Day 75 – Rameshwaram
Day 75 – Thursday, 9th Jan 2014
Today marks our Diamond Jubilee in India travel. We spent our 25th – Silver Jubilee in Agra, 50th – Golden Jubilee in Bhopal and now 75th – Diamond Jubilee in Rameshwaram.
Rameshwaram is an island in itself separate from the mainland India. There is a famous collapsible Pamban bridge which connects Rameshwaram with the mainland.
Train route
The Pamban bridge is 2.3 kms long making it one of the longest sea bridges. There is a parallel running road bridge which connects the island as well. Khyati and I enjoy the entire bridge standing near our train coach door.
Here’s a picture taken from the internet of the famous Pamban bridge.
Pamban bridge
It’s 11 am and our train pulls into Rameshwaram station. It’s a quaint style train station, people are laid back and enjoying the sunshine. We take an auto rickshaw to Gujarat Bhavan near the Ramanathswamy temple.
Rameshwaram
It’s 1:30 pm and post lunch, we walk towards the beach area. The shore is a mere 100 meters from us and we can feel the good sea breeze. There is one lone pier on the beach and we decide to take a boat ride. The boat ride gives us a nice hour tour of the island. As we enter the sea, the waves are strong and the boat sways from one end to other. My stomach is rumbling and I just hope that I don’t throw up.
From the sea, we could see views of the town.
TV tower and temple in the distance
It’s 3:30 pm and we reach the shore again and head towards the temple. There is a small queue at the entrance. We can see a lot of Aiyapaa devotees visiting these temples. They can be distinctly identified as men wear black clothes and women wear red Sarees. No photography is allowed inside the temple but we did manage a picture from our hotel.
Temple
Post that, we visit Vivekanand Museum. Swami Vivekanand arrived at the shores of Rameshwaram when he came back after attending the religious conference in Chicago in 1897.
The place where he stayed has been converted into a museum with his teachings decorated on the walls. We enjoy our visit here.
It’s 5 pm and we head again to the beach to enjoy the sunset. South India is beaming with temples and you can only imagine, how many temples must have existed in the past and over time, some of these temples have been destroyed. On the sea shore, we could see statues of various dieties placed like these. It’s a pity sight.
along the sea shore
It’s 6:30 pm and we have some light lunch at a local restaurant. We have an evening train to catch for Madurai. It’s 8 pm and we head to the railway station to catch our RMM-Cape Express to Madurai. The train journey is short and we reach our relative’s house by 11:40 pm.
Rameshwaram to Madurai
Hope you enjoyed our one day experience of Rameshwaram. Please let us know by leaving a comment.
Best wishes,
Paras