gardens, not like Ernakulam.
There was a Central Tuber Crops Research Institute, under the ICAR, which I visited. It does research on tuber crops like artichoke, yam, ’’arvi’’, tapioca etc.
In its canteen, I had food.
It was again mainly based on the tuber crops like artichoke and “arvi’, served along with rice, curds and ‘payasam”.
Then I took a chance at the famous “Padmanabha” temple.
There was a huge line waiting for the “darshan”-view of the deity, in the temple.
There was a dress restriction.
We had to remove all our clothes and wear a “dhoti”, preferably after washing
ourselves.
I was on my way to Kanya Kumari, the southernmost tip of India.
There was a tight schedule and seeing the long queue and dress code, I decided to offer my prayers with folded hands from outside and then move on to Kanya Kumari, where the Bay of Bengal, the Indian Ocean and the Arabian Sea meet.
Kovalam beach is near to Trivandrum.It is considered to be a lovely beach with some places to stay. I could not visit it due to less time.
There was not much time to see other tourist attractions or stay there.
About Kanya Kumari see another review.