When a crazy thought of travelling to 3 different places in 3 days crossed my mind I thought about it and moved onto the other thought crossing by. But when the same thought came up time and again, half of the day goes out in research and planning to make it a reality.
I always wanted to do one of these kinds of travel across India. So to experience this crazy idea and see how it all happens in reality I started looking for places and check for transport options and I decided on the journey from Bangalore to Dhanushkodi covering Madurai, Kanyakumari and Rameswaram.
Bangalore to Madurai would be a day trip and reach Madurai by 4 in the evening. Then a night train from Madurai to Kanyakumari which would drop me by 5 in the morning. And then another night train from Kanyakumari to Rameswaram which would reach by 6 in the morning. And a small day trip from Rameswaram to Dhanuskodi before coming back to Madurai from Rameswaram by evening bus and taking a train from Madurai to Bangalore on the same night.
The travel plan:
Bangalore to Madurai : Bus @ 8:00
Madurai to Kanyakumari : Train @ 23:30
Kanyakumari - Rameswaram : Train @ 22:00
Rameswaram to Madurai : Bus @ 19:00
Madurai to Bangalore : Train @ 23:50
With an idea in place I booked tickets which included both transportation and stay for 3 nights in a train sleeper class which is a great deal for a traveller who would keep the trip on a budget and enjoy spending on places worth seeing or eating yummy local food. With a whole new adventure and excitement, I packed my bags and decided to leave on this journey to embrace the thrill and uncertainty the road had in store for me and experience it without any judgement and enjoy the whole experience.
This is how it all happened:
After a late night at office, I left around 6:30 am after having hot cup of tea to my boarding point thinking I will get into bus and have a good sleep in a sleeper bus. Arrived at bus stop an hour earlier than the bus arrival time and walked a bit trying to call bus driver with no luck. Enquired the same with red bus and went on to have breakfast and came back to bus stop. It was around 8:10 but still didn't receive any message or call from bus service. Tried calling the office but it was switched off. Called other number and to my horror he responds with bus had been cancelled. Had an argument and complained about the service. An obstacle even before the trip had begun and that was not at all inspiring along with losing patience of standing on the road looking for a bus. Decided to try other bus directly but didn't find any travels or any state bus to Madurai. All Tamil Nadu buses were either going to Trichy or Salem. After checking the distance between both on google maps, found out Salem falls on the route to Madurai.
I decided to get to Salem and take another bus to Madurai. Got into the bus and enquired about the bus service from Salem to Madurai and got an yes from the conductor. I was relieved and went on to take some rest. What followed was staggered sleep and listening to music. After few breaks in Hosur, dharmapuri, krishnagiri and other places reached Salem around 2:00 pm. Hurriedly went ahead looking for bus to Madurai and found one waiting for me. After a quick break, I bought some snacks and water bottle and sat in the bus which was mostly empty. After few minutes the bus began its journey and I had few naps trying to get some rest. The last stretch to Madurai was beautiful with big mountains on the left and green lands to the right. I reached Madurai at 7:30 pm and took another bus to railway station and charged my phone for sometime.
I decided to go to Meenakshi Amman temple which was a Hindu heritage site with four gates or gopuram's and lots of sculptures and stone carvings. It is believed that the temple was originally built in the 6th century BC by survivors of the Kumari Kandam. The architecture of the temple is highly ornate, and the mythological perspective adds another dimension to the temple. The temple was mostly empty and there was no queue considering it one of the most popular temples of south India. I went in to the temple and walked all the way towards the point which divides the temple into two directions. I went to the left side and visited all the temples and stood inside the temple for sometime as there was pooja going on. I stood in silence along with other devotees looking at the rituals performed by priests. It takes more than half a day to explore the whole temple which is suggested to know more about the history. There were more foreigners than that of Indians at the time I was there. After visiting the other side of the temple, I left the temple and had my dinner at one of the hotels outside.
I went back to railway station after having tea and charged my phone and waited for train to arrive looking at people sleeping on floor, some standing to get their chance for charging their phones and others roaming. There were some foreign backpackers coming and going by with heavy backpacks on their back suggesting their long voyage in India. After a lot of waiting and eagerly hearing the announcements of trains, I heard about my train and went to platform no. 4 to get into my train. As I phone was getting charged up with power, I was getting recharged with the sleep. I reached kanyakumari station by 5:30 am. Changed my clothes and got ready to start the day in Kanyakumari which is a coastal town in the state of Tamil Nadu and is known as India's southern most tip. Extending out into the Laccadive Sea, the town was known as Cape Comorin during british rule and is popular for sunrise and sunset over the ocean and many other places to visit and enjoy the trip.
And the second day of adventure began on the positive note with a beautiful sunrise rising and colouring the blue sky with different layers of orange and reddish colour. I visited a whole lot of beaches namely Kanyakumari Beach, Vavaturai Beach, Sunrise point beach, Cape Camorin, The hidden twin beach also known as sunset point beach etc in the morning and then in the evening time for sunset views. And then the day was followed by an unknown discover of kanyakumari pier which is a walkway where big stones are placed on each other above the sea. It's like we are literally flying above the sea with strong wind blowing from everywhere. A boat ride to visit Vivekananda memorial where the life and times of Swami Vivekananda are depicted and it is believed that he had swum up to this place in 1892 and meditated for 3 days. After a short visit to the beautiful Our Lady of Ransom Church, I had my lunch at a small hotel which turned out to be the best place to have local cuisine.
Check out my blog for photos and the detailed visit of kanyakumari at kanyakumari-southern-tip-of-india
In the afternoon, I went to Vivekanandapuram which had Vivekananda Pictorial Exhibition which is a great place to know about evolution and gradual spiritual development in the life of Vivekananda and Gramodaya Park which is a well maintained theme park with depictions of Ramayana and Mahabharata with paintings and stories in English, Hindi and Tamil. Walking along the unknown trails and discovering a secluded beach and enjoying for sometime I went to sunset beach. After experiencing a beautiful sunset, I decided to walk along the trails of the beach till the main beach as the weather now was cool and windy. As I approached the main beach, I could see the lights glowing from the Vivekananda memorial in the midst of the dark ocean and it was glittering with beauty. After a light dinner I went back to railway station for my train to rameswaram which arrived somewhere around 10:30 pm and went on to have a good sleep looking forward to my next day travel.
With this one day excursion and wandering, I can say kanyakumari is one of the best places to visit in India. If you want to be a traveller rather than a tourist then you can walk around the city to get a glimpse of local lifestyle and culture of this city or It is easily accessible through auto and taxi which you can get at the railway station itself.
A new day started with catching a glimpse of the very fascinating Pamban bridge from the train and feeling the thrill of travelling on the old bridge and enjoying the cool early morning breeze I arrived rameswaram around 6 in the morning. I walked out of the station and onto the streets of just about waking up town of rameswaram. I had a tea and went all the way to Ramanathaswamy Temple which is a Hindu pilgrimage site with beautifully adorned corridors, huge sculpted pillars and sacred wells where devotees take bath and wash away their sins before entering the temple. The waters of Agni Theertham, off the beach east of the temple is a beach where devotees perfrom rituals, worship and take dips. After a refreshment break and finishing my bath I visited the temple and took blessings from the god.
Checkout my blog Rameswaram for the whole experience with photos.
I packed my bags and went to the main road asking for a bus to dhanushkodi. After some waiting, the bus arrived and I took my seat at the last window behind the door and after an hour of refreshing bus ride, I reached Dhanushkodi and enjoyed the brightness of the land and beauty of the colourful ocean. I spent some time going into the waters and the waves seemed a bit different here. Upon examining for sometime I could see the waves were coming from two different sides and meeting each other in the middle. Dhanushkodi beach is the place where Bay of Bengal merges with Indian Ocean. There is a reference to mythology at this place and is believed to be where Lord Rama and his army built Ram Setu, otherwise known as Adam's Bridge across the sea connecting Rameshwaram Island (Tamil Nadu) and Mannar Island (Sri Lanka), to rescue his wife Sita from the clutches of the demon king Ravana. No, its not possible to see Srilanka from Dhanushkodi as it is about 18 Kms from the Dhanushkodi Beach.
I walked back from dhansuhkodi beach to dhanushkodi old town looking at all the craziness around me and helped out a fisherman with his boat getting ready to sail for his catch and pushed the boat lying on shore to the ocean and he was off on his journey as he rowed his boat against the waves. After some more walking, I was now at the old city of Danushkodi also known as the ghost town was once a busy town but now an abandoned place since it was destroyed by the Rameshwaram cyclone in 1964. We can still see the remains of old Church, Railway station, Railway tracks which existed there in their prosperous time. As it was lunch time and with no bus passing by, I decided to have my lunch in one of the few small hut hotels and took my seat on the bench. I ordered a fish meal and a water bottle. The fish fry was spicy and the curry delicious. I filled my tummy and enjoyed the meal savouring it slowly as I had a lot of time. I finished my lunch and thanked for the meal and paid a mere 80/- rupees.
I went back to rameswaram in a bus and took another bus to get to APJ Abdul Kalam memorial which is a burial site of former President of India Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, marked by a life-sized statue. A beautiful museum with pictures and life journey of Abdul Kalam sir. After a short visit, I came out and decided to go to Pamban bridge to have a better view and I was lucky to get a sight of train making its way from the old bridge. I then came back to boating point at the temple and went on a boat ride and came back with a sunset view.
I had snacks at the nearby hotel and put my phone for charging as it was almost dead and I had to call up the bus to know where i had to go to catch it. Once I got my phone charged, I called up the bus operator only to know that the bus was cancelled without any further notice. After a short debate and complaining, I hurriedly took an auto and went to bus stop where I could get a bus to Madurai and after a thrilling ride and a close miss I reached Madurai railway station just on time to catch my train to Bangalore to get back to my daily life with beautiful memories and an experience to remember for lifetime.