JOURNEY TO THE END OF THE EARTH

            Do you know how the end of the earth looks like?  It requires no great imagination to conjure up a vision of the end of the earth.  One trip to Dhanushkodi can give one a pretty good idea of what it is to be perched at the very tip of the earth and stare into emptiness.  Acres and acres of sparkling white sand winged on the perimeter by the sea as far as the eye can see-that is Dhanushkodi.

            Dhanushkodi is now a ghost town which was once upon a time bustling with activity typical of any small town.  It had a railway station, railway hospital, post office, school like any other small town in Tamil Nadu.  That was before the floods of 1964.  Before launching in to an account of the cyclone of 1964, the geography of the place also needs to be touched upon, for that is the prime reason for Dhanushkodi to have acquired its present status of a ghost town.

Dhanushkodi is at the south-eastern tip of India, in the island of Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu. On one side is the Bay of Bengal and on the other, the Indian Ocean, the two converging at Dhanushkodi. It is 18 km long from the border of Rameswaram to the tip of the sea. This tiny strip of land is surrounded by water on two sides and the broadest part is no more than half a kilometre wide.

Until 1964 Dhanushkodi was a flourishing tourist and pilgrimage town in one of the southern tips of India. Since Sri Lanka is just 18 miles away, frequent ferry services were operated between Dhanushkodi and Thalaimannar of then Ceylon, transporting a large number of travellers and goods across the sea. There were many hotels, textile shops and dharamshalas catering to these pilgrims and travellers.

The calamitous cyclone on the fateful night of December 22^nd, 1964 left over 2000 people dead, destroyed or marooned all structures in Dhanushkodi and tidal waves moved almost 10 km into the island and rendered the town bereft of any noticeable traces of human civilization and was declared as a Ghost Town by the Government. The place is sacred to Hindus, as they believe that Lord Rama had built a bridge to Sri Lanka over the sea from this point. Today, pilgrims visit Dhanushkodi for a sacred bath at the confluence of the Bay of Bengal and the Indian Ocean.

The drive from Rameshwaram town to Dhanushkodi is an unforgettable one.  A narrow strip of land on which a ribbon-like road snakes along, lined by coniferous trees, with the Bay of Bengal on the left and the Indian Ocean on the right of the road-what a view!  As dramatic the view is, the road comes to an end abruptly. A few more miles in a four-wheel drive on the slightly marshy barren land brings one to the middle of nowhere and is enveloped by an eerie silence broken only by the shrill cries of the birds and the waves lapping against the shores. It is a remote and barren place, without any permanent human settlement. The only natural dwellers are a large number of sea birds. A roofless church stands as a mute testimony, a silent reminder that nature can be deadly as well as beautiful. It’s a land of visual contrasts, stark and at the same time incredibly stunning.   The farthest point of land that merges with the sea is a sight to behold.  On the left is the Bay of Bengal and on the right the Indian Ocean, referred to as the male sea and the female sea, respectively. While the former appears calm, shallow and brown, the latter looks rough, deep and blue.

            A place unspoilt by humans, or rather, claimed back by nature for itself from humans.  A place where you can hear the sound of silence. That is the rare beauty of Dhanushkodi-it is a wee bit magical and surreal.