RAMESWARAM

RAMESHWARAM :The Rameshwaram trip was a memorable one. Knowing my father to be a spiritual person, we decided that we should start our Chaar dham yatra and we chose Ruchi’s birthday to be the perfect time for it. To go to Rameshwaram we had to go via Chennai as there were no direct trains earlier (now there is a direct train from hyd to Rameshwaram as well) we halted at Chennai for a day and then boarded the train to Rameshwaram. The best part of the journey was when the train was passing through Pamban Bridge with water all around us and only a single track railway line for the train to pass on, scary yet exciting. When we reached the place, we felt the same atmosphere as we would usually see in a Malgudi day’s series, tangas and village look...

The hotel that we had blocked had courteous staff and all modern facilities, the manager had personally come to meet us and had also arranged for a guide for taking us to the darshan at Ramanathswamy Temple. The guide explained to us history & significance of it. He said that the Shiv Ling was built by Lord Ram after returning from Sri Lanka killing Ravana to seek approbation and is therefore known as one of the jyothilingams .We headed to the temple to complete our dhaam at 5am so that we could attend the 6am aarti, followed by the dip in the ghat (sea) before proceeding to the 22 wells. We had always thought that it is only a myth that the water in each well tasted different inspite of it getting water from the same source, but it turns out that it is indeed true; At every well, the guide would take out a bucket full of water and pour it onto our head and ensured that we tasted it as well, they all had different tastes!!! After the 22 wells, we were drenched and shivering…we changed our clothes and proceeded to complete the darshan with the aarti. Peaceful temple, easy darshan and spiritual environment made our darshan very pleasant. We also got an opportunity to go for the darshan in the evening as well as next day. While we were there, we decided to go see the Coral Reefs near Rameshwaram. A must see place in Rameshwaram was the Dhanushkodi; it was from here that the famous RamSethu connecting Srilanka was built. Having enough time on hand, we hired a cab and visited the famous and beautiful Meenakshi temple in Madurai as well...

Sunset at Dhanushkodi

Corals near Pamban

Pamban bridge

Pamban bridge

Suggestions: Stay Hotel Royal Park (http://www.hotelroyalpark.in)

How to reach: Nearest airport Chennai/Madurai. Train No.6734 (direct train) or hyd-

How to reach Rameswaram

Nearest airport: Madurai
Railways:Trains available from Chennai & Madurai
Road:10hrs drive from chennai,4hrs drive from Madurai.chennai-rameshwaram)