The Ghost Town - Dhanushkodi

Dhanushkodi is a small town at the southern tip of the Rameshwaram island, at the eastern coast of the Tamil Nadu. It is the nearest point to Sri Lanka, about 29 km West of Talaimannar. The entire town of Dhanushkodi was destroyed in the cyclone in 1964.

Legend: Hindu scriptures says that at the request of Vibeeshana, brother of Ravana and ally of Rama, Rama broke the Sethu with one end of his bow and hence the name Dhanushkodi, Dhanush meaning Bow and Kodi meaning end. It is also said that Rama marked this spot for Setu with one end of his famous bow. Setu is the Sanskrit word to denote a bridge or causeway. It has now acquired a special significance to mean the bridge across the ocean constructed by Rama to reach Lanka.

Pilgrimage: It is said that Pilgrimage to Kashi will be completed only after the worship at Rameshwaram besides a holy bath in Dhanushkodi at the Confluence of Mahodadhi (Bay of Bengal) and Ratnakara (Indian Ocean).

History: Dhanushkodi has the only land border between India and Sri Lanka which is one of the smallest in the world-just 50 yards in length on a shoal in Palk Strait. Before the 1964 cyclone, Dhanushkodi was a flourishing tourist and pilgrimage town. Since Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) is just 19 miles (31 km) away, there were many ferry services between Dhanushkodi and Talaimannar of Ceylon, transporting travellers and goods across the sea. Following the disaster in 1964, the Government of Madras declared the town as "Ghost Town" and unfit for living after the storm. Only few fisherfolks now live there.

A trivia about this place. One of our beloved President, Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, was born in Dhanushkodi.

The town of Dhanushkodi starts after about 20 kms from the Ramaswamy Temple in Rameshwaram. Till this point there is good tarmac road to travel. But after that one need to travel on sand. In short Dhanushkodi can be defined as a place of All SAND No LAND.

Bangalore - Dhanushkodi

Dhanushkodi had been in our mind for sometime now. Ever since I had bought my Thunderbird (aka Beasty) 7 months back I had not taken her out for a long trip. Max I went on her was 300km round trip. Also my friend Shubhro had booked a Classic 500 and waiting for its delivery, which was getting delayed due to some reason. This was the right time for us to go on a trip since both of us were alone in Bangalore, since our respective parents had gone home. As I write this log, my Mom is in train returning back to Bangalore. Thus last weekend was the right time to think of such a trip. So Shubhro decided to take out his old and reliable Pulsar to probably her last trip.

Some Stats:
Vehicle: Black Thuderbird (aka Beasty) and Red Pulsar
Riders: Alok and Shubhro
Approx Distance: Round Trip 1324 km according to my trip meter
Total Days: 4 days (Half day on Friday so 3.5 days)

Planning the Trip:
Office Office Office. Thats all that we could do to plan this trip. Both me and Shubhro were very busy recently and did not have the time to plan this trip. All we knew is that this is the right time for us to take a break and go on a trip. We had a few places in our mind like Goa, Pondicherry, Dhanushkodi, etc (we wanted to go to a beach). Finally we decided we'll go to Dhanushkodi, as this will be the most challenging of all the other trips. We planned to leave on Friday afternoon and return on Monday Evening, so that we have to take only one day leave.

Packing Dilemma
Packing?? We're boys! We dont pack!! We'll simply put in a few t-shirts and move on; as simple as that. Thats what boys do. On Friday I woke up late (It was annual day in office, which means I could skip office without effecting my leave). First I took out my bike's document and kept them aside. Then I opened the wardrobe to see what I can take with me. Formals, formals, formals... where the hell did all t-shirts go?? OK found some, good enough for me. Took out my Camera and put the battery for charging. See everything is in place exactly where I left them. Let me check everything once. Clothes check, Camera check, Bike Documents check, Riding Gears check, Daily Utilities (towel, comb, etc) check. I'm smooth. Don't know why is Mom so fussy about me.

Wait! I'm missing something!! Where is my bag to pack these stuff. I just remembered my bag got ripped off in the last trip. OK I do have the other bag. But I gave the bag to my cousin. No problem I have another bag. But where is it? Now the bag hunt began. I turned my entire house upside down but couldn't find that bag. Finally had to call up Shubhro to ask if he has some extra bag. Luckily he had one. Good. I brought the bag from his house and now the packing starts.

Wait!! Where are my bike's documents. Didn't I just left them on the table!! Spent another 30 mins or so finding the documents. By the time I was done the whole house was a mess. If Mom would have seen the house in such a condition she would have killed me. But if Mom was here then this situation wouldn't have arised.



Day 1: 10th Feb, 2012 - Bangalore-Salem (approx 200km)

Both of us are against night time riding so we had already decided that we are not to travel after 7 pm. We left house at around 3:30 pm (Shubhro had office). Our target was to reach Salem before 7pm. That's 200 km in 3.5 hrs. No problem. We can easily do that. We had to encounter very light traffic in Bangalore (not peak hour yet), but as soon as we hit the Electronic City Flyover, we had traffic free butter smooth roads. Filled up the tank at Bharat Petroleum, just before Krishnagiri. This is our favorite stop for all our trip through this route.



Just after crossing Krishnagiri, Beasty started making a very weird noise . It was a sound that the engine of an old broken luggage van makes . I couldn't make out why Beasty was making this noise.



We reached Salem around 6:30pm and started looking for a hotel. In another 30 mins we checked into the Selvam Hotel for the night. Decent hotel with "a comfortable bed" for Rs 650 a night. Not bad. There, on thorough checking we found that one of the nut of the silencer was missing. No use fretting about it in the night. We'll look for any mechanic on the way next day to fix up the nut.

We had our dinner there. Nothing much - Onion Dosa, Ghee Roast Dosa, 4 Idlies, lots and lots of Sambhar and Chutney, Carrot sweets and Ice-Cream. I love Tamil Nadu's Sambhar, just couldn't make myself to like Karnataka's Sambhar as much. After dinner we had a light walk around that place and then went to bed to have some good night sleep before next day's ride.


Day 2: 11th Feb, 2012 - Salem-Madurai-Rameshwaram (approx 450km)

We checked out of the Hotel at around 6 in the morning. The road was pretty smooth, but the noise that Beasty was making was very irritating. Then another problem started. Whenever I was trying to go beyond 90-100 kph, my bike started to wobble. Something was definitely not right with Beasty. Early morning on a Saturday all Highway repair shops were closed. We simply went on riding. The sooner we reach a city the better chances we have to get a mechanic. As usual NH-7 was butter smooth.



We reached Madurai by 10 am. At the entrance of the city there was some traffic and me and Shubhro got separated. Right after entering Madurai I saw a Royal Enfield Showroom. It was a relief to see it open. I went in and told them the problem.The person at the counter looked very excited. He looked at the bike and directly called his mechanic. He invited me inside the showroom and started asking me questions like, where are you from, where are you going, etc. After answering his queries I called up Shubhro. He was still stuck in the outskirts. I told him to come straight to the Royal Enfield Showroom.

Then the mechanic informed me that due to the loose nut, there was leakage in the silencer gasket and need to be repaired. It'll take another 30 mins. I told him about the wobbling problem and he checked and said there is very little air pressure in the front tyre. Thats why the bike was wobbling. Damn it! I had checked the pressure just yesterday morning. Anyways I told him to check the bike once again and tighten all nuts and bolts. It took another 1 hr and 150/- to get my Beasty back in shape. Now there was no such noise and even the wobbling was gone.

We had lunch (sappadu ) in a small hotel nearby. Yet again lots of Sambhar for me. After lunch we went to the Meenakshi Amman Temple. We had no intentions of going into the temple and we just stopped there for a small photo shoot from the outside.



After that came the most irritating part - city traffic. It took us another 1 hour to leave the city of Madurai and by the time we were back on the Highway it was already 2 pm.

From there Rameshwaram was only 165 km. The road between Madurai and Rameshwaram is not 4 lane'd as NH-7, but still it is very smooth. The only problem were the speeding buses coming from the opposite direction and randomly some kids or animals might jump in front of you . Otherwise riding on this road was also very good.



We reached Rameshwaram at 5 pm in the evening. Its always relaxing to stand on the Pamban bridge and enjoy the view from there.


After taking a few pictures we moved on to find a decent Hotel. On the outskirts on Rameshwaram only we saw Hotel Queen's Palace. The hotel was very clean, with good soft bed (we knew we're going to need it after the trip to Dhanushkodi). At 1600/- a day, it was a bit on the expensive side considering the place, but was quite comfortable. We took the room and first thing we ordered for some coffee and snacks. Room service was not bad. Bit clumsy, but they served with a smile.

After resting our butts for some time we went around the city of Rameshwaram. The Ramanathaswamy Temple closes at 8 pm in the night.


After taking a few pics of the temple from the outside we went to the beach. The sound of the sea and the cool night air brought back all my memories of the the time that I had spent on the beaches of Chennai.


We spent some time on the beach before going for dinner. Both of us were very hungry. We got into a restaurant serving marwari thali. We just asked them to give us the roti thalis and keep bringing in the rotis till we ask to stop. In the end Shubhro had 15 rotis and I had 11.

After satisfying our hunger it was time for a good night sleep before the main trip on the next day.


Day 3: 12th Feb, 2012 - Dhanushkodi (approx 50km)

We had planned to leave early for Dhanushkodi so as to capture the sunrise. We decided not to take our helmet since on sand helmet won’t be of much use. After what we went through in Dhanushkodi, it turned out to be a good decision. A helmet would only had been a burden in Dhanushkodi. We left from our room at around 5.45 am. The sun was still not up and we were just roaming around in a very casual and slow speed. Dhanushkodi was around 22 kms from our hotel. It was more than 10 km narrow road with Sea on both sides. Along with the constant sound of the roaring sea, the view was just amazing and the feeling of riding a bike on such route cannot be expressed in words. We stopped somewhere in the middle to enjoy the sunrise. There was still time for sunrise and we were just taking random pics of the surrounding.



Final we saw the most obvious natural phenomena, something which happens daily, but still amazes us every time we look at it - the sunrise. This is the first time I was seeing sunrise from the horizon. It was just beautiful. No photograph can ever do justice to the natural beauty of a sunrise.


After fulfilling ourselves we moved on towards Dhanushkodi. Soon we reached a point where land ends and we had to ride on sand. he main tip (Sangam point of Indian Ocean and Bay of Bengal) of Dhanushkodi is around 10km from this point. From this point usually private vehicles are not allowed or rather no one risks taking their private vehicles further. The locals have their own van on which they can take tourist to the tip. For that they charge anything from 1500 - 2000 for the round trip. That too you might have to share the vehicle with other people.

As soon as we got on the sand both mine and Shubhro's bikes got stuck. A few locals came to help us. One of them advised us in a mixture of Tamil, English and animated language to get down and walk alongside the bike, so as to put less pressure on the sand. He also gave a priceless advice to ride on sand - "Clutch No! Throttle Yes!!" Pretty soon we realized why he asked us why not to leave throttle and why not to hold the clutch. On soft sand if your vehicle stops moving the wheel sinks inside the sand. After that its very difficult to move it out of the sand.



There are a few tracks made by the wheels of the vans. The locals advised us to ride only on these tracks and never to leave it. This too proved to be a very good advice. Since they travel on these tracks daily, the sand on the tracks have toughened up. So riding on these tracks is relatively easier. There were many times when our bikes got stuck, but after 10-15 mins we got the hang of riding on sand. After sometime, I took one wrong track, got separated from Shubhro and got lost.


Caution: There are many places where you'll be tempted to move out of the track. Don't get fooled like me. Initially what seems like solid ground eventually turns into soft sand. The ground which looks solid from top is actually very soft below. Attempting to ride on that ground will only get you in more trouble like us. It'll also create a false misleading track for others. A few times I got mislead by such tracks and once I even ended up in front of the sea. I was totally clueless about what to do next. I saw a van moving at a distance. Somehow I managed to take a U-turn and move Beasty back to the track. But still there were many misleading track. There were many damp patches on the ground in front of me, but I was pretty sure the van went through this track only. I can never forget what happened next, but still don’t know how to write it in words.

Damp Patch -- Riding on Track -- Rear Wheel Skid -- Committed the Sin of Holding the Clutch (Bad Riding Habit) -- Beasty's Engine Shutdown -- Wheel Sinking in the Damp Patch -- My Heart Skipped a few Beats

I tried pulling the bike out, but couldn't move her by even an inch. Starting the engine would only have created further mess and I was scared the bike could sink further below. So what to do now? Take out my camera and take picture.


I couldn't do anything apart from waiting for another van to pass that way and ask for help. After a few minutes a van was returning back. Apart from the driver there were only two other people in the van and they had this really big camera and lens. I was half tempted to ask them about their lens, when my conscience reminded me of Beasty. They all got down for helping and it took full strength of all four of us to pull this beast out of that mess. One of the guys advised me to be careful as there are many such swampy areas ahead. I thanked them and we moved our separate ways.

Few photographs of the way.


Overall it took me more than 2 hrs to cover that distance of 10 kms. Finally I reached the Sangam point of the Indian Ocean and the Bay of Bengal. It is said that Lord Ram built the Ram Setu over here though it cannot be seen now. Shubhro had reached there much before me and was busy taking pictures of the surrounding. When I told him about my accident we both had a good laugh over the incident. A few families had come there and were performing some rituals. Dhanushkodi is a very important pilgrim spot for Hindus. But still overall there were less than 50 people on the beach.






Earlier we had decided to take some clothes and towel along, so that we can take a bath in the water. But in the morning we totally forgot about this. So without any extra clothes it was no bathing for us. We only washed our hands, legs and face in water and relaxed on the beach. After spending about an hour on the beach it was time to return. On the way back both of us decided to stick together so as to help each other in case of any mishap.






A few fishermen families live here, but we were told that during the night no one is allowed on this part of the island.


Return trip was relatively easier, as by then both of us got the hang of riding on sand. But midway Beasty started making another noise. This was the noise of something vibrating heavily. At first glance I couldn't find anything wrong. Maybe too much sand got into the chain and she's making the noise. Anyways we drove on and completed our trip in a little less than 2 hrs. The guy who gave us advice in the morning was very happy to see us return. He even came forward and helped me in pulling my bike for the last few meters on the sand. Finally we were back on solid ground. I thanked the guy, relaxed a bit and then both of us moved on toward the hotel room.

On reaching the hotel we checked Beasty thoroughly and found that another nut from the fuel tank is missing. The fuel tank was vibrating heavily and making the noise. We asked the hotel guy for any mechanic and he informed there is one nearby. The mechanic informed us that he doesn't have any nut to fix the bike and the shop selling nuts/bolts will be closed on Sunday. But he also assured us that even without the nut the bike will go to Bangalore. Though we were not convinced we had no other choice. Anyways we decided to get it repaired in Madurai on our return trip.

Our decided plan was to leave Rameshwaram on the same day and and spend the night in Madurai. But both of us were tired and after riding our bikes on 1st gear constantly on high throttle for 20 kms and more than 4 hrs, we decided to give it a rest for the day.

This again turned out to be a good decision as both of us were relaxed by next morning and we even got to take some pictures of the sunset from Pamban Bridge.


Overall it was one heck of a memorable day for both of us.


Day 4: 13th Feb, 2012 - Rameshwaram-Madurai-Salem-Bangalore (approx 620km)

The most boring day of the trip. In all the trips that I've been, the last day is always the most boring, coz this day we know our final destination is Bangalore which means office next day.
Don't have much photographs on this day. All we did was ride our bikes. Early morning 6 am we left our hotel. Our first stop was Madurai, where first we had breakfast at Murugan Idly. Lovely restaurant which servers really soft and tasty idlys. We just had a couple of idlys, around 10 each and a dosa.
Next stop was the Royal Enfield Service Center in Madurai. Where I got all the nuts and bolts of my bike tightened.
After that it was just me and my wild & sweet Beasty, whole day of riding on NH-7. Uploading a few pics of Day 4.



Overall Experience:

By far this is the most difficult trip I've done. If you think you can ride, just try out Dhanushkodi once. It might change your whole perception towards riding. Dhanushkodi will test you both physically and mentally, and will only bring you closer to your beloved bike. Even for other travelers who don't travel by bike, Dhanushkodi is a place to visit at least once. For religiously inclined people (especially Hindus), Dhanushkodi and Rameshwaram has a lot to offer.

Overall you're definitely going to have some unforgettable memories to take back with you from Dhanushkodi.

Thanks for going through this log. Happy touring to all.

Cheers.
Alok