17-11-07:
8 in the morning, the guide, Kannan, plays hide and seek on the mobile till we catch up with him near the temple. Most guides fix up with you and also with others and never keep their timings; they keep as many fish (us) hooked as possible and try to harvest the maximum, we had the entire day to ourselves and did not push him (actually had no choice) and waited patiently, near the temple entrance. Many touts / guides solicited us, we said Kannan has already nailed us, they grudgingly moved away. Kannan appears sheepishly saying he had a “Graky” he had to scalp quickly and leads us inside narrating the story of the temple. He’s a seasoned one here, tells us the dos and don’ts, was with us from 9 to 12 and took us right in front of the main Lord Shiva deity for a separate Rs.50/- per head official ticket. The Rs.250/- we paid him (he tried for more, but didn’t realize he’s dealing with a semi-Gujju) was worth the money.
The temple is magnificent; huge, the 3rd prakara with its 1000’s of pillars awe-inspiring and the sea-side setting classic. The longest prakara with 1220 richly carved pillars has a corridor of 760 feet is highly photogenic.
Rameshwaram Temple Tamil Nadu, Temple of Rameshwaram, Ramaswamy Temple Tamil Nadu Rameswaram - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
I take the holy dip on the sea and walk dripping to visit the Hanuman temple (you’re supposed to visit here first) and proceed for the 22 “Theertas” (22 different wells from which water is drawn by a bucket by the guide/ aide and poured on you); the well waters were pleasantly warmer than the outside temp around 17 and felt good, different wells had different tastes, you can make out some of them are soft, hard, sweet, salty, bitter, leaden, tingy etc., There’s a crowd in each well, many pilgrims spend huge sums for this opportunity, come from all over the world and sometimes fall prey to the scalping touts, one must fix the price and mutually understand what exactly you’re getting for the price. Ideal package would be like a place to change wet cloths, keep your dry cloths / valuables in tact, guidance to bath in the sea, pouring water form the well on all the 22 Thirtas, narration of the story of the Temple / deities, worship at Hanuman temple and main temple up close and undivided time for the whole time, cost of guide anywhere between 250/- to 500/-. Kannan also fix us a 4 W D jeep for the ride to Gulf of Mannar and the end of the land for a negotiated Rs.800/- net. Initially I felt raped at this price but later realized the full worth. We get back to the hotel, left the scorp, change for the ride to sea, get into the rickety jeep and stock lots of water on the advise of the jeep driver.
The jeep rumbled on till the tarmac ended at the beach @ Dahushkodi, made the required entries into the Navy outpost and engaged the 4WD. The 11 km drive till the tale of Gulf of Mannar, was something to remember for a life time; this 22 kms was worth every rupee we paid, there was no road, only sand, sea, slush, sea-weed and more sand.
Gulf of Mannar - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The driver was a pro, used the gears smoothly, in on place we got stuck on the sand, he rocked the jeep back and forth and got away; needs real expertese to drive on this terrain. You see only fisher folk (300 families live here !!!!) and tourists / pilgrims, we grinded past the old Dahushkodi rly station and reach the Shivaling / Nandi. The wind as strong, different seas on both sides, from this point Sri Lanka was about 20 kms. Fantastic photo spot, soon the sun started biting; we started back in 30 mts. Reached back the hotel in time for lunch and had a nice nap till 4 pm and drove out in the same direction to the Ramanath temple. This is located in an island, connected by a 1 kms + driveway through the sea. Just to sit on this drive-way and listen to the wind + surf was soothing, by sun-set we got back to our hotel.
18-11-07:[
arly morning consultation for a route check to Terichendur with the hotel reception and taxi drivers on the parking lot again ruled out the costal route as an option. Though 100 kms shorter, it would be a risk, 0 facilities on the way, only bullock-cart roads in many places with salt pans most of the way. We track the maps for the Paramakudi, Narikudi, Thiruchuli, Tutucorin, Terichendur route about 290 kms away, the road turned out to be better than bargained for. Start @ 8 am, Stop @ Pamban again for a final photo/video shoot, gas up at Ramanathapuram IOC (great service with a smile) , 56 kms from Hotel Royal Park and were zipping past Paramakudi and took a LT before Arupukottai, practically a BP. The roads turn hostile here, narrow single track, uneven and bumpy for the next 70 kms till we entered velvety NH 45 B for the next 40 kms till we reach Tuticorin BP. Cross Tuticorin and enter the twisty narrow track road that goes to Terichendur and reach TTDC Terichendur at 1 pm. With TTDC, its good to carry all reservation details, mails etc, they’d make a drama about giving you rooms, there are only 2 A/C rooms, they are BIG, clean, functional with 24 hr., hot water, beach behind 500 mtrs away. All the eating joints are a walk away and so is the temple. We found another new hotel nearby, there are lots nearby, you can explore, but none with the Rs.750/- tag of TTDC. For a basic tip to could get a lot done @ TTDC, if you have a short stay, comfortable at a non-5 star-hotel and can compromise a little on all round quality, this is the place. We walk out to Mani Iyer restaurant for lunch, OK and basic and take rest till 4. At 5 we walk to the temple, one of the most important 6 Karthikeyas temple, dates back 2000 years, only one on a sea-shore. We were soon accosted by dozens of touts/ priests, I deploy 1 weeks experience with temples / touts and I shout 50/- for an hour (reminded me of the stock-exchange floor), many of them look at me as if I am a lunatic and peel away, we were free of the pests. One labile specimen stalked us still, I up the ante to 60/-, he says yes and we are set. He whisks us in, for a special darshan its Rs.50/- per head (he doesn’t take a ticket but maneuvers us through the 1 km queue, through the guards and out through the gate, all in 15 minutes flat, some exchange of money took place at the exit), we sat right in front of the deity for 5 minutes and had an Aarathy.
Tiruchendur Subramanya Swami Devasthanam
We were through by 545 pm and sat on the beach. The sand was fine, the wind and surf was up, light fading and the sun gone. One thing anyone can notice was the high number of “ladies of the night” wandering around, pretty shocking for a temple town, the parade in wild abandon in stark immoral contrast to the sprit with which families come to this religious space. Well that’s something the police (they should facilitate the trade at lest 1 km away from the temple !!!!) and the TN Tourism need to take care of. We found lots of bargain pirated tamil / Malayalam CD/DVD movies / music around the temple, some of them vintage not available anywhere else in the country.
19-11-07:
B’Kfast @ Mini Iyer Hotel and tank up at the IOC pump @ 820 am, head towards Valliyur, we pass Sathankulam, Ittamozhi and slow down for 70 kms on the bumpy country roads, some sections barely could fit the Scorp, many times we obediently got off the road to give way, the green paddy fields was another panorama with the distant rolling western Ghats in the back-drop. Took a RT @ Valliyur into NH 47 B and drove into windmill country. There were windmills everywhere for 6/7 square km and the corridor between the mountains form TN to Kerala changed to hilly, congested and road-hugging. At the fork of a dental college, the LTurn of 27 kms takes you to Kanyakumari (we have seen the Cape many times) we took the RT towards Nagarcoil. Before the town we take the road to Sucheendram; the only place in the world where you can see Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva on the same Shivling, the 22 feet Hanuman statue made from a single block and is one of the tallest statues. The musical pillars of the temple and the architecture in detail on stone are also one of a kind. Predictably we got a guide for Rs.25/- (fixed up before the tour, as my expertise with this species increased the rates dropped) and he showed us around, helped with the pooja and was a very happy, non-greedy specimen at that!!!!
We head out of Nagarcoil @ 1130 to Trivandrum, the traffic was very heavy, we cross Kerala Border @ Marthandam, pass Parassala / Neyattinkara and reach Trivandrum Club around 120 PM where rooms are ready thro friends, have lots of them there. We make it a policy on the date of arrival to check into hotels only whatever the compulsions are unless we know the people and scene pretty well; has saved us from many tricky situations. We call Sharat / Bundu family, someone we know for a long-long time and spend the day & dinner there. Many friends collect there and we celebrate the past / present and catch up, reach back the TVM Club late.
20-11-07
Early morning we finish the darshan at Padmanabha temple, huge crowd and it felt strange not to be approached by touts / guides. During breakfast Sharat force us to vacate from TVM club and took us to their big, now empty banglow at PTP nagar, only his parents stay there. We check in there and Sharat insists for us to take a massage / steam @ this Ayurvedic place, Devaki Health Spa, owned by Dhanwantari Matam. It’s all about oil massage and relaxation, I skeptically agree thinking after all I need a break!!! Another calculated thought was, it must have been 10 years since my shaved scalp has seen any oil and would suck it in litters and I would get value for money !!!! Me and Anu reported there promptly @ 10 and spent a great 2 hours on the massage, oil bath and steam. At the end of the experience I felt so drained, muscles of my body assaulted, my head was tingling, skin all shiny and glorious sleep desending. Well.. it was great for a first experience, would recommend it highly for anyone to try it once. We have lunch and sit to watch the old Mohanlal Comedy. At 5 pm its time to move to the Shangumugam Beach with Sharat’s family. On the way, we drop in to say hai to H.V.Kumar’s Brother in law and pay respects to his Mother there. From Bangalore till Trivandrum, rain which had co-operated, comes down in torrents at the beach, we were forced to sit inside the Scorp and watch the rain; a huge let-down. We dine out at this nice restaurant, Panchali and call it a day at 1030pm
21-11-09:
From here on we know the roads, territory pretty well and feel psychologically more secure. We leave PTP nagar @ 0730 am, pass Kayamkulam @ 10, Aleppy at 11 and reach the Vytilla Jn. @ 1220, check in @ Abad Metro. While through Aleppey I call Dr.Rajesh a cyber friend from Scoripo group, unfortunately he’s away towards Kottayam and we miss each other. When we reach Cochin, there is a huge confusion in reservations, the South Asian Fisheries convention is on, Abad guys try their best to shove us 10 KM off to Chullikal which is located off-beat. Emails, reservation slips and a little bit of aggression gets us a compromised room for the day, they throw in lunch as a consolation. In the evening we meet some friends, go to Ernakulathappan temple and have dinner @ BTH with friends. Have so many fond memories which filled wonderful 10 years of our life around Cochin, wild-bachelor days, newly married life, children born here and mostly joys of a rewarding professional life. Have so many friends/ family there, staying @ one place and not going to another is suicidal, we opt for neutral territory, Abad Metro.
22-11-07:
Important day for the Scorp, 10K kms service, had booked it previous day on phone @ TVS, looked like they were waiting for this. Guess my booking thro the help line @ Delhi had something to do with this, we got exemplary service. They explained the service, were courteous, called me @ 3 PM, again explained what they did, topped up all oils, fixed up a couple of rattles, did a test drive and the service adviser refused a big tip !!!!! He was offended, I thought, they did not charge me anything. This was unnerving, now I am conditioned from all the temple exposures to tip at the drop of a hat, here is a guy getting offended at a tip. This is Utopia indeed…. Kerala seems to have transformed or TVS has values it imparts into its employees, made me very happy as a Scorp customer.
The day was spent visiting family, friends and having lunch, dinner with them, there was lots of catching up to do.
23-11-07
Had one more close relative call @ Edapally, reached there for B’kfst @ 820 and started @ around 1130, reached the NH47, 17 cross @ 1145, Angamaly @ 1225, Trichur BP @ 110 and got stuck for 10 mts at Kuthiran. The other side of Kuthiran is still bad, trucks and buses jam the road and crawl up/down. We drive thro the left shoulder to do some off-roading and clear the block, reach V’Cherry for lunch at Aaryas. That done, we reach home @ Nemarrah at around 315PM, where the locked up village house is opened, our man Friday, Ponnu who’s with us for the last 30 year gets things organized. There’s tons of of things to do, we leave for Palakkad, meet our family Advocate and have dinner @ a friends place, reach back late.
24-11-07:
Early morning 6 am, did pooja @ the family deities in and around and started for the important visit to Guryvayoor. We start @ 10 am thro. Pazayanoor, ottapalam, shornur and halt @ Pattambi for a lunch stop @ a relatives place. Great river nearby, an appetizing bath and a quick lunch later we reach Guruvayoor @ 430 PM. The Shabarimala Crowd was everywhere, a queue of 2 hours gives us the Darshan and we head back thro Trichur, Vadakkamcherry to Nemmarah.
25-11-07:
Sunday, we head to Palakkad hitting one friend after another, breakfast, lunch and tea. Finish at least 8 houses and its 6 PM, time to head with a car load of friends to Malampuza Dam; on Sunday’s the Dam and the Gardens would be lit up & the dam full of water post-rains. Water was full, but the gardens had an uncared look, had no spirit, spent some time on the dam, had dinner with friends at Palakkad, said good-bye and reached back Nemarah late. [/SIZE]
26-11-07:
Give detailed instuctions to our man Ponnu to take care of the house and surrounding land; this would take care of things for 3 months till somebody from the family visits again and we head back North for the return leg journey.
Start @ 730am, visit the hilltop Gangotri Hanuman temple located in a scenic hill near the school. Have the pooja / darshan and head towards Tripallur to hit the NH 47, reach the RTurn @ Chandranagar round turn @ 915, Madukarai / CBE BP @ 950, from there for the next 27 kms, its bliss, you are checked @ 4 points, needs to keep the token and we zip out at 1010 am. B’kfast stop @ A1 plaza, hit Avahashi, the 4 track work is in progress here around, there’s lane changing but the road smooth. We take L Turn @ Bhavani, go thro the town and are on to Mettur 50 kms away. Reach Mettur dam and relatives house @ 12 noon, have lunch and take rest till 340 pm. We are quickly past Mechari, join bad roads till Krishnagiri Toll Gate by 530 and the face painful grinding traffic thro Info city, Silk Board, Ring road, Marthahalli, Hal and home. From Info city to HAL, about 80 kms took us 3 hours!!! We were glad to get back to Vidya/Prasad’s home for hot dinner and bed. They’re pretty upset we’re not going to extent the stay for one more day, there’d be other times.