You know it’s been a good day when you have to scrub away sweat, salt and three colors of sand.
When you go to bed choking on giggles, even though you have to wake up in a few short hours.
When your gut is about to burst from candy and chutney and spice, and you don’t regret a single calorie.
When you play in the ocean until your muscles hurt.
When strangers become friends.
I’ve spent the past few days locked away in an ashram near Trivandrum. But Friday was a day off from serious yoga, meditation and attaining enlightenment — so a bunch of us took a field trip to Kanyakumari, the most southern tip of India. It’s where three bodies of water converge, the Bay of Bengal, the Indian Ocean and the Arabian Sea. The different currents wash up different colors of sand, so wet toes kick up layers of gold, red and black.
It’s also a spiritual place for Hindu pilgrims, as it is where the virgin Kanyakumari — an avatar of the goddess Parvati — waited to win the hand of lord Shiva.
As the story goes, Shiva failed to show up for his own wedding. (Bastard!) So all the food from the wedding feast was angrily tossed into the water and onto the shore. The grains of rice eventually turned into stones, while the curries wash up on the beach, creating the different colored sand we see today. Goddess Kanyakumari continues to watch over the area, and a 3,000-year-old temple on the beach pays tribute to her.
Our day brimmed over with waterfall dancing, battling the ocean waves and getting blessed with smudges of red paint and sandalwood paste on our foreheads. We were like kids unleashed at an amusement park for the first time — indulging in soda, eating too many sweets and dosas, and laughing until we cried.
More proof that field trips ALWAYS rule.