When: Oct 1’09 (Night) to Oct 5’09 (Morning)
With: Rohit, Guru, Puru & Satya
Where: Rameshwaram, Dhanushkodi, Kanyakumari, Kovalam
How: By bus: Bangalore -> Ramanathapuram -> Rameshwaram -> Dhanushkodi -> Madhurai -> Nagercoil -> Suchindram -> Kanyakumari -> Kovalam -> Thiruvananthapuram -> Bangalore
One ought to visit these places!!! That was the feeling I got when I visited Kanyakumari & Rameshwaram. A week before the trip got a call from one of my sis’s friend asking whether I was interested in joining this trip…With no second thought, I immediately said yes!
Day 0: On 1st Oct at 9.30pm started off from KPS bus depot near Wilson garden. Guys as usual turned out as per the Indian Standard Time and since I was on time, I had to request the driver to hold on till then came in. It was a group of 5; whom I was meeting for the first time. Since I was the only gal in the group, I was given every attention and care by the whole group…How lucky was I?!? :)
Day 1: We reached Ramanathpuram late in the noon instead of reaching at 8am due to inevitable reasons. From there took a bus to Rameshwaram. On the way to Rameshwaram, you get to pass through “Pamban Bridge”(Also called Indira Gandhi Bridge is a 2.2 km long pre-stressed concrete road bridge and was India's first sea bridge. From the elevated two-lane road bridge, adjoining islands and the parallel rail bridge below can be viewed. The railroad bridge is a still-functioning double-leaf bascule bridge section that can be raised to let ships pass under the bridge.) After spending enough time there sightseeing and doing some photography, we headed to Rameshwaram. We then rented a room, freshened up and decided to fuel our stomach first before thinking of anything. Hearing that the main temple will be open till night, we decided to cover other places and then visit the temple at the end. Hired a maruthi van and left to Dhanushkodi first. The place is mind-blowing and a must to visit. You get to see just sand / water / sky from all the side, nothing else.. It’s altogether a different world. Few hours is just not sufficient, one ought to spend atleast a day to N’joy the place / view. (Dhanushkodi is a town/village at the southern tip of the Rameshwaram island, which has been ruined due to a cyclone in 1964. Srilanka is about 18 miles from Dhanushkodi. Its also a place where Mahodadhi (Bay of Bengal) and Ratnakara (Indian Ocean) Confluence. Hindu scriptures says that at the request of Vibeeshana, brother of Ravana and ally of Rama, Rama broke the Sethu with one end of his bow and hence the name Dhanushkodi, Dhanush meaning Bow and Kodi meaning end. Bath in holy Sethu at the junction of the two seas normally precedes the piligrimage to Rameswaram. A series of rocks and islets found in a line are shown as remnants of the ancient Setu also called as Rama’s Bridge / Adam’s Bridge). With just few hours left after visiting Dhanushkodi, we tried to cover as many places as we could at Rameshwaram. The few places that we covered were Kalam’s birth place, five-faces hanuman temple, sita thirtham, Rama thirtham, hanuman temple and last but not the least – Rameshwaram main temple.
Day 2: The same night, we decided to leave to Kanyakumari. Took a bus to Madhurai and then to Nagercoil; from where Kanyakumari is just about 22kms. On the way to Kanyakumari from Nagercoil, we stopped at Suchindram – Sthanumalayan Temple. After the darshan at the temple, we took a bus to Kanyakumari. We were fortunate enough to get an accommodation at Vivekananda Ashram (cheapest and bestest) of all in Kanyakumari. After freshening up, we headed towards Vivekananda Rock. (Vivekananda Rock Memorial was built on the legendary Vivekanad Rock that juts out of the convergence of the Indian Ocean, the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal. About 400 mts offshore the two rocky islands became the seat of enlightenment for Swami Vivekanand, an Indian philosopher and social reformer. It is believed that in the year 1892, Swami Vivekanand swam across the sea and meditated on this isolated rock island, imparting the spiritual charisma to him.) Reaching Vivekananda Rock Memorial is quite easy. There are regular ferry services connecting the rock island to the mainland. There is also thiruvalluvar statue next to Vivekananda Rock. It is a 133 feet (40.5 m) tall stone sculpture of the Tamil poet and saint Tiruvalluvar, author of the Thirukkural. By the time we were done visiting these 2 places, it was sunset time. We decided to walk towards the sunset point along the sea side. Being at the southern tip of India itself is a great feeling. Upon that the beauty and the weather is just fascinating. We retired early for the day as we were dead tired.
Day 3: How could one miss the sunrise at Kanyakumari after staying overnight at Kanyakumari…!?!. We got up early to n’joy the sunrise at Vivekananda Ashram – sunrise point as planned. We also visited Triveni Sangam – It’s surrounded by three seas of Arabian Sea, Bay of Bengal and Indian Ocean, it accounts for an astonishing view. From here one can clearly see water of three different colors meeting. White, blue and Grey waters merge at this point.
Since all of us wanted to be non-pilgrim on the third and the last day of our trip; we decided to head towards to Kovalam. Spent fun-filled and a gala time at the beach where I also learnt so called diving and floating on the waves – Thanks to Guru..:) Hmmm, that was the end of all our fun. We then headed towards the bus stand in the evening to catch the bus back to namma bengaluru…Overall, it a wonderful trip with loads of memories to cherish with!!
Here are some of the pics; N'joy!!
http://picasaweb.google.co.in/mjai14/RameshwaramDhanushkodiKanyakumariKovalam#
Stay tuned, write-ups on 3 more of my trips are on its way!! :)
Cheers, Jay:)
