Where will you bid adieu the year 2016 and welcome the New year? A question often strikes in the last month of the year to all travellers. There are few places which have there typical charm for the occasion. Celebrating this transition into new year often means watching the last sunset of the passing year and then the first sunrise of the new year.
But then there are always limitations with different places. You can go to Goa for a perfect year ending sunset but you can’t enjoy the new dawn. And while you can welcome the new year with a perfect sunrise in Darjeeling’s Tiger Hill, you will not have chance to say goodbye to the passing year with a perfect sunset. There are very few places where you can watch a perfect sunrise and a mesmerising sunset from same place.
One such place in India is of course Kanyakumari or Kanniyakumari or Cape Comorin in Tamil Nadu. It is southernmost tip of peninsular India located in Cardamom Hills. Mythologically it is also revered as a Sangam where seas meet. Popular belief has been that three seas- Arabian Sea, Bay of Bengal and Indian Ocean meet here. But geographically it is said to be touching Laccadive Sea and the Gulf of Mannar.
Well geographies apart, this a place where you can just turn your head to watch a beautiful sunrise and equally charming sunset from a same place. Hence it is perfect place for new year revellers to witness the last sunset of the year and first sunrise of the new year from the same place. And every year lot many tourist gather here on the year end to soak in this moment.
You can see the curious travellers gathered to see the sunset at Kanyakumari on 31st December
And though it was cloudy on 1st January, but still it couldn’t dampen the spirits as everybody gathered to take a new year wish (resolution!) in front of the rising sun from behind the Vivekanand Rock Memorial and Thiruvalluvar statue.
Vitals: Kanaykaumari is in state of Tamil Nadu but it is close to capital of Kerala- Thiruvananathpuram which is closest airport 90 kms from here. Nagercoil at the Kerala-Tamil Nadu border is just 70 kms from here. Kanyakumari has a railway station with daily trains via Thiruvananthpuram and Chennai-Madurai routes. Its well connected through roads with all major nearby towns of Kerala as well as Tamil Nadu.
Kanyakumari has descent places for stay suiting all types of budgets including hotels, resorts as well as dharamshalas. Kanyakumari is also a very important pilgrim centre due to its mythological importance. There are many religious centres, temples here. Its is often included in pilgrim circuits with Rameshwaram and Madurai. At the time os the year end many pilgrims from Sabarimala also reach there as those are also the days of the annual Sabarimala pilgrimage.
(Disclaimer: These images were taken on 31st December and January 1st some time back)
Great Post
Thanks a lot Abhishek!
My Pleasure!
My new year is never about the sunset/sunrise – the focus is always that moment at midnight when old year becomes news – and for that all you need friends and a clock 🙂 I hope your new year was everything you wanted, where did you end up?
Ended up at home, looking up at the clock! 🙂