The modern name means "virgin Kumari" since this is the site of temple where the legendary goddess Kumari is worshipped. Even the ancient Greeks had heard of her ability to conquer demons single-handedly and came here to visit a couple of millennia ago. Men must remove their shirts to enter this temple which is full of the sacred glow of oil fires, the smoke from which the men are keen to waft over their heads and bodies. This also happens in the street of an evening when an effigy of Kumari is paraded and put to bed...alone I should think! Interesting to see this, as throughout Rajasthan I saw beautiful Kumari effigies that are also paraded in this way, but only once a year.

But the main reason for coming to Cape Comorin (referring to the colonial name) is to stand at the southernmost tip of India and gaze on the two seas and an ocean that meet here. The sun rises over the sea, and also sets over the sea. It was quite overcast during my time here, which was unfortunate for views and photos, but I must admit that the lower temperatures and cooling sea breezes were a welcome change from the heat.

There is a curious mishmash of memorials here. The pink Mahatma Gandhi memorial houses a central plinth where some of his ashes were stored, and upon which the sun's rays fall once a year on the date of his birth. There's the Kamaraj memorial (he was known as the Gandhi of the South); a memorial to the victims of the 2004 tsunami, which is so small that I couldn't even find it; and then there is the huge memorial and statue of Swami Vivekananda, the philosopher and "Wandering Monk". The latter sit on two large rocks offshore, so can't really be missed.

This will be my only brief taste of the state of Tamil Nadu. Now I'm off back to Kerala to spend my remaining time in India, where large lakes, rivers and canals weave between the palm trees, and colourful fishing boats sit on sand spits jutting into the sea. At least that's what I've seen so far from the train window.