Towards the edge of Tamil Nadu... A trip to Rameswaram

Ccorridor of Ramanatha Swamy Temple is largest corridor of any temple in the world

Near Madhav Kund (the dirty one)

I don't have any idea that what story/message depicted in the pic. Clicked it because I liked it :-)

Ashirvadam from Gajraj

At the very tip of Indian paninsula

Gang of Four

Jeep Journey

Ruins of 1964's cyclone at Dhanushkodi

Beutiful Dhanushkodi Beach

After Bus and Jeep, now its Autorikshaw's turn

Ramjhrokha Temple

The Last temple of the tour. Unable to recollect its name after so much pressure on mind.

As always, one more instant program. To utilize my Christmas vacations, I decided to visit the Rameswaram and Madurai in Tamil Nadu. Biggest blocker in instant programs is train tickets :-) Flights were damn expensive in this holiday season so decided to do all journey in by Bus. Thanks for redbus.in, I was able to book all the tickets online.

My plan to go Rameswaram was via Chennai, so I called my friends in Chennai if they can join and voila; Amit, Sandeep and Harish were ready to join me. I started for Chennai from Hyderabad on 24th Dec night 11PM By Kesineni travel’s Volvo AC bus. Bus was decent but they tortured me with two Telgu movies :-| The loud speaker was just above my head. No chance to escape from this big noise pollution. Could not sleep entire night :-( Somehow I passed the night by counting remaining hours and minutes of the journey. Thankfully bus was fast and exact on time to reach Chennai. First time I felt such a great relief after reaching to my destination. I was so tired that after reaching Sandeep’s house I canceled the entire program for day visit of Chennai and immediately went to bed. 2 hours of sleep gave me some freshness. Want to sleep more but we need to go to Koymbedu, Asia’s largest bus stand to catch our bus for Rameswaram. Journey started very well when bus wala started playing some very good Tamil Dance numbers. I can’t understand a single word in Tamil but music was good. And the beautiful ladies dancing on those numbers were really gorgeous. Illiana, Shriya, Asin and Jyotika. Who watch heroes in South Indian movies when such beauties are there :-). But buswala doesn’t want to see smile on our faces. He started some junk Tamil movie by lauding the speaker on its highest possible volume. Needless to say, it makes our Christmas Eve horrible.

Morning when I woke up, I saw almost everybody was bent towards window. Out of curiosity I also looked outside and wow, what a fantastic scenery. Our bus was running on Indira Gandhi Bridge, one of the engineering wonder of India. I was thrilled with such a beautiful start of my morning :-) Bus reached to Rameswaram around 7 AM. Amit was having some contact there in Rameswaram, through which we got an okay types lodge just 10 steps away from the main temple. We were lucky that at least we got something there in such a crowded season. Without wasting any time, we all freshed up and got ready to take bath in the sea and the 22 kunds (wells) of Ramanatha Swamy Temple.

Sea is there near to Agnitreetham temple and one really hesitates to enter in the sea at first go. Not because it looks dangerous, in fact the sea there was totally silent. But it was so DAMN DIRTY that you really think twice before entering in to it. Somehow we collected courage to enter in this dilute MUD after taking name of lord Ram. But no, this is not the end of test, in fact it is the starting. After entering in the sea, you realize that something is tied in your legs. Don’t worry, it is not a snake, these are clothes of other people which they leave here. Yuk!! After chanting some mantras in fast forward fashion we completed our bath in the sea. Now this is the time to wash out our sins with the water of 22 wells of Ramanatha Swamy Temple.

We hired a Pandit for this purpose in Rs.200/-. He gets the water in bucket from each Kund and asked us to drink some water and pour rest of the water on our body. It was a real fun. We enjoyed this whole bathing thing a lot. Most of these wells are adjacent to each other but taste of water is different for each kund. At our time of visiting, 5 out of 22 kundsl were closed for repairing. All kunds are actually well except Madhav Kundu. The other kunds/wells looks pretty ok to drink their water but Madhav kund is really horrible. It is like a dirty pond having lots of lotus (don’t forget lotus grows in mud) and fishes in it. It’s really hard to drink its water after watching the pond from your own eyes but we did the dare. I hope its water cleaned my body from inside :-). After covering all Kunds, I was really feeling light weighted and why not? All of my sins washed out after all ;-)

Now it’s the time for Darshan. First things you notice in the temple is its large corridor with lots of pillars. There are total 1212 pillars and corridor of Ramanatha Swamy Temple is largest corridor of any temple in the world. After a long queue (even with the special darshan’s ticket), we finally got a chance to worship the Shivling from a good distance. You need to pay a lot to do puja by your hand itself. Here are the some pictures of temple.

After Darshan episode, we had lunch in one Gujrati Samaj restaurant near the temple. It was all dozy dozy after lunch but we somehow kept us ready to visit rest of the Rameswaram. Amit’s contacts worked again here and that generous guy hired a JEEP for us. In the first go we were not feeling comfortable to fit ourselves in a jeep but when we actually moved to Dhanushkodi, we understood that jeep is the best option for commutation for such a place. A proper road is there up to Dhanushkodi beach but after that it is total mud, sand, stones i.e. everything except roads. Finally we reached to the edge of Tamilnadu from where Sri Lanka is just 18 KM far by sea route. It is believed that Lord Ram’s monkey army started building bridge from here for their mission in Lanka. A small edge of Adams bridge can be seen in the sea (you really need a good binocular for that). The beautiful Bay of Bengal one side and Indian Ocean at other end (little far). If you have time, it’s a very good place to sit and relax.

We started back to cover rest of the things in our bumpy ride. Dhanushkodi is a fishing hamlet. Most part of this village was completely destroyed in the cyclone of 1964. Do you know that before 1964’s cyclone Indian railway has the connectivity to this very tip of Indian peninsula? Ruins of the church, temples and old railways station can still be seen here. After having few gulp of coconut water on beautiful Dhanushkodi beach we moved forward towards Kothandaramaswamy Temple, the only man made structure which was able to survive in 1964’s cyclone. This is the place where Vibhishna, the brother of demon king Ravan, surrender himself to lord Ram. Temple is having image of lord Ram, Sita, Lakshman, Hanuman and Vibhishan. Again a peaceful place to sit and relax but since we were running short of time, we came back to our lodge. The total taxi (Jeep) charges for this whole visit was Rs. 800/-.

Now only two important temples were remaining to cover, so we checked out from the lodge and decided to visit remaining places on route to bus stand. After settling down the lodge bill we hired an auto to visit remaining temples. The first temple is the Ramjharokha temple which is perched at the highest point on the island of Rameswaram, Gandamadana Parvatham. The shrine preserves the imprint of Lord Rama's feet placed on a Chakra (wheel). A beautiful view of city, sea and greenery can be seen from the temple. Good places to try your hands on camera in different angles and different poses :-)

The last temple was... Oops! I forgot the name :-( The main attraction in this temple was floating stones. The temple is dedicated to lord Hanuman and it contains few stones good size stones that float on water. As per the priests in the temple, those are the stones which were actually used by lord Ram’s monkey army to build the bridge to Lanka. Don’t know how truth it was but I felt surprised by seeing a stone floating in the water.

“Its 6:30 man, just grab some snacks fast and rush to bus stand to catch the bus of Madurai”, somebody shouted and in reaction we all moved to our final destination in the Rameswaram, the bus stand. Bus was ready to go, so a quick after a snacks session, we all placed out butts on the uncomfortable seats of bus.

Madurai trip was one of the most unforgettable experiences of my life. Don’t have enough time to cover it in the same blog so I will cover the story in next blog. Stay tuned :-)

Adventures in Dandeli

We had a long weekend because of the Ugadi (7th April 2008)’s holiday on Monday. So, me and my friends decided to go on a small adventures trip and finally agreed to go Dandeli on a tour. It was a superb trip, however a bit expensive but really adventures.

Since our program was so instant that we don’t have option of train journey. So we booked a Tavera and it took us around 16 hours to reach there. In Dandeli, we stayed in a resort called Horn Bill which is located near the bank of “Kali” river inside a thick forest. It is a really a very good resort (completely raw, looks like a natural jungle). Very less artificial things were there but they are charging heavily to provide all these natural things. We stayed on a tree house just above the Kali River’s bank (the tree roots were there in the bank but it branches were above the river and our tree house was there on the top of tree branches). Amazing experience!!

The first activity we opted was to go for a bath in Natural Jacuzzi. Natural Jacuzzis are nothing but big rocks and rapids in the path of Kali River. To reach there we ourselves sailed our boat to an island, obviously with the help of a guide. It was a small but very beautiful island having thick jungle cool rapids of Kali’s river. The pressure of water was so high in these rapids that we were barely able to stand. Somehow we fixed and locked o9urselves inside the small rocks. But even with the support of the rocks, it was difficult to stay there in a stable posture, one slip of step can ends in major disaster. So we moved to a safer site where water pressure was little low. And once we settled in those natural Jacuzzis, no one is ready to come out. The cold and fresh water of Kali River refreshed everybody. We totally forgot about our hectic and tiresome journey. Full recreation, ready to do any task now!!

The real fun of trip started while coming back from the island when we all met with an accident. Yes, you heard it correct, it was an accident. Thankfully it was not tragic but it could be. Actually we were returning after taking bath from the Natural Jacuzzi in the rapids from an island. We were again rowing our boat and very excited with all the thrills going around. The bath from natural Jacuzzi refreshed us so much that we started doing rafting without any professional guidance :-) Result: Dhadaam!! our boat toppled and then for one minute everything was silent on the surface of the water but inside the river we all were striking with the rocks, struggling to come up on the surface. Thank god we all had life jackets tied with us and at least it saved my life because I don’t know swimming. Finally we came out from the river safely but what is this? Oh my god, where is my Camera? What happened to my mobile? Somebody saw my glasses? Did you see my shoes?? Everybody lost something ranging from glasses to shoes to mobile to camera and yes this is not enough, later we recognized that our legs and arm also got injured because we stroked with rocks inside the water. Whatever it was but in the beginning of trip itself, we got a hot spice of adventure :-).

I settled down very fast after the accident and was ready to do the next activities in schedule but the other folks were still in the shock and they lost enthusiasm for the next activities. Since most of the activities were related to group, we canceled them for that night. We ordered some beer and vodka to forget the accident incident but we were so tired by that time that when the drinks came, we all already reached in the world of dreams:-).

Next day morning was beautiful, however my arms and legs were paining because of injury which I got last day but I was all set for rest of the activities. But it was really difficult to convince other people, they were not ready to go. Hence, morning schedule was also cancelled. One of the reason because of which people lost enthu is, after coming such a nice place we don’t have a camera and worst, two guys lost their specs, so their eyes were unable to appreciate the jungle beautyL. So we quickly decide the plan and went Dandeli (city) to get their glasses. We purchased a role camera too, the Kodak KB10, it comes only in Rs.500/- :-). Yahoo! now we all were set, everybody was good to go. So without wasting anytime we went for the White Water Rafting, the coolest attraction of Dandeli. Seriously, rafting was an amazing experience, really thrilling. Today we had professionals with us, so we were not worried about to fall in river again. In fact our facilitator asked us to jump in the river even if you don’t know the swimming because life jacket will save you anyway and by making a correct posture even non swimmer can float on the water.

In the night, we went for the night tracking in the jungle. It was really a very different experience. We tracked jungle paths in a very dim light and sometime without any light. We were totally depended on our guide and guessing the direction by his sound only. Every animal in the jungle is having radium in the eyes and you don’t know the pair of eyes looking at you, are actually a cat, dog or a panther? Really a scary experience and at the same time it was thrilling too.

On the third and last day of our tour, our morning started with jungle safari. Jungle was good, weather was good, our jeep was good, bumpy roads in the jungle was also very good but by chance our luck was not so good. We did not even find a rabbit there; I had a strong doubt that any animal is actually resides in that jungle. Anyway even without watching any animals there, the jungle ride was joyful. Since we did not find anything there, we came back early. After coming to resort, I went for fishing to pass the time. But this job requires hell lot patience. The fishes were so clever that whenever I dropped my fishing rod with food, they ate the whole food cleverly from the side of hooks. I was able to see what they were doing because the water of river was very clean. After half an hour of struggle, finally we (me and the person who was teaching me how to get the fish) were able to get two fishes. I was very excited when I caught the fish in my rod but this excitement lasted just for a moment because somehow I did not like fishing when I saw fish hanging in the hook was struggling for its life. I released the fish immediately and put it in the water again. But I don’t think that I will ever try my hand again on fishing :-|.

Last activity was rappelling. Overall it was an easy activity, difficult only in the starting steps. On a whole, it was a good fun. I was hesitating in my first step in rappelling because I looked down from the rock and thrilled with the height of the rock but after chanting Hanuman Chalisa in my mind; finally I decided to go. First step really needs courage (especially when you are doing it first time). Once you cross you first few step, it is so damn easy that you won’t realize that when you come down from the rock.

Check out time guys, tour ends! After gulping few glasses of beer and “Appy & Lassi”, we were back on our Tavera on the way to Hyderabad. You can guess who was the “Appy & Lassi” man among us :-)

It was a memorable tour not only because of that accident where we almost had an interview with death but also because the whole trip was a great fun. And the beauty of place added cherry on the cake :-)


Some Additional information for the charges of resort and activities available in Dandeli:

Dandeli is very near to Bangalore. It’s 35 KM from Launda. We did not do camping there but tents were available in Rs. 500/- per day basis (this is the peak season tariff and prices might differ from resort to resort). We chose Horn Bill resort, because of its raw jungle beauty. Other resorts are also in the middle of jungle but most of them are like a concrete jungle inside the forest and obviously you can’t enjoy the fun while staying in the cemented house inside a forest. However Horn Bill is little expensive but it’s worth staying there.

One can reach to the place via train also; in fact it is the most convenient option in my opinion. If you inform resort people in advance, they can pick you from the Launda railway/bus station.

Rafting will have standard charges, same for all resorts. It is run by trained professionals (approved by government), and they are not associated with any resort. The charges were Rs. 1200/- per head I guess.

All other activities like night safari, natural Jacuzzi, fishing etc were included in resort’s package (in your room charges). Rappelling is only possible if there is a group of sufficient people is ready for the activity. They generally don’t arrange it for 2-3 people only. Since the folks with me were not interested in this activity, they denied me too but I somehow convinced them to arrange a session for me (by offering some extra money obviously). They charged me Rs.400/- for rappelling as I was alone. They actually arranged it with the people of some other resorts. I think if you have good number of people in your group, for this actively they might charge somewhat around Rs. 100/- to Rs. 150/- only. It’s advisable to go for rappelling in the morning because as the day grows, it becomes hotter and hotter.

Jungle safari (in the wild life sanctuary) also required some extra charges. It’s better to start very early in the morning or somewhere around in the evening because that’s the time when wild animals come out to have their supper. Our bad luck, even though we started very early in the morning, we could not see anything You can’t predict animal’s mood. Charges for jungle safari was Rs.600/- I think (not very sure).

Charge for the tree house was more. They charged Rs. 2200/- per day per person (I know it is too much!). One tree house is actually allowed for 2 people but somehow we convince the resort owner/manager and got two extra beds in the same tree house. He charge Rs.1800/- per head for 2 extra bed. Totally it was Rs. 2000/- per head per day on an average (this was the most expensive part of whole trip after our Tavera bill). The normal huts in the resort will cost you a bit less and tent will cost only Rs. 500/- only. But tree house is having its own adventure.

The staff of resort is very good. Owner of resort is also a very warm and cooperative person and help you in all ways by respecting your time limitation. They don’t have any hidden charges too. Great thing about them is that if you contact them in advance, they are flexible about check in and checkout time also. One can plan accordingly and can save one day’s charge.

Coming to the food part, the standard food options i.e. breakfast, lunch and dinner and normal water was included in the resort charges. Food was delicious. Frankly speaking, being a vegetarian, I was not expecting a very good food because of my past experience on such places. But thankfully food was satisfactory. I heard that nonveg stuff were awesome. Every day at the dinner time they serves something from bar-be-q.

Free food option somewhat justify their high charges. But if you have a tight schedule of activities then it will be difficult for you to present there at the time of breakfast, lunch or dinner in the resort. In my trip, our schedule was a bit busy and we were able mostly our dinner only there at the resort. So schedule your activities in such a way that you can take your meals in the resort and can save food expanses at least.

One more thing, the normal water available there is very sweet and at least we all liked it. But if you don’t want to go for normal water than carry some big mineral water bottles with you because the bottled water available in resort is a bit costly. Same things applied for the liquor also, they will not stop you to get the liquor from yourself. But if you ask those people to bring even the cigarettes, it will cost you much more than market price. No need to remind that snacks for the liquor will have the separate charges.

In my opinion resort is not that expensive, if you manage your schedule in such a way that you don’t miss the free facilities of resort.

A trip to Aurangabad, Ajanta and Ellora

I visited Aurangabad, Ajanta and Ellora on the weekend of 1st August’s 2008 and it was heavenly awesome trip. Sharing my experience for the place, might be useful for the people who are planning to visit this place on some weekend.

I caught Ajanta Express from Secunderabad (6:10 PM), it reached Aurangabad around 4:15 AM. There I met two other Microsoft fellows Sandeep & Ankur and we three decided to visit Ajanta first as it is 100 Kilometers far from Aurangabad. We freshed up there at station itself and started for Ajanta by bus. Taxi folks were asking Rs.1400/- for both side but we did not find it justified so caught a bus for Ajanta. Remember while travelling in the bus, ask conductor to drop you at Ajanta CAVES otherwise he will drop you in Ajanta village. Generally it is a big confusion for the tourists.

Ajanta caves are slightly in interior. To reach there, first you have to get the tickets from MTDC counter which is near to highway. Inside this place, there is small market from where you can get eatables and souvenirs. From this place, buses are available (A/C or non A/C, you have to purchase a separate ticket for that) to the ASI counter of Ajanta caves (4 KM far from there). From the ASI counter, you can get the actual tickets for Ajanta caves (so many tickets :-). Near the ASI counter, one MTDC hotel is there which is having limited option for food but quality is decent. One Sulabh complex with bath facility is also available there, you can fresh up there and put your luggage in the clock room.

It is advisable to keep some Biscuits, Namkeen or Juice canes with you because once you start your journey to Ajanta cave, there you will not get anything to eat. If you are an art lover, it might take some extra time to explore all the caves of Ajanta :-). There are around 31 Bodhh caves in Ajanta (26 are accessible). Some of the caves are finished and some are unfinished. Guides are available in Rs.450/- for all the caves. If you find that guide charges are too expensive, you can try alternative option, and the other option is to visit important caves and ask the information from the staff inside the cave by paying some money. The staff inside the caves are actually proper guide provided by government and it is their duty to educate you about the stories related to the caves without any charges (later I came to know this) but they will tell you the information only when you will promise them to pay something (Corruption!!). Anyway, if you are going for the latter option then my suggestion is not to pay more than Rs.10 /- in any caves, they will accept it without any argument. I paid Rs.30/- in starting, then Rs.20/- and then Rs.10/- and was surprise that they are happy in whatever money you give to them. If you are an art lover and interested in all the Jatak tales painted there, it will be good if you read Bodhisatva and Jatak Tales before visiting Ajanta. If you want to completely understand the paintings and sculptures in the caves, there is one very good guide available in Ajanta. His name is Bharat (+919370749188). Contact him one evening before reaching there because his phone is accessible only in the evening due to network problem in Ajanta caves. This guys does not charge too much and I think you can negotiate him for the charges around Rs.300-350/- for all the caves in Ajanta. This guy will tell you even very small things and hidden meanings in the painting and sculptures which normal people generally ignores. One important thing, you can take pictures in the caves but flash is not allowed (the ultraviolet rays of flash is harmful for painting’s chemical). So you can use a YELLOW LIGHT TORCH with your camera to capture the snaps. I forgot this and could not capture some of the beautiful art piece there :-(

After covering all of the caves you can take down staircases to enjoy the waterfall near the caves. The stair case going in upward direction will lead you to the first view points. In the rainy season view from the first viewpoint is awesome. U shape of Ajanta caves looks very beautiful between green mountains. The second view point is the place from where “British Jon Smith” first saw the Ajanta caves (he discovered it in year 1819). This view point is on some height and stair cases are available to reach there. This viewpoint has one nice garden there and one restaurant. But restaurant will actually start functioning in next few months. From this viewpoint you can enjoy greater view of Ajanta’s U shape and green mountains. In rainy season, the view from this point in simply superb.

After visiting Ajanta caves we returned to Aurangabad by bus and settled in a Hotel call “Sai Residency”. Avoid to stay in this hotel even by mistake (blacklist it). We stayed there because they promised 24 hour power back up (now days huge power cuts in Maharashtra!!). Staff is bad, facilities were not good. And they will load you with all false charges while checking out. Really very bad hotel!

One more thing in Aurangabad we struggled for good food. But finally we found a good restaurant called “Kailas”, which is around 1.2 KM from railway station and around 1.5 KMs from bus stand. Food is decent but there you will find a long waiting queue (at least we find it every time). So keep some extra time to have meals there.

Coming to the main topic again, next day morning we started our Aurangabad tour. ITDC buses (Guided tour) are available for Rs. 200/- per head which covers 6 viewpoints including Ellora caves. We missed this bus so we hired an Auto (yes, auto rikshaws are also available for city and Ellora tour). Auto people charge Rs.450/- and covers same 6 viewpoints as covered by ITDC bus. City tour in Auto was a good experience, the best thing is that there is no time bounding to visit any place. You can spend as much time as you want to spend at any place.

The first tourist place we covered was PANCHAKKI. I read a lot about this place in guide books so was excited to check it out but was very disappointed to see that this place is not at all maintained. Place is in such a bad condition that you will not find anything special there. For me it was a time waste, you may skip visiting of this place and can spend some more time in other spots.

The second point was Bibi Ka Makbara (Mini Taj of Deccan). It is really a beautiful monument resembling Agra’s Taj Mahal, good place to try your hands on the camera in different poses :-)

Third place we visited was Daultabad Fort. It’s a HUGE fort. In first impression you might not find it as good as Golkunda Fort but once you explorer it more, you will find it more interesting than Golkunda. But the disappointing thing is that, no proper guides are available there. Some local people will offer you guidance at the cost of Rs.350/- but those are waste. The most important and most interesting part of fort is “Bhul Bhullaiya”, there many guides are available just in Rs.50/-. While showing you the secretes of Bhul Bhulaiya, same guide will give you a brief idea of fort’s structure and history. And that is enough to explore the whole fort. At the highest point of the fort, one huge gun is settled. The view from the peak of mountain is amazing and you can see whole Aurangabad city from there.

Next destination of the tour was Aurngjeb’s Tomb. It is in the way to Ellora and you can visit it in 5 minutes only. If you are expecting anything special here then this place is not for you. You might feel surprised to see such a simple tomb of last great mughal. But that is the interesting part, as per Aurnajeb’s will, his MAJAAR is made with sand only (using the money which he earned by writing Quran verses).

Second last destination was Elllora caves and it was really a superb place. The art work of the caves cannot be expressed in the words. There are caves related to three religions in Ellora: Hindu, Jain and Bodhh. Proper guides are available there and they charge Rs.450/- for all the caves and Rs.150/- for any one religion’s cave. Guide charges are standard and very less possibility of negotiation because this place is always OVER crowded with the tourist. In the middle of all caves a big Hindu temple called “Kailasa temple” is there in cave#16. This place is world’s biggest monolithic structure. You will feel amazed after visiting this place. Simply mind blowing art work!!

Last tour point was a very famous temple near Elllora caves. It is known as Ghrishnewar temple and it is one the 12 Jyotirlingams of India, having a lot of pilgrimage value for the devotees. But we could not cover this temple due to heavy rain. In fact we could cover only half of the caves in Ellora as it was rain started with full pace :-(

Other attraction in Aurangabad are Aurangabad Caves (caves-caves everywhere!!) and Paithan garden (around 60 KM from Aurangabad), we could not explore them because of time limitation.

After checking out from the hotel and having our supper @ “Kailasa” we caught Ajanta express around 10:45PM and reached Hyderabad next day morning near 9:30 AM. It was an awesome trip with all good experience except HOTEL. Warning again, don’t go in hotel “Sai Residency Aurangabad”, its seriously a junk hotel.

I am planning to visit Aurangabad again to explore the tourist places which I could not cover this time. I will post more information after my second trip.

Some of the pictures of my tour are available in following albums:

http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/mohitdayalmathur/Ajanta

http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/mohitdayalmathur/Aurangabad

http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/mohitdayalmathur/Ellora