Trip to Araku

Its an epic trip. An Impulsive road trip with bunch of acquaintances, it involved GrayHound cops , unbearable heat, exceeding expenditures, ad hoc planning, adventure and tribal hunters.


It all started with a lie

Uday and Sridhar ran away on Sreekanth's pulsar. We have decided to chase them and catch them. I just came to hyderabad on saturday after one week of ordeal in east and west godavari districts.

Uday called me on friday night when i was at vijayawada bus station and asked me if i am interested to join them for a road trip. If i was ok, then they would pick me at vijayawada. Without second thoughts , i declined the offer. First they want to me roam in the same region i was escaping. Second reason is, these people are car-people.

On sunday i started getting calls again for the trip. News was, uday and sridhar started off their trip on saturday night, reached vijayawada and washing clothes at a local park, It was decided that a rescue team must start from hyderabad, i got invitation to participate.They have lured me by saying  "on bikes". Thats the keyword, bike, after couple of thoughts i said yes.

Later, uday called me in the evening, and convinced me that car is economical than bike. I really didn't understand his explanation. But i know that he is a long driver .. I felt honored to get invitation. And , there is already a bike there, except srikanth all of them are small, i can muscle them out and take the bike if needed, i think i can beat srikanth too.  But would not i be cheating my bike?

It become 7PM , YS Jagan Mohan Reddy was arrested, telugu channels started terrorising by saying NH9 is blocked. Nobody was sure if the trip is on or not. But i really want to see the polished, always-formal-dressing, a-man-with-style, who-hates-country , Uday, washing clothes in a park!! Thats something hard to imagine. Finally, the boys arrived, we have so much of luggage which can support a family with kids. We loaded up water at home, adjusted the luggage and set our journey. I was little skeptical on how much longer we can go before we hit traffic jam, but there was none. Clearly, telugu news media cant be trusted. First stop was Green Bawarchi.. After our stomachs and petrol tank are full, then become the phone calls one more time. This time, to all the other guys. I suppose they are convincing their girls on this trip. But i have my phone, my new phone , with shiny black finishing. With 1GHz processor its running smooth, and GPS gets locked in less than 5 seconds.

NH 9  was still under construction then. They are turning the single lane into six lane. Its been a long time, i got myself on it. Last time, when i was on it, i was almost got hit by two lorries and one scorpio. I was really scared of that highway. Its Manohar who is driving. I trust his driving, no sudden turns, no loud music, no aggressiveness and no racing. Our vehicle is Maruthi Wagon R. I dont know much about cars, but this car is not for me. I dont even fit in that. Except that complaint, its a decent car i guess.

I was checking my phone, listening to music and lost in thoughts then dozed off. I woke up with some sounds. It took me a while, to understand that, those are made by manohar , to warn srikanth not to check sms while driving. Cant blame srikanth, he is newly engaged, but made a mental note, not to sleep while srikanth is behind the wheel. In vijayawada we made a wrong turn, i was busy tweeting about my new phone. Aravind was calling the whole night. He was not part of the trip, but Uday and Sridhar are on the way to rajahmundry. Aravind was in rajahmundry then and made arrangements for us in rajahmundry. I have added sridhar on google latitude and checking their locations.

Circling Rajahmundry central jail

Our black car and sun rised in rajamandry almost at the same time. Rajamandry, on the banks of river godavari, athis holy place is a large steam bathtub in summer. Step out of AC and fog accumulates on the glasses. Kerchiefs get wet, shirts get wet , the whole body leaks sweat and there is no way to quench the thirst. Its so irritating and i could not forgive myself for coming into the steam bath with in two days. But, i got my new phone. . I was busy removing sweat off my nose and taking pictures with 5MP camera.

We made halt at Dhavaleswaram bridge. River Godavari runs through the yellow sands. I guess, the heat damaged our brains or else why would we jump the fence to go to the river bank in that heat. I was trying to

remember songs on Godavari, but due to heat, its the railway announcement for Godavari Express that came to mind, that too in all three languages.After a long photo session on the banks, we started off. From here onwards , , wherever i mention photo session, i am praising the photography of the satish

. Manohar could not stand the heat anymore , even with car air conditioner. He removed his shirt and driving. Thanks to his manners , he stopped with shirt. I have checked the last location of sridhar, it was near rajahmundry central jail. Called him and uday, no response. We started curcumfencing the central jail for lodges where these guys might have checked in. Meanwhile we started having breakfast. The hotel was a large hut , where customers are allowed pour sambar as much as they like from a big bowl. I liked the concept, it would have been  great if they had extended the same offer to tea.

After an hour or so, sridhar called us and gave the address, we went to the lodge, adjusted the whole luggage in the car. Still i have no clue on how manohar was able to fit a luggage weighing mountain in that car. And there is bike parked in front of the lodge, getting it for my self was not so hard then. Everybody wants to get in car except me and uday. Now we are six members, uday, sridhar, srikanth, manohar , satish and me. Sridhar and satish are friends but they are two opposite poles of talking. Satish wont start and sridhar wont stop.

Our next destination is medical college on highway, where aravind was arguing with the clerk to get his certificates. We met him, had a smoke and few soft drinks, then resumed the journey again. Next destination is araku.

On the way to araku, beside the road, we came across a big statue of swami vivekananda. Well, it got to be him ,

nobody used that posture and that color. Uday said ok , so we made a detour to the statue. Its on a small hill, and the statue is about 30 feet height. We exchanged our bookish knowledge for sometime then came down. The road is wide, air is humid and sun is trying to burn us, there is no cloud to give us some protection. Somehow , i drive fast in humid regions, to escape the sweat or because i feel unleashed whenever i am on a trip, i cant say but, i was going fast. First time, i got good impression on pulsar, i touched 90 KMPH but the bike was going smooth. after some time came down to my normal speed.We reached a village called "Murari", which is the name of a movie in Tollywood.

===NH5====

I have never traveled on that road before. Its a wide road, guarded by eastern ghats. The mountains are still green, while me and uday, coming slowly stopping wherever we feel like, the car-boys were impatiently waiting near annavaram toll-gate , in a mango garden. I was learned htat, sridhar had convinced the owner that no fruit will be plucked. And we kept his promise.

The teams have changed from here, manohar and sridhar took the bike and rest in the car. But their luck was bad. Within 10 min , there is a heavy rain and wind is blowing people out of road. Everybody stopped where they were. There were change in plans due to heavy rains, we went to the nearby village to have Mirchi. After that , we started again, the aim was to reach araku before night falls. But it was already 4 PM then.  We have added each other on Google latitude, so there are no more where-are-you-i-am-here calls.

I was enjoying the drive except for music. There guys really have a crappy taste when it comes to music. And they find my music-taste boring. But no worries, i have my phone. I was busy tweeting, taking pics and browsing. When it became night, we were not even close to vizag and no idea how long it will take to reach Araku.

We had to make another halt at pendurthi, a small junction before reaching visakhapatnam. We were all hungry, as cigarettes does nothing to hunger. Manohar went for shaving. There we had shopping.

The road is wet, bumpy and its night. Precisely, the right combination I dislike. But can't refuse the offer to bike-riding. After all, that's my thing. This time, Sridhar is accompanying me. He was a radio jockey at his home town. Considering his talkative nature, he must be a successful RJ. I proposed a singing competition, not that I am good at singing but to I want to let the villagers acknowledge our presence with raised eyebrows.

It was like driving in graveyard.  The trees guarding the border line between fields and road. Rain must have heavily poured there a couple of hours before. With hills watching over us as we zoom in, the movie " Hills have eyes" flashed in mind. I told myself that govt of India never conducted nuclear tests in that area. And the knowledge of anthropology assured me that tribals in that area are not cannibals. But still civilization is miles away, that thought never comforted me.

The fallen branch which blocked sixty percent of the road added fuel my thoughts. I have slowed down for the car to catch us. Everybody in the car fell asleep except uday. After we crossed the obstacle, uday told me that he would use the handbreak to stop the car and we should jump in it leaving the bike, if something happens. Well, he too must have felt the eyes of hills too.

"Why did he say so?" , sridhar asked me from behind. What can i say? I could have told him about the cannibals but I chose to gave a more realistic and less scary answer, "in case somebody attacks to rob us", gladly I didnt get the question, " who might do that?"

We woke up the watchman at a small toll-gate then took a smoke-break. The pitch dark    

blanket of clouds covered the sky, devouring us any kind of natural light. We chose to kill the artificial lights of vehicles to match with darkness of nature and started searching for matchbox to light cigarettes. When the knuckle cracking, yawning and chatter ended, we realized that we are on a small road-bridge and water is flowing underneath. We listened to it for a while and started chatting again on how beautiful everything around is. Is it beauty, or we are just talking something to keep away the graveyard silence? Cant tell.

Soon we reached a village, where shops are about to be closed. While having little chat with the shopkeeper who served us badam milk, he asked " How could a bunch of guys enjoy Araku without lady-companionship?" It looks as if he could arrange that if only we asked him. Luckily, none of us asked him.

                                              A roof over the head 

No rooms available at Tyda APTDC hotel, the manager or watchman who ever he was assured us that rooms will be available at the next place. Driving on a ghat road at night is more trickier than at day. Light beam from other vehicles will warn us about the opposite vehicles but unlike in day , its hard to estimate the surroundings.

There in only one room available at Anantagirihills APTDC hotel but they checkout is 8 AM and the room rent is Rs 1800. We decided to test our luck at Araku which is 25KM away.This time me and manohar took the bike. It became hard for him to ride on ghat with a heavy man in the back. I guess for the first time, my weight helped me.

It was a non-stop journey till Araku. Its past midnight by the time we reached araku. All the boys except for me , uday and manohar were sleeping. Me and manohar went to a lodge to enquire, returned disappointed, and started searching for another lodge. But the car is not with us, we went back to check what happened, . We found the car with lights and engine on and everybody including uday were asleep. I woke him up and made him sit on bike while manohar took the wheel.

Finally got in to a cheap lodge, the room is little dirty , and can accommodate only two people. Nobody was in a mood to complain, we checked in, plugged in mobile chargers, decided to wake up at 8AM and started snoring.

To my shock, others in lodge are already playing cards with alcohol early in the morning. While we are having breakfast at the small hotel, uday and srikanth went to the APTDC hotel opposite to our lodge. For one hour rest of us were eating whatever is available to eat and these two didn't show up. We were losing time and I was losing patience and prepared a search team as there is no cellphone signal n that area.

Satish and sridhar went inside to "fetch" them, but they too disappeared. The hotel is too big with a swimming pool. I am sure, if I get in there, after sometime, everybody would be searching for everybody. So I stayed out. Srikanth and uday came out after finishing their photo session in different angles and poses at a same location. I felt irritated, because just before breakfast we have discussed the plan for that day and they have spoiled it. But, at that time, I gave all of them only " acquaintance" status, so could not display my irritation.

We threw everything back in the car. I have heard stories on how manohar packs for a trip, and all of them are true. We had, torch lights, many pillows, many blankets , one water can, multiple phone chargers, 6 spare cell phones, pens, books, stove ( they told me that sridhar would cook upma, but it didnt happen as there were no cookery) , cigarette lighters, air pillow , and many more . At Araku everybody wants to ride, I don't want to be the greedy one so I let others have the bike, so I was struck in the car with "things" around me.

Fake arrows

We headed towards "chaaparaayi" , a large granite rock with water flowing over it, and people can slide on it. Its just a big naturally formed slide and cant understand why everybody were excited about it.

Me and uday were on bike again. We stopped for cigarettes and car zoomed away. The way to chaaparayi is beautiful. We came a village called "jaipur". We took pictures of the Jaipur milestone ,joking on how everybody will be confused once the pic is uploaded to the Facebook. Little we know that the same night I would lose my phone saving Facebook friends from confusion.

I was sure that our car people didnt notice that milestone. I agree that its  safer in the car, but we would be missing lot of fun. A/C with closed windows and high music is as good as a home. And what's the point of going out if one confines self to indoors.

After Jaipur, the road gets divided. We took the left turn to go to Chaapaeaayi. Right turn leads to orissa.

Before jumping on the rock, we have ordered "Bongulo chicken ",  chicken prepared using a bamboo instead of a bowl.

I wore my new shorts which i bought a couple of hours before embarking on this trip. At once, i understood that, they are of cheap quality and wouldnot last long. So, i didnt got onto the sliding rock.  Eventually, i become the security manager for the phones and cameras. Luckily , satish also with me, so i pulled myself out of photography competition.

I started enjoying my-time. I was walking around the place, observing the people. Most of them are from nearby villages. Tall and bulky trees covered what is beyond the rock. Its hard not to see green color. Soon , an old man appeared near a tree, nailed a paper plate on it and spread out few arrows and a bow. Three arrows for Rs. 10. I tried, but none hit the paper plate which is the target. We had Bongulo-chicken, then everybody took turns to show their archery skills. None was better than me and none was hilarious than Manohar. The old-man started puffing the local made marijuana. According to him , marijuana is a local business, and police dont do much about it. Few years back, i have read that , Naxalites plant marijuana in green belt. Well, Araku is green and Araku is a naxalite area.

We started enquiring for a nice place to stay. In this context, nice means, cheap and big. And we got what we are searching for. Huts. Very large circular huts with attached toilet, built opposite to the petrol bunk at araku. They can accommodate at least 10 members and rent for one day is just Rs. 400.

                                   

                                            AK-47s

We bought alcohol, cigarettes, snacks , tea and went to a place which we found exotic on the way to araku from chaaparaayi. By the time we reached there it was around 9PM. Thanks to Manohar, we have torchlights to check our way to go down from the road to a lonely spot just to have drinks. 

 I sat facing the mountain. When i first saw Jurassic Park, i thought all mountains are hibernating dinosaurs which might wake up at anytime. As i was seeing the mountain, i thought the same for the zillianth time. The moon light was good, the silhouette of the mountain is attracting my eyes. Of course, one more thing is constantly demanding my attention, my new phone. The smooth black finishing was shining in the moon light. Everybody were taking alcohol and except me, i had chai. I expressed my wish to walk all the way down to Araku in the moon light, and sridhar hung up on that. He became adamant , Uday had to change his voice modulation, for him to abandon the idea of night walk.

We have decided to leave and started packing things. At that we heard a sound from a distance, everybody pointed torchlights in that direction, a man shouted at us to switch off the lights and about 10 people with AK - 47 guns surrounded us before we understand whats happening. The mighty assault rifiles made us to show respect for the people who are holding them. Thats a naxalite area, they could be naxalites, or police. One fellow said "Sir, they had drinks", the usage of the word sir assured me that, they are not bandits at least. They started questioning if we had any girls with us. Then they revealed that they are from greyhounds, a subdivision of AP police to tackle naxalites.

Luckily, the profession of Dr. Uday, created a good impression. The man leading them , was not rude to us but a little harsh. After few minutes, a police next to me started talking to me, in a non-threatening way. Suddenly, the SI become cool and started patronizing us. I was expecting that, they would ask bribe, but they left. We started resuming the packing but our brains still working to comprehend what had happened. Then i have realized that my phone is missing. I was holding it when Greyhounds came, but didnt thought about it since then. After painfully unpacking everything, we concluded that the phone is missing and Greyhounds might have nicked  it. I doubt the police who talked to me.

On the way back to hotel, we stopped at the railway gate and waiting for the train to go. The local Jeep fellows told us that, the greayhounds noted the car on the road with twigs on it and stopped at half a KM distance and tracked us. So, for sure they knew we are civilians.

Everybody become silent and uday asked if i get attached to my gadgets. It took all my willpower from not to laugh at his face. His intention is to console me a bit, and i have to respect it, i said no, and turned my face to window to exhale the smoke and laugh.

There were cement benches forming a circle before our hut, we sat there smoking and drinking for sometime, while everybody was trying to either console me or trying to create a hope to find the phone in the morning. Its hard to digest pity, when you dont feel hurt. I sat there patiently , listening to their kind-words, and thinking how to manage my credit card bill which went high and what mobile i should buy next. I took sridhar phone,

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.




. 

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 .