This was one of my long lost ambitions, which all of a sudden got into
my mind, once again, when I didn't have much to do here..I was having a coffee
with my colleague Vijeesh at around 5 pm on 23rd Sep, 2014 .. and we were thinking
of hitting some nearby place for the Pooja holidays, which is to happen in the coming
week.. Two places came in as suggestions - Rameshwaram and Wayanad...My mind
was stuck on this place - Rameshwaram, and to the nearby abandoned village,
Dhanushkodi.. but I wanted to go to that place in a rush.. all my decisions are
haste, I know.. sorry, guys for not planning it well.. Initially, I didn’t have
anyone along for the travel in my plan..I didn't have my car with me, so I
decided to go by train to Rameshwaram.. but the direct trains from Nagercoil to
Rameshwaram are only on Tuesdays and Fridays..searched few other alternatives as well, but, finally realized
that none of them is going to work, and I decided to call Santhosh
Padikkavayal .. I lured him to the trip, and he almost fell for it..I said I
will pack in 30 mins and will be ready... Vijeesh too agreed for that.. On my
way home, I got a call from Vijeesh that he is not coming as all his teammates
are on leave the next day... So, we decided to start, the next day
evening..There was no excitement at all...We took tips from one of our
colleagues, Rajesh Edacheriyan, who had been there once..
We started off at around 5 pm on 24th Sep, 2014...Santhosh was having an
alternate route with him, all intermediate places were written down on a piece
of paper..there was not even a place which was known to us.. We didn't have the
navigation system as well..stopped for a coffee break near Poovar, a backwater
area in Trivandrum, enroute Kanyakumari.. Stopped there for 15 minutes or so..and
the journey continued, we reached Kollamcode, a border place of Kerala and
Tamil Nadu by around 7.15 pm... and we were moving in the direction jotted by
Santhosh.. met a local guy and asked the way to the next place written down in
the paper.. he said the route is so bad, and asked us to take the National Highway
route - Nagercoil - Thirunelveli...Up to Nagercoil the road was so terrible,
and the traffic too.. We sped at 140km/hr once we entered the highway.. there
were deviations that we missed..and took some other deviations, which slowed
down our whole journey by around one hour or so. We reached Thirunelveli by around
11 pm or so, and had our supper from one of the small hotels there..ordered
"Kaada", a small bird like chicken, and when the order arrived,
we saw a Kaada with its head ,legs and its full body in that curry.. I
cancelled my order... luckily, they served the first order to
Vijeesh...Santhosh, being a Veggie was lucky that he had to eat only Dosas...We
cursed the shop, the suppliers, and everyone there.. restarted our journey to
Rameshwaram, and on the way we asked in Tamil (with the few words that we know),
the route to Rameshwaram.. we didn't quite understand the directions given to us
by the Tamil guys...anyways, we continued our journey and we reached
Rameshwaram by around 2.15 in the night... the trip odometer display had 415
km then...we bargained for our stay at 3 - 4 places, and finally managed to
settle down at a lodge named Maharaja..we got a non-ac one for 550/- with no
additional charges for the 3rd one.. when we got into the room, the bed was
full of bugs.. and when we complained, the motel guys were kind enough to shift
our room to another one which was free of bugs.. This hotel was very near to
the Ramanathaswamy temple.
I got up at 5 in the morning, and had shower.. the
water was so saline that I felt it on my body after the shower... We got out of
the motel, just after 6 am, and headed to Dhanushkodi ..
After driving for
around 8 kms ( the road was almost straight, and had sea/ ocean at both the
sides.. towards the left was Bay of Bengal and right was Indian Ocean...), we
reached the Indian Naval Post at around 6.30 .. did few clicks of the small shelters,
which were in dilapidated condition.. it was nice to have those odd color of
thatched leaves on to the camera, but thinking about the ones inside ( there
was one person sleeping inside when I went near one of those huts) made me
sad...
and on reaching the Naval Post, I realized it was a once a township, but now turned to a slum-like area..
This was the last point to which we can drive our vehicle.. at the very same place we met 3 others who came from Bangalore to visit Dhanushkodi...from the Naval post to Dhanushkodi village and Ram Setu (Adam’s bridge), we have to go in a Matador van... their charge for one round trip is 2000 rupees. They will wait for 20 people and once the van gets filled-in, they will make a move... and the van drivers told us that normally people will come only after 9 am.. we were astounded by that statement, but definitely we didn't want to waste our time till 9 am. So, we clubbed with the three Bangaloreans who were also on the same stand, and asked the van driver whether he can make it with just the six of us.. He agreed, but was not ready to reduce the charge from Rs.2000.. He also said the trip consists of two sites - a 20 minutes at the Adam's Bridge, and another 20 minutes at the Dhanushkodi village.. every additional hour will fetch him 200 each. Agreeing to his condition, we boarded the Matador van. The route was a tough one, and the van was going at a speed of 15-20 km/hr. the terrain was beach sand, and it was marshy as well..The driver had to get out and remove the marshy sand at a couple of places to continue the travel.. I would say, we were on a beach ride…It seemed like a drive-in beach, and I believe if we had a 4x4 , or an off-roader, we could’ve easily hit the place on our own.
and on reaching the Naval Post, I realized it was a once a township, but now turned to a slum-like area..
This was the last point to which we can drive our vehicle.. at the very same place we met 3 others who came from Bangalore to visit Dhanushkodi...from the Naval post to Dhanushkodi village and Ram Setu (Adam’s bridge), we have to go in a Matador van... their charge for one round trip is 2000 rupees. They will wait for 20 people and once the van gets filled-in, they will make a move... and the van drivers told us that normally people will come only after 9 am.. we were astounded by that statement, but definitely we didn't want to waste our time till 9 am. So, we clubbed with the three Bangaloreans who were also on the same stand, and asked the van driver whether he can make it with just the six of us.. He agreed, but was not ready to reduce the charge from Rs.2000.. He also said the trip consists of two sites - a 20 minutes at the Adam's Bridge, and another 20 minutes at the Dhanushkodi village.. every additional hour will fetch him 200 each. Agreeing to his condition, we boarded the Matador van. The route was a tough one, and the van was going at a speed of 15-20 km/hr. the terrain was beach sand, and it was marshy as well..The driver had to get out and remove the marshy sand at a couple of places to continue the travel.. I would say, we were on a beach ride…It seemed like a drive-in beach, and I believe if we had a 4x4 , or an off-roader, we could’ve easily hit the place on our own.
En-route Adam’s Bridge, we saw untamed horses, people walking through the
shallow seas carrying baskets on their head, Pelican look-alike birds, tracks
of matador vans which passed before us, and so on.. the lighting was too good,
and it made uneven reflections and unseen cues on the shallow beach water ..
It took almost 30 minutes for us to reach the Adam’s point. Mythologically, it is part of the bridge that Lord Rama built to Sri Lanka, with the help of Hanuman and his fellow-monkeys. One look at it and , you will have a doubt on the myth which you heard umpteen times from various people who had and had not been to this place. A vast stretch of Dhanushkodi is merely a few feet above sea level-even as less as 1 to 2 feet, the actual meeting place of Bay of Bengal and the mighty Indian Ocean.There were shops set up even at this place, for selling various handicrafts made out of sea shells and corals…
We made a walk into the sea and it is one of the clearest beaches that I had ever been.. a totally cool place, where you can spend hours, alone or together!!!
There was only 20 minutes allowed for us, and we moved towards the van where the driver was waiting for us. He then rode another 2-3 kms, returning on the same route that we came to this place.. the next destination was the dilapidated town of Dhanushkodi, where it once had, railway station, church, temple, and so on.. the few remnants are still there….Thanks to the British for their amazing construction and structural materials J There were a couple of juice / tea shops in that place, the only buyers of those could be people like us who are visiting this place..:)
It took almost 30 minutes for us to reach the Adam’s point. Mythologically, it is part of the bridge that Lord Rama built to Sri Lanka, with the help of Hanuman and his fellow-monkeys. One look at it and , you will have a doubt on the myth which you heard umpteen times from various people who had and had not been to this place. A vast stretch of Dhanushkodi is merely a few feet above sea level-even as less as 1 to 2 feet, the actual meeting place of Bay of Bengal and the mighty Indian Ocean.There were shops set up even at this place, for selling various handicrafts made out of sea shells and corals…
We made a walk into the sea and it is one of the clearest beaches that I had ever been.. a totally cool place, where you can spend hours, alone or together!!!
There was only 20 minutes allowed for us, and we moved towards the van where the driver was waiting for us. He then rode another 2-3 kms, returning on the same route that we came to this place.. the next destination was the dilapidated town of Dhanushkodi, where it once had, railway station, church, temple, and so on.. the few remnants are still there….Thanks to the British for their amazing construction and structural materials J There were a couple of juice / tea shops in that place, the only buyers of those could be people like us who are visiting this place..:)
Some people out there were telling that most of the buildings were purposely demolished by the government. I am not sure why they did so, since there was no extra cost needed to maintain it, and they should have left it to the Nature… Among few constructions that are still there are the remnants of an old British model church, the Kothandaramaswamy Temple, an old water tank, and a railway station which can now be turned to a folklore..Time was around 8 am, but the scorching sun made us to think of escaping from that place as soon as we could..and the time limit of 20 mins put by the van driver…But there remained a question back in my mind how there could exist a rail road in this strip of land, where the life is under the mercy of sea.. On our way back to the matador van, we saw a temple, and one of the local men told us that the stone that is now placed under an iron grill was once stepped upon by Lord Rama.. This iron grill might be the spiritual gate of the world !!! J
On our way back from the old village to the Indian Naval post, through the
marshy beach track, we saw a dead horse.. its rib-cage was split open by some forager
or wild dogs.. Nothing was there, inside the horse’s body….Pathetic was the
scene there.. no difference it would have made, if it were to be a human..We
reached Rameshwaram by around 9 am or so, had a sumptuous breakfast from
Saravana Bhavan..Then we went to see the mighty Ramanathaswamy temple construct..
As per the information given by our friend, we took the camera along, but the
security guards didn’t allow cell phones or camera inside..This temple houses
the Siva linga made by Sita, and installed by Rama, to expiate the sin of Brahmahatya incurred while
killing the Brahmin
Ravana. This temple has the longest
corridor of all the Hindu temples in India. There are 22 theerthams (holy water
bodies) inside the temple. On our short walk inside the temple, we saw devotees
taking shower from each theertham.. and making uproars for “Jai Sreeram” After
viewing the magnanimity of the temple, its construction, the narration of the script
written by Valmiki on its walls, the astounding pillars in its corridor, we
left the temple, and headed towards our hotel.. We then took our car and moved
towards Pamban bridge, which was our next destination, and was on our enroute
to Trivandrum.. This is a cantilever bridge on the Palk Strait that connects
Rameshwaram to the mainland India.. We halted on to the side of the Pamban and
took few snaps.
There is a railway bridge adjacent to the road, which was carrying only meter gauge trains till 2007, but they upgraded it to carry broad-gauge trains..We were able to take a snap of a train roaring down the rail-bridge when we were on the road bridge..
There was one woman down to the other side of the bridge, cleaning the fish for making lunch, in front of her house.. I thought of taking her snap as it might put more color to the whole trip, the much needed concentration in attaining her task, the serene calmness on her face, and the naïve atmosphere around her house..
Took some photos of Santhosh and Vijeesh, posing in different styles with the clear Bay of Bengal as the background…
Via Ramanathapuram, and by enjoying the scenic rides, we headed towards Tuticorin, had our lunch at Hotel Vasantham in Tirunelvelly, on the NH. A special mention goes to that because the hospitality they bestowed on us, the low price for lunch, and the taste of curries, and the small grains of rice…wow, it was real yummy…
Next milestone was Nagercoil, and we reached Nagercoil by around 3.45 pm, but for us to reach trivandrum we had to wait for another 3.5 hrs, because of the traffic and poor road conditions... On the way, we saw this beautiful mountain with its amazing picturesque colors... a wide variant of striking colors.
Santhosh was driving all the way, back and forth.. He wanted to hit the bed as early as possible.. Had our supper from the Aryaas hotel, near Infosys Campus, and then they dropped me at my house… Another of my long standing wishes worked well…we did everything in a day, from the total 26 hrs that we spent, we were in the car for almost 21 hrs, and the sight seeings, the short trip to Dhanushkodi, the tea-breaks, the stops for food, the temple visit, everything was done in 4-5 hrs…
There is a railway bridge adjacent to the road, which was carrying only meter gauge trains till 2007, but they upgraded it to carry broad-gauge trains..We were able to take a snap of a train roaring down the rail-bridge when we were on the road bridge..
There was one woman down to the other side of the bridge, cleaning the fish for making lunch, in front of her house.. I thought of taking her snap as it might put more color to the whole trip, the much needed concentration in attaining her task, the serene calmness on her face, and the naïve atmosphere around her house..
Took some photos of Santhosh and Vijeesh, posing in different styles with the clear Bay of Bengal as the background…
Via Ramanathapuram, and by enjoying the scenic rides, we headed towards Tuticorin, had our lunch at Hotel Vasantham in Tirunelvelly, on the NH. A special mention goes to that because the hospitality they bestowed on us, the low price for lunch, and the taste of curries, and the small grains of rice…wow, it was real yummy…
Next milestone was Nagercoil, and we reached Nagercoil by around 3.45 pm, but for us to reach trivandrum we had to wait for another 3.5 hrs, because of the traffic and poor road conditions... On the way, we saw this beautiful mountain with its amazing picturesque colors... a wide variant of striking colors.
Santhosh was driving all the way, back and forth.. He wanted to hit the bed as early as possible.. Had our supper from the Aryaas hotel, near Infosys Campus, and then they dropped me at my house… Another of my long standing wishes worked well…we did everything in a day, from the total 26 hrs that we spent, we were in the car for almost 21 hrs, and the sight seeings, the short trip to Dhanushkodi, the tea-breaks, the stops for food, the temple visit, everything was done in 4-5 hrs…
When I want to visit this place
again, if am alive, may be after 15-20 years, will all these constructs / monuments
remain the same? Will it get hit by another cyclone or Tsunami ? Will it get more colorful
stories which people haven’t heard even from the Ramayana of Valmiki, its tamil
version by Kambar, and the other versions by Thulsidas …? Not even sure
on our existence for tomorrow .. then why worry on this…!!! J
