THE RUINED TOWN - DHANUSHKODI


THE RUINED TOWN - DHANUSHKODI
Rameshwaram Town
Myself and one of colleagues Mr. Bhaskaran Nambiar visited Rameshwaram and Dhanushkodi on 31st December 2016. I heard about these two places when I was studying in school. Rameswaram is a town and municipality in the Ramanathapuram district, located in the southeast Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is on Pamban Island separated from mainland India by the Pamban channel and is about 40 kilometres from Mannar Island, Sri Lanka. It is in the Gulf of Mannar, at the tip of the Indian peninsula. Pamban Island, also known as Rameswaram Island, is connected to mainland India by the Pamban Bridge, which has a length of 2.345 km and took 14 years to be completed. Rameswaram is the terminus of the railway line from Chennai and Madurai. Together with Varanasi, it is considered to be one of the holiest places in India to Hindus, and part of the Char Dham pilgrimage. The town has been in the news over the Sethusamudram Shipping Canal Project . Sri Lankan Tamil refugees and capturing local fishermen for alleged cross-border activities by Sri Lankan Forces.
Rameshwaram Temple
Rameshwsaram literally means the ‘Lord of Rama’. It’s known for Ramanathaswamy Temple, a Hindu pilgrimage site with ornate corridors, huge sculpted pillars and sacred water tanks. There are sixty four Tirthas or Theerthams (holy water bodies) in and around of Rameshwarm. Among this, twenty two of the tanks are within the Ramanathaswamy temple and bathing in these tanks is a major aspect of the pilgrims and is considered equivalent to penance. We took bath in these sacred wells. The amazing fact is that though it is very close to sea, but we hardly felt salty of the holy water. This temple is famous for embracing one of the twelve Jyotirlingas (pillar of light) of Lord Shiva. The temple is also accredited for being the southernmost 'jyotirlinga' of India. It is believed that at this place Lord Rama offered his gratitude to Lord Shiva. It is said the Hindu Lord Rama built a bridge from here across the sea to Lanka to rescue his wife Sita from her abductor Ravana. The Ramanathaswamy Temple, dedicated to the Hindu god Shiva, is at the centre of the town and is closely associated with Rama. The temple and the town are considered a holy pilgrimage site for Shaivas and Vaishnavas.
House of Abdul Kalaam
We visited to the birth place and ancestral place of late legendary personality Sri. A. P. J Abdul Kalam is now developed in to a two floors building with various memoirs from his sojourn of birth to demise. Amazing!! Oh really he was a legend. The everlasting memory of India’s great leader, former president, and a renowned scientist – Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, now welcomes the visitors to the temple town of Rameshwaram. Dr. Kalam, who always reflected the simplicity, depth, and calmness of Rameshwaram through his life, is remarkably showcased in his memorial. Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam National Memorial was inaugurated by Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi the very next year on 27th July, 2017. Presenting as an interesting sightseeing choice, the memorial of the former president invites the tourists from all over the world to witness India’s diversity and different culture. I thought to explore something more about this astonishing legend.
A P J Abdul Kalaam
He was born as Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam on 15 October 1931 into a Muslim family in Rameswaram, then in the Madras Presidency in British India, and now in the state of Tamil Nadu. His father Jainulabudeen was a boat owner while his mother Ashiamma was a housewife. Kalam had four elder siblings. Even though his ancestors had been wealthy traders, the family had lost most of its fortunes by the 1920s and was poverty-stricken by the time Kalam was born. As a young boy he had to sell newspapers in order to add to the family’s meager income. Even though the family was not financially well-off, the children were raised in an atmosphere filled with love. In one of the books which Kalam wrote decades later, he fondly remembered how his mother would lovingly feed her own quota of food to the children and go hungry herself. He was a good student and always curious to learn more about how things happened. When he was ten years old, one of his teachers, Siva Subramania Iyer, took the students to the seashore and asked them to observe the birds in flight. Then the teacher gave the children a theoretical explanation, which coupled with the live practical example, cast a deep influence on young Kalam’s mind. That very day the boy realized that his life’s calling had something to do with flight. After completing his studies at Schwartz Higher Secondary School, he enrolled at Saint Joseph's College, Tiruchirappalli, graduating in science in 1954. Pursuing his childhood dream, he traveled to Madras to study aerospace engineering in Madras Institute of Technology. During his third year, he was assigned a project to design a low-level attack aircraft together with a few other students. The project was a difficult one and on top of it, their guide gave them a very tight deadline. The young men toiled together, working under immense pressure, and finally managed to achieve the target within the stipulated deadline. The guide was thoroughly impressed by Kalam’s dedication. At this moment, Kalam aspired to become a fighter pilot. However he could not realize this dream.
To Dhanushkodi
Our visit to Dhanushkodi was totally unexpected and a memorable one. We decided to go to Dhanushkodi as a part of our visit to Rameshwaram and expecting a crowded place, were taken aback by the exceptionally bouncy ride by a jeep to this island, which enchants you with its beautiful views of the two oceans namely the Bay of Bengal and the Indian Ocean, but at the same time leaves an eerie feeling with its emptiness and a view of the ruins that give you the impression that this had been a different place before.
This deserted island was occupied by hutments of fisher folk who seem to live in isolation and with no connection other than jeeps/tempos to the mainland and their main means of survival seemed to depend on the fish they catch from the sea. With no basic amenities to depend on, we came across an interesting way in which women from these communities get their drinking water and wonder if this was the place where reality coexists/mingles with myths, mysteries and miracles turning it into a seemingly unique location.
Dhanushkodi as we see it today
It is Bordered by the Bay of Bengal on one and the Indian Ocean on the other, Dhanushkodi, some 20 kilometres away from Rameshwaram, was one of the most spectacular stretches of Tamil Nadu with not more than 50 fisher folk dwellings with a population of around 500. Myth says that this was the place where Lord Rama pointed to with the tip of his bow and Lord Hanuman along with his army built a bridge (Setu) to cross the sea to reach Sri Lanka.  Indeed, Sri Lanka is just 30 kilometres away from Dhanushkodi.
A visit to Dhanushkodi took our breath away and was a visual treat with incredibly beautiful views of the clear blue sea, but at the same time enveloped us with sadness with its ruins and the dilapidated remains of what had once a flourishing town.  Dhanushkodi was a major point of entry to India until 1964, when a cyclone devastated the entire town, washing away the railway track, a steam engine and its carriages, and the entire village.
The cyclone in 1964 that devastated Dhanushkodi
There were many ferry services between Dhanushkodi and Talaimannar of Ceylon (now called Sri Lanka), transporting travellers and goods across the sea. There were hotels, textile shops and Dharmashalas catering to these pilgrims and travellers. Dhanushkodi, in those days, also had a railway station, a small railway hospital, a higher secondary school, a post office, customs and port offices etc. One can still see the miserable remains of the railway line, some of the ruins of the offices, the hospital, the church and the old school, which is reused now for the 500 inhabitants who continue to stay on the island. Before the cyclone, there was a train service up to Dhanushkodi called Boat Mail from Madras Egmore (Now Chennai Egmore), which would halt on the south-eastern side of Dhanushkodi Township, where a waiting steamer transported passengers to Sri Lanka.
A depression with its centre in South Andaman Sea on 17th December 1964 was what brought about the cyclone. On 19th December, it intensified into a cyclonic storm. After 21st  December 1964, it started moving westwards at the rate of 250 miles (400 km) to 350 miles (560 km) per day. On 22nd December, it crossed Vavunia of Ceylon (now called Sri Lanka) with a wind velocity of 280 km/hour, moved into Palk Strait in the night and crashed into Dhanushkodi of Rameshwaram Island on the night of 22–23rd December 1964. It was estimated that tidal waves were 8 yards high when it crossed Rameshwaram.
On that night (December 22) at 23.55 hours while entering Dhanushkodi railway station, the train No.653, Pamban-Dhanushkodi Passenger, a daily regular service which left Pamban with 110 passengers and 5 railway staff, was only few hundred yards before Dhanushkodi Railway station when it was hit by a massive tidal wave. The entire train was washed away killing all 115 on board. A few metres ahead of Dhanushkodi, the signal failed.  With pitch darkness around and no indication of the signal being restored, the driver blew a long whistle and decided to take the risk. Minutes later, a huge tidal wave submerged all the six coaches in deep water. The tragedy that left no survivors also destroyed the Pamban Bridge, which connected the mainland of India to Rameshwaram Island.
Reports say that over 1800 people died in the cyclonic storm. All houses and other structures in Dhanushkodi town were marooned. The high tidal waves moved deep onto this island and ruined the entire town. Naval vessels sent to rescue people reported seeing several bloated bodies around the eastern end of Dhanushkodi. Eyewitness accounts recollected how the surging waters stopped short of the main temple at Rameshwaram where many people had taken refuge from the fury of the storm. Following this disaster, the Government of Madras declared Dhanushkodi  a ghost town and unfit for living.
Fisher-folk in Dhanushkodi
Only a few fisher folk now live here. One can now reach Dhanushkodi either on foot along the sea shore by the sand dunes or in jeeps and tempos of fishermen. A ride down this 20 km long straight road leading to the ruins of the township is an exciting experience in itself. We had hired a jeep and the driver is a resident of the village itself. During the bumpy ride, he showed us the remains of the rail tracks covered with sand, and those of the school, the hospital, and the church and office buildings. He also showed us the village that includes some 50 households staying in makeshift thatched houses.
We asked him to take us closer to the clustered villages, all made up of thatched roofs with children playing alongside the houses who run up to us to sell sea shells. The dwellings here seem to survive mostly on fishing, besides getting some income from the small number of tourists who brave their way here by traveling in old jeeps and a very bumpy ride. We went around in the village and find some of the fishermen with their boats collecting their catch for the day. We also saw a few women washing clothes near a well and wonder where they get their water from. There seem to be a few wells that have salty water that people use for washing clothes and utensils.
Sweet drinking water
We were wondering about the drinking water availability in the villages and follow two women who showed us a sandy place, which lies bordered between the two oceans on the two sides. The women told us that all from the villages came here to get water. We watched and wondered while the women start digging in the sand with their bare hands to make a pit, to find water in the pits!
The women were collecting this water, filtering it through a piece of cloth in their pots. They offered us some water. We were surprised to find that the water was very sweet and free of any salt!
We reached the end of the land where the two oceans meet and take in the view of the deep blue sea, gradually changing colours with the setting of the sun and the rising of the moon, wondering how such peace and tranquility can at times, also unleash such fury and destruction, but then, time goes on and heals all wounds!
After reaching back to our room, we had our lunch little later and were about to catch the Rameshwaram Madurai passenger train which was scheduled in the evening so that we could have back to school. As the train moves, I was standing near the door and at the edge of the bridge till the end; I was enjoying the clear beauty of the seas, sunset, fisher-folk, fishing vessels etc... Fabulous!!!!

Vincent M
M A, B Ed.




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