Towards the edge of Tamil Nadu
It was long since a trip, every time we ended up scrapping our plans cos of guys not able to make it up. This time we re-looked at our strategy. Having around 15 members in our Sabhai, it’s obvious that there could be dropouts. We considered a trip if just over 5 could make it up.
We had 6 of us traveling towards Ramanadapuram / Rameswaram on 6th of January (Saturday) morning. Explorers are we and hence not with a particular travel plan. Just the destination in hand we reached Ramnad the district headquarters, about 120 kilo meters from Madurai. We were cautioned that all rooms could be blocked over weekend at Rameswaram and so to be proactive. We called up one of our colleague, a local of Ramnad; he has good contacts over people at Rameswaram. Lucky were we when he too was in Ramnad (to visit his family) on the day to help us charting out a plan.
Before we met with our colleague we stopped at Devipattinam (Navapasanam). This place is famous for the navagrahas (9 worshiped planets of Hindu mythology) immersed in sea. We also took a ride in a boat some half a kilometer into the sea. It was nice to breathe the breeze and watch the calm sea.
As a first place in our plan we started with the Sethupathy palace at Ramnad. Though the structure was intact, the richness of the heritage was gloomed within the unpainted and poorly lighted environment. I really felt sorry for the way it was maintained. A country of such great culture and heritage, these things has to be taken care off. After all these are prides of our nation.
Ariyaman beach was our next target. After countless travels towards hill stations to escape from Madurai heat this was a really new experience. Unexplored and unraveled, it was really a beach to be visited (anyways I pray less people visit it!). The real beauty lied in the calmness of the place with no human interference. Just the sound of breeze and blue waves kissing the white sand, it has easily captured our imagination. I’d had loved to spend rest of the weekend there.
Unwillingly we started off to our next place, Rameswaram a travel through one of biggest and toughest construction in Indian history, the Pamban Bridge. Awestruck by the built we stood over the bridge for some time before we enjoyed our journey till our hotel. We stayed very near to Ramanathaswamy temple in at Shanmuga Paradise Hotel. Was an average stay but that was the only one which could accommodate us in our budget.
Day two started with a pious visit to Ramanathaswamy temple. Some of my friends had bath in the holy water and I was busy taking photos. Meanwhile I lost track of them between all Ayyappa devotees and my concentration towards good photos. Unfortunately all their backpacks were with me as they were bathing and I had to search for them. Frustrated I became when I couldn’t find them, eroding my concentration of getting good photos and offer some good prayer. Finally I got a call from one of them who managed to reach the hotel room. When back in room my furry increased watching the cricket match (India plays Australia at Sydney). I’d say India lost only cos of the bad Umpiring decisions.
We planned to visit Gandamadana Parvatham (Ramapadham) on way to Dhanushkodi. This is the place where Sri Ram rested during his venture to regain Sita. There is a chakra where his foot prints are imprinted. The temple being in a hill top was really giving us a complete view of the whole land mass. I really was seeing something real as depicted in “Age of Emperors” (for those of you who donno, this is a computer game). It was a fantastic view with waters / land mass / sand and sky overlapping one another.
We reached Dhanuskodi by noon. We had to stop our car and take a heavy duty mini truck (colloquially called as “meen body vandi” in tamil) for the last 7 km. The travel was exciting. No roads present, these people lay tire marks over the sand. Every vehicle passing has to follow the track mark. Slipping an inch would lock the vehicle in sand. The route should be of great interest to bird watchers as there are hell lots of birds flying around. This was a flourishing place during British ruling in India and for some 15 years there after. There were railway stations, schools, churches and everything one need to live a peaceful life, and one of my most favorites – sea and sand to bask all around the places. Nature’s fury, this place was completely destroyed in 1964 AD. One of the local guy said it was a Tsunami and it swallowed the whole land, leaving nothing to survival. This place now (with just some .5 square kilo meter of land remaining) contains few huts with countable number of people having fishing as their main occupation. Anything other than water they have to travel some 15 km till Rameswaram over the beaches. I really felt sad imagining how wonderful this place would have been and for the lives lost there on.
It was late noon and we were back to our vehicle. As it was sea all over and fishing being the main occupation we guessed right, there were lot of small hotels providing fried fishes. We had a lot of it, hell lot of fishes and stomach full we reached our rooms. We wanted to reach Pamban Bridge by late evening so to have some good snaps on our way back to Madurai. At 6 we reached the bridge and we were lucky to see the train passing through it. It was an awesome experience seeing the sun set over the villages and sea, taking our mind to an inexpressible feeling.
We took some great photos ( some 700 of them :) ) through out the trip. I’d post it soon as I need some time to sort them out. Check out my album at Picasa in a few days.
The trip
Places Visited
We had 6 of us traveling towards Ramanadapuram / Rameswaram on 6th of January (Saturday) morning. Explorers are we and hence not with a particular travel plan. Just the destination in hand we reached Ramnad the district headquarters, about 120 kilo meters from Madurai. We were cautioned that all rooms could be blocked over weekend at Rameswaram and so to be proactive. We called up one of our colleague, a local of Ramnad; he has good contacts over people at Rameswaram. Lucky were we when he too was in Ramnad (to visit his family) on the day to help us charting out a plan.
Before we met with our colleague we stopped at Devipattinam (Navapasanam). This place is famous for the navagrahas (9 worshiped planets of Hindu mythology) immersed in sea. We also took a ride in a boat some half a kilometer into the sea. It was nice to breathe the breeze and watch the calm sea.
As a first place in our plan we started with the Sethupathy palace at Ramnad. Though the structure was intact, the richness of the heritage was gloomed within the unpainted and poorly lighted environment. I really felt sorry for the way it was maintained. A country of such great culture and heritage, these things has to be taken care off. After all these are prides of our nation.
Ariyaman beach was our next target. After countless travels towards hill stations to escape from Madurai heat this was a really new experience. Unexplored and unraveled, it was really a beach to be visited (anyways I pray less people visit it!). The real beauty lied in the calmness of the place with no human interference. Just the sound of breeze and blue waves kissing the white sand, it has easily captured our imagination. I’d had loved to spend rest of the weekend there.
Unwillingly we started off to our next place, Rameswaram a travel through one of biggest and toughest construction in Indian history, the Pamban Bridge. Awestruck by the built we stood over the bridge for some time before we enjoyed our journey till our hotel. We stayed very near to Ramanathaswamy temple in at Shanmuga Paradise Hotel. Was an average stay but that was the only one which could accommodate us in our budget.
Day two started with a pious visit to Ramanathaswamy temple. Some of my friends had bath in the holy water and I was busy taking photos. Meanwhile I lost track of them between all Ayyappa devotees and my concentration towards good photos. Unfortunately all their backpacks were with me as they were bathing and I had to search for them. Frustrated I became when I couldn’t find them, eroding my concentration of getting good photos and offer some good prayer. Finally I got a call from one of them who managed to reach the hotel room. When back in room my furry increased watching the cricket match (India plays Australia at Sydney). I’d say India lost only cos of the bad Umpiring decisions.
We planned to visit Gandamadana Parvatham (Ramapadham) on way to Dhanushkodi. This is the place where Sri Ram rested during his venture to regain Sita. There is a chakra where his foot prints are imprinted. The temple being in a hill top was really giving us a complete view of the whole land mass. I really was seeing something real as depicted in “Age of Emperors” (for those of you who donno, this is a computer game). It was a fantastic view with waters / land mass / sand and sky overlapping one another.
We reached Dhanuskodi by noon. We had to stop our car and take a heavy duty mini truck (colloquially called as “meen body vandi” in tamil) for the last 7 km. The travel was exciting. No roads present, these people lay tire marks over the sand. Every vehicle passing has to follow the track mark. Slipping an inch would lock the vehicle in sand. The route should be of great interest to bird watchers as there are hell lots of birds flying around. This was a flourishing place during British ruling in India and for some 15 years there after. There were railway stations, schools, churches and everything one need to live a peaceful life, and one of my most favorites – sea and sand to bask all around the places. Nature’s fury, this place was completely destroyed in 1964 AD. One of the local guy said it was a Tsunami and it swallowed the whole land, leaving nothing to survival. This place now (with just some .5 square kilo meter of land remaining) contains few huts with countable number of people having fishing as their main occupation. Anything other than water they have to travel some 15 km till Rameswaram over the beaches. I really felt sad imagining how wonderful this place would have been and for the lives lost there on.
It was late noon and we were back to our vehicle. As it was sea all over and fishing being the main occupation we guessed right, there were lot of small hotels providing fried fishes. We had a lot of it, hell lot of fishes and stomach full we reached our rooms. We wanted to reach Pamban Bridge by late evening so to have some good snaps on our way back to Madurai. At 6 we reached the bridge and we were lucky to see the train passing through it. It was an awesome experience seeing the sun set over the villages and sea, taking our mind to an inexpressible feeling.
We took some great photos ( some 700 of them :) ) through out the trip. I’d post it soon as I need some time to sort them out. Check out my album at Picasa in a few days.
The trip
Places Visited
| Devipattinam (Navapasanam) | Depends (Navagrahas in sea ) |
| Ramnad Sethupathy Palace | Average |
| Ariyaman beach | Must Visit |
| Pamban Bridge | Must See |
| Ramanathaswamy temple | Depends (wash of your sins) |
| Gandamadana Parvatham (Ramapadham) | Must visit |
| Dhanuskodi | Good Visit |
Update : Photos
http://picasaweb.google.com/monishcm/RamanadapuramAndRameswaram
Comments
its very use article
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