February 9th is birth day of my bike. As a tradition I take it to a short drive every year on that day. So drived to Manjeera Bird Sanctuary near Sanga Reddy.
Learning from the experience of Laknavaram trip I bought a wide-mouth water bottle , few Eno packets, biscuits and water at More-supermarket , Kukatpally.
Manjeera bird sanctuary was in my mind for a long time. I started on Pune highway. I went on a impulsive-short drive few years back at midnight and since then never really cared about it. The highway is highly boring till sangareddy comes. It might be boring, but thats the only good part of the highway whic is two way. Sangareddy , the capital of Medak District is a typical second class town. With more cement and steel shops on the highway than bakeries or restaurants. The major govt buildings like collector office , Zilla court etc etc are located on the main road and look modern for that city.
GPS helped a lot but i asked the traffic police for directions only to get confused and laugh. Been having weird encounters with traffic police of late. Anyway, the road from Sangareddy to bird sanctuary is a little bumpy but i get to see few migratory birds on the fields on either side of the road along with a couple of peacocks.Manjeera reservoir has around nine islands in it and migratory birds stay in them from around November to August. The reservoir also has crocodiles. There is a small bird museum in there. It was afternoon by the time i reached that place. A lady who works at the museum told me that the best time to see birds is at sunrise and sunset. I walked for some time on the bank of the lake. There were many tourist boats which are getting rusty.
There is a watchtower. But i dont have binoculars. ( Many travel websites are claiming that the authorities there will supply bird watching equipment along with material . The whole thing is false ).
The reservoir is wider than my horizon. I was able to see few rare birds, but could not capture them with mobile camera. Without binoculars one shall be able to watch crows , eagles and bats in that area. The museum is not that interesting. There were few lazy crocodiles in the back yard. There are more new tourist boats there. May be tourist department is studying the correlationg of rust against time.
But how could i leave without watching flock of birds in the sky. So, i decided to drive further on the Mumbai highway and return by sunset. The road be come narrow after sadasivpet. Now it is too bumpy. The traffic is not so high but the small hills the road passes through made the journey beautiful. Had lunch at Ghar restaurant and i was heading towards zaheera bad.
Adolescent to an old reliance petrol pump, there is a gathering. There were two tents before which people gathered and there were all types of vehicles parked there. When i made inquiry, i was told that , its snack point, where the tea tastes good and no one leaves the place without having minimum three cups of tea. That information is too much for the lover of chai in me. The whole setup is two small huts. Due to heavy inflow of customers its impossible to do business without token system. I fought for the token, then for chai, but got disappointed with the tea. Its just normal tea, with more milk. May be , i become a conservative and cant accept any tea except irani and black.
I drove ahead , i want to stop some where and sit, the bumpy and patchy road agreeing with me, but the small mountains and open lands asked me to continue the drive. There was a road to the right side and without thinking much i went on that way to explore. There is a little pond, but its ugly when i went near. There is small village , Chintagutta. Its like a small settlement with a church at its center. They appeared to be skeptical of me, but didnt ask me any questions. I had a chai, paid the bill and started back.When i reached the Bird Sanctuary, i was stopped by the watchman. He told me that the sanctuary will be closed after 5 PM and visitors are not allowed after that. Apparently the visitor timings are from 10 AM to 5 PM. But he asked me to come next day morning and he would allow me inside. Then he went on and asked me to use his name "Narasinga rao" for reference he didnt show up next day morning. Probably he was expecting money from me. I appreciated his offer and returned home.
In the name of tourism, lakhs were spent on that Bird Sanctuary , for buying boats and maintaining that museum. But a watchman could mess with all that. Well, that is the power of bureaucracy.While returning, i came across small hotel, covered with bamboo sticks and owned by the doctor of adjustment super specialty hospital. The tea is good and interiors are amazing.
And returned home.
