The Whirlwind Tour Pt.3
Day 3
22 Wells and the tip of the Country.
I woke up to the alarm at 4:45am, and sat up, because the train was supposed to arrive at 5 in the morning, but it was all dark out, and I went back to sleep. I woke up at 5:15, and it turned out that the train was late by an hour or so, which wasn’t really surprising. Nanna and I went to the doors when we came close, because we wanted to see the Pamban bridge, which was pretty famous, and also, the Adam’s Bridge, or, in a more native term, Rama Sethu, the bridge built by Lord Rama and his Monkey Army to Sri Lanka to rescue his wife, Sita. The train was on the Pamban Bridge, and I could see another bridge for the other vehicles on the left, and some floating rocks on the side. The rocks on the right looked suspiciously like the fabled Rama Sethu stones. I wasn’t sure if these were old or new, because they were covered by algae/seaweed. The rocks were there all the way till we got to the mainland.
Rameswaram is like a little thumb that sticks out of the hand, a bit far from the whole palm, and this place was only accessible through the two bridges. As we got into the mainland, I noticed that there wasn’t a lot of mud, and it was just vast spaces of white sand, with not much vegetation, save for some coconut tree plantations. After about 15 minutes, we reached the Rameswaram railway station, which was just like the Kakinada railway station. We were greeted by a police officer and a colleague of Nanna’s friend. They got us into a small lodge and we got freshened up, but they told us that we didn’t have to shower, because, since it was our first time, they offered that we have ‘cleansing’ dips in the ocean and in the waters from about 22 wells. I was not loving this idea, but this was a rare first, so I decided to go with it.
Rameswaram seemed to be a pretty small and modest town when it came to size and population. We went to the temple in the car, with a bag of fresh clothes, because we were about to get doused in water. We stopped near the ocean, which had a ceremonial arch and rows of pandits sitting in front of individual small fires. Those were the little ceremonies people had for the ones that had departed, and they usually do it near water bodies. Dont ask me why. The police officer who was with us told us that we had to dip in the ocean three times before proceeding to the temple. There were numerous people who were bathing in the ocean.
We made our way to the bathing area, which was riddled with cattle, people and the general debris lying around. I took a deep breath and we crossed the people doing the last rites, and then to the steps that led to the water. The steps were green and matted with algae, or seaweed. They were surprisingly soft and felt good on my feet. I tried not to slip as we waded into the water. We decided to go in till the water came to our waists. The water was pretty clear, and I could see my feet for a fair distance. Little schools of fish were swimming around between people’s feet, and there was the odd piece of clothing that had sunken in. And then the water started to go green-ish. And then we decided to stop, because the water was well near our waists. Nanna went first and went in three times. I watched the other people, who weren’t holding back on the dipping thing. There were a few men who even got a bar of soap and proceeded to wash themselves. I tore my eyes away, trying not to think of all the human waste that must be lurking in the waters.
Nanna got up from his three dips, (with his back barely wet) and it was my turn. Nanna gave me a helpful tip to keep the water away from the orifices of my face. Thumbs closing the ears, little fingers blocking the nostrils, and the rest on your eyelids.
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| The long corridor in the Rameswaram Temple. |
The floor of the temple was all wet because of the dripping pilgrims, and my feet cringed at the feel of the wet floor. The police officer led us through a pushing, wet crowd to a well. It had two men standing on opposite walls, pulling up water from it with buckets and splashing it on the people. Many of them quarrelled and pushed to get a headful of water. Luckily, the policeman was able to get one of the two men to single us out and give us a full bucket on the head. It was freezing and fast, and I was completely drenched with my first bucketful. And then we proceeded to the next well, and the other, and so on. People were trying to catch the water in bottles and children were screaming their heads off all along the way. The crowd thinned as you progressed to the double digits. All the 22 wells had different names, and had water from distributaries of a river, but the last one had the water from the river Ganga. They asked me to drink it up, and I had to, even though I didnt want to, and it felt pretty horrible as all the thoughts of the extent of pollution in Ganga came to my mind. My mouth was screaming internally and I gagged three times, but managed to tame my stomach.
After we were done with the wells, we had to go to these not-so-discreet changing ‘rooms’ to get out of our wet clothes. I got out of it pretty quickly and we were finally on the way to the main temple.
They say this temple was built around the tiny ‘Sivalingam’ Lord Ram had made out of sand before he set out to Sri Lanka with his army of monkeys to rescue his wife (and ultimately casting her away in a forest, alone and very much pregnant. Our ideal man, Ladies and Gentlemen.) from the demon, Ravana (This triggers me a lot, but this discussion is for another time). And now that temple is a hub for pilgrims from all over the world. The main area of the temple was a bit scarce in devotees, probably because 75% of them were probably fighting over their baths.
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| The National Emblem at the southernmost point of India |
We came out soon after and retrieved our shoes and went to a nearby tiffin centre and had some pretty good idli and vada. After a rejuvenating breakfast, we went back to our hotel to fresh up a bit and set out to the Dhanushkodi beach. It was supposed to be the edge of India, the closest point to Sri Lanka, more so than Kanyakumari. It was a half hour drive, and on the way, we passed by the Dhanushkodi village, which was a navy hub back in the day when the British came in. They had built a railway station, a harbour and a church, but it had all been wiped away by frequent typhoons, and so all that remained of the place was ruins, and it got the name of ‘Ghost Town.’
After crossing it, we came to the place where Indian Ocean and the Bay of Bengal met and converged into the Indian ocean. After taking a few photos, we went to the A.P.J Abdul Kalam Memorial building. It was pretty huge and airy, canvassing his whole life, from his childhood in Rameswaram and to his death during his speech. He did have a full life, going from a paperboy to a rocket scientist, to the President of India. He passed away doing what he loved the most, teaching young minds. After the memorial, we also paid a visit to the place he once called home, which was now a place for all his awards and achievements, and also housed a charity.
After crossing it, we came to the place where Indian Ocean and the Bay of Bengal met and converged into the Indian ocean. After taking a few photos, we went to the A.P.J Abdul Kalam Memorial building. It was pretty huge and airy, canvassing his whole life, from his childhood in Rameswaram and to his death during his speech. He did have a full life, going from a paperboy to a rocket scientist, to the President of India. He passed away doing what he loved the most, teaching young minds. After the memorial, we also paid a visit to the place he once called home, which was now a place for all his awards and achievements, and also housed a charity.
We had lunch at a modest little canteen, and honestly, the Sambar was the saviour of the day. After lunch, we set out to Kanyakumari on the car, crossing the Pamban bridge, and we got down to take some pictures of the railway bridge. And after that it was mostly dry lands and scarce population all along. I saw a few salt refining plants on the way.
Things started to liven up as we reached Kanyakumari. The greenery increased tenfold and there were lots of mountains that were covered by clouds like the icing that drips on a sundae. Windmills gave a nice change of scenery.
We checked into a hotel in Kanyakumari named Sea View, which was almost on the shore, and the perfect spot to watch the sunrise. We had a short dinner and made our way to bed, tired from all the 22 baths.
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