Wednesday, March 24, 2010

A Warangal Trip



A Warangal Trip from Hyderabad
April 2nd, 2008 Filed Under Travel Writing

Warangal. ~150 km from Hyderabad - Ramappa Temple, Pagala Cheruvu, Kirti Toranas of Kakatiyas, Thousand Pillar Temple.


We had gone to Warangal quite long ago. I was not a frequent blogger then and did not write about it.
This was a trip I enjoyed a lot. It was not planned, no rooms booked and totally out of the blue.
We were: Ratheesh, Bindu, Sanjeev, Nisa and myself. All of us had our own reasons to get out and travel.


We started from Hyderabad around 7 AM by train. Only Sanjeev had browsed the Net for some information as to go where and do what. I just had a few romantic notions of naxal movements to carry with me.

Got down from the train, I think at Warangal station. Our plan was to go to Ramappa temple first. For that you should reach Palampet. After a few enquiries, we got into an autorikshaw to the bus station at Narsampet.


The bus service was not at all like in Hyderabad. People were quite laidback and buses were irregular. If the enquiry person told you that “bus ippude ostuvanti” it meant there was a possibility of a bus coming after an hour. It gave me reality check on my metrolife. But they were very helpful to guide you.

Finally we got a bus to Palampet - to see Ramappa Temple.


We got down and were hungry. There was nothing else but a small shop serving liqour and snacks. The lady offered to cook meals for us, by the time we were back from the temple. We agreed and took a few boiled eggs for our way.

Ramappa temple is a 13th century grand temple in rock. And curiously this is named after the sculptor and not the god! The temple and the way towards it, is a peaceful countryside. Nice drive. The temple itself is rich in sculptures, including erotic and homosexual. There were daily rituals happening, but not too much of a crowd. Even if you were not a religious person or an art student, you could enjoy the peaceful ambience.


Someone told us that there is a lake nearby excavated by the Kakatiyan rulers. We walked up the lake. It was a huge and scenic. There were many people sitting on the bank - couples, a group involved in some community cooking, men coming with beer bottles…


There were a few cottages, but all locked. No body could tell us whom it belonged to. The sun was too hot and I was too hungry. We walked back. Our shop lady had made some rice and two curries for us. First time I had a curry made only of green chillies! First time I had food from a toddy shop too.

By evening, we had planned to go to Pagala Cheruvu. Our website research said that a moonlit night enjoyed from the guest house there is heavenly. But a few enquiries, fortunately in advance, told us that there was nothing to stay there.

Now, where do we stay for the night? Luckily, Ratheesh ventured to ask the government guest house in the town and viola….we got accomodation! There was no VIP coming in that day. We decided to use our citizenship rights to stay in the guest house. We had food from a small restaurant nearby and slept in the guest house.

Next day morning, we were off to Pagala Cheruvu. We gave some money to the security and went the town bus stand. We tried asking a few autorikshaws if they could drop us, but did not succeed. We got into a bus finallly and then caught an autorikshaw from where it dropped us. The drive was through beautiful countryside and we reached Pagala Cheruvu.


Ratheesh, Bindu and me beside Pagala Cheruvu

A beautiful place. We just sat there or and took a walk around. There was nothing much to do except relaxing. There were so many monkeys around.

And we saw the guesthouse which the website told us to stay in.


The bombed guest house

It had been bombed almost 10 years ago! One reason why I write this entry. Please do not read information that is not updated in websites.

We could have just sat there and just talked and talked. But we hadn not had breakfast and were getting hungry. So we returned to the town. After breakfast and started off to see the ruins of Kakatiya dynasty.

The ruins as such looked more like a park to me than dynastic emblems. But the sculptures and carvings were excellent works of art.

There was also a temple on hill top. The ascent was easy with something similar to steps carved on the rock.


Next in the list was Thousand Pillar Temple. By the time we caught a vehicle and reached there I was famished - again! So I didnt go inside. Ratheesh got upset that we thought only about food. Bindu has always been my fellow eater!

We returned to Hyderabad in the evening by bus again.

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Comments
10 Responses to “A Warangal Trip from Hyderabad”

Rani Sowmya on May 16th, 2008 4:33 pm Refreshed my memories of Warangal and Ramappa..

Kiran kumar on July 18th, 2008 10:50 am Hi,

we planned to go to warangal but we don’t
know exactly which places we can visit.At that time i searched in google about trip to warangal i saw this blog its really helpful for us lots of information in the blog.

Thanks,
Kiran kumar.

k.sammaiah on July 21st, 2008 3:57 pm Hi,
I am belongs Waranagal. But I never went to Ramappa Temple and Pakal Chervu, because when I am a student I am struggled with my studies. After completion of studies, busy with job. Now I am in Mumbai, in a private organization. After reading of this article, now this time when we went to Waranagal, we will plan to go to all the places with my family members.

Thanks,
K. Sammaiah.

rajkumar on August 25th, 2008 4:52 pm as i belong to warangal i said u so please do make sometime and come back to warangal again u will surely njoy the trip

smrti on August 26th, 2008 9:13 am Rajkumar,

I didnt face any problems there. Far from it. I really and thoroughly enjoyed warangal. I was not looking for tourist places in the first place, I just wanted to travel……..and waranal gave me that option. Thanks for the reassurances anyways.

smrti on August 26th, 2008 9:34 am Sammaiah,

Good to hear that you have struggled well and have reached a good position now. I was touched to read your comment. Thanks

K. Sammaiah on August 26th, 2008 4:32 pm Thank you very much Smrti for mailing.

With Best Regards

Sam

Rajkumar on September 1st, 2008 10:20 am Even i read ur posting on ur trip to horsley hills it was really awesome and pics u captured were very good .

sekhar on September 2nd, 2008 4:57 am i m verymuch attached to warangal.after my studies i got selected to ICICI bank n was there for 1year.i had njoyed at my fullest..nice ppl,nice place wat else..now i m in US.bt I always feel those days r better.

sridhar on February 4th, 2009 10:41 pm narsampet is greet place in ap and muthojipet very great place its amezing

3 comments:

LEO THAKUR said...

wwww

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