After Kodaikanal and my return to Madurai, I took a 7 hour bus trip down to Kanniyakumari, which is the southern-most point in all of India. The British called it Cape Comorin. Travelers call it the "Land's End." Whatever its name, this is the place where the Indian Ocean, the Arabian Sea, and the Bay of Bengal meet. You can see the sunrise and the sunset over water just by turning around (and waiting half a day). Kanniyakumari is also known for Swami Vivekananda, the great Hindu thinker who meditated on a rock here for three days (presumably) before coming to the realization that religion isn't just about spirituality, but it's also about social awareness. So, there are three, yes three, buildings/museums here devoted to the Swami. I visited two. One of them is actually on the rock, which is an island, on which he meditated. Next to it, on another rock, is the large statue devoted to famed Tamil poet Thiruvalluvar. This is supposedly the "Indian Statue of Liberty," simply because it's a big statue on an island. I visited both places with my friend Mark (not the same one as from Mamallapuram), who is from Vancouver. Previously, I also visited the Gandhi Memorial, which housed Gandhiji's ashes before they were immersed into the ocean. Other than seeing the sites, I spent the rest of the time (typically before I met Mark) sitting at the ghats and on the beach, trying to find peace amongst the carnivalesque chaos of the city.
Kanniyakumari is also a really important pilgrimage site (but which place in Tamil Nadu isn't???), and pilgrims come from all over the country (but mainly the South) to bathe in the salty water. So, they come in by the busloads, only staying a day, and frolicking in the water to wash away their impurities. But in truth, as I sat at the beach or the ghats, taking it all in, I began to wonder what was really happening. The pilgrimage thing seemed like an excuse to come down to the beach and play in the water. Because that's what I really saw. Only a few old men were being spiritual, and were really seeming austere. All the young men were simply splashing and taking pictures and trying to dunk each other and swimming and laughing and playing. Sure, some of them bathed, but it seemed to be for a more practical reason than for washing away sins (of course, how clean can you really get in salty water, anyway?). So, is Kanniyakumari a religious place? Sure, just count the hundred of pilgrims passing through there each day. Is it a spiritual place? Only if playing in the water with your closest friends counts as spiritual.
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