Finally after a long time got a break from the regular work schedule and made a successful trip to Vizag. This time we were 5 of us – Myself, Amit Basu, Kiran Kumar Rajnala, Debashish Shit, Laxmidhar Sahoo. All of us are joined by one common thread - the workplace, hence the tragedies in our lives seem to meet at the same junction. So, it was rather appropriate that we took a break and rejuvenate our monotonous functions.
The launch of the function went as per the plan. We booked our tickets, both onwards and return, in advance. For the onwards journey though, our tickets weren’t booked till Vizag.We could only find a confirmed accommodation till Vizianagaram.
As the day arrived we boarded for our journey from Bhubaneshwar at 8p.m. At around 3 in the morning we reached Vizianagaram, from where we again got 5 general tickets to Vizag and boarded the next train. Before the journey had started we had made a pledge – that anyone who mentions the word "Office" in any discussion would be liable to pay a fine of Rs10/-. This rule had already fetched us a sum of Rs20/-( Rs10/- Laxmi and the rest half shared by Shit) by the time we reached Vizianagaram. Anyways people were now more cautious and avoided the utterance of the "O" word. In the next 1hr after we started from Vizianagaram we had reached Vizag. Excitement had already started gripping us. We got down at Vizag, got our train tickets, for that days 1st outing – a trip to Borra Caves, instantly and moved out of the station to find an auto rickshaw. We instantly found one. We then asked the auto wallah to take us to a good hotel where we could put ourselves. He agreed and we obliged to pay Rs30/- to him. He took us to a nearby hotel – some nondescript Hotel Ramachandra. We realized that the amount we had agreed to pay to the auto wallah was way too high. Anyways 2 guys amongst us went ahead to check out the lodging facilities available in the hotel. They came back with an OK tag and we all agreed to check-in. It was almost 4:30 in the morning by that time and we just had about 2hrs at hand to freshen up since out train to Borra Caves was at 6:50a.m. We booked 2 rooms for ourselves. I and Shit put up in one whilst Amit, Laxmi and Kiran got into another. Now I don’t know how the 3 others in the other room were planning but at least myself and Shit agreed to take a quick nap of around an hour or so and then proceed to take bath. That 1hr sleep that we took definitely provided an extra pack of energy and also helped us to come across the lag that we had because of the train journey. By 6:15 we all were ready to move to the station. We 5 paraded to the station as the station was at a walkable distance form the hotel. At the station we had a quick breakfast, got a few bottles of water to drink and moved ahead to the platform where we were expecting the train. To reach to the platform we had to go through a over-bridge. One look at the platform from the bridge and we all almost unanimously exclaimed – Gosh!! So much crowd. How the hell we can board the train? Nonetheless we took heart from the fact that we 5 were an all boy’s gang and thanked God that we didn’t have a lady member. The train arrived and I almost jumped into it. Similarly the rest of us also somehow managed a seat for them. The train moved though a few tunnels en-route Borra Caves. People had told us so many things about how beautiful the scenery would be to watch from the train. To my sadness though I found nothing amazing in it. After a 3hrs journey at around 10’o clock we reached Borra Caves. Ferry Jeep drivers were waiting there for passengers. These people would help passengers visit the nearby tourist spots. We asked one of the fellows for a ride. He initially asked for Rs 150/- per head which on bargaining was reduced to 130 bucks. This is when the fun started.
Our first place of visit – Borra Caves. I was visiting any cave for the 1st time in my life and it was simply amazing to see the caves. Standing tall at an age of 150 million years, these caves were simply a proof of God’s artistry. The pics below will only be a indictment to what actually we saw and therefore can’t be captured in words.
After an hour’s exploration of the caves it was time that we hit the nearby restaurant for a good meal as the fuel to run our body had already run empty.
We found a restaurant just outside the cave’s enclave, but the dream of a great meal ran into rough weathers. The lunch however was definitely a quick fix. From Borra Caves we moved ahead for the next spot – Katki Falls. The jeep took us through a rugged stretch of land. This stretch ran for 7 long kmtrs and had already managed to wriggle our body parts fully. The movement through this stretch was enough to give a good feel of Shammi Kapoor’s twists. Anyways we somehow managed to hold on to ourselves and to much of our satisfaction the jeep halted after sometime. It was supposed to be the place from where we needed to traverse by foot. The Jeep owner helped our cause by providing us with a guide. Amit however didn’t wait for the Guide to take us through the route. Infact it seemed as if Amit was the guide and we were following him. I don’t know how he managed to have so much enthusiasm even after that kind of journey. Probably the Digital SLR camera that he was carrying with himself was giving him some kind of excitement. He was helping himself while I and Shit discussed about the beauty all around and moved callously as the last 2 people in fray. It was only after we had traveled about 500 mtrs from the Jeep that we realized how much more we still had to travel. It was indeed a lot of distance.
The launch of the function went as per the plan. We booked our tickets, both onwards and return, in advance. For the onwards journey though, our tickets weren’t booked till Vizag.We could only find a confirmed accommodation till Vizianagaram.
As the day arrived we boarded for our journey from Bhubaneshwar at 8p.m. At around 3 in the morning we reached Vizianagaram, from where we again got 5 general tickets to Vizag and boarded the next train. Before the journey had started we had made a pledge – that anyone who mentions the word "Office" in any discussion would be liable to pay a fine of Rs10/-. This rule had already fetched us a sum of Rs20/-( Rs10/- Laxmi and the rest half shared by Shit) by the time we reached Vizianagaram. Anyways people were now more cautious and avoided the utterance of the "O" word. In the next 1hr after we started from Vizianagaram we had reached Vizag. Excitement had already started gripping us. We got down at Vizag, got our train tickets, for that days 1st outing – a trip to Borra Caves, instantly and moved out of the station to find an auto rickshaw. We instantly found one. We then asked the auto wallah to take us to a good hotel where we could put ourselves. He agreed and we obliged to pay Rs30/- to him. He took us to a nearby hotel – some nondescript Hotel Ramachandra. We realized that the amount we had agreed to pay to the auto wallah was way too high. Anyways 2 guys amongst us went ahead to check out the lodging facilities available in the hotel. They came back with an OK tag and we all agreed to check-in. It was almost 4:30 in the morning by that time and we just had about 2hrs at hand to freshen up since out train to Borra Caves was at 6:50a.m. We booked 2 rooms for ourselves. I and Shit put up in one whilst Amit, Laxmi and Kiran got into another. Now I don’t know how the 3 others in the other room were planning but at least myself and Shit agreed to take a quick nap of around an hour or so and then proceed to take bath. That 1hr sleep that we took definitely provided an extra pack of energy and also helped us to come across the lag that we had because of the train journey. By 6:15 we all were ready to move to the station. We 5 paraded to the station as the station was at a walkable distance form the hotel. At the station we had a quick breakfast, got a few bottles of water to drink and moved ahead to the platform where we were expecting the train. To reach to the platform we had to go through a over-bridge. One look at the platform from the bridge and we all almost unanimously exclaimed – Gosh!! So much crowd. How the hell we can board the train? Nonetheless we took heart from the fact that we 5 were an all boy’s gang and thanked God that we didn’t have a lady member. The train arrived and I almost jumped into it. Similarly the rest of us also somehow managed a seat for them. The train moved though a few tunnels en-route Borra Caves. People had told us so many things about how beautiful the scenery would be to watch from the train. To my sadness though I found nothing amazing in it. After a 3hrs journey at around 10’o clock we reached Borra Caves. Ferry Jeep drivers were waiting there for passengers. These people would help passengers visit the nearby tourist spots. We asked one of the fellows for a ride. He initially asked for Rs 150/- per head which on bargaining was reduced to 130 bucks. This is when the fun started.
Our first place of visit – Borra Caves. I was visiting any cave for the 1st time in my life and it was simply amazing to see the caves. Standing tall at an age of 150 million years, these caves were simply a proof of God’s artistry. The pics below will only be a indictment to what actually we saw and therefore can’t be captured in words.
After an hour’s exploration of the caves it was time that we hit the nearby restaurant for a good meal as the fuel to run our body had already run empty.
We found a restaurant just outside the cave’s enclave, but the dream of a great meal ran into rough weathers. The lunch however was definitely a quick fix. From Borra Caves we moved ahead for the next spot – Katki Falls. The jeep took us through a rugged stretch of land. This stretch ran for 7 long kmtrs and had already managed to wriggle our body parts fully. The movement through this stretch was enough to give a good feel of Shammi Kapoor’s twists. Anyways we somehow managed to hold on to ourselves and to much of our satisfaction the jeep halted after sometime. It was supposed to be the place from where we needed to traverse by foot. The Jeep owner helped our cause by providing us with a guide. Amit however didn’t wait for the Guide to take us through the route. Infact it seemed as if Amit was the guide and we were following him. I don’t know how he managed to have so much enthusiasm even after that kind of journey. Probably the Digital SLR camera that he was carrying with himself was giving him some kind of excitement. He was helping himself while I and Shit discussed about the beauty all around and moved callously as the last 2 people in fray. It was only after we had traveled about 500 mtrs from the Jeep that we realized how much more we still had to travel. It was indeed a lot of distance.
We went up the same way up to the falls.
The Guide halted to show us the actual spot where we were actually supposed to reach and we infact reconfirmed it from him if that was where the spot was. Still hanging onto some energy boosters left within us after the cave exploration we moved on. The journey was rugged and really scathing. Still we moved like snails. First there was a 100 step very steep stairway which we had to climb, then a railway track which looked simply awesome as it went mellifluously through the mountain ranges marked with tunnels here and then there was the roughly made kuccha road in the form of steps. As if the previous 100 steps were not enough we had to cross these kuccha steps which were not anything less than spine breakers. Midway somewhere fellow tourists who had already made it to the falls and were on their way back had some words of inspiration for us though. They said that the beauty of the falls would take away all the pain. Myself and Shit took heart from it and after another 200 mtrs we realized why the person had said so. We had the 1st looks at the falls from so close and that was enough to mesmerize us. Wonderful !! was the 1st word I exclaimed. If the caves were beautiful then the Katki falls were out of the world. India indeed was a wonderful place. Amit took out his digicam here and made the full use of it to capture some of the most beautiful moments of his and our lives. We didn’t care for the underlying danger in that area as any step wrongly taken and we would be straight away down hundreds of feet. After a few snaps here and there we still moved upwards to have a closer feel. We now were within an arms distance from the falls. All of us had the same feeling there – "cant we have a house somewhere nearby? In fact Shit, it seemed to us, had already built his house there". The picturesque waterfall can be seen below.
We thought of playing in the small pond that the fall was making on the horizontal with its sheer force. The thought however vanished as we touched the chilly water in the pond. Gosh!! It was so cold and refreshing. But then we realized that we had to move on to visit other spots. How an hour or so had passed we hadn’t even realized. We all came back singing tunes of the falls all along our way back. Within minutes however we reached our Jeep and made our way back for another place. This time it was going to be the highest point of the Valley – named Araku.
Araku Valley From The Highest Point In ARAKUUp the hill our jeep rolled, and another Hr and 15min we were at the highest point. The wind at this point was really chilly. Coffee plantation at one side and a deep valley at the other played Jugalbandi. It was already 3:15p.m by now and after the mini trekking that we had already had till now, we were left with only a sachet of energy to get a few more snaps at this highest point and move on quickly to the next spot, that was the Araku Village. Here there was a museum decorated with the folk artistry. None of us were interested in visiting the same as museums are mostly boring and we had enough adventure for the day. The driver of the Jeep then guided us to a nearby bus stand wherein we would get buses back for Vizag. Within minutes we got a bus for Vizag. We paid Rs44/- per head. But who knew that a rather arduous journey lay ahead !! The bus’s 1st hr journey was marked with frequent twists and turns. Kiran not able to bear the brunt puked and I was very close to doing the same. Even Shit started having similar sensations. The only people who rested strong were Amit and Laxmi. Finally the journey was over for that day after 4 long hours and we were back to Vizag. Before making it to our rooms we preferred to have our dinner first and book a car for the next day’s local trip. We had our dinner at a nearby Bengali Hotel – Nimantran. Thankfully this time the food was great and the dinner brought some grin back to our pale faces. Someone amongst us got a travel agent’s number from Nimantran’s manager and Amit called the agent and asked him to meet us the next morning at 7 .
The day was over for us and we went into the bed for a great night’s sleep.
The next morning started in a somber way for me and Shit after a good sleep the previous night. We were supposed to get ready by 7 in the morning as the driver was supposed to be waiting for us by that time and there was no use wasting time. But to our amazement none of the other 3 members of our group had even made it out of their bed in their room. We found that there was some minor modification in the plan and we would only start by 8:30 a.m. Since myself and Shit were already out of the bed and raring to go, we thought why not venture out to have whatever brief look of the city and then have our breakfast meanwhile. We did so, having our breakfast in some nondescript roadside Darshini, it being a local version of the original. We came back to our rooms only to get ready once again after sometime and get along for the trip. Before I move any further I must mention that the owner of the taxi that we had booked for the day’s visit had promised us that we would visit around 13 points that day and we agreed him to pay Rs 1500/-. Increase the number of pints to 17-18 and the price goes up by Rs200/- more.
We started off by visiting the Fishery market in Vizag. The environment in the fishery market as everyone knows is pretty sordid, and it wasn’t any different here too. Fishes all around, stinking fishes!! En-route the fishery market we had a brief glance of the Ram Krishna Beach, famously known as RK Beach. In fact the road that went by this beach was truly beautiful. Rather the most beautiful of the lot, at least amongst the ones I have visited in India. A little away from the fish market was an old port control room, no one used it now. The only single person who could be seen there was a security person who would prevent tourists from taking any kind of photographs as the area was under Navy’s control. We moved on from there only to come back to our hotel once again, this time the rest 3, Amit Laxmi and Kiran, wanted to have breakfast and there was a restaurant nearby our hotel. The way from the fish market to our hotel resembled a colliery, since a lot of transportation of coals happened over this route in overhead conveyer belts. Also there is a place where the secular nature of this country is presented literally. A mosque on one side, a church at some distance and a temple also nearby.
After the three had their morning dose of food, we moved on to visit Light House on top of Dolphin’s Nose peak. Here the road, as our previous experience, spiraled its way up. The road however on its way up gave a beautiful view of the city. On top of the peak we finally reached the point where the light house was there. The light house is inside a Navy residential area and is generally locked. One had to pay a sum of Rs5/- per head to make his way inside. We paid the amount and entered the area. We could now see the beautiful light house now. A caretaker opened the door to the top of the light house for us. Man!! Wasn’t the view from the top beautiful !! What a view. A seagull floating at some distance over the deep blue ocean bed. The ocean bed banked with high mountains on the sides. Its was as if the Blue Sky, Deep Sea and High Mountain Peaks were entering into an engagement. Somewhere at a distance some ships made white stripes on the blue clothing of the sea. If that wasn’t sufficient, the caretaker introduced us to the light source of the light house. This was a source of light 450 wts strong guarded by prism glasses on two sides. These glasses made sure that the 450watts source could light upto 50 kms.
Anyways as everything has to come to an end, even we ended the trip to light house there itself and moved ahead for the next destination – Yarada Beach. The road to the beach was rather rustic, going straight down the hill from the light house. En route we could see the beach from a distance and as we had heard before taking the journey, the beach looked awesome and indeed seemed to be the most beautiful of all beaches in the City. Within no time we reached the beach, but to our nightmare the beach was closed for some inspection purposes and we had to return as we say it- empty handed. However we tried to make up for this loss by taking some snaps on the road uphill from where we could have had the best vision of the beach.
A view of The YARADA Beach that we missedAfter the unsuccessful visit to Yarada beach it was time that we moved to the Seemanchalam temple. It took us around an hour to reach this temple. The road to Seemanchalam was again a Mary go Round trip. But like the previous experiences this road too was Beautiful.
As with most South Indian temples this one too had huge number of visitors or bhakts coming in. While Amit took a snap of the temple the rest of us remained pretty much disinterested in entering the temple as it would only mean that we loose out on time and also our bowels had started sending reminders about the lunch time. Lest I forget to mention we all 5 bought bangles for us (These bangles are supposed to be worn by men).Without much ado we moved ahead for our next spot, the Rishikonda beach. The road to Rishikonda was marked with the high mountains on one side and arable lands or houses on the other till we reached a terrain where the roads were still under construction and we had to keep our nostrils covered. Another 45 min or so and we were there at Rishikonda beach. There was nothing special with this beach whatsoever. However what needs to be mentioned here is the Beach Resorts on this beach. They are located midway in the hills giving a perfect view of the swaying waves. It was around 2’o clock now and we obliged our stomachs for a not so special meal. Lunch over we moved towards the beach now. We could spot a few Yachts at a distance and I got really excited. I thought of having a Yacht ride into the sea and I had even gone prepared for all that. I had a swimming costume and a towel for support. Anyways that was not meant for the general public and I had to contend myself with a motor boat ride for Rs 20/- per head into the sea. Though this motor boat ride in no way could match up with a yacht ride I was still satisfied. Meanwhile we did take a few snaps in some of which I was treated like a superman by the other 4, literally. They made me wear the swimming trunks over my jeans to achieve the super man effect :) .
Sun beating on our faces by now and exhaustion had started taking a toll on our bodies. We needed a place to rest our torsos now. We proceeded for our car once again and landed at the Kailasgiri foothill. A magnificent ropeway ride at Rs44/- per head (the pricing seemed a bit too costly to us) helped or cause to reach the Kailasgiri hill top. Here a beautiful Shiv - Parvati architecture glorified the place. We once again got into the groove here, playing pranks, taking snaps and everything else. One of the finest pranks here was played on Shit, who was made to pose in a particular manner for a snap. He wanted a snap wherein he would hold a ball in his hand over his head, the ball located at a distance from him on top of a building. While he posed with his back towards us we though of escaping while Shit would be left with the hand towards the sky pose. Man!! It was a scene worth looking at. By the time Shit had even realized the prank we couldn’t hold our laughter. We all were into tears laughing. The pranks continued in the adjoining park too where we all laid our bodies to rest under the tree shade. The bodies were now partially rejuvenated as even otherwise we had to move ahead for the penultimate spot, the Submarine. The submarine was hardly any distance from the Kailasgiri hill and was lying on the Ram Krishna Beach. Yes! we were back at the very spot which we had seen in the morning. The tickets cost us Rs 25/- per head and we moved inside the submarine premises. This was one of the submarines that had been used in the 1971 Indo-pak war but was serving as a museum now. We entered the submarine, a person waiting inside rendered our cause with a few facts and asked us to move ahead for a view of the other compartments. Mannequins made up for the actual crew members of 71 and we were pretty much happy snapping our way from one compartment to another. However a goading lady behind us dented the jovial mood in us(we were really pissed of with this lady and wondered how her husband manages to be with her). We all finished the submarine trip with a group photo and came out. Outside the submarine too we snapped a few more.
Inside the SubmarineWe moved ahead this time for the last spot. Ram Krishna beach. We sat on the beach side eating maize and behlpuri. The dusk threw upon us within no time and we realized that the departure from this beautiful world was nearing. It had just got dark when we moved for our taxi. We insisted the taxi driver to take us to a few market places in the city. However, the day being a Sunday was a public holiday in Vizag hence most of the pulic places remained closed. No other way out we reluctantly moved towards our hotel, refreshed ourselves, took a short nap before moving for dinner around 9’o clock. The dinner turned out to be a damp squib for the so exciting journey. After finishing our dinner we came back to the hotel only to leave in another 2 hrs for the train journey back to Bhubaneshwar. At the station we spotted another group from our office. The train arrived timely. Carrying fond memories of the trip we boarded the train only to remember them for a lifetime’s journey.
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