The Valiant Venture to Varkala

I woke at an unusual hour, when the day was still cold, when the entirety of the hostel was still aloof in dreamland. I had looked forward to this "waking" up for long. An amazing day was indeed ahead of this abrupt intermission of my sleep cycle. At around 7:30 AM, we (Adithya, Anuj, Anurag, Avinash, Greeshma, Kaninika, Manasvi, & Rohit) started on an exquisite journey, to Varkala. We were students of Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology, which is located 28 km away from the frivolous city of Thiruvananthapuram.

The first phase of onward journey was from college to station, which we was supposed to be a piece of cake, however we faced a minor setback when one of us suffering from motion sickness threw up, owing to the reckless bends in the road, which often is a consequence of hilly terrain. However, the person recovered and came out stronger. We reached Palayam, and had a thrifty breakfast at a vegetarian restaurant. We discussed the next phase of journey which is a train travel from Trivandrum Central to Varkala Sivagiri.

We managed to get tickets for the 9 of us and came across a rather less known fact, when someone asked where is the train number on a general ticket. It was new to most of us that we can travel under the same ticket between two stations in any unreserved compartment of any train. The excitement of the journey came to a halt when the train arrived on platform at 9:35 PM. It was the curse of overpopulation, which our motherland bore which did not permit us a seat in the "unreserved" compartment of the timely Lokmanya Tilak Express. However, every problem has a solution, and Anurag had found one.

Solution : Let the breeze hold you

As one would think this was not the popular opinion running around. We came across a TTE who graciously agreed to allocate us seats in the adjoining Sleeper compartment, as many seats were vacant since the train had only started its 3 day long journey an hour ago. They had some quality time, relishing the most famous beverage across the globe:Tea.

A typical train journey

I accompanied Anurag, near the door where we absorbed every bit of serenity in nature. It was refreshing to the mind and body, we passed through lakes, a jungle and after a few minor stations we reached our destination, "Varkala Sivagiri".

Having reached the penultimate destination, we were in a major conundrum: which spot to visit first? The fort or the beach. We decided to set camp on beach, hence visiting the fort first would allow us ample time to spend at the beach. Finding transport is always hard when you do not know the local tongue. However, Adithya and Anuj managed to get a killer deal covering the nine of us for a single halt at fort to drop at sea.

Negotiating rates

Destination was set : Anjengo fort. We started on two taxis from station to the rusty fort. I happened to travel in the taxi with all the guys, and we spiced the journey using the car audio system which was offered by the driver. Anurag was the DJ for the journey. We found out Anuj's internship and tour plans for Singapore as well. After a 20 minute drive, we reached at Anjengo Fort. 

"Anjengo is one of the earliest British settlements in India. The term "Anjengo" is the anglicized form of the Malayalam name of the place "Anchutengu", which means five coconut trees. The fort Anjengo was one of the important strategic forts of East India Company in Kerala. In 1690 British East India Company got the permission of Rani of Attingal to build a fort at Anhengo. The fort was raised and completed in 1695. The fort served as depot for military supplies during the Carnatic war. This place also served as a first signalling station for ships arriving from England.

The Anjengo fort is square on plan. It is square with four bastions. Two bastions face the sea and other two the landside. In addition, there are numerous gunpoints facing the sea. There are many tombstones at Anjengo.

Anjengo was one of the centers of rebellion against British in Kerala. In 1721, under leadership of local chieftains, the inhabitants attacked a contingent of 140 Englishmen, who were proceeded to Attingal to hand over the presents to the queen of Attingal. The rebels massacred all the Englishmen. Then they laid siege to the Fort. The fort is a centrally protected monument under the control of Archaeological Survey of India since 1921."

We found the above words engraved at the entrance of the fort. Engrossed in the thought of 5 coconut trees in the land of Anjengo, we entered the square fort. Below are few clicks describing the fort.

After spending the around 3 quarters of an hour at the fort we headed for what had been on our minds the whole time. That completes half of our journey at Varkala. After traveling about 45 minutes we reached Varkala beach. We were greeted by the relatively calm sea with gentle waves sweeping by our feet. It was the "Valiant Varkala" which attracted tourists from all corners of world. We came across many men and women from foreign land, enjoying the serenity of this beach. Few of us were astonished by the fact that such a beautiful place existed so close to us and yet we had never got the opportunity to visit it.

 While we are traversing the shore, we met 3 other valiant men from IIST. These were men with great endurance, who had the will-power to start on an 100+ km cycling trip from college to Varkala. Ansuman, had notified us that they were coming as well, however it never came across my mind as I was completely engrossed in absorbing everything nature had to offer. We also met Sahal and Pamraat. We really appreciated their love for bicycling and hope they continue pursuing their hobby with the enthusiasm they had.

Bidding farewell to these men we went started our climb to a cliff top restaurant. It was a tiring one, yet the excitement and joy propelled us to the hill top, where we found a good Tibetan restaurant, facing the sea. The shrubbery was also adequate making it a very desirable environment to be around. We had few "juices", as per recommendation of Adithya Krishnan and enjoyed the scenery, had some light food before jumping back at the beach.

The last click is a memorable one for Anuj, and is probably the best shot of the day. Too bad, we will never know the name of the person behind the lens. The beach was a bit fiery in the afternoon, however the sea breeze cooled it off. Here are few shots of the afternoon beach.

We were so engrossed, by the calmness of the unsettling sea, that we forgot when the hour hand slipped past the planned mark of departure and we had to rush, as we rush before submission deadlines to finish our work. Soon, the calming sea, seemed to make sense. There is pattern in randomness and randomness across patterns. 

We reached Trivandrum Central by train around 7 PM, had a nice dinner at Domino's after a tiring day and took a bus from the local bus stop back to college. In this venture, we came closer to each other, knew each other better and enjoyed the beauty nature offers in the most obvious of ways. We promised each other to hold more ventures together, and ended the day.