Rameshwaram December 2013

What comes to your mind, when we talk about Rameshwaram ? Teertha yatra. Ramsethu , temples, southern tip of India, Kalam, Indian ocean , these are some of the names and pictures which comes to your mind when you think about Rameshwaram . But Rameshwaram is more than that.My experience with Rameshwaram has been different. I will walk you through my experience in this blog.

We had a plan to visit Kanyakumari and Madurai. But a friend gave me feedback about Dhanuskodi and we decided to go to Rameshwaram instead of Kanyakumari.

We had a plan for 2 days.We were seven people ,then reduced to 6 and decided to go with Innova. Innova booking was easy for me since my brother works in SRS travels and he has a lot of contacts. We decided with 11 Rs/Km and driver bata 250 Rs(250 Rs for night stay). We decided to start Friday evening 5 0 clock. First pickup got delayed and we finally started @6 PM.

This was our pickup point.

Guru - Domlur
BJ and Vineet - Marthahalli
Vinay and Naseer - HSR Layout
Mahesh Shetty - Electronic city

If you are going by yellow board vehicle (taxi)from Bangalore, you should have inter state permit. We paid 1000 Rs in check post. We paid more than 500 as toll charges.

On the way we had dinner near Salem. Whole night I was awake and everybody slept. Morning we reached Rameshwaram at 6 AM. Hotel was not booked. We thought we will get rooms. But we searched for almost 2 hours and we didn't get a room. If you are going during December please book a hotel, because most of the hotels will be occupied by shabrimala and other pilgrims. It was a lesson for us. Finally we took public bath where common pilgrims take bath. Fortunately it was clean and it was better than some of the small hotels..We took bath and asked the owner for a small room for night stay. We gave him Rs 1300.

Daiwik hotel refered by my friend

My friend and their family stayed here in this hotel and their feedback is also good.We stayed beside this hotel, but not in this hotel :)

We already had a list of places to visit in Rameshwaram and their priorities. The places in bold letters are the places we have visited.

1. Sri Ramanathswamy temple ****
2. Agni theertham ***
3. Sugreevar Temple/Theertham
4. Satchi Hanuman Temple
5. Badrakaliamman Temple
6. Gandamadhana parvatham and Rama thirtham ***
7. Jada Theertham
8. Nambu Nayagiamman Temple
9. Jatayu thirtham
10. Kothandaramaswamy temple
11. Laxmana thirtham
12 RamaJarojha temple,
13. Five faced Hanuman temple ***
14. Dhanushkodi beach and Ramasethu tip if allowed *****
15. Pamban bridge *****

Rameshwaram temple :

Rameshwaram temple is one of the main pilgrimage center of south India. It is one of the holiest place for Hindu along with Kashi. We went in the morning to temple. When comes to religious believes my friends were of different opinion. Mahesh Shetty is a half atheist. He don't want to follow any religious believes but believe in God's creation. Guru is orthodox Brahmin who likes to follow every rituals and can wait for hours to take God's visit. Vineeth has no problem in following rituals but says he is a atheist. Nasir was enthusiastic about Hindu rituals but he follows his religion strictly. Vinay believes in God but can adjust to any surrounding. I wanted to experience every thing in Rameshwaram.

Outside view

I took 22 thirtham and then went for God's visit. There are certain rules to be followed in temple. Photography is not allowed. We should not go in wet dress i.e. after taking bath in 22 thirtham we have to dry our body before visiting temple. Non Hindus are not allowed inside the temple. We paid Rs 100/- for Special Dashan. But don't get fooled by this special word. Those who went for Normal darshana got darshana before us. For more information you can visit WikiTravel but related to prices information, it is outdated. Even what I am mentioning here will be outdated after few days.

http://wikitravel.org/en/Rameswaram

Kothandaramaswamy temple

After having darshan, we had lunch in nearby hotel and then moved to Kothandaramaswamy temple. This temple is situated in front of sea. This temple has a historic background. Coronation of Vibhishana was held here.

In front of Kothandaramaswamy temple

History

Inside temple

Almighty Lord Rama

In front of temple

Gandamadhana parvatham

Here we find the feet of Lord Rama. From the top of this temple we can find the entire Rameshwaram. We spent some time here on the top of the temple looking at the sea, trees and full view of Rameshwaram.

Entrance Gandamadhana parvatham

Inside Gandamadhana parvatham

When we have good background every one poses

Top view from Gandamadhana parvatham

After watching the above beautiful view, we moved to Dhanushkodi. Dhanushkodi is the main source of income for some local fishermen who left their main occupation because of srilankan army. It is very close to Srilanka and that has become problem for them. I have read that we have to book jeep from city and there is chances of getting jeep from village from where the dhanuskodi journey starts. No other vehicle can go up to Dhanushkodi view point which is little distance from Ram sethu. But in the evening they have closing time of around 6:45 PM.

We didn't get any jeep from Dhanushkodi village. Locals suggested to call the jeep from city. We didn't have enough time and hence we decided we will come in the morning. Because we already made our mind to be there in Pamban bridge before sunset.

Pamban bridge :

Pamban bridge

This bridge is definitely one of the engineering wonder and calmest place.Most suitable time to visit this bridge is during evening

sunset

other side of sea

Closer look

Shetty was really upset over our tour converting into spiritual journey.He always wanted to enjoy God's creation instead of God. Shetty looked calm after visiting this place and even went on to say one of the beautiful place he has visited.We were totally moved by this place and spent more than 2 hours in the bridge and then out of curiosity went to the place below the bridge.We decided to leave only when it became too dark.

There is boating facilities available near Pamban bridge. Since it was too dark, we decided to skip boating.

Then we went to Kalam sea shell Mart where people bought some of the sea ornaments. We missed house of Kalam, where Kalamji's life history is portrayed, After doing all the shopping, we then moved to the room where we decided to stay. I, driver and Naseer slept in the car. Rest all slept in room.

Dhanushkodi - Day 2:

Morning after having bath in open space, we went in search of Jeep. We consulted a shopkeeper and booked a Jeep for 2000Rs (For 7 people they will charge 2000 and for 3-4 people they will charge 1200). We had breakfast in nearby hotel and parked our vehicle in front of the shop. We were not knowing Tamil but our driver was translating every piece of what they were telling. We crossed Dhanuskodi village and reached the main beach which is near to Ramsethu.

Jeep driver added metal support to the tyres, before entering into sand so that it can move easily in the sand. It is really difficult to take your vehicle on those sand route. On the way we saw the cyclone effect. Railway tracks,villages, shops everything was destroyed.We crossed the hell and reached the main beach. Life is hell and even then some thing is beautiful. You cross the hell and enter heaven which is better than beautiful i.e. Dhanushkodi.

Sand route

You can see the difficult route of Dhanushkodi. Prior to cyclone, there was railway track. Now it is completely destroyed. There is more chances of vehicle getting stuck in the sand.

Difficult route

Cyclone effect

On the way to Ramsethu viewpoint

Once we reached the beach which is very near to Ramsethu, Vinay went straight into the water. Generally people from Bangalore enjoy a lot in beaches since they rarely see beaches. Here was an example who was really mad at seeing beach and was literally dancing. I was busy looking at the beautiful girl in saree.

Women and nature are beautiful by heart

I must say, lady was beautiful and she made the beach much more beautiful.

Costal guard

Coastal guards were there with their ship. It is obvious civilians are not allowed near the ship.

Beach is wide

Foreigners love this beach;calm and peaceful

I and Guru were busy capturing photos

We were searching for ramsethu. Jeep driver told us it was submerged inside the water. We were little disappointed but we can't get everything in life. We enjoyed a lot. After spending some time there, we went back to Dhanushkodi village which was destroyed during 1964 cyclone.

The stone from which ramsethu was built

The picture above is of the stone from which Ramsehu was built. It floats on water. There is a temple and villagers believe Lord Rama and his men stayed here.

Lord Rama

Seeta,Rama,Laxman,Hanuman

Lord Shiva with Nandi

There are small shops beside the temple, where you will get the sea ornaments. Vineeth is very much interested in buying those kind of stuffs.

Different type of conch

Decoration with sea shell

After that, we went to old church. It was having only walls and roof was affected by cyclone. We took photos inside and then went to the beach behind the church. You can see the remains of the village in below picture.

Old church destroyed during cyclone

Naseer inside church

Cyclone effect

We can call this beach as fisher man's beach. We found many fishes .Those were of different types.

Different variety of fishes

Insect or fish

Star fish

Guru, The Arabian king :P

Fishermen's beach

Force is behind

After spending some time here we went back to Rameshwaram. Our Jeep driver bought some fishes.We reached the shop, where we had parked our vehicle. We were already hungry and left the southern tip of India. On the way after Pamban bridge, we had lunch in traditional Tamilnadu hotel.

Emu in front of the hotel where we had lunch

Rameshwaram as a whole was a mixture of spiritual and nature's beauty. It is one of the most beautiful place I have visited. Even today in my dream I will be roaming around Pamban bridge. I still imagine what might have cyclone done to this beautiful place. Leaving so much memories, we left to Madurai, Athens of the east.

Note : Guru's camera - Nikon D90
BJ's camera Nikon P500

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