Sunrise at Kanyakumari

Kanyakumari is one Indian city that wakes up and gets going before 9 am. Since we arrived in this country, we’ve looked for morning breakfast places in various cities that are open before 7:30 and usually there’s just the one, but almost all the Kanyakumari is awake by 5 am, if not earlier.

Loud music of a woman singing starting playing around 5 am. We had set the alarm for 5:30 to get to the southernmost tip of India – where the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea meet – in time for sunrise. Scott and I were on the street well before 6 am and joined the multitudes of red pilgrims and others on a march toward the beach. Surrounding us on the sidewalks were shops and vendors selling tea and coffee. As we got closer and closer to the beach, the vendors were selling seaside trinkets, fake pearl necklaces, postcards, sunglasses, even cameras.

Instead of a quiet sunrise, we were with probably a thousand others, including school kids in red and white checkered plaid. Vendors were yelling, kids were squealing, people were posing. We watched a few brave (or foolish) folks get drenched with crashing waves in an effort to get the best glamour shot. We waited and waited, all of us facing the Vivekananda Rock Memorial and the Thiruvalluvar statue – the island icons of Kanyakumari. Scott and I realized we could’ve slept in longer. When the sun finally made its first appearance around 6:40, there was an applause from the audience, people excitedly pointing. We watched for around ten minutes before, like others, we turned our gazes away and went on with our day.