Rameswaram: South India Tour 2014

It was almost the end of September and Dashain vacation was near. In Nepal it lasts for complete 10 days. But in India it is symbolically celebrated just for a day or a two by worshipping goddess durga and festival is known as Dussera. As such it was sure that we weren't getting long vacation that would be enough for us to go to Nepal and thus came the plan for south India tour: Rameshwaram, Kanyakumari and Cochin.  Originally the idea was to include almost every one of the class but latter train ticket unavailability, cost factors etc. caused the number to decrease to 6 . Finally we started to plan for the journey and took a ticket 2 weeks prior of the journey. In spite of trying early, the tickets were almost full and in some of the route we were bound to accept waiting list tickets.

Tirupati:

Shopping was done. Bags were packed and we were all set for our week long south India tour. In the morning of September 30, 2014 we checked out of the hostel at 8:00 am and took a public bus to Tirupati. After a bus ride of about 1 hr. 30 mins, we finally reached the city of temple: Tirupati. Tirupati is known as one of the most visited religions shrines of the world after Vatican City and thus is very famous among the followers of Hinduism. This time our purpose of going to Tirupati was not for pilgrimage but to catch a train to Rameswaram.

In contrast to the railway platforms of the north India, we came to find the platform of Tirupati very clean and well-maintained. As we were early by some hours, we took some foods and waited in the platform. As we were placed in waiting list, we were just elated to get an SMS from Indian railways informing that we have been allocated with four seats. Finally at 12:30 pm Meenakshi Express (our train) arrived and we boarded the train.

Since it was first train journey to some of our friends, they were just elated and were sharing about the experience of the journey. So as to pass some time, we started to play card games. After about 2 hours of travel, the train passed just from the league nearer to our college. As the train moved on, we started to take a track of the position of the train via Google map. The scenery outside the train was so lovely and green. I came to realize those parts of Tamilnadu as being relatively cooler and beautiful than that of Andhra Pradesh.

The train was stopping in different locations. We were managing to get ourselves engaged by getting something to eat from wherever the train stops. Time was passing by and soon it was darker outside. We started to eat our packed foods and went to sleep early. As we didn't had enough seats, we managed to sleep two people in  a single berth.

Rameswaram:

The next day we woke up at around 5:00 am when the train stopped in Madurai. In Madurai junction the train got almost empty thus we changed our seats and started to sleep more comfortably as the final station was still 3 hours away from Madurai.

We woke up at 5:00 am to see the sea link in Rameshwaram known as Pamban Bridge. Our train had started to swiftly pass from the sea link. The view of the sealink was breath-taking as this was a unique experience to us. Early morning beautiful sunrise in the island and the clear blue water of the Indian ocean made a perfect beginning of the day.  We equipped ourselves with cameras and cell phone and began to take videos and photos of the bridge. Finally within couple of minutes, we reached Rameswaram rail station.

We then started searching for accommodation. We had googled about Bangur Yatri Niwas which was nearer to Ramesworam temple, and one of the beautiful place to stay at, in an affordable cost. As we asked the caretaker about rooms he firstly refused. But after requesting for sometime, he finally provided us two rooms at a cost of Rs 750. We went to our rooms and took rest for some time. As a very good veg food was available in the Ashram at a cheap price of Rs 60, we took lunch in the same hotel. It was about 11 am when we checked out of the hotel to go to Dhanuskoti Beach and the surroundings where a sea link was said to be established between India and Srilanka by Lord Ram. Following were the places that we visited in Rameswaram

1.       Dhanuskoti beach:

We took a bus to Dhanuskoti beach from the gate of Rameswaram temple which cost us something like 16 Rs and took about 25 minutes. On the beach of Dhanuskoti we could see a mesmerizing view of the clear (but rough) blue Indian Ocean on one side and silent Bay of Bengal on the other. From that place we hired a bus to take us to Ramsetu that was about half an hour drive and would cost us Rs 100. As the market was not properly regulated, the charge was very high here. This place was once a living hamlet, and was burgeoning trade route and pilgrimage route between Indian and Srilanka. On the way we saw some wrecked Church, roadways, railway track etc. I came to know from the fellow passenger that there was a small town in this place which was destroyed by a cyclone in 1964. Now you get to see very few in this place. The bus driver said us that the nearest distance to Srilanka from this place was like 18 Km (but of course we were not permitted to go). As I stood on the tip of India, I thought of Rama and Rawan as ordinary people who fought for land or women, but whose success stories passed over to the generation as religious sculptures. However, the remnants of sea link between India and Srilanka (also proved by NASA) made me more confused.  After staying there from some couple of minutes, clicking some photos, we went back to the bus station.

 

2.       Rameshworam Temple:

We came directly from Dhanuskoti beach to our station. We changed our dress and decided to go for Ramesworam darshan as because the pilgrims were very few in the evening. You need to make sure that you keep you footwear, cameras, cellphones etc. away while you plan to enter the temple. In the beginning it was confusing for us as we entered via opposite gate. Finally we reached the main gate where temple miking was going on. A gentleman offered to help us saying that he would charge little more for taking holy dip in the kundas inside the temple. We agreed and later to find that the man had cheated us for Rs 100 each. However taking holy bath in Rameshworam temple kundas was a worthy experience and it gave us religious vibe when we chanted “Om nama shivaya” while taking holy bath in 22 kundas.

3.       Agni Ksehtra:

This place is exactly on the front side of the temple which in fact is Bay of Bengal. You can find many pilgrims taking holy bath here.

4.       Gandhamathana parvatham:

This is the tallest place of Island that we went on second day of Ramesworam stay. One can see a spectacular view of the whole island from this place. This temple is said to have the footprints of Lord Rama on a chakra. Because of being located in a topmost hill of island, we took lots of pictures in this place

5.       Pamban Bridge:

We visited to Pamban Bridge on the second day. We just walked across the bridge, took some photos, watched the train pass by etc. On the other side of the bridge we could see lots of peacock playing near the sea beach.  This was an amazing experience to all of us who had seen peacock only in zoo.

6.       House of Kalam:

We also visited the House of Kalam, which is house of former president of India-Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam. In spite of our expectation to see the simpler life of Kalam from his original house, we were disappointed to see a modern house with a kind of museum about Dr. Kalam. However we came to know at least sth. about Dr. Kalam and how this man of wisdom had struggled to occupy the highest position of India.

Our Rameswaram tour was totally religious. Beside these place, we visited many other places like: Lakshman Tirtha, Panchamukhi Hanuman, Jatayu Tirtha, etc during our two days and one night stay. As we had out train to Kanyakumari on the evening of second day, we took some food and reached to train platform to wait for the train.