Today was my first sunrise after years and still all looked so fresh, bright... so very own and while looking straight in Sun's eyes I found it asking me where have you been all this long, look at your self what have you done to yourself... are you the same footballer who would race against me to start the game... trying to frame an excuse.. I received a phone call from one of my friend.. "We have started... reach Lifestyle... 15 min" I said to myself ... I don't want to get late and changed gears to get ready.. but then years of lethargy and indiscipline can not just go like that.. while I was tying my shoe laces, I received my second call .. I straight away said.. will take take 5 min, on my way.. pat came the reply do u have MP3s on disk... anything will do... Dude I've them.. but not on CDs, will flash drive work??... No, there is no USB port here !! OK forget it we are right here at your doorsteps, so come out :) I had to wish all of them with a sheepish grin... while on car we truly appreciated things which are truly pluggable .. just plug them and play.. the discussion wavered between MP3s to flash drives to SD Card to Eclipse IDE to People. Yes people, we discussed how things have changed from past.. how simple it is for us to move any where.. how is it just a mind thing to feel about your gali, your city, your country.. your world.. and how adaptability is one of the most relevant and required skill in today's world.. we moved in a petrol station.. and snap came another wish to power our cars with electricity.. well as the with idea... we had a long way to go ..
It was two hours now that we were driving and though none of us really felt hungry.. we definitely needed a stretch break, after some coffee and fresh dollops of idlis we were ready for hitting the road again... where is Kondu? he was missing ! where did he go, some one said look him in the trees.. 'National Geographic ke liye koi video bana raha hoga..' Meet Kondu, a self-taught digital photogrpahy enthuthiast who loves to capture nature in all its forms and shapes.. he has panache for creating abstract images, speaks very less but has sharp observation... we got hold of him and stuffed him on the front seat to allow him to take photos while on move...
Another one hour and we reached the dam site... it felt so good to be there.. we straight away headed to wards the security post to walk over the dam.. alas we were stopped on grounds of security.. this is one of the side effect of terrorism.. it has simply spoilt the whole trust thing and has taken out the fun out of tourism... nevertheless the cops were really very polite and guided us about the dam site and other places to visit in close proximity. There description of the boat trip to an island in the third largest man-made reservoir heightened our spirits again and we rushed for the launch site.. on our way we crossed the spring bridge right in front of the dam... it truly majestic. The dam in all its glory stood there to provide irrigation to large portion of the state. The thoughts rushing in my head was how big can u think to create such an engineering marvel which affects lives of so many people bringing them happiness and prosperity.. as a souvenir of the place I stored lung full of fresh air gushing through my nostrils standing atop the bridge that provided 360 degree of the Krishna valley... I was happy.
"Time to move now the boat trip starts at 12" meet Saujanya our time keeper a post graduate in English Literature, who would rather prefer to slaughter me for my "Applied English". Learning the language might have imbibed good British habits.
OMG!! there was typical chaos a the ticket queue and only after one hour we could get our boat tickets, but then we were in time and that was reason enough for us to cheer up so we celebrated it with a dash of Sprite. Seeing the jetty coming to shores we decided to reach downstairs, guess what there was another queue to purchase museum tickets. Disgusting as it was I saw that process flaw and how revenue sharing issues must have created such a stop gap arrangement... find IT to rescue :) We could only catch next jetty at 1300 hrs. Saujanya was not amused :) we decided to take a walk around the launch site, its a small place with lots of cars parked all around this place, as it is one of they favourite weekend get-aways... you can find entire families touring he place.. with super-energetic children and tired mothers running behind them... so much fun.. such a pain.. I remember my mother telling me .. beta jab tum bade hoge tab samjhoge !! :)
An hour long boat ride we reached the Nagarjuna Konda island named after the Buddhist ruler of the area. This site was reconstructed to protect the archaeological findings from the area. The moment one steps on the island one becomes very part of it. The place is so peaceful that I wanted to stay there for the rest of my weekend. The silent lake with lush green tree line was truly blissful.
We went to the museum and learn about the Monastery, the valley model the way it looked before the dam was constructed, some how I felt deja vu about the whole thing. May be I'm there for a purpose.. OK, this was crap ;)
It was 1430 hrs and we thought of having lunch and there we find a canteen. I must confess, these tourism boards must take some steps o improve the food provided at their doorsteps. The food was pathetic and I could not eat more than one spoonful and the filthy fellow charged Rs. 60 per plate of "Veg-Biryani". The food was bad taste and unhygienic and to top it all the canteen vendor was apathetic to the whole situation... it sucks !
Upon reaching back to shores we headed towards Ettipotala waterfall which is there because of two tributaries of Krishna river emerge out of ground and fall into this gorge. I mus confess his place was straight out of jungle books. The story has it that people of the region stopped British explorers to visit the place as there is some big roar always come from the area. This place is densely covered with shrubs making it difficult to move through them, also because the rivers emerge from underground people would not have clue then in the year 1732. The lagoon is home to Lord Dattatri and goddess Madhumati. May be I will visit them next time.
Here APTDC has made some nice experiments by lighting the waterfall which was one unique experience for me. Although the music played was more of a nuisance and no way helped. May be APTDC can take cue from reality television and arrange a competition to create musical theme for the waterfall to be played at night. This way it will not only create an ambient place but also will open an opportunity for musicians to showcase their talent as a first step towards commercial success.
All the way back to Hyderabad I was thinking it is always so nice to visit places and there is still so much to do for us.
P.S. Find related photos here
It was two hours now that we were driving and though none of us really felt hungry.. we definitely needed a stretch break, after some coffee and fresh dollops of idlis we were ready for hitting the road again... where is Kondu? he was missing ! where did he go, some one said look him in the trees.. 'National Geographic ke liye koi video bana raha hoga..' Meet Kondu, a self-taught digital photogrpahy enthuthiast who loves to capture nature in all its forms and shapes.. he has panache for creating abstract images, speaks very less but has sharp observation... we got hold of him and stuffed him on the front seat to allow him to take photos while on move...
Another one hour and we reached the dam site... it felt so good to be there.. we straight away headed to wards the security post to walk over the dam.. alas we were stopped on grounds of security.. this is one of the side effect of terrorism.. it has simply spoilt the whole trust thing and has taken out the fun out of tourism... nevertheless the cops were really very polite and guided us about the dam site and other places to visit in close proximity. There description of the boat trip to an island in the third largest man-made reservoir heightened our spirits again and we rushed for the launch site.. on our way we crossed the spring bridge right in front of the dam... it truly majestic. The dam in all its glory stood there to provide irrigation to large portion of the state. The thoughts rushing in my head was how big can u think to create such an engineering marvel which affects lives of so many people bringing them happiness and prosperity.. as a souvenir of the place I stored lung full of fresh air gushing through my nostrils standing atop the bridge that provided 360 degree of the Krishna valley... I was happy.
"Time to move now the boat trip starts at 12" meet Saujanya our time keeper a post graduate in English Literature, who would rather prefer to slaughter me for my "Applied English". Learning the language might have imbibed good British habits.
OMG!! there was typical chaos a the ticket queue and only after one hour we could get our boat tickets, but then we were in time and that was reason enough for us to cheer up so we celebrated it with a dash of Sprite. Seeing the jetty coming to shores we decided to reach downstairs, guess what there was another queue to purchase museum tickets. Disgusting as it was I saw that process flaw and how revenue sharing issues must have created such a stop gap arrangement... find IT to rescue :) We could only catch next jetty at 1300 hrs. Saujanya was not amused :) we decided to take a walk around the launch site, its a small place with lots of cars parked all around this place, as it is one of they favourite weekend get-aways... you can find entire families touring he place.. with super-energetic children and tired mothers running behind them... so much fun.. such a pain.. I remember my mother telling me .. beta jab tum bade hoge tab samjhoge !! :)
An hour long boat ride we reached the Nagarjuna Konda island named after the Buddhist ruler of the area. This site was reconstructed to protect the archaeological findings from the area. The moment one steps on the island one becomes very part of it. The place is so peaceful that I wanted to stay there for the rest of my weekend. The silent lake with lush green tree line was truly blissful.
We went to the museum and learn about the Monastery, the valley model the way it looked before the dam was constructed, some how I felt deja vu about the whole thing. May be I'm there for a purpose.. OK, this was crap ;)
It was 1430 hrs and we thought of having lunch and there we find a canteen. I must confess, these tourism boards must take some steps o improve the food provided at their doorsteps. The food was pathetic and I could not eat more than one spoonful and the filthy fellow charged Rs. 60 per plate of "Veg-Biryani". The food was bad taste and unhygienic and to top it all the canteen vendor was apathetic to the whole situation... it sucks !
Upon reaching back to shores we headed towards Ettipotala waterfall which is there because of two tributaries of Krishna river emerge out of ground and fall into this gorge. I mus confess his place was straight out of jungle books. The story has it that people of the region stopped British explorers to visit the place as there is some big roar always come from the area. This place is densely covered with shrubs making it difficult to move through them, also because the rivers emerge from underground people would not have clue then in the year 1732. The lagoon is home to Lord Dattatri and goddess Madhumati. May be I will visit them next time.
Here APTDC has made some nice experiments by lighting the waterfall which was one unique experience for me. Although the music played was more of a nuisance and no way helped. May be APTDC can take cue from reality television and arrange a competition to create musical theme for the waterfall to be played at night. This way it will not only create an ambient place but also will open an opportunity for musicians to showcase their talent as a first step towards commercial success.
All the way back to Hyderabad I was thinking it is always so nice to visit places and there is still so much to do for us.
P.S. Find related photos here
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