My First Solo Travel Story..
Part-1
Being a Bombayite…. (yes, I still prefer Bombay over Mumbai, rightfully so! If you are the 80s kid from Bombay, you know exactly what I am talking about!) …I lived all my life in Bombay until 2015 when I chose to move in single to the garden city Bengalūru. We will discuss about my love of Bangalore some other time ;-), for now let’s focus back on how I began my — Solo travel excursions!
Well let’s see — I was living alone, so I had the time.. I am a Kannadiga so it worked as an advantage to living here and lastly I have a penchant for languages, so I kind of follow most southindian languages. All-in-all any southern destinations was as such not a challenge.
Thats how.. I chose Rameshwaram! As filmy as it may sound I got curious and wanted to first-hand experience the place so closely knitted with the glorified Hindu heritage. It is known to be one of the holiest places of India and is also a part of the Char Dham pilgrimage. The idea of being at a place which is legendary with stories that we have either only seen on television or read about or heard from our dear mothers during bed-time was exciting enough! You know what I mean.. and so, just like that I made a weekend impromptu plan and get-set-go…
Rameshwaram is located on Pamban Island separated from mainland India by the Pamban bridge and is about 50kms from Mannar Island, Sri Lanka.
Rameshwaram is easily accessible by air and roadways. It is connected to all major towns across southern India and Madurai is the closest airport. Bangalore to Rameshwaram is an overnight bus journey. The beauty of this place is, it is situated on an extended island from the mainland India named Pamban and is connected by the Pamban bridge. You may get fascinated by the facts associated with this bridge! — It is India’s first sea-bridge built in 1914 and was the longest one for almost a century up-until the Worli sea-link was built. It is also a movable bridge which opens at the mid-section to allow large ships to pass through. If you are very lucky, you may also get to watch this in action!
I started at around 10pm on friday from Bangalore and reached Rameshwaram at about 6am next day. I had visited during monsoons so the climate was humid. The best time to visit this place is between nov-feb. My first thought of the place was — warm, homely and distinct. People looked friendly and welcoming.. or was it the early morning happiness that made me seem like that!
As I had not made any prior arrangements for the stay and sight seeing (Yes, I sometimes just hit unknown places without pre-planned itineraries) I just walked across to a small teashop, had some tea and did some chit-chatting. Local language at Rameshwaram is Tamil and if you are anywhere in Tamil Nadu then joining your hands and saying “vanakkam” can be handy. It simply means a “hello” and is considered a greeting.
The bus had stopped at Mandapam which is about 26kms away from Rameshwaram. I got told that I will need to take a local transport to Rameshwaram, so I hopped into a local bus. Tip — avoid autos as they can turn out to be expensive and you will miss the actual flavor of the local journey! It was a beautiful, misty morning ride along the Pamban bridge. I guess the local fisher woman sitting besides me had a tough time trying to figure why and what is this alien looking specimen doing in this bus! :D
The fisher woman was sweet. I reached the other end and walked all along the main market area. Things were just getting settled with people opening their shops with dreamy eyes to a yet another hope-filled day. #Simplicity is also a virtue.
I loitered around for a while and located a decent looking hotel for the stay. It was clean, looked safe and pocket-friendly. Then after freshening up and some breakfast, I jumped out to explore. I had looked up on Rameshwaram and had decided not to miss the 5 mustsee places — Ramanathaswamy temple, Five faced Hanuman temple, Dhanushkodi, Ram Sethu (Adam’s bridge) and the Pamban bridge. You may want to add House of Dr. APJ Kalam to your list if you are planning. It was Day-1 and I decided to begin with visiting the temple. Being a saturday, devotees were many and varied. Mostly women with scented flowers adorning their long tresses, somewhat kind of taunting the urban Indian women of the classic beauty they have chosen to let go.
Dravidian styled Ramanathaswamy temple like many-many other magnificent Indian structures looked serene and magical. Ignore the roadside hawkers and make your way with admiration towards the centuries old creation. Men are needed to go inside bare chested while women are advised to cover their heads. I had a good 2–3 hours looking around the temple and was worth it. Once inside the temple, you will get an opportunity to bathe in 22 Theerthams (holy tanks inside the temple premises) and is considered equivalent to a penance and are an intrinsic portion of one’s Rameshwaram visit. Tip — all electronics, leather items are prohibited. Hence advisable to not carry those items to the temple. Read here for more on the theerthams.
2kms away from Ramanathaswamy temple is the temple of Five Faced Hanuman. It is highly worshiped by Hindus and it is believed that Hanumana revealed his five-faced form for the first time here and people throng here with utmost devotion. There is a floating stone in the temple which is believed to have been used at the time of building the bridge in Ramayan.
Once the Temple visits were done, it was also almost 2pm so I headed for some lunching and decided to dig into some local dishes. Language really didn’t seem to bother me and I could easily communicate with localites and street vendors. I had some rice and kuzhambu (curry preparation with variety of lentils and veggies). I am sure you resonate with Happy tummy being an indication of a good day!
Lunch done, I headed to the hotel and had a good, peaceful nap. Will cover the rest of my journey details in my next post… Click here for the continuation post.
Till next time.. just travel!
Cheers!
Sandy
