dhanushkodi

Pictue shows the destroyed train track of Dhanushkodi on December 22., 1964 and how it is today. Visiting Dhanushkodi was a surreal experience. Vishalam, traditional to the core in her habits, modern to the core in her thinking, wanted to go to Rameshwaram prior to Kashi to do the rituals for her late husband. I decided to go along as I had been thinking it would be great to go to Rameshwaram. While she was busy with the rituals, I decided to to Dhanushkodi, the ghost town. Dhanushkodi, a once bustling town had been swept away by 20ft high tidal wave on a cyclonic night in 1964. It is eerie to see remnants of the town in the broken down buildings and mounds of sand where houses had stood. There is a railway track and a tar topped road and a broken wall of a major railway line. This was a land and sea connection to Srilanka before the 64 cyclone. People would get off at Dhanushkodi lands end and take the boat to talai mannar. The sea gushes in even today at night and tourists are taken around in jeeps on the sand when the sea receds in the mornings. It is a fantastic ride. this is supposed to be the place where rama worshipped Siva, a Linga made of sand by Sita. He is said to have broken the bridge he built on the advice of Vibhishana after Sita had been rescued. We also went to Kodandarama temple that had also been washed away and rebuilt only in the eighties. Ramayana comes alive in these sites.