Through My Lens

This vacation was in the month of Dec 2012 when we were travelling to our own ‘God’s own country’, Kerala. After my visit to the Padmanabha Swamy Temple in Thiruvanathapuram we moved to the place called Padmanabhapuram which is in the Kanyakumari District of Tamil Nadu.We were to this place to see and explore the Padmanabhapuram Palace. I was surprised why a Kerala palace is in Tamil Nadu?  As soon as I reached the place I enquired regarding the same and what I came to know was that even though the palace is located in Tamil Nadu, the palace and its surroundings is owned and governed by the Kerala State. The place called Padmanabhapuram was the capital city of the erstwhile Travancore kingdom. This place is about 60 km from Thiruvananthapuram and around 20 km from Nagercoil.This palace is located in the backdrop of the Veli Hills which is part of the Western Ghats. We reached in the afternoon and then moved to the ticket counter. After some time we assembled at the gate and on...

I was on a personal visit to my home town in the month of Oct 2015 which i usually go and come back after meeting my parents.This time was no different other than that i thought of going to some beach which i came to know from one of my friends who visited when he was in Kerala for my nephew's engagement.The beach is called Ettikulam Beach and this was near the place called Ezhimala where the Indian Naval Academy has come up.Living near by this place, i have never came across this beach's name,but when my friend Mukesh showed me the video of this place i decided to have a look of this place from close quarter.     On a sunny afternoon i decided to go for a travel trail and explore this place.I started my journey from my house through bus and reached Payyanur bus stand.From bus stand i hired a auto to Ettikulam beach.Baiju,that's the name of the auto driver and he soon became very friendly during my journey towards the beach.Alongside the way to the beach,there were smal...

This seems vague for the common traveller to believe in but this is what we were about to see in Shangumugham beach in Kerala. I was on a holiday to Kerala, our own God’s own country in the year 2012-13 during Jan 2013 and we were returning from Padmanabhapuram Palace in Kanyakumari.I have heard a lot about this beach and was eager to see the beach and the surroundings on a  placid evening in Thiruvananthapuram. As we reached the place we were welcomed by the roar of the aircraft taking off from the nearby Thiruvananthapuram airport.  We gradually moved towards the beach searching for the mermaid to see and there it was at the entrance of the beach. The humongous 35 m long sculpture is a major attraction in this beach. This sculpture was made by the famous sculpture artist from Kerala, Kanayi Kunhiraman.This is also famously called as ‘Matsya Kanyaka’ or ‘Jalakanyaka’. Mermaid at Shangumugham Beach A close view of the 'Jalakanyaka' Next to the mermaid is another...

This year was not the same for me as was earlier. Earlier i used to go for my vacations in the month of December, but this year due to some domestic work my December trip was not done in 2014.As soon as my son’s summer vacation started we started to think there has to be a change from this routine and we decided to go for a relaxed day or two and then for some heritage site which can be covered in a short span of time. This was the month of May 2015 and i started the search for a place to relax first and soon my friends suggested Chikmangalur.Soon i started to look for the places where i will be able to stay comfortably and i soon found this place called Thippanahalli Home stay. As all do, i too visited Trip advisor and other reviews and took advice from some of my friends about the place and i got some good and some average comments. But what made me to think was this was not a hotel but a home stay and i wanted to test this homestay outing and experience it out in this short...