Temple Trails : Dr Abdul Kalam Memorial

After enjoying the spiritual bliss of morning at Rameshwaram temple and spending the first half exploring some other temples in and around Rameshwaram (you can click here to read about our journey from the beginning) it was time to give a break to temple Trails and move on to something different. Bhai jab Safar per nikle hai toh Sab ki pasand  dekni padti hai....this was for me and my daughter. Both of us are great fan of Dr Abdul Kalam so it was but natural that visiting the Kalam memorial was just on my to do list. As instructed my auto guy was at my hotel by 3:30 pm and we were on our way to Abdul Kalam memorial.

Front of Dr APJ Abdul Kalam National Memorial

Dr Abdul Kalam needs no introduction but yet I would like to dedicate few lines for him. Dr Abdul Kalam was the 11th President of India but before that he associated with DRDO for almost 4 decades as Scientist and Science Administrator with ISRO. He was fondly known as Missile Man of India for is work in Space programs.

on 15th July 2015, while delivering a lecture in Shillong he collapsed and died due to cardiac arrest. 

In case if you want know in depth about the life of Dr Abdul Kalam click here 

The Memorial is built on a 2.11 acre land infact its also supposed to be the grave site of Dr Abdul Kalam  and the bronze life size statue of Abdul Kalam, which was inaugurated in 2016, has been shifted and installed behind the memorial. Inside the memorial there are four halls which depict the life and time of Dr Abdul Kalam. 

Chettinad Door at the memorial.

The entrance of the memorial depicts the India Gate and has a Chettinad door integrated into the structure, while the main dome of the building is a replica of the Rashtrapati Bhavan. However we didn't enter through this as the authorities have kept it closed and instead they use the side entrance.

The Defence Research and Development organisation (DRDO) with which Dr Abdul Kalam was associated for many years, came up with an initiative to construct this memorial. An investment of Rs 120 crores were spent for its construction and it was completed in record time of 9 months.

The memorial of Abdul Kalam is very beautiful and it showcases the entire events during the lifetime of Dr Abdul Kalam. His statue and his office transport you to Kalam world. As photography is not allowed inside the memorial building hence I am unable to share the pictures however I can share my experience.

There was this room where they had displayed the things Dr Kalam was carrying on the day when he died. His clothes, his slippers, his glasses , his comb brush .....looking at  these things, I got goosebumps, I could feel Kalam Ji in my soul. Seriously speaking it was a spiritual experience that I was feeling which was passing through me. I don't know what would have happened to me if I could have simply touched those things that were on display. Then there a room where different awards that he received Dr Kalam received were displayed viz, Padma bhushan, Padma Vibhushan , Bharat Ratan etc. 

I was actually perturbed for not been able to take photos of such lovely memories, I found this very strange because world over people are allowed to take pictures in such kind of memorials. I researched as to why photos were not allowed when I came across an article which gave the Reason for this no photos rule.  (Click on the link to know)

Dazed I came out of the museum, an experience that will always remain with me, because today I brushed with the legend whom I had the good fortune of seeing once when he was  alive, only then I was not knowing how great his personality was.

Outside the museum one is allowed to click pictures so I took the opportunity to make hay where it is allowed 😂

Everyone knows that Dr Kalam loved children, perhaps that must be the reason of putting up copper  statues of children playing and many others can be seen on the outside of the memorial.

There is also replica model of rocket in the lawn behind the memorial. I was told that there is an auditorium, planetarium and a library, however I was not able to visit the same. 

After visiting the memorial we moved on to Pambam bridge, You must be wondering what's so great about this bridge, because a bridge is a bridge. Ab yeh bridge ki baat hi kuch nirali hai

Well friends stay tuned for my next blog on Pambam bridge.

Click here to read from the beginning about our journey on temple trails.

Thank you from our team.

Temple Trails : Rameshwaram from Morning to Afternoon

Click on the links to read earlier parts:

Day 1- Madurai Temple
Day 2 (Morning) - Rameshwaram Temple



What a whirlwind trip it is proving to be. Meenakshi temple done and dusted yesterday and Rameshwaram temple visit today early morning, and here now I am standing at the auto stand thinking next what. Time was only 9.30 am in the morning which means I have a whole day to spend in Rameshwaram and the big question now was What to do ji ?

What to do ji ?

At this point of time I see the glum face of my daughter and then came the query from her which actually I was dreading would come 😜😜 "Dad yeh temple chase ka kuch zyaada nahi ho gaya". I smiled and said betaji yeh toh suruvat hai, aage aage dekh hota hai Kya.

As a traveler we have to balance the likes and dislikes of our co traveler too, hence I told my daughter today we will check out Danushkodi, Kalam house and Pambam bridge. But it seems that luck was not on our side.

Oh Danushkodi !I much I shall be missing you

You will ask, Why Luck! Yes sadly we were informed by the local auto driver that the Danushkodi is closed for the visit due to red alert for cyclone. Believe me I was so disappointed I cannot tell you.

Actually of all the things to visit, Danushkodi was on the top most priority. I remember speaking to one of my friend few years back(2013) when he posted those lovely pictures of the beach with beautiful skyline and some amazing clouds.

Danushkodi  Beach 

Then this abandoned church, the destroyed railway station.All had a mythical aura attached to it that I was zapped by the crude beauty of the place.My heart was set on visiting it and today this disappointment,Seriously I wanted to cry, but then as a traveler I have learned to take things in my strides.(The pictures of Danushkodi that I have posted are the ones which my friend Prathamesh had posted on fb in 2013 and was gracious enough to allow me to share them with you on my blog when he came to know that I couldn't go to Danushkodi)

Abandoned Church at Danushkodi Beach.

Abandoned Railway Station at Danushkodi

We reworked our plan and  decided to go on the local sight seeing of places which are near the Rameshwaram Temple.( The auto guys here have a standard local sightseeing package for RS 300(year 2018.)

10.00 am 

We started our trip from Ramar Padham monument atop Gandamadana Parvattham. Ramar Padham is as the name suggest means Rama's feet. One of the local told me that during the war on Ravana, Lord Rama stood atop this mountain to have first look of Lanka.

Ramar Padham Temple

 Mere ko koi Lanka Nazar nahi aayi, bus door khada TV tower zaroor nazar agaya.(its a big lie so ignore) Instead of Lanka you do get good view of Rameshwaram. The premise is not well maintained.

One of the view from the Temple

We spent few minutes soaking the scenes and the lovely blue sky around us and moved on but not before enjoying the coconut water.

Rameshwaram me aake Nariyal Pani zaroor hona ji

Then our Auto driver took us to a small temple. Where Hanuman told Lord Rama that he has seen Sita. The temple is so simple that you would easily miss out.

Hanuman Temple

Next we visited Panchamukha Anjaneyar Temple or the 5 headed Hanuman idol. ( For a moment I thought to myself, Kya Hanumanji Ravan see inspired ho gaye the kya .( One is ten headed and  one 5 headed)

Panchamukhi Hanuman

Jokes apart, there is a legend behind this Five Headed Hanuman. According to the legend, when Ahiravana a great demon and brother of Ravan, took unconscious Lord Rama and his brother Laxman to Patallok and hid them. Hanuman went in search of them and came to know that demon Ahiravana can only be killed if lamps which were put in five different directions are extinguished simultaneously.

Five face Hanuman

So Hanuman became the 5 gods in different directions, named 1-Hanuman 2- Hayagreeva 3-Narsimha 4-Garuda 5-Varahswami and extinguished all the five lamps simultaneously and thus Ahiravan was killed and Lord Rama and Laxman were saved from his clutches. This five faced statue signifies the face of those five Gods in one God Hanuman. 

Floating Stones

Next to this idol, in the same temple complex there was this temple where the floating stones are displayed. Floating stones are believed to be those stones which were used for the construction of Ram Setu or Adam Bridge to reach Lanka.

Next we visited Laxman Theertham. What I like was the bright colours of this temple.

Colourful Laxman Theertham

Its basically a small temple with the usual pond attached to it and then there is a small temple within the pond. Most of the Theertham here are exact replica of this style of construction.

Pond with the temple perched inside the pond.

Last but the least we visited Rama Theerthaam.
There too just like the above picture one pond was there with the temple inside, however Laxman Theertham was better maintained I felt. Next to the Pond separated by wall there was a hall built by the Gujarati trust.

Prayer hall by Gujarathi Trust

Next to this temple there was another old temple.

Ancient Temple next to Rama Theertham

Interestingly this temple have hundreds of idols of snakes, something which I have never seen anywhere before.

Hundreds of  snake Idols .

It was getting hot and we were done at least for first half  of the day and were now looking forward for some delicious sambhar rice for lunch.

I therefore instructed the auto driver to drop us at over hotel and later to pick us at 3 pm so that we can visit Kalam house and pambam bridge in the evening. I wanted to see sunset at Pambam bridge because I was told that the sight is absolutely amazing.

Please wait for the next part  where we shall be visiting  Dr Abdul Kalam Memorial till then happy reading.

To read about our journey from the beginning click here.