A trip to the South Eastern tip!

The last leg of our trip was Rameshwaram and Dhanushkodi. We were staying at our friend S’s ancestral home, which was about 35 km before Rameshwaram. 

We had S’s friend A who was staying at S’s place. A had a Royal Enfield and we thought if we could get another bike from somewhere in S’s town, we would all go to Dhanushkodi in bike. But unfortunately we couldn’t a bike and hence, decided to take a bus to Rameshwaram and then from there, another bus to Dhanushkodi. 

As we were prepping up for the journey, V was just wondering if we would be able to get an auto from here to Dhanushkodi for a decent price. It so happened that S’s grandpa knew quite a few auto men in the town and that’s how he set us up an automan who would take us around to Rameshwaram, Dhanushkodi for the whole day. 

So, Rameshwaram was about 35 km from our place and Dhanushkodi another 20 km from Rameshwaram. In total, it would be a 100 km for the day, in auto! Yayyy!! 

We began our tour with the visit to the Memorial of Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam. It was neat construction, with a lot of photos of Dr. Kalam, his certificates and the items of the last baggage that he had carried to Shillong. It had a couple of Safari suits, diary, slightly worn out sweater, a pair of shoes, normal hawaii slippers and a couple of combs. The man was surely very simple and humble. There were a lot of photos of Dr. Kalam, taken on various occasions. It would have been better if they had captioned those photos about the time & the event when it was taken, would have been more relatable. And people, please note, cameras are strictly not allowed inside the premises. Mobile are allowed though. It’s duh, but that’s how it is! 

A statue of Dr. Kalam outside the Memorial,at Peikarumbu 

Our next stop was for Lunch and then straightway to Dhanushkodi from there. Dhanushkodi is the town which was completely destroyed in the Cyclone in 1964It is the south eastern tip of India and is at a distance of less than 100 km from Sri Lanka by water.

All that you see at the tip is water, water and water, whichever side your turn. The water was “naturally pristine”. (V coined this term, when I told him that it wasn’t pristine because the water had quite a lot of sea plants). Pictures couldn’t do complete justice to what we saw, but still, go on, look at these pictures! 

We left Dhanushkodi at around 4 and headed towards home. Enroute home, we decide to stop at the ever famous Pamban Bridge. We were lucky enough to be there at sunset and oh my, what a sunset it was. For those who don’t know, Pamban Bridge is a railway bridge connecting Rameshwaram to the rest of Tamilnadu. This bridge was destroyed during the 1964 cyclone (the same one that destroyed Dhanushkodi) and reconstructed within just 45 days. Google on, to read more about this! 

The Pamban Bridge

View of the Pamban Railway Bridge from the Pamban Road Bridge. This junction opens up when a Ship has to pass through

Sunset at Pamban Bridge

Many thanks to the auto driver who patiently waited and gladly took us around to all the places we asked him to go. And we were done for the day. 

Today morning, we spent sometime at the Kathadi Beach nearby S’s place and had some home-made Aapams by the beach. 

We were back to home post breakfast. After a sumptuous meal, it was time for us to pack our bags and head back home! 

End of vacation and incidentally, end of the year as well! 

This trip shall always be remembered for the innumerous bus journeys and all the west coast sunsets :) and of course, for the state of Kerala, the people and the aroma of their Biriyanis :) 

Signing off, J!