Beyond the small city of Rajamundry of West Godavari District of Andhra Pradesh lie a set of meanders through which Godavari flows. The meanders aren't as small as they sound or as they look from the Google Maps. Those set of cloud-clad mountains are Paapikondalu or Paapi Hills.
It was a Saturday, when our 12 member journey began from Hyderabad on Konark Express at 8 AM in the morning. We reached at Rajamundry at about 5 in the evening. Though the rains had followed us, thankfully, Rajamundry was dry. We all put up in a hotel near to the railway station. I have often observed that the small stations have both the lift and escalator facilities along with stairs in every platform. However, the big ones aren't so fortunate. For example, the Secunderabad Railway Station only has escalator.
The next day i.e. we started on small cabs sent by the tour company: each taking about 8 members. It was a distance of about 30 kms that we traveled. The only break we had was near the tour company office to collect the tickets. The road trip was fun. Visiting a place in the rains has its own charm, Everything looked lush green with small villages within every 5 to 8 kms.
We reached the boating point after about an hour or so and waited for the boats to arrive. During the time, the team members started having coconut water and guavas available, along with posing for photographs. There was a strange tree on the spot that had somehow managed to have 3 trunks from a single big trunk with circular patterns on the trunks. As usual, I was interested in learning about the plants there and came across some bittergourd and pumpkin plantation (though no vegetables were to be seen).
After a wait of about 30 to 40 minutes, a blue colored boat from the other bank arrived which turned out to be a regular ferry. It had motorcycles and people stuffed. The fascinating thing about that was the way people were taking out the bikes on a thin plank of wood. If the wood could speak, it would tell the pains of being a plank of wood when heavy bikes go over it and it bends.
Thankfully, just after 10 minutes, even our boat arrived from the other end taking a good amount of people with it. The lower deck of the boat was filled with empty chairs and a few people from the boat. The upper deck was full of people. Thankfully, we all managed to get some seats for ourselves after which breakfast was served. It had 2 idlis, a vada and some chutney.
The cruise was nice. It stopped at 3 places. The first one being Nandeshwar which seemed to be a Devi Temple. I didn't join my friends as it was a Sunday and we hardly had time to go and be back in 15 minutes, though the boat halted for almost 30 minutes unofficially. It seemed to be a place for sacrifice. Lots of chickens and goats were lined up. One could see people getting the chicken meat in polythene pouches.
My wife had alerted me that there was a dam being built in this place and even the boat guy announced that this place will be submerged in no time (probably in a few years of time). One could see a lot of construction work going on in the East side. A lot of songs, dance and jokes went on aboard followed by lunch.
A couple of hours after lunch, we reached The Haritha Resort. It is a Govt Resort centrally located in the meanders. a lovely place to be but only the people who need to stay are allowed to get down and the ones who need to return are allowed onboard.
Then we reached a place that has Ashram named "Ramakrishna Heritage". It has a Shiva Linga and seemed to be resting place of some Yogi. Unfortunately, I couldn't get the name. Photography was not allowed. Still I managed to click some. Nearby there was a spring with amazingly sweet water. I wish I could have got that.
After this short and sweet adventure of 30 minutes, we all rushed to the boat to leave. It had taken about 5.5 hours upstream but only 3 hours downstream.
A trip to be cherished ever after!! :)
Happy reading!!
