On the evening of December 22, 1964, 14-year-old Purushothaman was playing with his friend Muniyasamy at his home in Railway Quarters in Dhanushkodi. When he asked his friend to stay for the night, a worried Muniyasamy refused and said that he had to go back to his home at the end of the city to take care of his mother and the goats they were raising. Both of them had no idea that a severe cyclonic storm was coming in their area. The deadly storm struck the island-nation while crossing Vavuniya in Sri Lanka’s Northern Province (then known as Ceylon) earlier in the day.
As soon as it became dark, strong winds started blowing in the area. Sri Purushothaman went to bed along with his four siblings and mother. His father, who was a cook on one of the two ships that carried passengers to and from Sri Lanka, had gone to Rameshwaram as his ship was undergoing repairs. Waking up at midnight to find sea water entering their house, Mr. Purushothaman and his family became worried as the water had risen to hip level.
Read this also The devastating Dhanushkodi cyclone of 1964
Today, the septuagenarian is one of the survivors of the cyclonic storm that destroyed the city on the intervening night of December 22 and 23, 1964. The entire railway station was destroyed, leaving only a few stone structures behind. This delicate man with a long beard is now a priest at a simple Shiva temple, which stands where the railway station building once stood. “Fishing was the main occupation here. Apart from them, the loadmen working at the railway station formed the bulk of the population,” says Mr Purushothaman, recalling the good old days in Railway Colony. There were permanent houses only in the railway quarters. Fishermen lived in huts.
Another survivor of the disaster, V. ‘Neechal’ Kali, who is no longer alive, was born and brought up in the coastal town. He became a skilled swimmer while crossing the Palk Strait between Dhanushkodi and Talaimannar in the Northern Province. Witness to the tragedy that remains a sad story, Kali dreamed that his home town would regain its old glory with bustling boats, trade and cultural exchanges between India and Sri Lanka. But a few years ago he breathed his last without fulfilling his dream.
Kali’s complaint
Kali had one complaint: while government representatives, NGOs and others pay tribute to the victims of many tragedies, including the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and the Kumbakonam school fire, the Dhanushkodi cyclone victims have rarely received tribute or recognition. As long as he lived, he kept a fast on its anniversary every year.
in an interview on The Hindu In 2010, Kali, who was 88 at the time, recalled that Danushkodi was a rich and prosperous coastal town with brisk trade and business activities until the massive tragedy, when the Southern Railways operated the boat mail (known as the Indo-Ceylon Express) from Madras Egmore. Also called) used to run. Now Chennai Egmore) to connect steamer to Dhanushkodi irwin And goshenPassengers were given tickets from Madras to Colombo and taken by steamer to Talaimannar for onward rail journey to Colombo and vice versa. Boat mail will bring tourists and pilgrims from Chennai to Dhanushkodi. A water tank rake for the steam engines of the trains and two other trains from Madurai and Coimbatore came to Dhanushkodi every day.
Most pilgrims flock to Dhanushkodi, where, according to legend, Lord Rama worshiped Lord Shiva. “Even the idol of Lord Ramanathaswamy was brought from Rameshwaram new moon day (Amavasya) of Tamil months Etcetera And Thai For pilgrimage (A form of ritual in which the idol is bathed in the sea),” recalls Sri Purushothaman. Pilgrims will also visit Muneeswaran, Santhana Mariamman and Kooni Mariamman temples. International passengers would come by boat mail and board steamers to reach Talaimannar and back. The three-deck ships will transport passengers and food grains to Sri Lanka. “Fishermen used to make money by bringing smuggled goods like Rani Sandal soap, nylon sarees and romper watches from Ceylon,” says Mr Purushothaman.
Memoirs of a Bureaucrat
Describing events in his memoirs service uninterruptedVeteran civil servant MM Rajendran, who was the then Ramanathapuram Collector and later became Chief Secretary and Governor of Odisha, said that when he and his colleagues reached Mandapam, the last point on the mainland, they were horrified that the entire Pamban Railway would connect the mainland to Rameshwaram. The bridge connecting it was washed away. “…the train going from Pamban to Dhanushkodi at night was washed away in the tidal waves, leaving only the engine and the chassis of the Bhogis, the wooden superstructure of the Bhogis (they were not integrated coaches in those days) floating around. Was seen to happen. What happened was that in the long narrow island, when the tidal wave came, the two seas to the north and south joined and at that time the train was in the confluence of the seas,” Rajendran (who died last year) wrote, saying That the number of casualties on the train could not be estimated because many were “ticketless passengers”, although a rough estimate was 500. This was in addition to the Dhanushkodi residents who died.
Describing how the survivors had to face reality, Mr Purushothaman recalls: “We saw hundreds of Australian flamingos lying on the ground with their wings and legs injured. The survivors opened the parcel office and brought some wheat. We used files at the customs office as fuel for cooking. The next day, many people started walking along the shore to reach the mandapam. The then Chief Minister M. Baktavatsalam had succeeded his predecessor – Congress President K. Flew with Kamaraj and visited cyclone affected areas. The priest recalls that hours before the cyclone hit the island, veteran film star Gemini Ganesan, who was on a pilgrimage, had left Dhanushkodi.
Missing Link Road
After the destruction of Dhanushkodi it came to be called a “ghost town”. From there only fishermen will enter the sea. Pilgrims also used to go there to offer offerings to their ancestors. With the only mode of transport no longer available, pilgrims could reach Mukundarayar Chathiram only on four-wheelers.
Tourists visit the ruins of Dhanushkodi Church, which has become a popular spot for photographs and selfies. , Photo Credit: L Balachander
Another consequence of the 1964 disaster was that the central government decided to slow down the implementation of the Sethusamudram Shipping Canal Project. Sensing his attitude, the Congress government of Tamil Nadu had also offered to acquire land, construct buildings and appoint administrative and technical staff to improve communications in the cyclone-affected areas. After some time, the Sri Lankan government did not give its consent to conduct some tests for the project. The project is still in limbo, although a serious bid was made to revive the project after almost 40 years.
Dhanushkodi finally got a road link in July 2017, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the 9.5 km long road (5 km from Mukuntrayar Chathiram to Dhanushkodi and 4.5 km from Dhanushkodi to Arichal Munai) laid by the central authorities at a cost of about ₹. Announced. 70 crores.
Officially called the Missing Link Road, the two-lane corridor with paved shoulders on both sides is built on a sandy bed. This has provided the much-needed impetus to the development of tourism, and every day, hundreds of cars and vans ply the road, drawing tourists and pilgrims to the beautiful strip of land located along the sea. Since waves from both the seas repeatedly hit the road, the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has constructed a gabion wall to protect it from sea erosion. However, engineers are facing a new challenge of clearing the sand dunes that are often deposited on the road due to wind.
Kavitha, a fisherman who stays here during the day to cook food for her husband and children who go to sea for fishing, points out the buried structure of the old railway station. Only three tall stone pillars and a stone building remain left near the railway station, which have now become a popular spot for photographs and selfies. Shopkeepers display photographs of the ruins of Dhanushkodi – the remains of a church, housing units and the old post office.
The lighthouse which was built in Dhanushkodi in 2022 Photo courtesy: L Balachander
As an additional tourist attraction, the Directorate of Lighthouses and Lightships installed a massive lighthouse in 2022 at a site close to the dilapidated railway station. The view from the top of the 49 meter lighthouse tower is amazing. The ever-increasing number of tourists has resulted in the opening up of many small roadside eateries and shops selling shellfish items, especially in Dhanushkodi and Arichal Munai, the tip of Rameshwaram Island. The Dhanushkodi-Arichal Munai Road, which is closed for tourists after 4.30 pm, has the potential to serve as an airstrip to help land planes during emergency situations, an engineer says , further suggesting that the road should be strengthened.
The central government, keen to revive the rail link to Dhanushkodi, launched a project in March 2019 with Mr Modi laying the foundation stone for the construction of a 17-km long broad-gauge track. However, the ambitious plan to relay the railway track till Dhanushkodi has hit a wall.
During a survey, railway officials found that a new road built up to Dhanushkodi had encroached on railway land. Additionally, officials were wary of intrusion of sea water and sand dunes on the Missing Link Road, which could cause disruption to rail movement. A study has suggested building an elevated structure to protect the tracks from sea water and sand. However, this led to a manifold increase in the project cost, which increased from ₹208.3 crore to ₹733.91 crore. Even though railway officials were confident of land acquisition, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav announced in Parliament in July 2023 that the Tamil Nadu government had requested the Center to drop the project as the alignment was passing through an “ecologically sensitive area”.
monument in neglect
A concrete structure built in 1999 to commemorate those who lost their lives in 1964 has fallen into ruins due to gross neglect. It was inaugurated by the then Governor of Tamil Nadu, Fathima Beevi, at the old bus terminal of Mukuntharayar Chathiram. The granite floor is broken and the tiles are uprooted. Even on the marble plaque the letters are barely visible.
However, with the discussion on resumption of passenger ferry service between Rameshwaram and Talaimannar during the recent visit of Sri Lankan President Anura Kumar Dissanayake to New Delhi, a ray of hope has been shown to the pilgrims and tourists with regard to reviving the glorious past. Gives. Island city.
published – December 22, 2024 07:03 am IST
