Friday, 23 March 2018

Rameshwaram - my experiences

I decided to go to Rameshwaram. Alone, with nothing more than a backpack. But my husband was alarmed at this idea. When a celebrity can drown in a bathtub, the chances of me surviving the sea coast seemed bleak to him. So my darling husband accompanied me and with him came along the bickering. But I must say, he did a great job booking the tickets and planning the entire trip. I don't think I could have travelled without him. So we headed to Rameshwaram leaving my son with his both set of grand parents. At the airport, we missed our son dearly and he was the topic for most parts of our conversation. Thats when I realise that life changes after having children, we can never be the same husband and wife, instead we transform into father and mother. Here is the summary of the rest of our trip.

(March 16th)Hyderabad ----> Madurai (Flight via Chennai)
Madurai -----> Rameshwaram (Bus)

Rameshwaram:

For me, Rameshwaram was a just a holy place (for hindus) where Lord Ram dwelled along with the army of monkeys. My sole intention in going to Rameshwaram was to visit the temples, holy places and the historical Rama Sethu. But what I saw and experienced there was much more that I had expected. Rameshwaram is an island (in Bay of Bengal) thats connected with the mainland through the Pamban Bridge and Pamban rail tracks. We booked our stay at Jiwan Residency which faced the beach and was separated with the sea by just a road. In short it was an awesome view from the hotel. There were many boats docked at the coastline and nets spread to dry. To stand there and look at the endless sea and the drooping sky touch was like meditating. It was like viewing a massive art piece live.

The following day (March 17th), we visited the following places:

1. Satchi Hanuman temple: A very old and small temple of Hanuman/Bajrang Bali.

2. Ramar Padam/Ram Jharoka temple: This temple is on Gandhamadana parvatam and it is said that after defeating Ravan, Ram and Sita rested at this place. It is said that this place has Lord Ram's original footprints. But I was disappointed to see that it was a man made stone engraving not the original footprints.

3. Vibheesha Teertham/Kodanda Rama temple: this is the place where coronation of Vibheeshana was done.

4. Panchamukha Anjeneya temple: This is a temple that has an idol of the not so common 5 faced Hanuman. What is interesting about this temple is that it has the floating stones that were used to construct the Rama Setu. And I saw them floating. It might not be magic. But there must be some science behind it and I want to know the science involved.

5. Dhanushkodi beach: The drive to this beach itself was awesome. The thin stretch of long road had sea on either sides. This is the tip of land from where Lord Rama along with the monkeys has constructed the Rama Setu with floating stones. I was expecting the floating bridge to be available to a common man's sight and I had confirmed the existence of the bridge in the satellite image of google. But the fact is, the bridge is submerged in the sea (could be due to sea levels raising) but you can see formations of sand dunes on the bridge which lay irregularly above the sea level and lead us to Sri Lanka. I do believe this is the bridge constructed by the monkeys and engineered by Nala and Neel. Though I dont think the floating stones are a miracle. I strongly believe there is science involved behind the floating stones and we knew that science back those days. As per the local people we spoke to, the stones are made of limestone and are nothing but the coral stones. Though I saw many corals in the beach, none of them were floating like the ones at the Hanuman temple. When asked, the locals told me that the corals have to dried in sun for a couple of months for them to float. So, brought a tiny coral stone from the beach to confirm this theory. Most of my free time at Rameshwaram, I continued my investigation on the floating stones. Not like a scientist but rather like a common googler.

6. Viloondi teertham: This place has a small spring of fresh water right beside the sea. It is believed that Lord Ram quenched Sita's thirst at this place.

7. Krishna Temple: This is a temple maintained by a Gujarati Trust and I must say it is well maintained. Also, to see a bunch of Gujaratis living in Rameshwaram came as a surprise to me. Rameshwaram showed me how prejudiced I was in many ways. I, who thought Rameshwaram to be nothing more than a religious place for hindus also found that Rameshwaram has good number of Muslim and Christian population. It also has water sports. This came as a surprise to me. It meant that I need not go to Andaman for snorkelling.

8. Ranganatha Swamy temple and Agniteertham: This is the temple, where Lord Ram has installed a Shiva Linga and prayed to Lord Shiva after the war with Ravana. Agniteertham is part of the sea right in front of the temple. It is a common belief that bathing in agniteertham and the 22 wells of the Ranganatha Swamy temple cleanses one of his/her sins. I didn't bath anywhere other than our hotel's bathroom. I want to carry my sins on my shoulders to my grave. The fact that I couldn't see the Rama Setu hit me hard and any local I could strike a conversation with, I had asked if there were boats that could take us to the bridge but never got a positive reply. In one such attempt, I asked one person at the prasadam counter.

Me: Rama Setu, how to go?
Stranger: Yes yes. Dhanushkodi.
Me: From Dhanushkodi to Rama setu. How to go?
Stranger: No Rama Setu. Pura in Sea. (he meant it was in sea)
Me: Sand. We can see. (I meant the sand dunes)
Stranger: Yes.
Me: no boat to take us there?
Stranger: BOAT no. BUS yes.
Husband: Apparently there is a bus that will take you to Rama Setu. Would you like to go? He teased.

9. Abdul Kalam memorial: This place was the most crowded place in Rameshwaram. This shows what a man Kalam was and what place he holds in our hearts. The memorial has memories from Kalam's days at ISRO and DRDO. It has a brief description of Kalam's childhood. In short, this memorial provides a glimpse of Kalam's life. It has Kalam's wax statues, grave and his belongings that carried for his last meeting at Shillong. Here, I chanced at reading the poem "My mother" written my Kalam and was moved to tears. I came out of the building with a heavy heart.


I might have missed out couple of other places. But this is all I remember as its almost a week since my tour. But there were few experiences that are worth sharing or rather blogging I must say.

Auto/Cab drivers: My husband is always interested in politics of the nation, state or region. So this is what he uses as a weapon to strike a conversation with the cab drivers. Unlike the Hyderabadi drivers, the drivers at Tamilnadu are less aquainted with hindi. So while conversing with the drivers, we can't talk long sentences in hindi/english. Instead, my husband speaks in broken sentences, pausing as often as the situation demands.

Husband : "Which party, strong?"
Driver 1: confused look.
Husband: "Amma party or Karunanidhi party?"
Driver 1: beams and says Karunanidhi. Entire Tamilnadu Karunanidhi.
Husband : Kamal Hassan and Rajini new parties? Who will win?
Driver 1: no more interested.
Husband: winks at me and says "He must be a huge fan of Karunanidhi."

Husband: "Which party strong here?" to another driver.
Driver 2: "Amma party" and is happy that an outsider is interested in their politics
Husband: "Stalin?"
Driver 2: confused.
Husband: "Stalin good guy? bad guy?"
Driver 2: says something in tamil, hindi and english mixed
Husband: speaks somthing in hindi, english and some other gibberish. Sort of confused at his own diction and keeps quite.
Me: Since it rained the previous day, I asked, "Do you get north east monsoons or south west monsoons?"
Husband: gives me murderous look.
Driver 2: Increases the speed, keen at getting rid of us.

This last one is remarkable. He has a squealing tone and like the other drivers spoke broken hindi to communicate with us. But what makes him stand out in the crowd is his confidence while speaking hindi.

Driver 3: Company wala (he meant ola). Bolta, "this app not responding. Please close." main chup karta. (showing us his mobile which hung by a polythene cover in the auto.) Not to forget the high pitched squealing voice.
Husband: Scared and shocked while getting into the auto. Took sometime to understand that the driver was complaining about OLA App.
Driver 3: Kaha jana?
Husband: Ice cream works kondapur.
Driver 3: Company wala bataya. waha pe chodta.
Husband: ok. location dekhke chod do
Driver 3: Company wala bolta. waha chodta.
Husband: ok
Driver 3: Compay wala .... yet again the same thing.
Husband: tired to reply or comment.
Driver 3: scolding and shouting at the people crossing the road. Cursing the people driving the cars. (in tamil)
Husband: silent.
I prod him to ask his favorite question to the driver but my husband is apparently scared. Finally I found one driver who "Chup karata" my husband.

The SEA:

All my life I had seen only the beach at Vishakapatnam. The tides are wild here and beaches crowded. But the beach at Rameshwaram was still and serene. I never imagined the sea to be so tame and shallow. The waters were shallow and clear. I could see the snails at the bottom. I collected many shells and have brought home a small treasure trove from the sea. Given below are few pictures.



One morning when my husband was asleep, I sneaked out of our hotel and stood gazing at the sea, taking in the warmth of the sun, while the fishermen sat there spreading their nets to dry. I spoke to one of them and found out that they start from shore at around 1:00 AM to catch fish and return by 7 or 8 in the morning. I also found out that they go 12 miles into Srilanka to catch fish. This not only meant that the fishermen are adventurous but also they are getting us foreign fishes to eat (at no extra charge). WOW! But coming to think of it, they are risking their lives daily for a living, leaving their lives to the mercy of sea and Srilankan navy. 

I wanted to walk along the coast during the nights post dinner. But couldn't. Because my husband accompanied me dragging his feet complaining about the humidity and the atmosphere being sultry. So as to avoid jumping into the sea, I went inside the hotel, leaving a part of my soul at the sea. Today, as I pen down this, my heart still aches for a glimpse of the huge masterpiece, to drag a swig of silence from the still sea to calm me. I don't know what meditation feels like until I stood at the shores of Rameshwaram, talking to no one but listening to the silence of the sea.

Rameshwaram - I dearly miss you.

Wednesday, 14 March 2018

Trip to Shilparamam and my musings

We went to Shilparamam over the weekend. Since we live in a tiny teeny apartment, my son doesnt get to play outdoors and the plan was to give him a little outdoor playtime. Shilparamam has many handicrafts stalls, an amphitheatre, a function hall, rabbits, ducks any many more things. But our area of interest was the children's park and to be more specific, the slide in the park. My son is quite obsessed with Slides and was pretty much excited and headed straight towards it. But alas! the park was crowded. Apparently the school children (of a girls school) have come for excursion and were having the time of their lives. They too seemed to be obsessed with slide and hence there was a long queue to have a ride on everyone's favorite slide.

My son, who is scared of crowd, maintained a good distance from the slide. He stared at it for sometime and then amused himself with the sand. In the beginning, I protested but gave in. I watched him as he happily played in the sand and consoled myself that its sometimes good to play in the sand and expose ourselves to the germs and microbes as it builds immunity. I joined my son and drew few shapes in the sand but eventually we got bored and started staring at the slide, hoping the children to leave. God finally answered our prayers and we heard the teacher whistle. She was calling the girls to assemble together to leave. As I was expectantly noticing the proceedings, the events that followed rekindled my school memories. Hearing the whistle, the girls scurried and hurried towards the slide, sliding and quickly coming back to form a queue and climb it. They were squeezing every fraction of a second to enjoy. The teacher came with a cane to hit them, and the girls giggled and dispersed from the slide only to return once the teacher turned her head. The girls were quickly sliding, landing on top of the other and giggling uncontrollably. They neither flinched nor complained when they dashed into each other. They just continued forming a queue and sliding. Dirty clothes, sweaty faces, dusty hands, dusty legs but happy faces. Such a lively atmosphere was enough to brighten up my mood. Such sportive girls. One of the girls noticed my son and volunteered to give him a slide ride on her lap and all she got was a "touch me not" look. Yeah! thats my son. But the other little ones present in the park, gladly agreed and allowed the school girls to carry them and slid together happily as we stood watching.

Later that evening, we watched the girls playing kabaddi. Falling on the ground, not minding the bruises and scratches they got. These girls are from a government school and were happy, their teacher was bossy but friendly. The girls were naughty but not rude to the teacher. When the teacher hit them, they didn't shout back. They didn't protest or form a group arguing with her. They sheepishly smiled at her and pleaded for extra time when she came with her cane. That was how we were in our school. These days a teacher hitting a student is considered a crime. I wonder why. In my opinion, a little hitting to discipline the child shouldn't matter. That was how we were treated in our school and we turned up well. On the contrary we are doing everything to entertain their childish tantrums which mature into teenage tantrums. Not sure if thats the way to raise responsible citizens. Also, we don't let our children play in open, in mud or sand. We are careful as to whom they play with and dont let them mingle. We make a big deal of their scratches and bruises. And doing so, we forget that we are snatching away their childhood from them. They are missing all the fun we had. Foolishly we are hiding them from nature. By over protecting them, we are doing them more harm than gain. Occasional cuts and bruises make them tough. Playing outdoors is good for bones and overall development- both physical and mental. Playing with other kids they learn to adjust and learn the art of making friends. We are social animals and we have to socialize. Lets try to give our children the childhood they deserve. Let them build awesome memories of childhood like we did. Dont let our love for them impair them. Because we won't be there to protect them forever. Its their life and they have to fend for themselves. Lets raise them to be tough, independent and sensitive beings.

Not sure if this makes sense but may be I am delirious due to lack of sleep.