this year my school did not go for any tour. i therefore joined my friends from another school. i went to cochin, lakshadweep, kanya kumari and trivadrum.
we left on the 29th of april. i remember this date as it was also the same day we had left for kashmir 5 years ago. the train was to leave at 3.30 pm. we reached at the station at 2.45 pm. i was with parini, alpa and krinal. during the day i used to sit with them. at night i had to go to the other bogie to sleep with some other group of girls.
29th April : i hardly knew anyone and was feeling very lonely. even alpa felt alone as she was not from the same school. she used to read some filmy magazine and i was bored. i hardly read any film magazines. in the evening i made friends with some girls. evening we had our dinner and i went to my bogie to sleep. i felt this trip was going to be very boring.
30th April : in train. i made friends with a few more girls. we played games. we started talking to an uncle in our compartment. he was a judo champ. we passed our whole afternoon talking to him. he had a lot of knowledge. parini even called him an 'encyclopedia'. in the evening parini started playing. krinal too joined her. alpa was alone and so i decided to stay with her.
1st May : we reached ernakulam (cochin) in the morning. we stayed at k. k. international hotel. our group of 4 was accommodated in one room. we had a refreshing bath and then went out for some shopping. the shopping area was full of stores that sold mirrors, hardware stuff and clothes. i bought some spices. after that we went back to the hotel. we had our lunch and then went to the area where we had to board a boat for sight seeing. we had to wait for the other girls to come. we boarded a boat and went to see the chinese fishing nets. they were very good. from there we went to st. francis church. then we went to the jewish synagogue. it was magnificent. the tiles were of a different style and the walls and ceiling were beautiful. there was gold all around. we wanted to go to the palace but it was closed.
2nd May : we packed our luggage. we had to board a ship. we boarded 'tipu sultan' and it started at 3.00 pm. we played 'antakshari' and we won. then we went to the deck. after that we went to check the hall of the ship. it was great and huge. the seats were comfortable and there were 2 tv's. many of us started feeling sea sick. even i felt my stomach churning. we were given a pill to make us feel better. we watched 'saatwa aasman' on cable tv that night. (those days cable tv was the latest thing. and we were all excited to watch movies like this) then we went to sleep.
3rd May : we reached the first island at 8.30 am. we went to the main island by a small boat. there were cottages. we sat out near the beach. the sea was sky blue at some places, while a little more lighter at other places. a few girls jumped into the water. i sat on the beach looking at the sea and enjoying the place. we went back to the cottages and had lunch. we had a lot of oranges there. we also had coconut water. we played kho-kho and tug of war. we went for a boat ride which was very unique. we were transferred to a boat which had a glass bottom. we could see the sea-bed and the corals. we saw blue nad green corals. we saw an insectivorous plant too. it had brown leaves and many mouths. (this was the most beautiful part of my journey. i can never forget the corals and the sea-bed) we went back to the ship in the evening. the islanders gifted each of us a box of glasses. many of the girls also bought souvenirs. in the evening we watched 'saajan' on tv.
4th May : when we got up we found out that we were going to visit an island with many lagoons. we were again transferred to small boats which took us to the island. we reached the cottages and had coconut water. we were than taken to a beach by a van. we played musical chair and blind mans buff. we went to the lighthouse. we were tired after climbing 225 steps. but the view from the top was exquisite. then we went to the beach. the water was cool and calm, but the weather was very hot and sunny. there were no trees and all of us were thirsty. we went back to the cottage and had our lunch. then we went to another beach. we weren't allowed to swim as the waves were huge. we enjoyed the view. we then went for the ride to the village. we spoke to a few local people there. it was very surprising to know that in their tribe the man went to the woman's house after marriage. we were so amused to hear that. after we went back to the boat something funny happened. i was sitting with reshma, alpa and krinal. parini was sitting on the other side. michael (one of the tour guys) was sitting behind her. then came the fun. first michaels 2000 rupees fell into the sea. after that alpa's hat flew off. and then we heard a splash. first we thought parini had fallen off the deck! but then she was safe. then someone said it was michael. and then when we saw him safe we realized it was some boatman who had fallen into the sea. all of us started laughing. we had dinner and watched 'love' on cable.
5th May : when i got up i found that the next island was already in sight. we were transferred to the island by boat again. it was great. there was greenery everywhere. we sat in small tractors and went to our cottages. we had coconut water again. we rented a pedal boat and went for a boat ride. it was fun. we went back to the cottages. i did not want to goto the beach again. so i sat back with a few other girls. we had papayas and then when the gang got back we had our lunch. we were then treated to folk dance by the locals. we bought some shells and then went to some factory. we clicked pics of some native kids who kept giggling all the time. we then went to the lighthouse. after that we went back to the ship. we had promised an entertainment show to the captain. we started practicing in the evening. i planned to sing a song. there were a few events planned. we had a fabulous dance and song show that evening. it was a fun party.
6th May : we reached cochin and went back to our hotel. we then left for kanyakumari which was 8 hours away. we saw 2 movies on the bus. 'maine pyar kiya' and 'sadak'. on the way it started raining. we had to get all our baggage inside the bus. we reached kanyakumari at 8 pm. we slept at 11.30.
7th May : we went sight-seeing. we visited the vivekananda memorial rock. then we went to a temple. the statue was very beautiful. it was a statue of 'kanya' with a beautiful diamond studded nose-ring. the surrounding was decorated with diyas. i loved the place. later we went to the southern most tip of mainland india. we watched the confluence of arabian sea, bay of bengal and the indian ocean. the view was great. we had chinese food for lunch and left for trivandrum. we watched 'chaalbaaz' on the bus. on the way we halted at the kovallam beach. the water was not very clean and i did not like the place. we then continued our journey. we reached late in the evening. we had dinner and went to sleep.
8th May : we visited the meenakshi temple.we then visited the zoo. we were all tired. so we did not enjoy the visit. we then went to the historic museum. i was bored and uninterested in all the stuffed animals. we then went to the art museum. the portraits were huge and life like. i like the portrait of 'agni devta'. the colour combination was very good. we went back to our hotel and had lunch. in the evening we went shopping. i bought 2 sari's for my mother. then we went back to the hotel. we had a party that evening and a fancy dress competition. parini won the fancy dress competition. she had dressed herself in a black dress with letters attached to her dress calling herself the 'black mailer'. she also won the housie and dance competition. after the party we went back to our room. we had decided to stay awake the whole night and keep talking. but one by one everyone went off to sleep!
9th May : we had to wake up at 5 am. we had our breakfast and went to the station. we caught our train back home. since i had made a lot of friends i enjoyed my day back home. we played many games.
10th May : the day passed making stories and having fun and games. we also sang a lot of songs.
11th May : i awoke at 5 am. we came to know that the train was late by an hour. i was so happy. i did not want to go home! but we had to go home! we reached v.t. station in a while. this was the end of a beautiful tour!
(wow this was long.. and i remember a lot of things that i have written here. was fun and nostalgic! this has been one of my favorite journeys. specially because there is no place like lakshadweep.. it is simply beautiful!!)
