DON’T JUST TRAVEL, TRAVEL WELL Varkala (also known as Papanasam beach) is a calm and quiet place, and a tourist attraction that lies around 50 kilometers north of Trivandrum city. The Samadhi of Sri Narayana Guru, the great social reformer and philosopher, attracts devotees in thousands. The Varkala beach, is renowned for the natural spring. It is a heaven for sun-bathing and swimming and is one of the most popular tourism destination in Kerala. The evening views of the sunset are worth lingering over. The cliff has a long stretch of small shops which goes on for over a kilometer.
EXPLORE Trivandrum PLUS
2 QUICK
TRIPS NEARBY PONMUDI VARKALA
Kerala > Thiruvananthapuram
T
hiruvananthapuram (also known as Trivandrum in short), the capital of the state Kerala and also the headquarters of the district, has a number of tourist spots. There are also tourism packages available for the state, such as hill stations, beaches, museum, and wild life sanctuaries, which also reflects the beauty of the state Kerala. We took an evening bus to Trivandrum and reached around eight in the morning. One of our friend’s father had come to pick us up at our stop and our room was booked in the Trivandrum Club. We freshened up and started touring the place. As we were moving around the city, I remembered the last time I came to Trivandrum,W when I was a kid. I could hardly remember anything about Trivandrum, so I was very excited about this trip. We could see how the city is
maintained, clean, developed and a lot of plants and trees planted across the city which makes the environment of the city even cooler.
Trivandrum, is the capital city of Kerala. The name literally splits into “Tiru”,”Anantha” ”puram” meaning “the town of Lord ANANTHA”
S
hree Padmanabhaswamy temple is in the heart of Thiruvananthapuram. The temple is peaceful and quite inside, built around high walls and elaborated gateways opening out on all four sides. It is also regarded as one of the 108 Great Vishnu temples. It is supposed to be of pre-Chrisitian era origin and was renovated to the present state of grandeur by the Maharaja Sri Anizham Tirunal Marthanda Varma in the eighteenth century. Since his time, the kingdom of Travancore was ceded to Lord Padmanabha and the rulers became “Padmanabha daasas”, servants of Lord Padmanabha and ruled the kingdom in lord’s name. Ever since that, the Lord acquired the title “Perumal” meaning
Emperor and was the national deity of Travancore, so when you go to the temple, you also are visiting the king of Travancore and hence many customs inside the temple resembles to royal rites and tradition. Puthen Malika Palace, most popularly known as Kuthira Malika (Mansion of Horses), is a palace built by Swathi Thirunal Rama Varma in the 18th century on the south-eastern side of Padmanabhaswamy temple. The palace got this name because of the 122 horse carvings on the exterior walls of the castle. Another important feature of this palace is the ‘Mathan Mani’ or ‘Meshan Mani’, which is a huge clock on the exteriors. This clock was made in 1833, more than a century ago and the best part is that it still works!
Things to note for first-time visitors is that wearing a mundu is compulsory, so pants, jeans, leggings, salwar, etc., are not allowed inside and for a traveler like me, who prefer usually shorts more than anything else; I had to buy a mundu and tie it around my waist! Ladies can wear it over their salwar while men can give their pants for safekeeping and have to take off their upper shawl while paying respects to the deity. To get a closer look at the deity, it is necessary to take ticket at the entrance or further inside the temple. Cell phones or any electronic items are not to be carried inside the temple so after leaving all our gadgets and all electronics with our friend’s father, we headed in. A unique feature about this temple is that Non-Hindus are not allowed in!
Kerala > Thiruvananthapuram
T
he Napier Museum is an art and natural history museum in Trivandrum. This museum was established in 1855. In 1874, the old Museum building was demolished and foundation for the new building was laid. The new building was named after Lord Napier, the Governor of Madras from 1866-1872. Napier Museum is a landmark in the city with its unique ornamentation and architectural style with gothic roof and minarets.
Thiruvananthapuram is the cleanest city of all that i have seen. Locals always ready to help and are really kind people. Its a perfect vacationing spot for families as well as youngsters also with pleasent and relaxing climate throughout the year! Kovalam means a grove of coconut trees and true to its name the village offers and endless sight of coconut trees. It is also known as the paradise of the south and has been a favourite haunt of tourists. Life on the beach begins late in the day and carries on well into the night.
Kerala > Thiruvananthapuram
S
hankumugham beach is located on the western side of Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum) city and very near to the International Airport. The vast stretch of sand and the serene atmosphere, away from the chaotic city, perfect for relaxation by spending an ideal evening or go there in the morning to see the fishermen pulling the net from the sea to get the fishes. We went there in the morning to get a perfect view of the fishermen. By the time we reached there, the fishermen were already pulling the ropes. We rushed there to get a clear shot of them because this was our very first time watching the fishermen doing their work from such a
close proximity. These fishermen come here every day early in the morning to catch the fishes. It needs a lot of effort in their work, they need many people to manage to pull the ropes of the huge net put in the sea. Some of them also be on boats to handle the net properly in the sea so they don’t loose the fishes they have caught in the net.
Shanghumugham beach is considered as the ‘Arattukadavu’ of Sri Ananthapadmanabhan - The presiding deity of the city.
P
Kerala > Ponmudi onmudi (The Golden Peak) is a hill station which is connected to Trivandrum by a narrow winding road offering scenic views all along the way. The climate is invigorating and remains pleasant throughout the year, and the place serves as a good base for trekking and hiking for adventure enthusiasts. At the time we reached Ponmudi, it was past noon and foggy. We really enjoyed the cool breeze
and the foggy atmosphere there. Ponmudi is yet an unexplored destination, especially for travelers from outside the state, and is a welcome break from the hustle and bustle of city life where one can relax without being disturbed, amidst tranquil surroundings in the lap of nature.
Kerala > Varkala
V
arkala (also known as Papanasam beach) is a calm and quiet place, and a tourist attraction that lies around 50 kilometers north of Trivandrum city. The Samadhi of Sri Narayana Guru, the great social reformer and philosopher, attracts devotees in thousands. The Varkala beach, is renowned for the natural spring. It is a heaven for sun-bathing and swimming and is one of the most popular tourism destination in Kerala. The evening views of the sunset are worth lingering over. The cliff has a long stretch of small shops which goes on for over a kilometer. As we were in Varkala, it was very cloudy that we never got to see the sunset. We headed to the Varkala cultural centre, but found out that it was closed this season. so we made our move towards the beach! As soon as we reached the beach, it started reaining heavily all of a sudden. We got totally drentched but enjoyed a lot and headed back to Trivandrum later!
DIVYA RATHOD UG1-A