Kolanupaka

Its about 80 KM from Hyderabad. For a long time me and Raju wanted to visit that place.

That day i woke up late , when i looked out the sky was cloudy , i called Raju and he said fine. Venu joined us.

As always with most of the single day trips, we started from the cafe, then went for petrol. The traffic was less, with just a couple of stops for chai, we reached kolanupaka by 2PM or so. To reach that place, one has to take left turn at Aleru, cross the railway gate and then right. The road was not so good from Aleru to Kolanupaka, but manageable.

Kolanupaka Jain Temple , also known as Kulpkji temple for Hindi speaking people, belongs to 10th century and of first Jain theerthakara Rishaba.

It was renovated and reopened in 2008. I am not sure, why a temple, only visited mostly by north indians , needs such big gates, with insanely big locks. Mobiles, cameras, jackets and helmets are not allowed in the temple, so could not any pics inside.

When i entered, there is a board asking visitors not to visit the place in black cloths. Luckily , security personnel are lenient about that. Two rock elephants welcomed us to the temple complex. The complex has three temples, there were no guides, no priests to tell us anything. According to wikipedia, Rishaba must be there, and i was not sure, which temple belongs to him, because, even warnings are written in Hindi, the security guard inside the temple the doesnot know Telugu or English and its hard to comprehend what he is speaking.



 

 

Ritually, we covered all three temples one after another, without having any knowledge. But there is one thing to be noticed, after renovation, most of the wall sculptures belongs to Lord Vishnu. Surely, Jainism didnt really get mixed in Hinduism yet and the process is still on.

So far i was bored with that place. At the exit, there is a library, but its closed, so there is no way , i can know more about the temple. We collected our things and came out to encounter a Jhatkawala who asked us to have a ride.

There is a Sivalayam and a Museum in the to-do list. I thought it would be fun to ride in that, everybody said OK, so we got ourselves a jhatka, The Jhatkawala , Maisayya, gave the reins to me and taught me how to ride it. It was very easy than i anticipated. To make the horse go left , pull the left rein, same with the right, to make it stop,  pull both the reins.

So we reached someswara swamy temple, which is in ruins. The place is cluttered with damaged and unfinished statues.  We did not get to see the actual temple, but we covered everything , above, below and on the both the sides of it. We got into Jhatka, me driving again, returned to the temple. Apparently, many Marwadis visit that place, and they have a cottage there. And they are building a new temple, right behind the original one.

Amala Akkineni, visited that place, and our Jhatkawala had a photo with her. He keeps it in his wallet, like old hindi heroes keep their wife pictures. I dont know if Hero Nagarjuna keeps her pic in his wallet or not but the Jhatkawala does.

I proposed to have a tea, but Raju was hungry so we decided to have lunch. We have crossed Aleru, and police stopped us to show the papers. We bargained with him and paid a 100 for lack of license and insurance. Then we stopped at Peddakandukuru, to have a tea. This is the small hotel, i ritually visit whenever i go by that way. Simply because i like the painting on the wall there.

We tried emu dish for lunch, that was a total disaster. Then heavy rain struck us, luckily we reached Bibi Nagar by then and took shelter in a cafe. Then i remembered that , we forgot visiting the museum there.

 When rain struck us again, we were at boduppal and this time used a petrol bunk to cover our heads. Finally reached the cafe where we have started at around 9PM.




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Pillala Marri

When I was a kid I liked the comic strip called " Mantrala marri chettu". I used think if such a tree with magical powers can be real or not. I could not find the magic tree but I found the tree which satisfies physical description mentioned in the comics.
 
I went on this trip in 2010, so, forgot most of the details except that I have touched 110KMPH for the first time and gave lift to one old guy and two school kids. The road is beautiful and wide. The highway was newly constructed by GMR. With many designed bus stands and truck lay by , the highway is convenient for long drivers.

The destination is about 100KM from Hyderabad. The route from mahaboobnagar to pillala marri is a real beauty. I wished I was a pillion rider to enjoy the surroundings more. The famous pillalamarri is a large banyan tree occupying four acres of land. The tree has so many branches ,its impossible to locate the main trunk.

That's all I could remember about the trip. The significance of this trip is, its my first birthday-special-drive. Since then, I have started to go on a drive on every birthday.

Manjeera Bird Sanctuary

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.

Laknavaram

For a long time, a friend of mine is making plans to go there. I have seen the pictures of it, there is a lake and a hanging bridge.
Its around 220KM from Hyderabad. 80 KM from warangal. One fine day, I packed things and started off. But I forgot one thing, I.e there was a Telangana Bandh on that day. Every petrol bunk got crowd. I thought of filling the tank at outskirts. But the bandh was strictly implemented at the outskirts, so I had to return after reaching Ghatkeskar.
After two days I embarked on the journey again. It's a four lane road initially, then  single lane. Had breakfast at ghatkeskar. Then stopped at Pedda Kandukur for another cup of tea. The lady at the hotel told me that there is a villages called Chinna Kandukur after that. Don't know why there are so many villages named kandukur in Andhra Pradesh. I made a mental note to learn the meanings of village names and nomenclature of them.
Soon the road become a little more narrow and traffic is building up. " Yelo yelo vennela " song from the movie Eka veera is soothing my heart. But it didn't help preventing the gas formation in my tummy. Bought pantop 40 mg and Eno. Now I need a glass of water to make Eno. Halted at APTDC restaurant. A typical restaurant from tourism department. They treat tourists like terrorists. They will hide inside refusing to come out and will shout "not available " without coming out.
After an hour I reached Warangal. The town is bigger than I remembered.  The replicas of famous kakatiya toranam are everywhere. A typical second class town. The cosmopolitan students of NIT are easy to spot in the town.
I became too lazy to open google maps and find route to laknavaram, so I asked a traffic police for directions, he told me something, his colleague said something else, then they both discussed and finalized on which direction I should go. I missed a theater where I had to turn right and went ahead. After driving for 20 min I asked school kids and they have corrected my path. Time is around 1:30 in the afternoon and acid quantity in my tummy is going up. I stopped at a bakery, bought some food and soft drinks and enquired for the facilities at laknavaram. He doesn't even know the place. I became skeptical on the route I am driving, so stopped near two traffic constables. They saw me and saluted me. I wasn't really sure what to do next. I never received a salute before. This time the directions are very clear. I have to go through Mulugu Road.
The boy at petrol bunk told me that, there are restaurants at laknavaram. So postponed lunch till I reach my destination. I passed the village mulugu and went ahead. Somewhere on this road I have to take right turn and asked fellow traveller on the road. All they could tell me is " after some distance". I asked a shepherd, but he is not local and can't even speak telugu. I followed a scooter who showed me the path. Name of the village where I took right turn charvak.
Laknavaram is about 10KM from Mulugu road, but the condition of the road made it look like 50km. Finally at 4PM I have reached laknavaram. A large lake surrounded by hills. A hanging bridge is constructed between main land and a tiny island. Without the bridge, the locality can easily be confused with srisailam.
I walked on the bridge, reached the island, got disappointed that the restaurant is still under construction. Heat and hunger are testing my patience.
I took few snaps and started back. The chai wallah at laknavaram told me that , tourism minister chiranjeevi is going to come next week to inaugurate the APTDC hotel in the island.  And the village will get continues power supply
Lot of dabhas at mulugu but I have decided to have food at warangal as it is getting dark already.  When I reached warangal I was shocked to observe that the town has more wine shops than ATMs. I was shocked once again, as there are only two dabhas at its outskirts.
It's already dark and I decided to use the technique which I invented in Devarakonda trip to avoid high beams. I.e to find a heavy vehicle which is going at my speed range and ride behind it. This way, high beams from vehicles coming in opposite direction won't blind me and  my headlight covers the distance between me and the heavy vehicle effectively. This technique works great on single lanes at night. The only problem is finding a vehicle which maintains constant speed.
Had biryani at some dabha on the way home and finished the trip safely.

RachaKonda Fort

After kondapally trip I started searching for the nearby forts. That's how I came across  Rachakonda.
Tried to visit that place but nobody shown much interest towards it. One fine day after having hours of chatting in a cafe, we decided to shake our butts and started off to Rachakonda. The climate is lovely and too much of nicotine already excited our heads.

This time, I didn't use my bike, instead we went on a Thunderbird and an Avenger.

Rachakonda fort area is only 40KM from where I live, need to deviate from Ibrahimpatnam  on sagar road. We started the journey placing trust on Google Maps. Google took us there, but made us go through every possible road type which India have,  except ghat road. Complaints aside, we enjoyed the country side, one old guy going in the same route asked me lift, I accepted , hoping to have a nice little chat with the local guy who can tell rumors related to the fort, unfortunately he is not local.

When we reached the village Rachakonda, villagers stopped us to enquire. When we said we came there just to see the fort, they asked us , " to see fort or to dig holes" with a pinch of sarcasm and harshness. I became skeptical and confused with their behavior. But the villagers showed the  way  to the fort with out talking much.

I was really taken aback by the sheer size of the fort area. It's bigger than Golconda and surrounded by mountains in green. The fort occupied not less than 3 hills. We started taking pics. The old guy who came with us felt a little camera-shy but later became comfortable. He said he has to go 4 more KMs through the mountains to reach his village. My heart wanted to go with him through that route, but it's not my bike and I highly doubt my friends will support my idea.

We went up the hill as far as bikes can take us, parked them there and started walking.
There is no visible route to the fort. We are lucky , there was a cowboy ( No hats, guns and horses , a boy who watches his herd ) who showed us the way.

The steep of the hill is too challenging, actually it depressed me. Seems there are seven doors to the fort and there are seven lakes on the hill. If only our ancestors had radar technology they could have built the forts on the level ground, and I don't have to blame myself for not going to gym. Alas, life is cruel .

Cowboy warned us to get down before dark because of snakes. It's already 4:30 PM , so we have decided to come back by sunset.

After passing through two gates out of seven, my heart started thumping like engine of a bullet, my friends were talking and taking pictures but I started comparing the Enfield beat and my heart beat.
Slowly, my heart started beating as if I am riding a bike on high gear. After 3rd gate, I proposed a halt and thankfully everybody accepted. Finished our snacks and soft drinks, and started descending.
When we got down, we came across two constructions, I guessed that they are kind of motels for visitors in the old days. But the sculptures and finishing on walls are too beautiful for motels. Probably , they are dancing halls. Anyway, their architecture is marvelous, even Golconda didnt have anything like that.

The cow boy who showed is the way, was still there and started small talk with us. We started asking about the holes the villagers mentioned, apparently there is treasure in the fort and treasure hunters come and dig holes in the night. Then he showed a pit, which was dug  last night. Hearing that, the ugly character of Good , Bad and Ugly woke up in me, that ugly guy is responsible for irritating my close friend for next two weeks for treasure maps, only because he belongs to same caste the kings of Rachakonda belonged to.

It's almost sunset, this time we enquired the route to Hyderabad, not trusting Google maps and reached city through a Manchal route which is far better than the way we chosen in the afternoon.


 As usual, we ended the trip in the same cafe we started. Just 5 hrs short trip, but no part of it is remotely boring .

Narsapur Lake

It is one place despite being very near to hyderabad and has all the things a rider wants to see. Decent roads, hills, tribals, a lake and forest.

Its about 40 KM from ameerpet. The lake is beautiful in rainy season, but interesting in summer.

The first time I went to the lake was in summer. The lake has shrunken to 10% of its area. I was able to drive in the dried area. The dry area is covered with some kind of silver colored hard shells, like stars in the sky. White colored cranes are opening the shells and eating the creatures in side. I am no biologist, so I cant tell what those shells are. But they are hard to break and the flesh inside is smelly.

One could drive up on the dam, which ends abruptly. But the farm lands beside it are mystical. I have observed some girls coming down to the dam from the lee side of the hill attached to it. So me and my bike ecplored the way and went down to the farms. There is road through them towards the bigger hills near by lake.

That road will lead to a tiny village of not more than 10 huts. Seems cattle grazing is the lucrative career there. But, amazed to see that almost every hut is equipped with DTH. Yes, india is shining.
After crossing that village, I came across another village, which is better than the previous village. There is a short cut from this village to the main road. Sorry, I dont recall the names of the villages,  but the second one belongs to lambadi tribe.

When I went to the lake second time in rainy season, it took me sometime to find a proper route to the lake through the village.