Tiruchendur Again

Train Saga
This time, I had booked train tickets a fortnight in advance. The train was at 1:30 am. So we boarded the last bus at 10:30. The bus did not go to junction, so we alighted at head post office and walked along the straight road till junction, thinking it would reduce the waiting time. It was just a little after 11. We walked and reached the station and found the train was in platform 4. I did not want to use the subway, I thought, I would use the way that the railway electric vehicles use and we walked till the very end of the platform without finding the path, till we reached the overbridge and found that we had come to platform 3 instead of 4. We took 30 mins for this walk, so finally, we had to use the subway. We slept for an hour and till 1:30, Pearl City express did not come, instead there was some kerala bound train in the same platform. After couple of frantic enquires, at last the train came and we clambered onto the train. In the morning, mom showed her swollen right hand, due to mosquitos at night.

It was 7:30 when we reached Tuticorin station. From there we boarded an auto for 40 bucks and we reached the new busstand and thereafter we took another bus to Thiruchendur. In the bus, an old lady boarded the bus after few stops along with a mentally challenged lady dressed in pavadai chatta. She kept on blabbering thanga thangam, she took the saliva from her mouth and kept on applying it to her face. We felt so bad, that I had to close my eyes in prayer.

Temple and Sea
We reached the temple, amidst the familiar sound of roaring waves, after refreshing, in a lodge, it was close to 10, when we reached the sea for a dip. The waves were tumultuous, very strong, not like the Arabian sea, where I could wade deep enough and swim gleefully. So here I sat down and played in the waves, my kurti suffered a tear near my left shoulder as the pinned dupatta struggled with the waves. The waves turned me a whole 180 degrees. The water was cool in spite of 10 am sun. We spent 1 hour in the beach and returned to the hotel, took bath, had food (this time too oops!) and went for darshan around 2 pm. Mom decided to leave the footwear in the lodge itself. It was the most insane thing to do in the 2 pm scorching sun. I was crying due to the burning sensation in my soles and started throwing tantrums by the time I reached the temple entrance shade. To my surprise, small small children were walking around barefoot unmindful of the hot sun.

It was a peaceful darshan, and while mom and A went for buying panchamrutham and other stuff, I sat and after a while, lay down on a stone bench watching the waves. I could see the winds along with the waves as they formed, rose, spread into a straight line, before merging into the turquoise blue sea with a roar. One wave rose, joined several others and it all stretched together into a straight, neat white wave stretching more than 10 metres just for few seconds, before breaking up and dissolving again.

People were taking snaps through the camera guys, by the sea, the print was kind of ok. Some had got married in the temple. Kids in colourful dresses were playing by. While returning, one kid took A for his mother and started following her and we had to send the kid back to his parents.

Valli Guhai
Last time, we had missed this cave. This time, again walking from the main temple till valli guhai entrance in the scorching sun was unbearable. But soon, we got into soothing shade. This side, the sea beach was peppered with black mossy rocks and the waves seemed less ferocious compared to the temple front. After getting the entrance ticket, we went inside crawling to see the devi. It was such a small cramped space with no ventilation. But it seemed adventurous. The porous walls surrounding the Valli Guhai had so many holes, where I could insert my finger and see it come out through the other end.

Back in the lodge
We came back and collapsed for a while. KTV was showing Mounam Pesiyadhe, which I watched in a half drowsy state. Suddenly it was 5:30 and the train in Tuticorin was at 7:30 (so I thought, it was actually at 7:45). My legs started aching suddenly. I had ordered coffee and cauliflower pakoda, which took some time in getting prepared. So mom and A were kind of furious. We reached the old busstand at 7:15 pm. And we had just 15 mins to board the train. We had no time to pack dinner. We took an auto and reached the station just before 7:30 and found the train ready to move.
We slept for a while, while our fellow compartment mates started having their dinner. Only at Sathur, a mallu guy gave us 2 chappathis for 20 bucks, we got 3 parcels and after munching, we collapsed blissfully till 1:25. Akka woke me up just when the train stopped and we dragged our sleepy feet to the busstand. Within 20 minutes the night service bus came and it was 3 am when I collapsed on the bed.

After a few days, I washed my white pants and dried them, and while I flipped it before folding, lots of shells and sand splashed all over. So much of sea sand was still trapped in the pant folds even after 2 washings. This time, unlike the previous time, Thiruchendur trip was less strenuous and the darshan without crowd was peaceful.