It is fun when Brunda chuckles as I narrate my travel experiences to her; she says that, my body may be confined to a space but my mind wanders to seek knowledge from Universe all the time and I second that.
Dhanushkodi, a beautiful name that always called me for a visit; the thought of it enthralled the rider in me and I started off. Hot summer days and riding straight 620 km is certainly not an easy task but I was excited. I started my journey on Friday at 4:30 AM and reached Salem at 9 AM. I stopped by a nearby shack grabbed a quick breakfast and started the ride again smiling at the scorching sun. My next pit-stop was Namakkal, a city famous for Lord Narasimha and Lord Anjaneya temple.
I rested at Namakkal for some time and the only way to beat the heat was keep myself hydrated with lot of water and fresh fruit juices on my way. My stomach growled with hunger but the Thalappakatti Biriyani from Dindigul was just 122 km away and I could not wait anymore to relish my taste buds.
I reached Dindigul at sharp 1:30 PM and the Biriyani from Thalappakatti restaurant was soul-filling and mind-blowing. The history of the Biriyani dated back to 1957 and the hotel was started by a man who realized the uniqueness of his wife’s Biriyani recipe. This Biriyani is cooked using a special blend of spices and goat meat which is fed on tender-grass in a village called Kannivadi combined with typical short-grain rice unlike the Basmati rice. As I savored every grain of it; the old saying, “When I am eating I am deaf and dumb”, lingered in my ears.
I started from Dindigul at 3:30 PM and reached Madurai which is approximately at a distance of 50 KM. The Goddess Meenakshi temple at Madurai is bliss to eyes; the carvings in the temple and the sanctum sanctorum of the temple are grandeur and lot of devotees comes to the shrine to seek blessings of goddess Meenakshi. My accommodation was arranged at Ramanathapuram which is at a distance of 100km from Madurai.
I reached Ramanathapuram at 5 PM in the evening and halted that night, my body ached but my heart was at the brim of contentment; day 2 awaited me as my bed embraced and pulled me into dreamland.
Day 2: After grabbing a quick breakfast from the nearby shack I started my journey from Ramanathapuram to Rameshwaram which is approximately at a distance of 60 km. I had to cross the Pamban Bridge and I felt heebie-jeebies all over my body. This is a railway bridge on the Palk Strait that connects the city of Rameshwaram to mainland India. The sight of the bridge with train passing by and the turquoise green water on either sides is an astounding view in itself The bridge bifurcated with one line running towards Rameshwaram and the other terminated at Dhanushkodi until the cyclone of 1964 cyclone. This was a beautiful stretch of my ride and I reached Rameshwaram at 1 PM.
Rameshwaram: The city of pilgrims, a glorious temple of Ramanathaswamy attracts a lot of devotees. The temple is dedicated to Lord Shiva and is one of the twelve Jyotirlingas. After a visit to the temple I walked out to find a restaurant to quench my thirst and satiate my hunger. There are many vegetarian restaurants around but a sea-food shack caught my eyes.
Now it was Dhanushkodi that beckoned me, situated to the south-east of Pamban. The road leading to this place gets narrower and it gives us a feeling of riding in the water amidst the sea. It was once a big township until the cyclone in 1964 consumed the entire city with just four survivors. A passenger train with 110 people that ran from Pamban Bridge to this place also got drowned in the sea. The city was beyond restoration and the ruins are still preserved as people evacuated calling it a ghost-town.
It is believed that Lord Rama had built a bridge between Lanka and the Mainland called Rama Sethu and had destroyed it with the end of his bow post winning the war. The Kodhanada Rama temple stands as a landmark signifying the journey of Rama to Sri-Lanka. Pilgrims come to Dhanushkodi for a sacred bath as the amalgamation of Bay of Bengal and Indian Ocean is considered sacred.
It was almost 7 PM and there were almost nobody to be seen. It was just me and my lovely bike under the beautiful starlit sky, with the cold breeze from the sea hitting my body it would not be wrong if I call it a Paradise. I seemed lost in thoughts when the traveler in me alarmed me. My small hotel room in Ramanathapuram welcomed me again before I started my journey back to Bangalore at 4:30 AM the next day. Dreamer signing off from Dhanushkodi as another place calls me.
Number of days travelled: 3
Means of transport: Bullet (Royal Enfield)
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