Looks like the mansoons are finally here feeding the thirsty earth - left high and dry because of hot and humid summer- with rain water. It's great how the weather changes so quickly as if there was some kind of an alarm set- that June has come so must the rain. The first day first show also had me booked by drenching me completely on my way to the last day in Office. Yes that's right, incidentally this is my last day I would ever enter- if I don't join it again- that campus of beautiful beetle shaped red building resembling some old british fort sorrounded by rocky green landscape. While leaving I had a drop or two flowing through my eyes getting lost in the rain.
Me and my wife have planned for a getaway for the next two days. As a part of it we are going to Badrachalam and papikondalu tour through AP Tourism. Strange as it may be that the last day of summer and first day of monsoon has been chosen as a getaway when it had to be the other way round. Immediately after this tour we are going to chennai and from there to Tirupati. So that's a lot of travelling till next weekend.
At 5'o clock in the morning we reached Badrachalam in khamam dist. Haritha hotel is a building with pent house style rooms with good greenery sorrounding it. After fresh up at around 6:30 in the morning we left To the famous Ram leela temple on the banks of river Godavari.
While getting down the bus the recitation of sundarakanda soothingly reached our ears. Every year Sita Ramula kalyanam is conducted here and is visited by thousands of people. It is called as Ayodhya of Andhra Pradesh and considered one of the holiest places. But as with all the holy places this too has been choking under incessant pressure of dealing with huge public. As you can see dirt and lot of waste strewn everywhere on the walk ways with house flies making merry on them emanating an unbearable smell. It didnt seem any body cleaned it over a period of time. The shrine was atop of a small hill and invited us with 80 odd steps with beggars on either side of each step as if they were the guardians of the temple.
As we ascended step by step so did the sounds of beggars of all ages begging (amma ayya.....) for thier share of coins too ascended to unbearable decibal levels. Two of them even managed to have a tangle and fought over a coin as to whose it was that was thrown at them. The begging at its best I probably have ever seen. The main mandapam where the statues of lord Rama and Sita are kept is made of sculpted black stone. As we reached the main abode, the chantings of the peaple ( jai Sri Ram) around me rose to a crescendo and it subsided after the statues were visible. After breakfast we left to paranasala about 35 km away.
The fresh breeze of river Godavari touched our faces even as the scourching sun was beating down on our heads. With Godavari in background Parnasala looked like a small movie set out of Bapu's Sita Ramula kalyanam with various kinds of shops leading up to a temple tempting the passers by with their own specialities. There is a piece of history attached to this place though. Rama, Sita and Lakshmana were here during their last three years of 14 years vanavasam. All this has been symbolically represented here with statues of Rama, Sita, Lakshmana along with their hut and Ravana abducting her. Also there is one rock on which it seems as per the folklore Sita had dried up her 40 feet saree after her bath. The marks of that saree are visible even today. It is called as ' Nara chira guruthulu'.
The fresh breeze of river Godavari touched our faces even as the scourching sun was beating down on our heads. With Godavari in background Parnasala looked like a small movie set out of Bapu's Sita Ramula kalyanam with various kinds of shops leading up to a temple tempting the passers by with their own specialities. There is a piece of history attached to this place though. Rama, Sita and Lakshmana were here during their last three years of 14 years vanavasam. All this has been symbolically represented here with statues of Rama, Sita, Lakshmana along with their hut and Ravana abducting her. Also there is one rock on which it seems as per the folklore Sita had dried up her 40 feet saree after her bath. The marks of that saree are visible even today. It is called as ' Nara chira guruthulu'.
But one thing that stuck me is the extent of commercialization that's taking it's toll on these historical places. It clearly shows that we donot have any kind of respect and care for our own history. We as tourists just come round to have good time and take photos and forget about it after we leave. These places exist only as memories in our photo album. Those people cash in on the place popularity and set up their livlihood in these places thriving on it. But ultimately it's the place that is taking the beating with none caring for it's wellbeing. Those people thriving on it not just earn out of it but also make it dirty and filthy. In that process the rivers and ponds around are so polluted that you would shriek at the idea that Gods even bathed once here. It is hard to get any kind of devotion looking at these things.
Post lunch we took a 2 hour (75 km) drive to Pochavaram. Sandwiched between huge hills and Godavari river is Pochavaram a tribal village. From here we boarded the steamer to Papikondalu in Kollur. There was no signal in my phone here on. The guide anounced the start of the steamer. It slowly moved as if a tiger hidding in woods slowly moving to catch it's prey to give it a surprise. But our steamer never really gained speed as the level of water was pretty low. Using the depth meter it slowly traversed through the calm surface of the water cautiously wherever the depth was deep enough.
We reached the shore of Papikondalu just before sun set. Tea and Pakodas were served. Our night stay was at one of those 40 bamboo huts on the shore. Luckily we got a separate hut to stay. As the sun set the green hills turned darker like shadows of giant ghosts waiting to gobble. There was silence around except for few occasional gigles of tamilians gathered before thier hut. Should say this was one of the most unique experiences I have had until now. Huge hills on one side, Godavari on the other, no phone signals, no thinking about the world two days after. Laying down lazily on the soft sand beside our hut, looking at the crescent like moon in the dark blue sky perforated with stars, should be there to be experienced. Didnot know when I slept. Only gotup when my wife coerced me to at around 5 in the morning. We had a bath before anybody else and just walked around the shore in the pre- sun rise time. The beach of Kollur with our tourism steamer anchored, the freshness of the breeze over the still water of Godavari, our huts in hues of blue and yellow, people in it still lazily shifting in their sleep, all in all made an enticing experience. We had a chance to capture this ever so enthralling nature in our cameras.
At 8:00 after filling our stomach with some idlis, chutney and upma it was the time for some jungle walk. An halfanhour walk through the path criss-crossing the forest, Kollur tribal village and then through the hills of trees sided by the snake like canal of stream took us to this place. We enjoyed the stream for the rest of two hours diving, swimming and floating and taking snaps.
Post lunch we were all set to leave and sitting in our steamer. Suddenly we came to know that our neighbour's wife went missing. Aged about 80 yrs of age it was hard to see where would she go in the smeltering heat of the sun. It's tough to walk even 100 mts on those hot sands as you might be drained of your energy. May be she had fallen down and lost her consciousness. We had to search for about an hour but with out much success. Somebody from other boat gave information that she had left in another boat. So we hoped to see her at Pochavaram atleast.
On the way back we stopped at Parentapalli. Here we visited Ramakrishna ashram and Shiva temple. A huge neam tree with steps adjacent to it invited us. There were many toys made of bamboo on sale by the locals there. But I could not find even a single cool drink or water as I was really thirsty. It was only in other boat's canteen that I could find one cool water bottle.
Back in Pochampalli we came to our bus and also found our Neighbour's wife seated comfortably. She had her side of story to tell. She had boarded a different boat out of confusion. And they dropped her to Pochampalli all the way. But anyways her husband breathed a sye of relief having found her. It's been 60 years since they have been together and this was not the way they were supposed to part. As my heart also felt comfortable our bus left back to Bhadrachalam from where we will heading back to the pavilion- Hyderabad.
