The Paddler Autumn/Fall issue 2017

ThePADDLER 72
As we slipped past Kerala, with its shored up
beaches and the pitch black jellyfishes waiting for
the waves on either side of the kayak to trip you
up, we were coming dangerously close to the tip
of India. Here lies a point where the land goes
from it’s gradual south east direction to a full
east bearing. On the phone , Abhilash Tomy’s
words of, “Enjoy Muttom Point,” are fair warning.
The water gets rough and big waves lash out
head first. The Palk Strait that connects the east
and west seas, has its own influence here and I
can do nothing but ride it all out.
As we entered Tamil Nadu, I knew we had just
three days of kayaking to go. A close friend of
mine had travelled half the country to be at the
finish with his wife, but thanks to an unscheduled
stop we were going to miss him by a day. He
visited us a day before the end and together we
did a ‘recce’/dinner at the end point –
Kanyakumari, arguably the best known city for
100 kms.
My mother flew in to the nearest airport and it
suddenly started kicking in that I was close to
the finish. I’d paddled a 40 km stretch on the
penultimate day leaving me with a meagre 22
kms to gallop on the last day. As I launched from
the beach for the last time, I didn’t feel as
accomplished as I felt the calm of completion. I
recall singing my first 7–8 kms. I feel noise carries
loudest over water, but I didn’t much care that
https://goo.gl/maps/iCPqj8dnCyN2
morning. I could see the large black stone statue
that adorns the southern tip of India and
distinctly remember my spirits lift. As I paddled
between it and the mainland, I whipped out my
phone and called home. “I did it Dad.”
I didn’t tear up. That was waiting for my landing. I
circled the spot a few times, and just took it all
in. On land, Shanjali and mom were going to get
a couple of shots of me coming into land. As I
waited for them to set up, Shanjali calls and tells
me to head to land. Not for the shot, but for my
welcome party of cops. I landed to the
grumpiest policeman of my trip, but so buoyant
was my mood that it ended with me telling the
collected press about the fab job he’d done, and
him giving me his number to call in case of any
‘emergencies’.
In a weird circle of life way, the expedition
started and ended with cops telling me where I
should and shouldn’t be kayaking. But I did it
anyway. And that’s probably the best way to
kayak the west coast of India.