Nagarjuna Sagar

On a day mass hysteria overtook everyone and people were busy drinking sweet polluted water around Mumbai, we went to a sagar of another sorts.

18th I posted on BN about riding out to Nagarjuna Sagar. But did not get any replies by evening. Disappointed, I went home in the evening. Just before leaving office , Swamy asked if anything planned on the weekend. I said, maybe to Nagarjuna Sagar on Sunday (as I was planning to get my bike serviced on Saturday). He said to let him know if I planned anything.

Reached home around 7:30 and got a call from GR "Hey are you going on the ride?". I said probably on Sunday. He said to make it on Saturday as he was to attend some wedding on sunday morning. Called up Swamy and told him I am going next day , he said he will confirm in an hours time ( but confirmed in 20mins). Called up Partha also who was going to a friend's wedding that evening, and was not too sure whether he would be able to come next day as he was planning to get sloshed. Got a call from him at 9pm that he was coming , and to just give a wakeup call next morning.

19th Aug.

Got up at 5:30AM. A feat for me as I was usually getting up at 9 normally. 6:00am got a call from Partha just as I was to call him up. 6:30 was at the Kondapur crossing (epark) for Partha as we were to meet up with the other guys at Paradise ( or Pyradice as GR spells it).

At Paradise

7:00AM reached Paradise to find GR and Swamy already there (though at different parts of Paradise). Moved off from there without waiting for tea/coffee as we planned to have it on the way. Reached the outskirts of Hyd where we stopped . Got a call from GR's wife telling about some naxal activity the night before and urging us to be careful - but since we were to go in another dir, it was ok for us. As we were on the call, Partha took off followed by Swamy. We left a good 5 mins later.The road is nothing much to write home about. Broken in most parts , and being broken further in parts to lay huge pipes . The pipes were left on the sides of the road, so it was kind of felt like riding in a tunnel with the tunnel outside ( imagine you have two tunnels and you are riding between them). Wierd kind of experience.

The day was becoming hotter. The day before it had rained but the day had dawned without a single cloud in the sky. A mesh jacket helps as it was really very hot. After riding around 100kms or so, we still had not met up with Partha, though we overtook a group of college guys riding to Sagar on their bikes (2 up). Both me and GR were doing around 80-90 and overtook them. A couple of them got enthu and tried to keep up with us, but soon fell back. Found Partha a few kms away relaxing on the roadside and waiting for us to catch up. The three of us rode on and stopped at the next town for a tea break. Swamy was not to be seen anywhere. Network coverage was flacky and we sent sms to him "where are you da?". As we were having our coffee break which consisted of maaza, the college guys turned up and we introd ourselves. They were quite happy to see us riding also on our way to Sagar.

15 mins we were on our way, while the college guys had just started on their food.

The last 25kms to Sagar are quite nice. nice sweeping curves, and at this time of the morning was without much traffic and we reached Nagarjuna Sagar by 10:15. Swamy was already there... relaxing under the shade of a tree. It seems that all the confusion started as Partha had to take a leak and took off rather in a hurry to find a spot, and Swamy went ahead of him and got confused whether Partha was in front or back ! Anyways, they had a long wait under the shade of a big tree. GR took the lead and we went ahead to the Dam.

BN at N'Sagar

From the bridge

It was a sight to see ( intermittently blocked by the power cables which seem to criss cross India and make it a pain to take good pic) with all the 26 or so gates open. Photo session over we decided to head back to the town and grab some grub. Found an AP tourism place which we thought would be quite good. Nice view of the dam, nice lush green lawns, ample parking space ... but no food ! GR looks at my and quizzilcally said "Our record is still being upheld". We never get lunch at the right time when we travel together ! It seems that this place serves breakfast between 6-9am and lunch from 12-2pm. Nothing in between except for bottled water. Asked if there is anyplace where we can get some grub and they pointed us to GreenVallery resorts ( another AP undertaking). There again they said only meals are available. So Partha and I started talking loudly about going somewhere else... and suddenly idlis and prui-bhaji were available ! ;-)

Having an early lunch, and with the time still just 12:00 we thought we might as well go ahead to the Attipotala Falls. After a short ride of around 20-25kms we came to the falls. Its one of those sub-level falls - where you have to hike down to get to the falls. There is a garden by AP tourism set up beside the falls - but it was full of picknickers - and required an entry fee - so we decided to give that a pass and instead hike to the base of the falls.

Lush green forests

The one thing I find interesting about India is how much it changes even a few meters away from the main roads. As we started down the steps , Partha and other started giving premonitions about how hard it will be to climb back !! :-D . As we hiked towards the falls, the flora changed from dry arid to a lush green forest - and the first view of the falls in the distance was like being in some other country ( which we dubbed Congo !). As we came to the base of the falls , we were met with a grizly sight. Goat legs hanging from between 2 trees ... probably as offerings to the spirits there. No real idea and we could not ask anyone else there.

Goat Legs ... no idea why

Attipotala Falls - up close and personal

Clicked a few pics. Relaxed in the cool shade of the trees and then finally started back the long climb ( well , it was not very long, but in the hot humid afternoon it sure did feel long !). Another long break to gather our breath when we reached the bikes and a discussion on whether to go back or head out towards Sriselam from there. I was not in the mood as last few weeks I had not been well, and already was feeling exhaution catching up (dunno why at this point GR forgot about the marriage he was to attend the next day), and told the guys to go ahead while I will head back to Hyderabad. Finally it was decided it was all or none, and so we headed back to Hyderabad , with another trip to Sriselam as the next trip to do.

As we passed Nagarjuna once again, we saw the college group of bikers just about reaching Nagarjuna . Friendly waves of hands and we were on our way back.

Now it was just a ride back , and all of us moving in a group at around 80-90kmph. The first stop was a cold drink stop. We figured it was less dangerous to drink Sprite (maaza was not availabe at that place) than to drink the groundwater, so downed around 8-9 bottles of sprite between the 5 of us (yeah, this gives you an indication of how hot it was! ). A few petrol filling stops later (petrol is now really more expensive! :( ), and we were back in the outskirts of Hyderabad. Saying our byes we headed out to our respective homes ( took me and Partha another 40mins to cover the remaining distance). Back home by 5:30pm !

Although the ride is nothing much to write home about, it was a good ride with some strange things (goat legs anyone?) thrown in , and a ride after a long long time !

Total Distance : 391kms.
Time: 11hrs. with breaks sight seeing etc.
You can find more pics on my flickr