I woke up at 6 AM . To be precise , I was woken up at 6 AM by the incessant chants of ‘TeaCoffee.. TeaTeacoffee ‘. This happens almost in all Indian trains , differing only by the dialect . For example, in North India , it will be ChaiChai MasalaChai’ and say in Kerala it would be ‘Chaya Chaya.. KaapiChaaya’ .
Now , regular readers of the blog (at the last count, approximately 2 people) would know that I spent a good part of last year in London . There, the most popular means of transport are trains . There are tubes ( which I absolutely love and I think is one of the best planned transportation network ever ) for local travel and then there are trains which travel cross country . Now these cross country trains are fast , efficient , clean and in more ways than one , absolutely superb . But still , Indian trains offer a better travelling experience , thanks to one secret component .. Which is ‘Tomato Soup’.
Im not sure if this phenomena ( I call it that cos its taste is quite phenomenal ) is available on all trains , but it most definitely is served on Lalbagh express(Bangalore to Madras) . There have been instances where the travellers have refused to embark when Tomato soup went missing from the pantry .People got in only after an immediate gazette was passed by the then Railway minister , Honbl. Laloo Prasad Yadav ji that ‘Jab takh rahega samosa mein Aloo , tab takh rahega Bihar mein Laloo’ AUR ‘Jab takh rahega madras mein dhoop , tab takh rahega trainon mein Soup ( wah wah ) ‘ Ok , I exaggerate . But the point is the that soup is bloody awesome . For ten bucks, it’s served in a small plastic cup , piping hot with a few golden fried bread crumbs . Its just perfect . Till date , no other restaurant has been able to replicate the awesomeness and this I suspect is because , they use some magic powder to make that soup .
As usual I digressed . Anyways , once we got out of the train , the first thing that hit me was the heat . Entering Tamil Nadu is like entering a Sauna which is sutuated inside a blast furnace , which inturn is placed right inside the Sun’s core ! If you ever get there , buy a pack of Maggi 2 minutes Noodles . They have special instruction which goes like this :
-Open the pack into a suitable vessel and pour some water .
– Go out in the sun and wait for 2 mins. Voila ! Your Maggi noodles is now ready to eat !
Ok again I exaggerate . But the point is , it’s hot as hell . If you are Aravind Swamy’s colour and go to TamilNadu , you will come back looking like Will Smith . Now if you are my colour and go to Tamil Nadu , you will come back looking like , well let’s put it this way .. If its dark and I’m out of the house , you will never know I’m there until I laugh with my teeth showing.
Thankfully the hotel we had booked into was pretty awesome , with twin AC and stuff .
Apart from the heat , Kanyakumari is quite a beautiful place .
Rocky beaches , Nice temples ,Beach Sundal , Hot coffee by the shores ,Ice cream , sea breeze and most importantly , the feeling of standing on the southern most tip of our country .
A good holiday !
PS : A note about the temples . They will not let you in if you are wearing a shirt (Men only) . So if you don’t have a six pack to flaunt and have extra layers of fat on your tummy , be prepare to feel a lil awkward . People stare .
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