Song in My Head

I always have a song playing in my head. No matter what I'm doing; whether I'm working, or reading a book, or eating, or travelling to and from office, or talking to someone, or just lying in bed waiting to fall alseep or to wake up as the case might be! I always wake up with a song playing in my head. Right now, while typing, "Aaj ki Raat" from "Don" is playing in my head.

While growing up I always thought that everybody has a song playing in their head like I do, that everybody is programmed like that! But I have recently (pretty late, I must admit!!) found out that that is just not the case! I have met quite a few people who have debunked this theory of mine! Some people seem to have these long conversations going on inside their heads at all times, while others have nothing going on.

It is quite an entertaining thing to have a song playing in my head at all times, especially now that the radio on my cell isn't working!! :(( I don't have to try too hard on trying to bring a song into my head, one (or sometimes two-three) is always playing in my head. It also comes in handy when I'm stuck in boring company! ;) Of course, it can spell trouble when I zone out while a meeting is going on!! LOL!!

I guess I have a song playing in my head at all times because of my passion for music. I cannot imagine living without music! In fact my favourite quote is by Friedrich Nietzche, "Without music, life would be a mistake". I strongly believe that. Well that's about me and the goings on in my head. What usually goes on in your head?? I'd sure like to know that! :)

On an aside, I watched "Dhoom 2" last week, and was thoroughly entertained! It was a totally masala movie, and you just have to sit back and enjoy the proceedings and not question some instances that just don't add up! Hrithik Roshan and Aishwarya Rai have completely stolen show. I'm not a fan of Hrithik at all, but man! did he look hot or what?!! Both my friend J and I drooled over him throughout the movie! LOL!! Another friend of mine put it quite aptly when she said that he looks like a Greek God in "Dhoom 2".
Aishwarya has once again gotten bad reviews, but I thought she carried off her role with much aplomb! I did not expect Aishwarya and Hrithik to share such an amazing chemistry!
Uday Chopra was also kinda cute!! He was really funny with his "Mummy" refrains!
I thought that both Abhishek Bachchan and Bipasha Basu were wasted in the movie and deserved a meatier role.
And apart from all of these good looking actors, what I loved were the stunts carried out with flair and style by Hrithik. Those were quite mind blowing!
In fact I found them so mind blowing that I'm gonna watch the movie again ! :D

Weirdos of the World Rejoice! You are not Alone!

It was my Happy Birthday 2 days ago (LOL!!), and I had wanted to post this on that day. But I was so crazy busy that I just didn't get the time! So, as a tribute to my (ahem!) inherent weirdness I will get down to doing this tag. I had been tagged by S0ul. The rules of the tag are that I have to note down 8 of the weirdest things about myself. I'd actually asked my pal A, to come up with a few, and lived to regret it! Her list was really long! And when I whined that "I didn't do that anymore", she refused to believe me and smirked, "Weirdos don't change spots, hon!"

Ok, so here goes:

1. I like making lists. I make lists about almost anything that catches my fancy, from the number of movies and books I've read in a month to what clothes I wear everyday of the week!! And (there's more!) the movie list is further categorized in terms of the month that I'd watched the movie in, the date, director, actors, , and I'd give it my own rating!! :D And before people think I'm really loony, I make a list of all the clothes I wear because I have a really, really bad memory, and can't remember when I wore something last week! Gotta keep rotating the clothes na? Hehe!
2. I don't like to see loose threads hanging off my clothes. I just have to cut them off at once! A few years back I couldn't bear to see loose threads hanging off the clothes of other people too, and would be terribly tempted to cut them off too. And I have... err... even succumbed to this temptation innumerable times, much to the horror, bemusement, shock of the other person!! I'm glad to report that I can control these impulses now!! :D
3. I don't know if this counts as a weird point, but I have this major foot-in-the-mouth disease. I'm the Queen of saying the most inappropriate things at the most inopportune times! There was this one time that I was going on and on about how terrible this scooter looked and I wondered aloud who'd ever buy one, when one of the people around who was shooting icy looks at me all through, thundered that her brother had just bought the very same scooter and that he was very happy with it!! This bit of information had obviously slipped my mind!
   
4. I like weird food combinations! I looooooooove pineapple with chocolate sauce! My Mom thinks that that has to be the weirdest combination ever. She was shocked when I had first tried it out and declared that it was one of the most amazing things I had ever tasted! When I was 8-9 years old I would grate cheese and add heaped spoons of sugar to it, mash the entire concoction together very enthusiastically and then eat it all up with much relish! An aunt recalls this incident very vividly: She had come across me doing this one time and had asked in horror, "But who eats something like this?!" And I had apparently proudly answered that I do! LOL!! I can dunk roasted papad into almost anything, ranging from soup to cola!
   
5. I get spaced out very often. A bunch of us would be sitting and talking about something, and suddenly I realize that I hadn't been listening to a thing that had been said for the last 10-15 minutes! I'm made the butt of jokes for this reason soooooooo many times! I've even been spaced out while driving my Scooty loads of time! Then suddenly I come out of my reverie when one of those I-don't-know-what-an-indicator-is auto drivers swerve in front of me out of nowhere! But I'm told that lots of people day dream while driving, so this is probably not my weirdest point!
6. Hmmm... what next? I can't think of anything else. Maybe I'm not as weird as most people believe me to be! :)) I wonder if this counts as being weird... I wash my brush and comb each time I wash my hair (that's like every alternate day). And not only that, I even clean the dressing table thoroughly before placing my clean brush and comb on it. I think that it's just good sense, but some people have told me that I tend to go a bit overboard! Some of my friends call me Monica (from FRIENDS) for this reason! :D
7. I have this routine before falling asleep. First I lie down on my back, then after sometime on my left side and then lastly on my right side. And then.... I fall asleep at last!
8. Lastly, according to my good pal A, I'm weird because I liked "Dil Ne Jise Apna Kahaa"!! She thought that it was a really stupid movie, and was quite stunned that I actually liked it! But I did! It was quite sappy, but I did! I think I would be truly weird if I had liked the monstrous atrocity, "Jaan-e-mann". That has to be the worst movie of this year!!

So there they are! All of my weird personality characteristics!
I think that all of us are innately wierd in some way or the other, and should just celebrate it! :D :D

Songs Tag

I have been tagged by Manish. It is a very interesting tag, and one for which I had to think a LOT! I hope I'm able to do justice to it! :)

1. Your favourite lyricist and the lyrics you remember the most.

Hmmm... I would pick Javed Akhtar. And the lyrics are of the title song of "Kal Ho Naa Ho":

Har ghadi badal rahi hai roop zindagi
Chhaaoon hai kabhi
Kabhi hai dhoop zindagi
Har pal yahan jee bhar jeeyo
Jo hai samaa kal ho naa ho...


2. Your favourite song on friendship.

It would have to be "Mustafa, Mustafa" from "Prema Desam" ("Duniya Dilwalo Ki" in Hindi).

I remember I was in the 9th standard when this movie had been released in Hyderabad, and all of us friends had gone to watch it. It had become a huge hit thanks to the awesome music provided by A. R. Rahman. Each and every song is good, right form "College Style" to "Prema"! And "Mustafa, Mustafa" had become THE anthem for anything to do with friendship! :)


3. Which song are you humming today?

I was humming "Everybody's Changing" by Keane. I'd heard it back when Radio One was Go 92.5 FM and played English pop (I wish they would go back to the old format!). This song has a lovely melody.

So little time
Try to understand that I'm
Trying to make a move to stay in the game
I try to stay awake and remember my name
But everybody's changing
And I don't feel the same...


4. One song, which brings tears to your eyes.

"Le Chale Le Chale" from "My Brother Nikhil".

Chandani muskuraye jab hawa kuch kahe
Jo ghana ho fiza mein andhera
Layenge hum savere tere liye
Le chale le chale yeh yaadon ke kaafile
Jayenge hum jahan
Yeh zameen aasman mile...

I'd also like to add the title song of "Kal Ho Naa Ho", especially the second antara (verse):

Palko ke leke saaye
Paas koi jo aaye
Laakh sambhalo pagal dil ko
Dil dhadke hi jaaye
Par soch lo is pal hai jo
Woh daastan kal ho naa ho...

The image of Aman (SRK) imagining himself to be in the shoes of Rohit (Saif Ali Khan) is just heart breaking!


5. A song that gives you hope, a reason to try again and again, a reason to say that life is beautiful :)

This is a tough one! Maybe "Roobaroo" from "Rang De Basanti".

Aye saala!
Abhi abhi hua yakin
Ki aag hai mujh mein kahin
Hui subah main chal gaya
Suraj ko main nigal gaya
Roobaroo... roshni... Hey!


6. When you want to be by yourself, silent and content but with music, which song would that be?

"When you say nothing" by Ronan Keating

It's amazing how you can
Speak right to my heart
Without saying a word
You can light up the dark
Try as I may I can never explain
What it is you say
When you don't say a thing

The smile on your face
Lets me know that you need me
There's a truth in your eyes
Saying you'll never leave me
The touch of your hand says
You'll catch me wherever I fall
You say it best
When you say nothing at all...


7. If you have to express your love for someone with a song, which would that be?

I'm going to cheat here, and include three songs instead of one! :)

• "Ab Naa Jaa" by Euphoria

Aankein band kar lu jo mein
Dekhoon bas tujhe
Khwabon mein hi keh sakta hoon
Apna Tujhe
Rehene do mera yeh vehem
Hai yakin naa jaaoge
Pyar ki yeh raat hai, ab naa jaa
Chhotisi ek baat hai, ab naa jaa...

• "Runaway" by The Corrs

Say it's true,
There's nothing like me and you
I'm not alone,
Tell me you feel it too
And I will runaway, yeah, yeah
I will runaway
I will runaway with you
'Cause I'm falling in love with you
No, I'm never gonna stop
Falling in love with you...

• "Can't Help Falling in Love" by Elvis Presley

Wise men say only fools rush in
But I can't help falling in love with you
Shall I stay
Would it be a sin
If I can't help falling in love with you...


8. Five songs you listen to the most.

Only five??? There are a countless number of songs that I don't get tired of listening to!
Hmmm... from the top of my head here they are, in no particular order:

• Mann Ki Lagan (Paap)
• Dheere Jalna (Paheli)
• Gazab Ka Hai Din (Qayamay Se Qayamat Tak)
• The Unplugged Album by The Corrs
• Yeh Raat Bheegi Bheegi (Chori Chori)

Now it's my turn to tag some unsuspecting blogger buddy!! :D
After giving this due thought, I've decided to tag Vir! Enjoy this tag!

Forgot!

I was going to post this on the 14th of September, but completely forgot! :(( If you are wondering what was so special about the 14th of September, well, it was my Phoenix Tattoo's 2nd Birthday! I'd already posted a long tribute to it last year, so I won't repeat myself again.

I'm dying to make another addition to my "family" of tattoos, but I haven't come across a design that I would want on my skin for the rest of my life. So the search is still on for my third tattoo...! :D

Sky High V

I have nothing interesting to write about, so I thought that I would continue my 'Sky High' series. All have been clicked using my Olympus digicam. They have been taken over the past few weeks from my first floor balcony. Each time I see the sky go pinkish-orange I just go crazy clicking snaps!











The last two aren't sky pics, but I just thought that the yellow flowers looked pretty.

Brand New Day

A few people were wondering about why there was such a long gap between my previous two posts, Koval-ummm and Kanyakumari. Well, the thing is, I have gotten a job! The timings are from 9:30 AM to 6:00 PM. So all this while, my entire system has had to rearrange itself and get used to waking up at 6:00 AM in the morning, every single day! Thank God I get the weekends to myself. But all I do on weekends is to sleep, sleep, and then sleep some more! :D

And that is the reason why I could not blog as much as I wanted to. Now I’m somewhat used to this new routine.

During the last few weeks of my post-grad course I was quite worried about what I was gonna do once the final exams were over. I thought that I’d most probably be sitting at home twiddling my thumbs. So I decided to put up my resume online. And then one day I got a call from this company, asking me to come down for an interview. So I wrote my last exam on 16^th May and went for the interview on 17^th May, and got selected after a short test and an interview. To say that I was euphoric would be an understatement!! I just couldn’t wait to get home and tell my Mother!

As most people know, I have done Clinical Psychology. My current job profile is slightly different. The company where I work is all about Usability. We make websites and other electronic gadgets user-friendly. So at first I wasn’t sure what exactly I would be doing here.

I’ve completed exactly seven weeks at work now, six of which were spent in training. And they have been wonderful weeks! We are a bunch of 14 trainees. As a part of our introduction at the office, we were asked to put up a play. So we put up this silly play, which was about usability in a very filmy context! We were sure we’d be booed off the stage, but thankfully most of the people were laughing really hard! I played (very reluctantly, I might add!) the role of a law enforcement agent who was a cross between a Charlie’s Angel type and a bumbling havaldar! The best part of this experience was when my role ended! LOL!!

After the play was over, there was this big jam session, where our CEO played the guitar, and a bunch of other people began banging on drums, dholaks and other beatable instruments! I too got a chance to play a drum. The noise levels were really, really high, but it was just sooooooo much fun!!! And I must add that our CEO has to be the coolest of all! He’s terrific!

Last Thursday was our certification test, which all of us were quite tense and nervous about, as the passing grade was 70%. I hardly ever externalize my stress, but it eats me up from the inside, and I keep on picturing the worst-case scenarios over and over again! But, we passed! And now I’m even more ecstatic!

These past seven weeks have made me realize something. I was unhappy for the past two year. There! I’ve said it! I never thought I would be able to admit this to myself! Back then it was a sort of self-preservation thing, I suppose. If I’d admitted to myself that I was unhappy, then I would really have been unable to be even a tiny bit happy!

And a lot of the happiness in my life has got to do with my fellow trainees. At last I have found people who I can relate to, who share the same brand of humour as mine! The girls in my college were quite nice, funny even, but it was rather hard to connect with any of them, save one-two.

It’s a different story at work. I’m grinning like an idiot most of the time, so much so, that I catch myself grinning even while walking or sitting in the train on my way to work or going back home! I’m not even the angry lout that I’m most mornings! I’m not a morning person, you see, and am pissed off in general, whenever I have to wake up early!

One time last week, I was going back home by train, and I kept recalling this really funny incident in which this guy at work was imitating someone (and doing a brilliant job of it!). I found it really hard to stop myself from bursting out laughing. So I tried to just look out the window and smother the laughter by pressing my hand down on my mouth, but a few giggles escaped along with a lot of shoulder shrugs!!!

I thought to myself that I was glad that there weren’t too many people in the compartment at that moment. But then I happened to look at this girl sitting before me, who was looking at me with some alarm! She started giving me strange looks, and having decided that it wasn’t safe to sit anywhere close to me, picked up her bag and sat at the other end!! :))

I’m actually laughing out loud (and scaring my grandma in the process!) while recalling this incident!

I feel so blessed! Blessed to have landed this job, but most of all to meet such wonderful people!

Now I just hope that I will continue having fun even after I’m assigned to a project…

Koval-ummm!

Here I’m after aaaaaaages! I’m going to complete this long overdue post now!

So, last time I’d left off at the point where we had started off from Kanyakumari for Kovalam. En route we stopped at Nagercoil to visit the Padmanabhapuram Palace. The following three pics were taken by D.

It appeared to be a very well maintained structure. We saw everything from the royal bedchambers to the royal WC!! :D

I liked the Festival Hall the best because it had beautifully sculptured pillars and statues.

We arrived at Kovalam at about 2:30-3:00 in the afternoon. We stayed at a resort on Lighthouse Beach. Here is a pic of the lighthouse that I'd taken from my hotel room.

The view from our room was quite fabulous; tall coconut trees swaying lazily in the wind, and we could just about make out the sea in the distance.

After lunch we decided to snooze for a while. In the evening we decided to go for a walk on the beach. We were really surprised to see that the sand was black in colour. We later found out that in November-December the sand changes back to a pale yellow colour. This is all got to do with the way the sea moves, tides etc. This is also the tourist season in Kovalam.

Anyway, as I’d probably mentioned earlier, I looooooove water!! So I was completely excited and wanted to wade in. But Ma as usual was like, “Don’t go in too deep! The waves will suck you in!” Well, this time she did have a point, as the sea was really rough. You could hear the waves crash against the beach really loudly.

We then walked along the promenade and looked into all the seaside cafés. We then decided that we would dine at these cafés every night.

Next day we decided to go to Trivandrum. We first went to the Veli Tourist Village. There were lots of bizarre sculptures at this place!

This place was apparently first used for movie shootings, and has now been opened up to the general public. The best part was the speedboat ride that we had. I’d never been in a speedboat before, and I’m so glad I did at last! It was sooooo much fun! We were just zooming all over the place! The guy who was driving it took quite a few sharp turns and I could actually hear Ma squealing behind me. I couldn’t make out if she was enjoying herself or was just scared out of her wits! LOL!

As for me, I was just grinning like an idiot throughout the ride, and this song called “Na To Raa” (which I think means “Come with me”, but am not too sure) from a Telugu movie called “Ninne Pelladata” kept on playing in my head. Nagarjuna and Tabu had starred in this movie. All the songs in it are damn good! It was even dubbed and released in Hindi, but I forgot what the title was in Hindi. It is the song in which Nagarjuna and Tabu are enjoying all sorts of adventure sports on water.

Anyway, I digress, so lets get back on track. After the Veli Village we went to see the Padmanabhaswamy temple.

We then went to visit the Napier Museum, but couldn’t as it was a Tuesday, I think, and all the public places are closed on Tuesdays. So we then went to this departmental store called Parthas, and did a bit of shopping there. We then had lunch and headed back to Kovalam, with Dad in a very bad mood, as he thought that the entire day had been wasted since all the “places to see” were closed. As is his wont, the tirade did not stop till we reached our hotel in Kovalam, and D and I escaped into our room!

At night we dined at the Malabar Café. I had a pizza after a really, really long time and was very, very satisfied! :D

D was also satisfied as he got to watch the FIFA on a TV mounted at the restaurant. A variety of fresh fish were displayed outside most of these cafés, and one could inspect and choose which fish one would like to eat.

The next day we went to the Neyyar Dam sans D, as he just wanted to have a day of R & R on the beach. The road to the dam was just awful, and even though I had taken a travel sickness pill, I felt quite sick! At last we arrived at the dam and I was glad to walk on stable ground again!

The dam was surrounded by a large garden. We turned a corner and all of a sudden came face-to-face with a man peering at us through a binocular lens! I got so startled! And after a few seconds I realized that the ‘man’ wasn’t moving at all, and that’s when it hit me that it was just a statue! There were freaky statues like this all over the place! There was a statue of a woman in a swimming suit even at the edge of a swimming pool! Photgraphy around the dam was not allowed.

There was a Crocodile Protection Center some 3-4 km away from the dam. The poor crocs were kept in tiny cages. Most were quite small. The biggest one is the one below:

We then found out that there was also a Lion Safari Park just a few km away from the Crocodile Protection Center and we signed up for that along with another family, who were also from Bombay. I’d never been on a lion safari before, so turns out this trip was one of firsts for many things!

There are 3 female lions, 1 male lion and 2 cubs in the reserve. We were told that there was a distinct possibility that we may not come across any of the lions. We could hear the roars of the animals from time to time though. We then turned into a clearing and came across two of the lionesses.

We were all so completely thrilled! We were just about 2-3 feet away from wild animals! I rushed to sit in the seat just beside the driver’s and kept on filming the two lionesses on the camcorder, even though all they did was sit around and regard us with an air of utmost boredom! Some distance below the clearing was a large cage in which the two cubs were kept. The lion was sitting just outside the cage. The two cubs were not really all that small, and were kept separate from the lion to avoid any territorial fights.

At one point the driver asked me if I wanted to see the two lionesses walk. I just shrugged my shoulders and wondered how he would manage that. All he did was nudge the van closer to them. The two got up grumpily, walked just a few inches away and plonked themselves back on to the ground!

Then the driver got out on to his side (the lionesses were on my side of the van) and tried to get the lion to come up where we were. He shouted a bit and threw a stick or pebble to distract the lion and make him come up. At this point I grew quite nervous as the lionesses could come around on to his side at any moment and swipe at him as if he were a rat! I just wanted him to get back into the van and shut the door tight!

After the excitement of the lion safari we headed back to Trivandrum and visited the Napier Museum at last!

There is also a zoo somewhere close to the museum, but I was not in a mood to visit a zoo, so we just went to the museum. It had some really interesting artifacts ranging from Southern India to Fiji! There were also some models of the famous seals and statuettes found at Harappa and Mohenjodaro.

We spent the next day at our hotel, and I got a massage. This one was much better than the one that I’d gotten in Thekkady two years ago. I felt completely relaxed afterwards and I think it even cured my hair loss problem!!

At night we went back to the Malabar Café on the Lighthouse Beach promenade. It was our favourite little café. It even had a hotel attached to it.

Out of all of the places that we had visited this time, Kovalam was my absolute fav! It gave me a very “Dil Chahata Hai” feel! And the whole time that I was there I kept on thinking of how fantastic it would be to come back to Kovalam with all of my gal pals and spend an entire week (or more) just lazing around on the beach, eating at the Malabar Café, and maybe getting a massage or two. That would be just heaven! :D

The next day we got in to the Netravati Express and came back to Bombay after spending nearly 24 hours in the train, as it was terribly late! So I just spent the time getting onto D’s nerves by talking utter nonsense all the time and asking him innumerable questions! Hehe! Well, he deserved it for annoying me for all of my 23 years!

We were greeted by a very wet Bombay and all that was left of our trip were fond memories and a deep tan!

Kanyakumari

To recap from where I left off in the last post, we were walking toward our hotel in the fast approaching darkness, and my camera caught the static electricity bit, with Dad in the background looking very cross! :D

Next day we set out in an Ambassador car to our third destination, Kanyakumari. As usual I fell asleep almost as soon as the car started moving. This was a strange kind of phenomenon. Each time I stepped into a car on this trip, I would fall asleep almost immediately! I guess the anti-travel sickness pills that I was taking weren't helping matters any!

But I would wake up intermittently, and thank God I did, otherwise I would have missed some amazing scenery. We stopped for a while at the bridge that connects Rameshwaram to the mainland. The water here was of the most fascinating shades of blue and green!

The railway bridge is slightly below the one for motor vehicles. And Ma recalled that when we were on that bridge on our way to Rameshwaram, she felt as though if she just reached out of the window, she could touch the water! I unfortunately missed this sight because I was asleep on the upper berth.

It was a cloudy day when we set out for Kanyakumari. It even rained a little. Masses of grayish-white clouds were bunched up in the sky. Add to that the fields of coconut trees, green shrubs, and hills in the distance.

We even passed by fields of windmills. The sky at that moment took on a peculiar purple tinge. The views were absolutely breath taking!

We reached Kanyakumari sometime in the late afternoon. We could see the Swami Vivekananda Rock Memorial and the Thiruvallavar statue from our hotel balcony. On our first day it rained quite a bit, so plans to stroll down to the beach in the evening had to be cancelled.

We were in for a not very nice surprise when we went to the restaurant attached to our hotel for dinner. The food though sort of palatable was quite below par. No Nonsensical Dad flared up and fired all the poor waiters there about what terrible food we had been served. I felt bad for the poor guys, so I stated that there was no need to exaggerate. But next morning Ma found a big fat dead fly in her omlette! It was decided there and then that we would eat all our meals somewhere else.

Anyway, on our second day in Kanyakumari, we first visited the Suchindrum Temple, which is dedicated to Lord Shiva. I like the way South Indian temples are designed, with their beautifully sculpted gopurams, which are painted in vivid colours, although the gopuram of the Suchindrum temple wasn’t painted and was plain white.

We then went to the Kanyakumari railway station. It is the last station on the southern tip of the Indian subcontinent. Here again D was up to his usual tricks and directed me to record him walking down the tracks, while Ma sang “Musafir hoon yaaron”! :))

Then we visited the Swami Vivekananda Rock Memorial and the Thiravullavar statue. For this we had to go in little boats. The sea was very, very rough and the boat tossed around quite a lot. I really had to control a strong urge to lean over and throw up!!

But I reached the Rock Memorial without parting with my breakfast! LOL! All the tourists were first ushered into a room and told about the history of the Memorial and how it was built. Right opposite the Memorial is a structure that houses the impression of a single footprint, which is supposed to be Goddess Parvati’s. Apparently she left it there when she was meditating standing only on her right foot.

The Memorial building houses the statue of Swami Vivekananda. No photography was allowed within, but we could take pictures from the outside.

Outside the memorial a Sunrise Calendar has been inscribed on the ground, and beside that is a structure called Sun Time. I’m guessing it tells one how to calculate the time of sunrise or sunset, but of course I could be wrong.

Strong gusts of wind were blowing, and I just loved that! :)

I forgot to add that from Kanyakumari one can see the waters of three different water bodies. The blue waters of the Bay of Bengal, the white waters of the Indian ocean and the black waters of the Arabian sea. We could just about make out the distinctions, especially the blue waters of the Bay of Bengal, because it was a very cloudy day and the distinction is apparently much sharper when the sun shines brightly.

So after wandering about the Memorial for a while, we took another boat to go to the island on which the Thiruvallavar statue stood.

Thiruvallavar was a saint-philosopher-poet who lived in B.C. I forget which year exactly! There are 70 steps leading up to the statue. So Lazy Parents once more elected to sit put at the base and D and I made our way up.

While we felt strong gusts of wind blowing when we were at the Memorial, it felt like a mini cyclone was attacking us when we got to the top of the Thiravullavar statue! We were literally and physically being pushed around by the wind! Sometimes sprays of water also fell on us. It was sooooo much fun!

So after being pushed around by the wind for a while we made our way down.

Next, we made our way to the Wax Museum. It houses mostly Tamilian celebrities, like Jayalalitha, Rajnikanth, Mohanlal and others.

A statue of Rahul Dravid is going to be installed soon. There’s also a statue of Shree Anandamayi Maa, which looked so real that it was spooky! The statues of Jayalalitha and Manmohan Singh were quite accurate too. But Rajnikanth’s statue didn’t look too real. But as I’m a great (ahem!) “Fan” of Rajnikanth, and had promised some friends to pose beside him, I did, with the “Baba” hand gesture!! I was hoping that his statue would be dressed in some flashy clothes on the lines of bright yellow shirt, but was disappointed to see it wearing a plain ole kurta. Ah, well! :D

Anyway, after this we ate at some other hotel and went back to our hotel. And thus the second day in Kanyakumari came to an end.

There was a lighthouse right beside our hotel and the revolving lights at night looked very pretty. I have tried to capture it using night mode on the camera but it’s not come out all that clearly.

Next day after breakfast D returned to our hotel room while my parents and I visited the Kanya Temple after which we did a bit of shopping for our family back in Hyderabad. Of course, I also bought some stuff for myself.

In the evening we visited the Church of Our Lady of Ransom. It was a beautiful church! And it looked even more beautiful with the azure sky in the background.

After spending a few moments there we made our way to Sunset Point. This was beside the sea. But the sea was in the southern direction. So all my dreams of taking the pictures of the sun drowning in the sea were shattered! And also it was a very cloudy day so the sunset was not as fabulous as I had expected it to be. But as most people know, I’m a sucker for sunsets, fabulous or not, and this one was stunning nevertheless! I had clicked 14 snaps of the sunset, and here are some of the good ones.

While the sun was descending we made our way to the rocks at the shore. I shot off toward a nice rocky outcrop, which jutted into the sea, with Dad in hot pursuit!! :)) The waves were lashing against these rocks with such ferocity! In fact I have never seen such rough waters ever in my life before I came to Kanyakumari. Below, the first picture was taken without the assistance of night mode, while the second close up was.

Water bodies and sunsets are two of my most favourite things! So one can imagine how much I loved being there at Sunset Point! I just didn’t feel like leaving, but as usual, all good things must come to an end… but not for too long! :D

The next day we set off for Kovalam in Kerala. But looks like I’ll have to have a separate post for that as this one has gotten quite long too. But I promise the third one will be the last in this series. :)