Kanyakumari - Dhanushkodi - Pune ... Memorable Journey !

Day 05 - Kanyakumari - Rameshwaram - Kanyakumari 

After seeing the beautiful Vivekanand memorial from outside, we were pretty excited to explore it from inside and get the feel of its grandness. When we did some inquiry about the boat service to the memorial,  we came to know that it will be closed on the next day because of the President's visit. We got upset after hearing this and we thought we have missed the opportunity to visit and explore the memorial. Suddenly we thought of an alternate plan that can give us a chance to visit the memorial by coming back to Kanyakumari from Rameshwaram on the same day and visiting the Memorial on the next day once it is open again for tourists. Without worrying much about traveling so much in one day, we all decided to just go for it and give ourselves a chance to visit Rock Memorial. The plan was ready and we were just praying that everything would go as per plan.

The next day early morning at around 4 AM, we started our journey to Rameshwaram. As it was going to be a hectic day, we avoided any unnecessary breaks on the way and make sure we reach Rameshwaram on time. It was a nice journey and part of it was a coastal road near Rameshwaram. We could get the feel of coastal villages with big fish markets and that typical smell around. As we reached around 30 km before Rameshwaram, we were mesmerized by the view in front of us. It was the entrance of the grand Pamban Bridge - the second-longest Sea bridge in India. Full blue water on both sides and a beautifully constructed Train bridge in the middle of the blue sea was truly an incredible engineering marvel. Standing on a road bridge on the sea and seeing a train passing on the bride in parallel was the cherry on the top. We could feel the vibrations when train was passing from the bridge. We were just lucky to see this amazing scene and capture it in our cameras. The place was so much windy that we could not stand still even for the photos. There were a lot of people standing and vehicles parked on the bridge enjoying this beauty. We also spend some time on the bridge and then moved ahead for our next destination, Dhanushkodi - The last land of India. As we reached around 5 km from Dhanushkodi, we entered that heavenly beautiful road on which I dreamt of driving a car and this experience was an absolute pleasure. It's a unique feeling while going through, both sides can see the original wild beauty of the sea with white sand border. Throughout this road, You will have the great Bay of Bengal on your right and the great Indian ocean on your left and you could clearly see two different colors of water on both sides. I think this is a lifetime experience and every driving enthusiast should get this experience at least once. This road eventually leads us to the last land of India and the Srilankan border is just 18 Kms in front of you. Again it is a different feeling standing at the last point of India. when we reached there the sun was out and the sky was clear so we could get very good photographs here and even though the place was too much crowded and lots of vehicles were parked at this point, I could manage to take a Photograph with my i20 at this last point which I will remember forever. This journey made us very relaxed as with a great feeling of achievement for which we planned this journey. The beach here was also very clean with white sand and a few boats in the middle were making it even more beautiful and photogenic. This was truly a lifetime experience that could not be expressed in words.

By the time we left this place and reached Rameshwaram, the temple was closed and we could not go inside for darshan. We then visited the birthplace and a memorial of Mr. APJ Abdul Kalam - the Missile Man of India which was nearby. It is a very well maintained and informative memorial and it will make give you a proud feeling. After all this, we had a seafood special lunch which was delicious as expected. 

With the bag full of such beautiful memories, we left Rameshwaram and reached our hotel in Kanyakumari at around 10 PM in the night with the hope that we will be able to visit Rock memorial the next day.

Day 06 - The Vivekanand Memorial!

Even though having a very hectic day earlier, we got up very early to see the beautiful sunrise at the Kanyakumari beach. We reached there at around 5.30, It was completely dark at that time still the place was jampacked. There were thousands of cameras set to capture that first ray of the sunrise falling on the memorial. We patiently waited for half an hour and finally, the sun blooms on the horizon exactly behind the memorial and its golden rays kissed the top of the dome. It was the moment everyone was waiting for and it brings to us another glowing look of the memorial making a perfect start of our day. After capturing the whole event into our camera, we headed towards the ferry booking section to get into the queue for Rock memorial. As the president was still there, the boats were still not started. We were eagerly waiting for it to start along with hundreds of other people hoping the same. At last, at around 10 AM, they started the boat ride and in spite of having a massive queue, somehow we managed to get to that ticket counter and get into the boat that will take us to the memorial in just 10 mins. As we were approaching the memorial, we were amazed by closely seeing the grandness of the memorial and it was just magnificent. After 10 mins of a boat ride, as soon as we entered the memorial, we could sense that the place was full of positive energy. In spite of such a massive rush, it has not at all lost its peacefulness and calmness. 

The memorial is very well constructed with three main sections Vivekanand Mandapam where there is a glorious statue of Swami Vivekanand, Shripad Mandapam which has an original footprint of goddess Paravati and it is said that Devi Parvati did Tapasya by standing on one leg order to impress Lord Shiva and Marry him and Dhyan Mandapam which is a meditation room just below the Vivekanand statue and this is constructed on the actual Rock where swami Vivekanand meditated for 3 days in 1892. Later we came to know that coincidently we were there on the same dates (25, 26, 27 Dec) when Swamiji meditated there and that was the 50th anniversary of the rock memorial and that's why the president was there. After entering the Dhyan Mandapam, We could not resist ourselves from meditating for 5 mins and listen to our inner soul. It was very energetic with lots of positive vibes. From the backside of a memorial, we could see a breathtaking view of Triveni Sangam where the three oceans (the Indian Ocean, Arabic sea and bay of Bengal) combine into each other. We could easily differentiate the three colored water which is a unique experience and you can get it only at this place. Just beside the memorial, there is a huge statue of Tamil poet Thiruvalluvar. entry to that area was restricted because of some reason otherwise one can visit it with another ferry from the memorial. After spending around 2 hours at the memorial we came back from there and had a delicious south Indian meal of Rassam/Sambhar Rice (which was another todo item of the trip) at the nearby restaurant and then said heavy-hearted goodbye to this beautiful place. Undoubtedly this is one of the best spiritual places I have ever visited.

Day 07, 08 - The Return journey

Our return journey started one day before the actual plan because of only a day visit to Rameshwaram. We left Kanyakumari at around 2 PM with some beautiful memories but we did not have any further plans for overnight stay. We just did some research and found a decent hotel at Dindigul which was 300 km away from Kanyakumari and a central place for our stay so that it would not be much hectic day. 

The next day morning, we started early with the plan of reaching somewhere between Bangalore and Dharwad. This road was again a 6 lane national highway so we reach near Banglore very much earlier than expected. As we had a good amount of time in our hands we thought of visiting some nearby places. A quick googling suggested us Bannerghatta Zoo is the best place to cover in the time that we have in hand. Without thinking much, we rushed to the park so that we could get tickets to the safari. As we reached there, it was 2 Pm and zoo closes at 5 but luckily we were able to complete a nice jungle safari of around 1 Hr. Safari was good and we could easily spot Lions, Tigers, Bear and different types of Deers very closely. Still, I felt very sad because all the animals were very dull and have lost their wilderness. One who has seen a wild and aggressive tiger in Open Gyp Safari in National Park definitely won't like it much. After the safari, we left immediately to avoid the annoying Bangalore traffic and reach Tumkur - our last destination of the trip. Tumkur is a nice small town and is good for a budget overnight stay. 

On the last day, we started from Tumkur early again and reached Dawangiri for breakfast. After having a delicious breakfast of Dawangiri Loni Dasa, we continued further without many breaks and reached Kolhapur by 3 PM. It was a great feeling reaching back to the place from where we started this wonderful journey 8 days back. We were very relaxed and Satisfied with the overall trip and we enjoyed every moment of it to the fullest. It was a time for celebration and a spicy Kolhapuri Thali with Tambda Pandhra Rassaa made it a complete trip. We stayed in Kolhapur for that night and then returned to Pune the next morning. Finally, after converting this dream into a special memory, We were too happy to be back to our Home Sweet Home and we spent the whole day cherishing and sharing these memories with our loved ones. That night we went into the bed with a feeling of satisfaction and started dreaming of the next thing on my Bucket List because It was not the end of a journey, but it was just a new Beginning !!! 

Because the greatest part of a road trip isn’t arriving at your destination. It’s all the wild stuff that happens along the way !!!