6:45 pm on the office clock,time to call it a day - Its been another pointless day at work. I am not sure where my career is going really. Faintly hoping for a brighter future, I pick up my laptop bag and head for the door. I slide into the driver seat of my car, back it up and head for the cellar opening.
I reach the intersection point on the way back home where i have to make a decision. A steady crowded road which will get me home in about an hour and 20 minutes time or a relatively less crowded road but with a major bottle neck where they are building a new flyover.
I fidget for a while and decide to risk the latter - who knows, if i get through the bottleneck quickly i will be home in less than an hour
till about half a kilometer ahead of the bottleneck , everything seems ok. Then slowly traffic slows down and soon comes to a standstill I just add my self to the end of a long queue. On other days I have seen the Queue move steadily but today its not moving.
I just shutdown the car and wait. The radio keeps playing too many commercials so i switch it off. and then I start watching the scenery and people outside to bide time. The scenery is all filthy concrete, and the people are all around. There are Bikers and autowallas who try to creep through the smallest spaces. Noticing this, I inch ahead to the car in front of me and close the gap so that not even a cycle can sneak through. Its an art i have perfected over the years. Not allowing the other people to wade through the small nooks gives me a bit of sadistic pleasure ; I grin !
I notice the walking pretty lass I overtook a while back - now she is walking past my car. she keeps talking into her mobile and slowly disappears into the labyrinth of cars and automobiles - everybody likes to call pretty lasses :-) . I look at the clock close to - 7:45.I have Been covering inch by inch for almost an hour now. I finally get out of the bottleneck at about 7:55 pm and heaving a huge sigh of relief. still about 45 mins of driving to get to home.
I reach home finally at 8:45 pm. as i lock the car and take the elevator to my flat,I resolve to try a new route the next day :)
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Monday, May 14, 2007
Trip to Narsapur Forest
I had been there long time ago...in the 1990s, It was with a bunch of friends from Hyderabad University that I had been to Narsapur Reserve Forest. A small undulated forest complete with small hillocks and thick tree cover.The best part is it is within 50-60 km of Hyderabad city.
That trek was an eventful one, we had traveled in a red colored APSRTC bus ...These usually ply to small towns and villages from the city. Having got off the bus, we hit a trek path inside the jungle, then we had got lost before a goat herd bailed us out.. Eventually we found civilisation and also a commute back to the city !
Ever since I came back to Hyderabad, the desire has always been there to explore the forest again. I needed a group. my wife was more than keen enough add to that a group of trekkies at the office and my work team (whom I literaly had to con into coming) and we were ready to go !!
I googled for Narsapur Forest. Very little information could be found on the place on the web. As such Eco tourism is quite scarce in Andhra Pradesh .Still I found a few snippets here and there, my other great source of information was google earth and wikipedia. In wiki someone has clearly marked the forest and you can view satelite images of the forest from way above.
all in all i could summarise that the altitude is 1700-2000 feet. there are some hillocks and lakes inside the forest. it is definitely several square kilometres in area, my guess would be around 25 sq km. All sounded very exciting.
We started on a late saturday morning, group coordination and traffic meant we were very late so a long hike was ruled out. After you cross the jeedimetla industrial area and keep driving for about 40-50 km from the city basically, The forest just springs upon you like a surprise. suddenly the landscape changes into thick trees and wooded landscape on bothsides of the road.
We stopped and aksed a small tea shop owner just before the forest starts on whether the forest could be trekked through. Surprisingly he did not mock at us. he said you could go inside - nothing about naxal hideouts either ! then one of my friends asked him whether they were any animals inside - negative , dont expect to see animals !
There were monkeys - lots of them , and seemed quite naughty. The snacks we were carrying were firmly tucked inside backpacks so no worries. We headed in a North Easternly direction - the compass aiding our direction. The forest was quite thick and soon lots of small thorns were adorned on everyone's jeans and trousers. There are some open spaces and shady spots too inside making it a beautiful hideout place.
You could see several stream paths which had now dried out. This being december, it had not rained in quite some time. But i think it would be a great place to trek in the monsoon times. After treking through for 3 kms or so we decided to turn back and trek . There was a huge hill that me and some others wanted to trek but the majority of us were mostly office couch potatoes with not too much physical activity and doing further hiking would have seriously compromised lunch , so we had to turn back. I reserved the hill hike for my monsoon trek, also made a note to discover the lake in the middle of the jungle during that time !
There are plenty of beautiful birds to spot. We spotted some parakeets . Also we were lucky to spot a mongoose which shied away as soon as it saw us.
We had a tough time getting back to the road , even with the help of the compass - which turned out to be a great boon. Without the compass we would have ended up going in circles forever. By the time all of us got back to the road and our parked cars, we had all earned our lunch at the Dhaba on the way back to the city !
That trek was an eventful one, we had traveled in a red colored APSRTC bus ...These usually ply to small towns and villages from the city. Having got off the bus, we hit a trek path inside the jungle, then we had got lost before a goat herd bailed us out.. Eventually we found civilisation and also a commute back to the city !
Ever since I came back to Hyderabad, the desire has always been there to explore the forest again. I needed a group. my wife was more than keen enough add to that a group of trekkies at the office and my work team (whom I literaly had to con into coming) and we were ready to go !!
I googled for Narsapur Forest. Very little information could be found on the place on the web. As such Eco tourism is quite scarce in Andhra Pradesh .Still I found a few snippets here and there, my other great source of information was google earth and wikipedia. In wiki someone has clearly marked the forest and you can view satelite images of the forest from way above.
all in all i could summarise that the altitude is 1700-2000 feet. there are some hillocks and lakes inside the forest. it is definitely several square kilometres in area, my guess would be around 25 sq km. All sounded very exciting.
We started on a late saturday morning, group coordination and traffic meant we were very late so a long hike was ruled out. After you cross the jeedimetla industrial area and keep driving for about 40-50 km from the city basically, The forest just springs upon you like a surprise. suddenly the landscape changes into thick trees and wooded landscape on bothsides of the road.
We stopped and aksed a small tea shop owner just before the forest starts on whether the forest could be trekked through. Surprisingly he did not mock at us. he said you could go inside - nothing about naxal hideouts either ! then one of my friends asked him whether they were any animals inside - negative , dont expect to see animals !
There were monkeys - lots of them , and seemed quite naughty. The snacks we were carrying were firmly tucked inside backpacks so no worries. We headed in a North Easternly direction - the compass aiding our direction. The forest was quite thick and soon lots of small thorns were adorned on everyone's jeans and trousers. There are some open spaces and shady spots too inside making it a beautiful hideout place.
You could see several stream paths which had now dried out. This being december, it had not rained in quite some time. But i think it would be a great place to trek in the monsoon times. After treking through for 3 kms or so we decided to turn back and trek . There was a huge hill that me and some others wanted to trek but the majority of us were mostly office couch potatoes with not too much physical activity and doing further hiking would have seriously compromised lunch , so we had to turn back. I reserved the hill hike for my monsoon trek, also made a note to discover the lake in the middle of the jungle during that time !
There are plenty of beautiful birds to spot. We spotted some parakeets . Also we were lucky to spot a mongoose which shied away as soon as it saw us.
We had a tough time getting back to the road , even with the help of the compass - which turned out to be a great boon. Without the compass we would have ended up going in circles forever. By the time all of us got back to the road and our parked cars, we had all earned our lunch at the Dhaba on the way back to the city !
Dharnas and Rededication day
The long drive to office is getting longer everyday, Actually the roads are getting worser, most of the roads are being dug up for laying pipes/cables , plugging leaking sewage and may be even treasure hunts too :-).
To add to the woes, there was a demonstration by some SC / ST group asking for equal treatment. They were walking along the narrow road - a sizable group of at least a 100 people,walking obliviously in peak hour so the traffic was all blocked for miles behind them. I am not sure how many supporters they have found their cause, but surely there were lots of cursing commuters who were delayed to work because of the jam.
Also up ahead on the way near necklace road and Khairtabad flyover you can spot huge banners of the Congress government which is giving itself a pat on the back for having completed a successful three years, these 5 years are supposed to be full of illustruous milestones as the news papers advertisements point out.
In numerous huge hoardings, CM YSR can be seen smiling and waving his hand benevolently on all below as the "heavenly angel" like party leaders such as Sonia Gandhi and some state dignitaries look out from small circles above. One conspicous absence is PM Manmohan singh, but then every one knows who is the "real" Prime Minister of the country :-)
To add to the woes, there was a demonstration by some SC / ST group asking for equal treatment. They were walking along the narrow road - a sizable group of at least a 100 people,walking obliviously in peak hour so the traffic was all blocked for miles behind them. I am not sure how many supporters they have found their cause, but surely there were lots of cursing commuters who were delayed to work because of the jam.
Also up ahead on the way near necklace road and Khairtabad flyover you can spot huge banners of the Congress government which is giving itself a pat on the back for having completed a successful three years, these 5 years are supposed to be full of illustruous milestones as the news papers advertisements point out.
In numerous huge hoardings, CM YSR can be seen smiling and waving his hand benevolently on all below as the "heavenly angel" like party leaders such as Sonia Gandhi and some state dignitaries look out from small circles above. One conspicous absence is PM Manmohan singh, but then every one knows who is the "real" Prime Minister of the country :-)
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
Ramappa Temple and Pakhal Sanctuary
I have been meaning to write about my travelouge to Warangal for some time now. Warangal itself is a unique proposition in the sense that , it is one of those places which can rank as a decent weekend getaway in the non-summer months from Hyderabad. otherwise, Hyderabad unlike other metros like delhi,mumbai or bangalore does not have any touristy destinations within a 3-4 hour driving distance.
The drive to warangal is via the new National highway , the road is single lane for most part but quite good. however there are very few eateries along the way , there are some so called punjabi dhabas but do not serve authentic punjabi food, these cater mainly to the truck drivers.
the winds of change have breezed through warangal too. you see wider roads, greenery, super markets and small malls in the city. the REC warangal has since long been one of the town's main identities.
We visited the 1000 pillar temple in the evening. the evening lighting elevated the viewing experience, but sadly the temple has for large part is being moved reassembled as its foundation was found to be shaky, so we could not see it in full glory.
The next day we visited pakhal lake which has a sanctuary surrounding it. the lake and the sanctuary are tranquil and looks like an excellent camping place, though it would take some adventurous souls to do this mainly due to the perceived naxal problem in telangana. the sanctuary is supposed to be home to some small animals and even leopards. AP tourism can do something to promote the destination and Eco tourism as there is literally zero infrastructure here to do anything.
Our last stop was the Ramappa temple, this is one of the temples that will leave a lasting impression in your mind. the sculptures are full of ornamental detail and in-fact have withstood centuries of hardship.the local guide gave us a good roundup on how each of the sculpted pieces was constructed and the background involved which was really interesting.
The drive to warangal is via the new National highway , the road is single lane for most part but quite good. however there are very few eateries along the way , there are some so called punjabi dhabas but do not serve authentic punjabi food, these cater mainly to the truck drivers.
the winds of change have breezed through warangal too. you see wider roads, greenery, super markets and small malls in the city. the REC warangal has since long been one of the town's main identities.
We visited the 1000 pillar temple in the evening. the evening lighting elevated the viewing experience, but sadly the temple has for large part is being moved reassembled as its foundation was found to be shaky, so we could not see it in full glory.
The next day we visited pakhal lake which has a sanctuary surrounding it. the lake and the sanctuary are tranquil and looks like an excellent camping place, though it would take some adventurous souls to do this mainly due to the perceived naxal problem in telangana. the sanctuary is supposed to be home to some small animals and even leopards. AP tourism can do something to promote the destination and Eco tourism as there is literally zero infrastructure here to do anything.
Our last stop was the Ramappa temple, this is one of the temples that will leave a lasting impression in your mind. the sculptures are full of ornamental detail and in-fact have withstood centuries of hardship.the local guide gave us a good roundup on how each of the sculpted pieces was constructed and the background involved which was really interesting.
The wold's tallest buldings
Ever since i have visisted Taipei 101, i have been fascinated with tall buildings. Taipei 101 itself is gigantic, and when you are inside the observatory on the 89th floor , it almost feels like you are flying in an airplane. the elevators climb so fast that the change in air pressure affects your ears.
Yesterday i was watching a TV program on Discovery about the new challenger to Taipei 101 which is the Burj Dubai building which will be completed some time next year. they are already building the 124th floor now. The program talks about the inside story and challenges involved in building such a tall structure. concrete is pumped in pipes mixed with silicon gas to allow it to flow almost like water without compromising on strength. GPS devices are used to measure the height of each structure to exacting standards. The pace of construction is fast, they have just taken 2 years to build 124 floors, for such a massive structure that is
really fast. when completed it will be a site to behold with about 160 floors and much taller than the taipei 101 (509m) and the Twin towers in Malaysia (458m).
I wonder when we in india will start constructing such tall structures. Usual pace of construction is so slow that a simple road flyover usually takes 2-3 years and some go on forever and some are stopped midway and just left like that. with land being scarce in India , Vertical space has to be utilized and must be the way to go in the future.
Yesterday i was watching a TV program on Discovery about the new challenger to Taipei 101 which is the Burj Dubai building which will be completed some time next year. they are already building the 124th floor now. The program talks about the inside story and challenges involved in building such a tall structure. concrete is pumped in pipes mixed with silicon gas to allow it to flow almost like water without compromising on strength. GPS devices are used to measure the height of each structure to exacting standards. The pace of construction is fast, they have just taken 2 years to build 124 floors, for such a massive structure that is
really fast. when completed it will be a site to behold with about 160 floors and much taller than the taipei 101 (509m) and the Twin towers in Malaysia (458m).
I wonder when we in india will start constructing such tall structures. Usual pace of construction is so slow that a simple road flyover usually takes 2-3 years and some go on forever and some are stopped midway and just left like that. with land being scarce in India , Vertical space has to be utilized and must be the way to go in the future.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)