Rameshwaram to Kanyakumari – Travelogue

A road-trip from Madurai to Rameshwaram and then to Kanyakumari

is like a ride through nature’s wonders while enjoying the refreshing
weather and the roads being in great condition, the turns and twists
provide an amazing experience to adventure seekers and incredible
scenic views for nature lovers.

Rameshwaram is located at one of those corners of the country where

proper accommodations and hotel-rooms are unavailable for all
tourists. Hence we decided to take a round-trip from Madhuri via
tourist buses, booked tickets and boarded the bus from the nearest
bus-stand.

Rameshwaram is a temple town on the coast on the South-East of

Madurai. It’s located on an island at the end of a spit of land that
stick out towards Sri Lanka. It is one of several important Hindu
pilgrim destinations in South India.

We reached the Rameshwaram bus-stand in the morning, it was cool

and the sun was low, but the temple being a li’l too far from there, we
hired a car to take us around the places, the temple being our
foremost priority.

The temple is located in the middle of a small town and has a tall
gopuram painted in while, shining brilliantly in the bright sun, striking
against the blue sky. Inside the temple are 22 thirthams and it’s a
must for one to bath in all the 22 thirthams, having not done that the
darshan at the temple is considered incomplete. One’s to hire a guide
and some locals to help you with the bath in all 22 thirthams there,
charging a minimal sum per head. In the temple there are over 1200
gigantic pillars, each one having carved out of single rock look stunning
and the roof’s painted in contrasting colours. One has to visit both
Shiva and Thayar (Ammbal) in the temple; we were right on time
before the closing of temple for noon.
After visiting the temple we decided to go to Danuskodi next, but
before that we had our lunch in a fine Bengali restaurant there. The
road to Danuskodi was incredibly awesome. There were trees on both
side of the road, and we could also see the sea on both sides. The wind
blowing through our hair, the drive to Danushkodi was truly
mesmerizing. There were walls being constructed on both sides at
some places to stop the water and sand coming to roads.

Danuskudi is about 17kms from Rameshwaram. The temple has a lot of

paintings on its wall from the Ramayana. After visiting the temple, we
spent some time on the sea shore enjoying the superb weather. After
Danuskudi, our driver took us to President Kalam’s house and sea-shell
shop run by his brother.

We went to Ramar Paadam Temple thereafter. Located on a small hill,

it’s said that that’s where Lord Rama stood for departure to Sri Lanka
to kill Ravana and retain Sita. The footprints of Lord Rama is there,
and people offer flowers and pooja to that. From the temple one can
also get a good scenic view of the entire Rameshwaram, Shiv temple
and the sea. On the way back is the Ram, Sita, Lakshman Kund and
floating stones, each of which are stop over spots where we pulled up
our car to visit them repectively. Lastly the Pambam bridge, over
which we had stopped for a couple of snaps and having a view of the
incredible horizon.

We drove our way straight back to the bus-stand thereafter, and

boarded the bus to Madurai. The return journey to Madurai had been
another memorable an experience, for we took the same road but it
was dark this time and the weather chillier. The bus pulled over
midway at night by a fine Dhaba there, where we all got off the bus
to stretch ourselves and have a lavish supper after a long day. The
dinner was followed by a few more hours journey, and we reached
Madurai ultimately in the morning.
From Madurai, we took a bus to Kanyakumari. The roads were well
maintained and smooth, with canopied green tress on both sides. The
scenic views from the window indeed were a retreat for our eyes.

Kanyakumari is at the tip of the Peninsular India where the Bay of

Bengal, Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea meet. The confluence of these
three is also referred to as the ‘Triveni Sangamam’, otherwise known
as Cape Comorin, and is a famous pilgrim centre and a beach resort.

We reached Kanyakumari in the evening and it was dark already. We

booked a decent hotel for the stay, dropped our luggage and left to
hunt for a good restaurant, since we were tired and hungry and needed
quick refreshment. After having a hearty supper, we decided to take
a walk through the local-marketplace which displayed a wide variety
of sea-shell products, from ornaments to show-pieces to utility
products to toys for kids. After the walk, we returned to our hotel,
freshened up and retired to bed, as we’d to prepare for the long day.

The next morning we woke up at around 5 o’clock in the morning, got

ready as soon as we possibly could.