Faith and Life
Last weekend, I had been on a pilgrimage with my family to Rameswaram. I have heard that Rameswaram is supposedly the biggest temple in India, although I haven’t been able to confirm that. The highlight of the pilgrimage was that we had to take bath in, or rather poured a bucket of, water from each of 22 wells in the temple. The other highlight was the Meenakshi temple in Madurai which has 1011 statues.
Rameswaram is an island and is connected to the mainland through the Pamban bridge which is a structure of beauty.
According to the Ramayana, Rama and his followers built a bridge (sethu) from Rameswaram to Sri Lanka using stones, crossed the ocean and then he rescued his wife Sita from the demon king Ravana, Lord of Sri Lanka. On his successful return to Rameswaram, a lingam was installed and Rama worshipped Lord Shiva to absolve himself of the crime of killing Ravana. This lingam is one of the reasons why Rameswaram is considered a holy place for Hindu devotees.
In the long journey between Madurai and Rameswaram, I wrote a poem (if I can call it that):
Life is about breaking out… Breaking from the routine Breaking out from what is expected Breaking out from your own expectations Who knows where life’s journey leads to But maybe it doesn’t matter As long as you make your choices And have no regrets.
Life is about freedom… Freedom to choose Freedom to live the life you dream of Freedom to help your friends Freedom to keep your family happy Freedom to have a philosophy Freedom to live by your rules.
Life is like music… Every song has its appeal So do opportunities Every tune has its rhythm So does our family Every lyrics has its meaning So do our values Every album has its genre Such as our nation Every beat has a pulse Such as each day Every song has a beginning and an end Life is like that What matters is how you feel when the song is ending
May 3rd, 2005 at 10:04 pm
kapi varyarige Ughe! Ughe!!
May 3rd, 2005 at 10:06 pm
BTW, nice photos of the sea
May 4th, 2005 at 11:30 am
I did not know geeks wrote poetry.. The photos are good. I too want to go now.
May 4th, 2005 at 11:31 am
Nice pics. Keep it going
May 4th, 2005 at 11:44 am
Geeky change…
Life is about freedom… Freedom to choose [free software]
May 4th, 2005 at 11:49 am
Swaroop, you have written a wonderful poem.Might be you must explore that side of yours more.Keep up the good spirit, dude.
May 4th, 2005 at 2:40 pm
Thats a lovely poem, this is a truly successful attempt at not attempting the lyrical poetry u used to write, once upon a time… I especially liked the last stanza.
PS: convey my “Hi” to ur sis
May 4th, 2005 at 6:56 pm
Nice poem Swaroop. the pics are really great. Looks like a fun trip overall.
May 5th, 2005 at 1:07 am
Really nice photos ,I’m inspired to higher realms
May 5th, 2005 at 6:16 am
@Pkg: Thanks. I really liked the beach and the sea, and I think I’m getting pretty good at point-and-click photography
@Kiran: I am not a geek! Anyway, yes, the photo has come out well.
@Ram: Thanks
@Shuveb: Geeky as ever
@Badri: Thanks for the encouragement!
@Vineetha: I was tempted to ‘edit’ the poem to make it ‘better’ but I decided to leave the original words as it is and didn’t want to lose the original flow of thoughts.
@Jag: Thanks
@Puranjay: Thanks
May 5th, 2005 at 11:04 am
Good place and photos, intellectual post.
best wishes
May 5th, 2005 at 11:39 am
Yeah, i have been there .. its a nice place… a bit crowded but loved the temples and the view from the temples.. there is a point where you can see Sri Lanka ..
May 5th, 2005 at 12:41 pm
wonderful poem swaroop…esp the first paragraph…i htought i saw someone reply to u sayin that everything should b free, all software included…if that happens, bangalore and all of us will b out of work and back to layin bricks..lol…there should b some stuff free and some stuff for money…otherwise this world and our lives will never be better…thats my 2 cents of advise/comments…cheers guys -hemanth
PS: the snow just melted here and its gettin hot with +10C temperatures…
May 5th, 2005 at 12:45 pm
Nice!
May 5th, 2005 at 1:26 pm
I enjoyed see the photos of the temple and reading what you had to say about your trip. It was very interesting. Thanks :¬)
May 5th, 2005 at 2:04 pm
Very nice poems …
-cheers Hagrid
May 5th, 2005 at 3:57 pm
Wow! The bridge is amazing! And I loved the pictures of the water… so clear and crisp and tempting. I’m not a temple person, but may just want to go there only to go across the bridge!
May 6th, 2005 at 12:30 pm
Nice poem…Especially the first para…Its so true!!!
May 7th, 2005 at 10:01 am
@Aakash: Thanks
@Pallavi: I heard that point is just 22 km away from Sri Lanka!
@Hemanth: He never said everything should be free software, he just said we have freedom to choose free software. Please read carefully before replying.
@Sarika: Yeah, definitely go there sometime!
@Kiran, @Celeste, @Hagrid, @Pushpavani: Thank you all
May 9th, 2005 at 7:21 pm
Good stuff dude .. keep travelling ..
May 10th, 2005 at 12:42 pm
Beautiful pics ! Liked the poem too ..especially the following two lines :
Every song has a beginning and an end Life is like that
So true !
May 10th, 2005 at 2:37 pm
Well, good stuff dude.. i liked the travel part.. life is good the way it is.. don bother to redefine it… hehe..
May 13th, 2005 at 5:49 pm
hmmm cool photos except tht solo one of yours.. I actually cudn’t make out tht you were smilin until i read your note below :-))…. N Looks like you r having lot of fun even now. I thght with the busy schedules you must have stopped those so called “trekking n travelling”. N the poem is really gud but then dun try another one on the same lines (
) coz you’ll end up with the same poem agn.. hee hee..
anyways cya later!!! 
May 18th, 2005 at 9:56 am
Hi Swaroop,
Nice pics, nice poem. You express yourself unpretentiously and openly, and that’s great. Keep writing more poetry!
Ashok
May 18th, 2005 at 10:22 pm
@Mekin, Vidya, Krish, Sushma: Thank you for all your words
@Ashok: Thanks, it had been a long time since I had written from-the-heart
May 24th, 2005 at 7:32 pm
Woah! Is Madurai so beautiful? I’m from that place (almost!) and I didn’t even know. Should visit those temples sometime. I like the pic of the pillars. The edgy look is nice. I have trekked in Thekkadi once . You should try that sometime. : ) Amateur poet, huh? What next , Swaroop? My fave lines:
Life is like music… Every tune has its rhythm So does our family
Every beat has a pulse Such as each day Every song has a beginning and an end Life is like that What matters is how you feel when the song is ending
June 5th, 2006 at 7:08 pm
Great work,its splendid ,I was there last year and im trying to figure out the pics(adams Bridge)no trace except the NASA photo’s.But youve done a great job,this makes me feel like going bk again.