Chennai to Kanyakumari drive via East Coast Road (ECR) in January 2018

Pharma company manager, Harish got transferred to South India in end 2017.

In January 2018, he drove his Honda Amaze from Chennai to Kanyakumari via East Coast Road (ECR) in 3 days for an overview of the market.
Day 1: Chennai - Pondicherry.
Day 2: Pondicherry - Rameshwaram.
Day 3: Rameshwaram - Kanyakumari.

The route was as follows:
Chennai - Mahabalipuram - Pondicherry - Cuddalore - Chidambaram - Karaikal - Velanganni - Vedaranyam - Kodiyakkarai - Rameshwaram - Thiruchendur - Uvari - Kudankulam - Kanyakumari.

Our friend found the entire coastal route quite scenic.

Although a double lane road with no median divider almost throughout, the road surface was pretty decent. At most stretches it was difficult to exceed 80 kmph.
Some of the towns and their vicinity had high density of cycles and two-wheelers traffic spilling over to the main carriageway. It needed some amount of negotiation skills and a lot of patience. However, in general, traffic on the coastal road is sparse.

Road trip to Dhanushkodi from Rameshwaram

Dhanushkodi, the once flourishing trade centre, 18 kms from the holy town of Rameshwaram in Tamilnadu was declared a ghost town after the entire town was flattened, rail link snapped and thousands killed by a dreaded cyclonic storm which made a landfall on the intervening nights of December 22 and 23, 1964. 

Prime Minister, Narendra Modi dedicated to the nation the missing link of 9.5 kms long stretch of NH49 (new, NH87) from Mukuntharayar Chathiram to Arichamunai. 

Pilgrims and tourists flocked the strip as part of their pilgrimage to the Rameswaram island. They never minded taking the rough ride in the sandy and marshy terrain in four-wheeled SUVs and vans.

As more and more pilgrims started visiting the land strip, the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways came forward to lay the road after obtaining the ‘Gabion boxes’ technology from IIT-Madras to protect the road from high tidal impact.

Overcoming many hurdles, the National Highways began the work in 2014 and completed the 9.5 kms long road – 5 km from Mukuntharayar Chathiram to Dhanushkodi and 4.5 km from Dhanushkodi to Arichamunai, the eastern tip in October 2016  at a total cost of ₹ 70 crore.

Even after completing all works and laying rotary at the end in Arichamunai for vehicles to turn around, the road remained closed for traffic as high tides dislodged the gabion boxes in November 2016. Later, the NHAI built a 1.5 km long sea wall at Arichamunai point and a 500 metre long sea wall at Dhanushkodi point and made the stretch ready to be opened for traffic. 

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* Dhanushkodi 

* Must Visit 

* BeachDrive 

* Indian Roadie Beach Drive

Fuel for motorized fishing boats being ferried in bullock carts in Rameshwaram in Tamilnadu, India

Bullock carts with plastic jerry cans filling up fuel from an Indianoil filling station at Rameshwaram in Tamilnadu, India for onward transportation to far flung remote fishing villages to fuel motorized fishing boats in mid 2017.

Photo: Navtej Singh (@nattysingh on IG)

It's not a simple fill it, shut it, forget it for a large chunk of the Indian populace whose life would come to a grinding halt without regular supplies of petrol, diesel or kerosene.
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#IndianRoadie #GlobalRoadie #ShetravelsIndia #BackpackingIndiaOnRoad #HowIndiaTravels

South Coastal Expedition by Shivprasad S - 2017-10-15 - Day 2 - Rameshwaram to Kanyakumari

South Coastal Expedition by Shivprasad S.

Day 2 - 2017-10-15 - Rameshwaram to Kanyakumari.
Ride route: Rameshwaram - Dhanushkodi - Rameshwaram - Thirchendar - Uvari - Kanyakumari. Almost the entire stretch is the coastal route. He avoided riding via Tirunelveli.
Total distance: 270 kms.
Ride time: 1.00pm (Rameshwaram) to 7.00pm (Kanyakumari). However, he rode Rameshwaram - Dhanushkodi - Rameshwaram in the morning.

South Coastal Expedition by Shivprasad S - 2017-10-14 - Day 1 - Chennai to Rameshwaram

South Coastal Expedition by Shivaprasad S.

Day 1 - 2017-10-14 - Chennai to Rameshwaram.
Ride route: Chennai - Mahabalipuram - Pondicherry (Puducherry) - Cuddalore - Chidambaram - Velankinni Beach - Pamban Bridge - Rameshwaram.
Distance: 750 kms.
Ride time: 5.30am to 8.00pm.
Remarks: After Cuddalore stopped for 2 hrs for a power-nap.

PanchaMukha (five-faced) Hanuman Temple is 2 kms from Rameshwaram temple in Tamilnadu, India

PanchaMukha (five-faced) Hanuman Temple is 2 kms from Rameshwaram temple in the state of Tamilnadu, India.
Here Hanuman is dressed with vermilion. The temple also has deities of Rama, Sita and Hanuman which were originally at Dhanushkodi but were brought to the temple site after the killer cyclone in 1964. A few of the floating stones called 'Sethu Bandanam' supposedly used for building the ancient bridge between India and Sri Lanka are carefully preserved in the temple.

By worshipping PanchaMukha Anjaneyar, one can get rid of enemies with the help of Narashima Mukha, overcome all types of Dosha with the help of Garuda, get all types of wealth with Varaha; and get Gnana with Hayagriva.
At this temple, there is an oil-fired lamp next to lord Ram which has been kept burning for over three decades. Panchamuga Anjaneyar’s huge idol is open to the sky without any canopy on top. It is believed that the 700 years old temple at Dhanushkodi, was also destroyed during the cyclone in 1964 and some of the 'moorthams' (idols) were brought here.

Temple timings: 6:00 AM to 12:00 Noon, 4:00 PM to 9:00 PM

Drunk driving kills six at Thirupalaikudi, Ramanathapuram district, Tamil Nadu on 2015-04-14

Six people were killed when a car collided with an SUV at Thirupalaikudi in the Ramanathapuram district of Tamil Nadu on Tuesday (2015-04-14).
Police said five youths were returning to Karaikudi from Rameshwaram when their Maruti Swift car collided head-on with a Bolero SUV. All the passengers in the car were drunk, and police said rash driving under the influence of liquor could be the reason for the accident.
While three people died on the spot, three others succumbed to their injuries later, either on the way to hospital or in hospital.
The deceased include all youths in the car and a person who travelled in the SUV. Another person in the SUV, who sustained injuries, was admitted to hospital.
The deceased and the injured were yet to be identified.

(Source: Times of India)