Pamban Bridge | One of the most dangerous bridge

In my last blogs we visited Meenakshi Temple, Rameshwaram temple and Dr Abdul Kalam Memorial  we were now rushing in our auto to catch the setting sun view of Pamban Bridge.

To Read about our journey from the beginning click here 

People called me crazy when I told them that visiting Pamban bridge is one of the most awaited moment in my life. You must be wondering Why Pamban Bridge?

Arre yaar Maine bahut saal pehle kahi pad liya tha... Pamban bridge one of the most dangerous bridge, Bas Dil ke memory chip me record ho gaya and I knew that someday I have to be there. 

Its a view to die for

World over you have some fantastic bridges then be it be in San Francisco, London or Sydney but for me my home grown Pamban bridge was right at the top. Ab yeh Dil ki baat hai Dil hi Jane.

There were two ways for me to experience the Pamban bridge , one I could watch it from outside and other by travelling on it.

Hum hum hai
Isliye gum kuch kam hai .

Yes I managed to do it in both the ways.

My dream fulfilled- Ek photo kuch aisa

Annai Indira Gandhi road bridge which is parallel to the Pamban bridge was inaugurated by former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi on 2 Oct ,1988 is also an engineering marvel.

Annai Indira Gandhi road bridge in the background

It offers fantastic view of the Pamban Railway Bridge. Lots of tourist stopover here to click pictures especially of the train passing over the railway bridge.

Tourist clicking the pictures of the train from the road bridge

Pagalpan toh itna hai ki Mumbai se trains ke time note kar ke gaya tha , as to when the trains shall be departing Rameshwaram station, so that I am there at the road bridge to capture the view on my camera.

Scene soaked in the evening golden tranquility

We were little late to catch the glimpses of the passing train because I got carried away at Dr Kalam memorial that I overspent my time there. Still huffing and puffing our auto reached the flyover bridge and there I could see the beauty of the train with some lovely overcast golden sky. The whole atmosphere was soaked in the golden tranquility.

Is it a rusty and rickety bridge or an engineering marvel

The bridge stood there shining bright. Boss yeh dekne wale ki nazar ka Kamaal Hota hai warna to a commoner the bridge may look a rusty and rickety object. Kahte hai na...the beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder. Sorry yaaro Mai toh emotional ho Gaya.

Sach me yeah most dangerous bridge lagta hai... kabhi bi gaya 

Ek Kahani ( One Tale )

Emotional se yaad aaya, there is this story narrated to us by our auto guy. That there was an operator who worked on this bridge, his job was to lift the bridge section so as to allow the ships to pass and then to bring the bridge down, just like draw bridge of olden times to let the train pass over it. However on one fateful day as he was bringing the bridge down, the train was arriving very close to the bridge, and if he was not able to level the bridge there could be a great accident, unfortunately at that particular time his 5 year  old small son arrived with the lunch  for him. Seeing his father in trouble the small child rushed towards his father and started to rotate the pulley.

Pulley section of the bridge

However in this commotion the child's hands got sucked into the gears and crushed it and the young chap was crying out in pain and died. For a second I was sad and almost hated the bridge. My daughter too was almost in tears, her eyes were red , I held her and said these things happen but then at the same time I felt operating the gear of this bridge cannot be done alone , keeping in mind the size of the bridge. Jaise meri aadat hai, I immediately googled to check out the facts and thankfully realised that it's fake story . One needs at least 12 people to operate the bridge. Being an avid traveller I have heard so many stories from the local people or guide and over the period of time I have realised that we got to take these tales with a pinch of salt, Kyo ki aap ko man mukt karne ke liye yeh kahaniya aadhi haqeeqat to aadha fasana hoti hi.

Thank God my love for the bridge didn't get diminished.

Some amazing views on the road bridge

Now see a picture taken from the train, Bola tha na jo sochte hai woh karte zaroor hai ..hazoor

This was from the train.

Now some facts about this bridge.

1.Pamban bridge was India's first sea bridge, and was the longest sea bridge in India until the opening of the Bandra-Worli Sea Link in 2010.

2.This bridge was built on 24 Feb  1914 which means this bridge is more than 100 year old !

3.This is one of the most dangerous bridge, imagine now more than 100 years old and over that this bridge is located in the world's second most corrosive environment after Florida, making its maintenance a challenging job. The location is also a cyclone-prone high wind velocity zone.

4. The railway bridge is located 12.5 metres (41 ft) above sea level and is 6,776 ft (2,065 m) long.

5. The bridge consists of 143 piers and has a double-leaf badcule section with a Scherzer rolling type lift span that can be raised to let ships pass. Each half of the lifting span weighs 415 tonnes.

Bridge in opening position (Pic source internet)

In this technical world this bridge still uses manual means using levers to lift the two leaves of the bridge .

click here to see the opening up of the bridge

I had read in a newspaper reporting that Indian Railways is trying to bring the bridge in the UNESCO world heritage list. So till then fingers crossed.

We bid goodbye to the Pamban bridge and returned back to our hotel.

How to reach:

Air:    Nearest airport is Madurai Airport. 
Rail:   Rameshwaram Station is the nearest station and it is well      connected with most rail routes across India.
Road : Regular buses ply from Madurai to Rameshwaram, enroute  to Rameshwaram you can get down on the Pamban road                   bridge. Autos and private vehicles are easily available from             Rameshwaram to reach here

Tomorrow morning we shall be catching the train from Rameshwaram station to Thanjavur, which has some glorious temples to boast about.

Keep reading and be there with me tomorrow too, to experience the new adventure awaiting us.

please click here to read our journey from the beginning.

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.

Temple Trails: Ramanathaswamy Temple-Rameshwaram | Day 2

Click here to read about Day-1


Day 2: 06th Oct 2018

The alarm on my mobile was ringing out loudly, jolting me out of my deep slumber.I wriggled out of my soft bed feeling the coldness of the AC, slowly I moved towards the table where my mobile was kept and checked the time on my mobile. I was 4:30 am. Normally I don't wake up so early in Mumbai but then I was not in Mumbai I was in the holy town of Rameshwaram and here the life starts full on at such unearthly hours.

Early Morning at Rameshwaram 

It was 5:30 am when we left our hotel to go to Rameshwaram Temple, Our hotel was at a walkable distance to the temple,so we started walking through the narrow sandy lanes, with small houses on each side and in few minutes we reached at Agni Theerthaam.

You must be wondering what is this Agni Theertham, well let me give you some info on this.

Agni theerthaam is nothing but a  small part of the sea just near the temple where the devotees take a dip in the ocean before proceeding to the Rameshwaram Temple.

Agni Theerthaam

Agni theerthaam is one of the 64 sacred baths in Rameshwaram, it is one of the most important theertham and receives a large number of tourists each day. Located on the beach side of Sri Ramanathaswamy temple, Agnitheertham is the only theertham situated outside the temple complex.

People perform religious ceremonies on the beach
 at Agni Theertham

Holy rituals such as prohithams, yangnya(yaham), tharpanam(ritual for the ancestors who were dead) are performed on the shores of Agni Theertham. Amavasya or No moon day and Poornima or Full Moon day is considered to be the most auspicious day for taking the holy Dip.

Gate at Agni Theertham

Legend and Agni Theertham:

Indian Pilgrim places are never short of myths or tales so naturally how can Agni Theertham escape from it. You see Sea and then you hear the word Agni which means Fire, Baat kuch hazam nai hui bahut confusion tha dimag me, hence I enquired with one of the local guys, so he started to narrate the tale as to how Agni Theertham got it's name,  It so happened that after winning the war over Ravana and saving Sita from the clutches of Ravana, one day Ram overheard a washerman shouting at his wife that he is no Ram that he will accept her just like Sita , who was with Ravana during her captivity. Who knows whether she is pure or not !! Hearing this Rama asked Sita to prove her purity as to whether she was touched by Ravana or not, Sita was hurt and furious but she didnt say anything. She requested Laksham the younger brother of Ram to set up a Funeral Pyre and once it was done She simply entered the flame of fire to prove her purity. 

Sita's Agni Pareeksha (Pic source internet)

She prayed to Fire God to protect her if she is pure and Sinless.Because Sita was pure, the fire didn't burn her and Fire god appeared before Lord Rama and said to Lord Rama "Your Sita is pure Please take her to Ayodhya with you". It is believed that because  Fire or Agni god touched a pure and sinless woman like Sita, thereby committed a sin,The fire god therefore, then prays to Lord Shiva to cleanse him of his sin and takes bath in this ocean waters, Thus the name Agni Theertham. 

Offering prayers at Agni Theertham

We too took the holy dip, hoping to cleanse our sins and soaked in all the energy of the morning sunrise and moved on to go to the temple.

Hired a local priest from outside the temple

As we were going to the temple we were approached by a local priest who ensured us of proper darshans and holy bathing at the 22 Wells of the temple. We paid him Rs.1500 for his service. We could have done this on our own too but just how you take a guide to understand a particular monument I felt, Let the priest be my guide today. 

View of Rameshwaram Temple from my Hotel terrace

Rameshwaram Temple :

Rameshwaram Temple is also known as Ramanathaswamy Temple.

Just like Meenakshi temple here to you are not allowed to carry camera, or mobile phones inside the temple.

Legend:

This temple is dedicated to Lord Shiva and there is a legend behind the construction of this Temple, accordingly to which Lord Rama while returning from Lanka prayed to Lord Shiva to absolve him from the sin of killing a Brahmin ( read Ravan here) Lord Rama wanted large lingam to pray so he instructed Humuman to get lingam from the Himalayas. However he was late in bringing the lingam so Sita quickly made a small lingam out of the sand available on the nearby seashore.

Some interesting facts:

1.It's one of the 12 jyotilingam in India.

2. It is also one of the dham out of the Chardhams, other three being Bhadrinath, Puri and Dwarka. Incidentally with the visit of Rameshwaram Im done with my Chardhams pilgrimage.

Char Dham of India (Picture source internet)

3.There are two lingams inside the sanctum - one built by Sita, from sand, residing as the main deity, Ramalingam and the one brought by Hanuman from Kailash called Vishwalingam. Lord Rama instructed that the Vishwalingam should be worshiped first since it was brought by Hanuman - the tradition continues even today.

4.There are 22 wells or Theertham inside the temple.beginning from Mahalakshmi, followed by Gayatri, Savitri, Saraswathi, Gavya, Gavyaksha, Nala, Neela, Sethumadhava, Gandhamadhava, Brahmahatya Vimochana, Shanku, Surya, Chandra, Chakra, Shiva, Sarva, Satyamrita, Gaya, Ganga, Yamuna and finally Kodi which is supposedly equivalent to a dip in the Ganges River,

5. Like most of the temples in South India this temple too has a tall boundary or compound wall admeasuring about 865 feet from east to west and 657 feet from north to south.

Colourful Corridors of the temple (Picture source internet)

6. The outer set of corridors is reputed to be the longest in the world, measuring about 6.9 m in height, 400 feet each in the east and west and about 640 feet in the north and the south.

I think I have given you enough information, but if you still want to dig in more click here to read.

Our Journey:

Now let us move on to our journey. We deposited our shoes at the shoe stand near the temple. We then proceeded to buy tickets for taking bath of 22 Wells. Luckily for us, as we had hired this local priest he bought the tickets and we were on course moving from one well to another and the priest pouring well water on us. Even though we were all wet, It was indeed amazing experience for us.

All wet after bathing in 22 wells
at Rameshwaram Temple

 Once we were done with this we changed into the dry clothes that we were carrying with us. (They allow you to carry your clothes) mind you the changing room is just a kind of enclosure with no roof, I wish at least for ladies section they should build a decent changing room.( It's sad that this temples get so many people from all over the places and yet they cannot provide for basic necessities) I changed into the lungi..oops sorry my South Indian friends corrected me,said it was not lungi but veshti.

When in South, be a south Indian !!

 We had darshan of Lord Shiva and moved out of the temple.

As photography is not allowed within the temple premises so sorry I cannot share many photos of the temple itself from inside.

We now decided to explore the local places in Rameshwaram, so please wait for my next blog on our local sightseeing of the Rameshwaram town. Till then have a great time.

PS. If you wish to read about my journey from the beginning please click here

How to Reach Rameshwaram:

By Air: Rameshwaram do not have an airport.Madurai Airport is the nearest airport(149kms)

By Rail : Rameshwaram Station is well connected with most of the major train routes.

By Bus: Rameshwaram is well connected with State Transport running regular buses, There is a regular bus services from Madurai (almost every 30 minutes)