Face to face with my Maker

Yes, it was in November last year that my daughter suggested that I make a visit to Rameswaram and the surrounding areas around the quaint temple town. I had heard a lot about this temple town and the birthplace “ Thankachimadham “of my Idol Dr. Abdul Kalam. Other stories that fascinated me were the Ramayana stories of Lord Hanuman making a floating bridge over the sea to go to Sri Lanka to save Sita Devi, who was abducted by King Ravana. And then there was the interesting fact of the legendary Engineer E. Sreedharan, who made history by rebuilding the Pamban Bridge (also known as Adam’s Bridge) in a very short time, which was washed away by the 1964 December cyclone taking over 2000 lives, crippling power supply and communication, leaving it as a ghost town, dispensing everything. Lastly, my friend who was born in Dhanushkodi used to joke that he was a cursed child born in the family because his birthplace was sunk after he was born. So when my daughter mentioned the idea of the trip, both my wife and I jumped at the opportunity to travel.

We learnt in school about Rameswaram Taluk, which comprises the whole area of Pamban Fishing Island and is also known as Rameswaram Island on the Rama Setu archipelago. Rameswaram is the longest island in Tamil Nadu and is located between the Peninsula of India and Sri Lanka. It is the holiest pilgrim center for Hindus with an area of around 67 Kilometer squares. Rameswaram is famous for the best chili powder in Tamil Nadu. India’s first port away from the sea is also at Rameswaram. There are many important places to visit near Rameswaram such as Ramanathapuram Raja Palace, Kundhukal Vivekananda memorial, Sea World aquarium, three to four bird sanctuaries where one can see beautiful birds including spot-billed pelican, 3000 years-old Uthirakosamangai Shiv temple, priceless green emerald stone Nadarajah statue, Irumeni village sweet water wells Teertha, silver beach and so on. It is an interesting fact that Rameswaram TV tower is the tallest TV tower in India having a height of 323M and can withstand a velocity of 160 Km/h.

We started on our journey the very next morning after the delightful nudge from our daughter. The car and the road were both very good as the infrastructure in India has been developing very well and had made excellent progress,. Surprisingly, it took us only 7.5 hours to reach our destination against the expected time of over 9 hours. And since we arrived early, we decided to go to the southernmost tip of the mainland crossing Pamban Bridge to Dhanushkodi. The beautiful blue water on both sides of the bridge through the Indian Ocean and the Bay of Bengal was an amazing scene for me. There were plenty of people around who were there to enjoy the magnificent sight. We could manage to take a few snaps standing on the historic Pamban lighthouse tower. After returning back from the sun, we relaxed in the cool breeze for some time. Pamban has a few hillocks. The tallest among them is Mount Gondamadane, from where Lord Rama observed Sri Lanka and conceived the idea of constructing a bridge between India and Sri Lanka. Then we returned to the temple complex after visiting a couple of small but important temples on the way.

Soon, it was time for-us to go to the main Ramanathapuram temple. This has the longest corridor of a 1000 pillars, in Asia. I found this magnificent structure as another architectural marvel of our ancient artisans. A long queue with a few welcome showers stopped us for an hour. After the gates were opened, we entered at just the right time for the guide to take us to all the temples to explain every detail and its importance. To me, the most interesting was Shivalinga, which was made in sand and worshipped by Sita Devi and the beauty of it. There are many temples in this complex and we visited each and every one barefooted. Even though it was drizzling at night, it was a bit tough for me. Due to the heavy crowd, it just was not possible otherwise to complete the circumambulation of all temples. But we were keen to do this and we returned back to the hotel fully satisfied, basking in the glory of having met our deepest desires of visiting everything we had planned.

As soon as we reached the hotel, we went for dinner. Since we walked a lot barefoot, I went to the washroom to clean. Although the dining hall was fully air-conditioned, I felt a bit uneasy and started sweating. This made everyone upset and I cancelled my dinner and went to bed. The doctor was called and after a check-up, some tablets were given and I went to sleep. The next day, as usual, I got up, had breakfast and started the return journey. Since everything was looking fine, I decided to fulfil my last wish of visiting our most respected Great Missile Man of India Dr.APJ Abdul Kalam, who passed away at the age of 83 after a massive cardiac arrest, while delivering a lecture at the Indian Institute of Management Shillong. As the museum was not open, we waited outside for a bit. As soon as the doors were thrown open, we had a quick look around the place. The museum was wonderfully made and maintained exceedingly well. I did not have much time to read and dwell in the teachings. We had a considerable drive back home and reached home late night. All of us got tired from the long and hectic journey and went to bed early after a successful trip. At about 2 AM early morning, I started getting uneasy, was sweating severely and felt very uncomfortable. I was waiting for others to get up and the moment I heard a movement from my daughter’s room, I told her about the problem. Immediately I was taken to a nearby hospital and they discovered an ECG variation. They got in a specialist immediately at the cardiac center and confirmed a big block in the main artery and underlined the need for immediate attention and action. Fortunately, I was taken at the right time and the doctors could save my life. If delayed by ten minutes, I doubt I would not have been able to write this blog in this life! I salute The Almighty for His Grace this time yet again. I am waiting to serve the world again in the most appropriate manner. I wish to conclude my experiences in life and hope that if the stories of my life hold some value to others, I would indeed trade them for a small smile in return!!!