The great Southern Pilgrimage

---

South Tamil Nadu's tourism industry is thriving and surprisingly it is not on the back of the Euro, the Pound, the Yen or any other foreign currency. I expect that once we step foot over the border from Tamil Nadu into Kerala that things might just be a little different but in this part of the world Indian holidaymakers seem to outnumber foreigners by over 1000 to 1. With not much more than an ambition to swim at the very tip of south India we headed off from Salem extremely happy that we made the effort to see the orphanage and the thousands of faces which make it.

I like to think that we learn from our mistakes and given that the previous bus ride was the most uncomfortable 7 or so hours of my life we decided that getting to the bus stand early would get us a prime position on the bus to Madurai. The bus was to leave at 7 so we got there half an hour prior setting ourselves up at the front of the bus in what by our judgement would be the best place to sit for the 6 or so hour ride. As soon as the bus started rolling we found the downside to sitting in that location, the sound of Tamil blockbuster films was replaced by the sounds of the worlds horniest bus driver. Every 30 seconds for the next 6 hours our driver would hold down his horn until every car, auto-rickshaw, motorbike, person and cow within 2 kilometres were aware of our presence.

Madurai was only going to be a transit town for us as we made our way back towards the coast but it still did manage to provide a few memorable moments. We checked into the cheapest room of our trip so far which gave a great view from our window to the towns main draw-card the Sri Meenakshi Temple complex, a series of towering colourful Gopurams with carvings of animals and other Hindu depictions. Danielle was quick to point out that it merely looked like a massive pile of cardboard boxes and nothing all that special, so we embarked to check it out a little more closely. It wasn't quite cardboard boxes but she wasn't all that far off, the towns main tourist attraction was closed for renovations with the outer walls completely bamboo thatched preventing any possible viewing. India just being as unpredictable as ever.

The other stand out of Madurai for us was a funky little bar called Apollo 96, set out like the inside of a space ship this place was incredibly appealing especially considering that every bar we had seen so far was dark, musty and soulless. We had a couple of beers with some smashed locals and took in the atmosphere with flashing lights, a DJ booth that was set out like the spaceships main control panel and corny sound effects.

Like a finger pointing straight at Sri Lanka is a peninsula that is tipped with a town which turned out to be a hot spot for Hindu devotees. Ramesewaran was an easy 4 hour train ride from Madurai on a train full of roaches and hawkers screaming “ChaiCoffeeCoffeeChaiChaiCoffee”. Being tired from all this hard work of travelling we both fell asleep only to wake a few different times to the sights of men squatting by the tracks doing their morning poo. Thankfully we did wake up before crossing an amazing rail bridge hanging over the water and reef which led straight into the Ramesawaran central rail station.

Things felt kind of strange as we jumped off the train and didn't see another foreigner on the platform. I had figured that if a place is in the Lonely Planet(map included), it would be one of the stops on the main tourist trail. Our confusion was answered when after lugging our bags towards the exit we got approached by a man with his donkey drawn cart offering a ride into town for 30 Rupees. We did take up the offer as I am pretty sure neither of us had previously ridden in such style but surely such a gimmick could only cater for Westerners? I couldn't have been more wrong.

India had been strange up till this point, but Ramesewaran to date has topped the list of weird places to hang out. Donkeys weren't only walking around town carting passengers, but they were also found loitering around street corners battling for food scraps with the cows, goats and beggars. The town itself is centred around the Ramanathaswarmy temple, an amusement park of sorts where joyous Hindus walk from the 1st through to the 22nd shrine and get splashed with a bucket of water from a well at each of the stops. This was embraced with enthusiasm from young to old, with pretty much every person shivering uncomfortably until they reach the next dunking.

With every restaurant catering for Vegetarian Hindu's we set out to find a decent meal with a little bit more substance than a Masala Dosa (potato pancake type dish with curry dipping sauces). Being a costal town I was desperate for some fish so we went to check out a recommended restaurant only to find that it was just another Vegetarian joint but fortunately over the road was the towns only bar. Thinking we would decide where to eat over a quick Kingfisher we went to the counter only for our request to caught the attention of the only other punter in the bar.

Tim is an Australian ex-pat who is building an empire in the Indian fisheries industry with Ramesewaran one of his main and successful ports. In town for just a couple of days to check up on how business was going, he was quietly enjoying a sundowner when he heard a familiar accent. He was completely bemused as to why we would be in Ramesewaram as in the year that he had been frequenting the town he had hardly seen or spoken to any foreigners, but was then not surprised that he met Aussies in the towns only bar. Within minutes we were all talking like estranged mates and were committed to an evening of Kingfisher and Old Monk rum. Tim took us to dinner and then generously went on to offer us a sightseeing tour of Rameswaram with him before he headed on home.

The next morning waking sore and sorry from too many monks we were soon greeted by Tim and his chauffeur who first took us to breakfast before a personal tour of his processing factories. It was a great insight into how differently businesses operate in India compared to back home and just hearing of some of the challenges that have been put forward to him over the last year would not make you envious of his role. After the factory tour we were taken to one of his other sites to see the cooking process and sample a small bit of his product, damn freakin' tasty. We were then driven out to meet with a 4wd for an off-road drive out to the very tip of the peninsula.

If you haven't watched world news lately then it's likely that you wouldn't know how rough a time the Tamil people of Sri Lanka are having at the moment. Sick of the endless acts of terrorism by the Tamil Tigers, the Sri Lankan army have begun their final effort to drive them out of their country. Many innocent people are caught up in this feud and it seems to remain unnoticed how many people are dying as a result of the action of both parties. In protest, Tamil Nadu Universities have been closed and sadly students in Chennai took extreme measures to get attention to the atrocities by setting themselves alight with both dying as a result.

The tip of the peninsula is the closest you can get to Sri Lanka without needing your passport. Each day hundreds of people are fleeing their home country of Sri Lanka with hope of salvation in India which is only around 30 kilometers away. The long stretch of sand out to the tip is not without its own history, suffering from a tsunami that took the lives of over 10,000 in the 1960's it is now home to a number of fishing villages but not much more. We arrived at the tip and alighted to spend a bit of time taking in the scenery and contemplating how close yet so far we were to war, with Indian naval helicopters hovering overhead to make sure no refugees got through on their watch.

We grabbed one last meal and drink with Tim before he was off, ever thankful for the hospitality he had shown us. The next morning we were up and focused on getting to our next destination, the very tip of India, Kanukamari. Poised for another ultra comfortable and smooth bus ride we spent the day relaxing, checking out a beach with the worlds scariest children's park attached then grabbing one last meal in town. Our bus left at around 7pm and we assumed that the bus would take the highway route to Kanukamari via Madurai but instead it went off road for most of the 10 hour journey. The horn did not blare the whole way unlike last journey but fortunately by sitting at the front over the wheels we were the first to know when the bus hit a pot hole or pile of rocks on the makeshift road. I think the lesson to be learnt about Indian busses is that they all are shit, so suck it up.

We arrived in Kanukmari at around 5 in the morning, tired and grumpy from the journey but realised it was too close to sunrise to go back to sleep so after checking into a nice and cheap room we set off down to the point where we were surprised to find thousands of people waiting for the sun to rise over the water. Just like Ramesawaran, Kanukamari is a pilgrim's Gold Coast with entire families taking their annual leave to show their devotion to the Hindu faith. The sunrise was greeted by a massive cheer from the crowd and we retired to our room for a quick nap before we would set out on seeing the town.

At about 9 am the food poisoning or other bug kicked in and knocked me out for the next 3 days. We have tried to avoid the little luxuries of such things as television while we've been away however I have not ever appreciated movies which are highly edited (cutting out sex scenes, gory violence, occasional bleeping of swearwords and the English translation to movies which were predominately Hollywood films with words like 'shit' being changed to 'shoot') as much as I did over those few days.

Once the vomiting, the shooting, the migranes, entire body muscle cramps and fever had passed, we booked ourselves in for a tour of the surrounding sites. We boarderd the bus the next morning, not at all surprised to find that we were the only westerners on the sightseeing tour and set off for a tour of a bunch of temples. The temples ranged in size, age and cultural significance and we were given a running commentary from one of the other passengers. The trip took us to a large temple just outside Kanukamari where a condition of entry for men was that they take off their shirts. Fortunately for our readers they did not allow cameras within temple grounds and we had to pay to have them hold them until we returned. It was a much different sightseeing tour to any other we had experienced so far but in all a bit of fun despite not knowing enough about Hinduism to understand what our personal guide was really telling us.

We felt it was time to move out of Tamil Nadu, next stop the state of Kerala and the West coast. Catching one more sunrise after our hotel manager kicked us out at 5:30 in the morning we made our way to the bus station and another bumpy bus ride.

---