A journey to the tip of India!

 Hello friends, 

            Every travel is unique, but a few are more unique due to its geographical location. The border crossings between 2 countries, travelling to one edge of a country are more exciting and evokes more curiosity! Our journey to the tip of India recently was one such. A trip to Rameshwaram and dhanushkodi is not only exciting, but also spiritual!! 

Yes, it is on one edge and we can experience the land waning out and oceans taking over and Sri Lanka is so near from there yet so far!!

     This Navarathri holidays, it was destination Rameshwaram with our running buddies and their families! From Bangalore to Rameshwaram it is a very long drive by road and so we stopped at Madhurai to have a good darshan of Meenakshi Amman! We planned out in such a way that we did not have to wait in queue for long hours! Because it was Navarathri season, we were lucky enough to see the display of golu bommais ( dolls of deities) stretching lengthwise inside the temple!! Unfortunately,  cameras were not allowed! Madhurai is a small and congested city with unmanageable traffic! The other thing I forgot to mention first is our visit to Alagar temple 20 kms from Madhurai. It is another ancient temple dated centuries back with Lord Vishnu as the main deity! There are old fort walls on one side which makes it look more attractive. For anyone going to Madhurai,  this is a must visit for the interesting historical value it holds!

         

                    Alagar temple in Madhurai !!

                    Rameshwaram is a place which has not only lot of historical value,  but also holds religious importance for Hindus. From Madhurai, Rameshwaram takes about 3 hours and the highway roads are pretty good. If Kanyakumari is at the southern tip of India, where 3 oceans meet, Rameshwaram is the part of Pamban island which is less than 3 kms away from the mainland and lies to the south east.  The famous Pamban rail bridge was built over the sea from Ramanathapuram in 1924 by Britishers. That bridge is closed as it has become unusable due to its corrosive effect and other rail bridge is being built now. The road bridge was built in 1988 and as of now, it is the only easy and comfortable way to reach there. 

              Pamban bridges, Kushi beach,  Abdul Kalam museum!

     

                As we reached the Pamban island,  I felt similarity to string of islands known as Florida Keys which are connected by road  to the mainland of Florida. Though Florida Keys are much longer and spans about 120 miles! There also, the rail bridge remains closed as it was destroyed by a powerful storm! Many tourists like us stop over the bridge to take photos and selfies with sea water and rail bridge in the background. 

                  Pamban island consists of 2 places Rameshwaram and Dhanushkodi. According to Ramayana, Lord Rama did Shiva pooja before proceeding to Sri Lanka to kill Ravana. After coming back, He took bath at 21 teertha wells before praying to Lord Shiva to atone for his sins! So, the devotees who go there have to take bath in waters of 21 teertha wells before going to the main deity!  We felt fortunate enough to go there where Rama walked. Another attraction along with beaches is Dr A P J Abdul Kalam museum which was opened in 2017 to honour the scientist turned people's president whose birthplace is Rameshwaram. Kushi beach in Rameshwaram is good with calm waters and white sand. The beach could have been maintained better.

             Rameshwaram temple!!

           Dhanushkodi is 20 kms from Rameshwaram. As the land of Rameshwaram narrows down on both sides in Dhanushkodi,  it is wonderful sight of 2 oceans on either side. On the left side is calm and unassuming Bay of Bengal and on the right side is more ferocious Indian ocean! Dhanushkodi is a ghost town as Government of Madras declared it uninhabitable after a tsunami in 1960s which caused heavy destruction!  There were lots of abandoned structures which I missed clicking. At the tip of Dhanushkodi, the oceans merge and Sri Lanka is only 18 kms from there. Tourists can get a faint glimpse of Sri Lanka from the telescopes kept there. We felt the telescopes can be upgraded to get a more convincing view! Locals try to make their end meet by selling souvenirs and other things. The beaches and water there are cleaner and less polluted. There is Kothandaramar temple where Rama crowned Vibheeshana and a coral stone which was supposed to have been used to build bridge by the army of monkeys to reach Sri Lanka. All these gives us the strong feel of incidents mentioned in Ramayana!

    

                            Dhanushkodi!!!

               These places can bring in lot of money from tourists,  but the hotels in Rameshwaram were not up to the mark.  For hoards  of tourists visiting at the end point of Dhanushkodi,  there are not even toilet facilities! The authorities should give more attention to improving facilities there. 

          

                    

            The clean and beautiful          Pazhani malai...

            I tried to keep this post short, but ended up becoming longer. I hope you will get the feeling of travelling these places when you read, as I got this again while recollecting the details of our trip. Until next time.

Deepa.