A trip with dad to Medak Fort and Church, Medak

Forts, Hill stations, Forests, Rivers, Beaches, Mountains and heck,even a cyclone (I was too small to remember anything), my dad used to take us to see many a wonder. We took in all the wondrous sights, wide eyed, amazed and craving for more. We are three siblings. A elder bother and a younger sister. Dad took risks but the results were always worth remembering for a lifetime. I can safely say we had an amazing childhood thanks to our dad! 

Before moving abroad for studies I had a chance to go on a trip with dad. We decided to spend a couple of days in our ancestral home in Lingampet and check out the nearby forts and other old relics of the past like step wells and some old British era mines.

At Lingampet, after our plans to visit those mines were unsuccessful we decided to check out the Medak fort instead. So off we went on a dreary morning in our rundown Maruti 800. The maruti was our backup vehicle in Hyderabad and we used it quite often. Without AC, sometimes, when the day is hot our shirts would be drenched with sweat. It did not matter when we were out on an adventure like now. The day was warm with just a little bit of humidity. We started from Lingampet, drove through the village back roads, at one point stopping for 30 mins on the road as a tractor was being loaded with sugarcane crop, and reached Medak by afternoon. We had lunch in one of the many restaurants on the main road just in front of the famous Church.

We then moved on to the Medak Church. After parking our car, as we entered the church complex. I was awestruck by the size and beauty of the building. I stood in the middle of the path leading to the church. It was enclosed by a fence running on both sides with tall trees beyond it, obscuring the rest of the building and leaving only the spire in view, framing it perfectly. The architecture conforms to the Gothic Revival style and it was built by Charles Walker Prosnett around 1924. The front bell tower or the spire is 61 mtrs tall which makes it taller than the Charminar in Hyderabad.

We walked ahead and seeing that we can enter inside we made our way inside. It was magnificent. This was the first time I was inside a church. There were some people praying at the front. We stood in silence behind them and saw the stunning stained glass on three sides of the front part of the church. These depicted different phases of Christ's life. Though I could not understand the significance of the events depicted, the artwork was spellbinding. The glass gleamed in the sunlight and the effect was magical. The total area inside was quite big. It can house 5000 people at a time, I read somewhere. One more interesting fact is that Medak Diocese is the second largest diocese in the world after the Vatican.

From here we made our way outside and strolled around the church. Overall it is quite a beautiful structure. Finishing our walk we went back to our car and started for the Medak Fort. It was after a long time I was going on a trip with dad and I was enjoying it. 

After many wrong turns we found our way to the entrance of the Medak Fort. The Tourism Dept can at least put up some proper pointers to the place as it runs through narrow lanes of a settlement. On driving up a couple of hairpin bends we reached the starting point. Here, there is an old palace, now renovated and open to tourists. Called the Mubarak Mahal, guests can spend a night here. The location is excellent and views on offer are spectacular. There is a small sitting area in front which is bordered by the boundary of the fort. Beyond the boundary, the town of Medak is in view with its white rooftops spreading out over a huge area. Breaking this cover is the Medak Church, jutting out above the cover of trees surrounding it. This little sitting area with its quaint tables and chairs looks like one of the those exotic roadside cafes in Bond movies where shootouts happen.

Here we rested for a while, had some coffee and took in the views. We chatted leisurely, with dad clearly enjoying the atmosphere and the location. It was around 3pm and I wanted to have a quick look at the fort so I reminded dad about the fort about which he had lost track of, so immersed was he in the present. He didn't want to come as he was tired and was not up to the task of climbing the stairs. So I told him to wait there and rest for a while and I left to explore the fort. 

The stone stairs beside the Mubarak Mahal lead to a Massive Gate which is the one of three Gates leading to the centre of the fort. This gate, called the 'Simha dwaram' features two lions on opposite sides of the archway. The fort was built by the Kakatiyas somewhere around the 12th century. Later it passed into the hands of the Musunuri Kings and then eventually to the Qutub Shahi Kings. I passed through the gate, gaining in height and then reached the next gate, the 'Gaja Dwaram', the Elephants gate. It featured two elephants on either side of the door. Crossing this I quickly moved on to the highest point as I had very less time on my hands. I finally reached the top which has a Masjid there. Also there is a police outpost here to, as I later learned, prevent any untoward communal incidents. The Masjid was nothing but a smallish structure with two minarets and three archways. A typical Qutub Shahi structure. Behind it was the roof of a structure which I guess was a prison because it had three chambers with no entry points, only there was a hole at the top.  I strolled around here for some time taking in the views and and some pics as well. The top of the minars were painted a pretty shade of green and it looked beautiful against the spotless blue sky. Since dad was waiting for me I didn't explore much. I quickly retraced my steps and started my downstairs walk. 

I made a couple of detours to see if there are any more things to see and one of them lead me to a Canon, perched atop a watchtower. It was a sight to see. Thrilled, I looked for any inscriptions on them. Sure enough there were a few, all of them I assumed to be in Arabic but which later I learned were in Persian ( Dad told me it was in Persian when I showed him the pics later). Going down, there were many good points which offered good views of the countryside. I stopped at a couple of them but quickly left. 

I joined dad exactly an hour after I had left for the top. So a quick tour of the fort won't take longer than an hour. Again after a short break in the awesome Mubarak Mahal courtyard we left the place around 5 pm. It was beginning to get dark and we didn't want to get stuck in the village roads after dark so we quickly drove and reached home in time for a hot dinner. Quite a memorable trip with my dad! 

Trek to Udayagiri Fort, Nellore Dist. Andhra Pradesh

What is the connection between the once magnificent city Hampi in Karnataka and a remote fort called Udayagiri in Andhra Pradesh?

Udayagiri was the scene of a number of violent battles between the Mighty Vijayanagar Kings of Hampi and the equally strong Gajapati Kings of Orissa. Finally King Krishnadevaraya, the most able of the Vijayanagara Kings managed to defeat the Gajapatis and drive out them out from Udayagiri. To mark this victory Krishnadevaraya took a sculpture of Lord Krishna from Udayagiri and took it with him back to Hampi and had it installed in a new temple he had constructed. Presently this sculpture lies in the Chennai Museum in Tamil Nadu.

Udayagiri lies just 100 km from Nellore so a couple of weekends back I decided to check it out. The Fort lies at the top of a hill so I heard its quite a climb to the top. This made me doubly excited. Hills plus a fort. Its a combo on offer and I couldn't resist.

Our target was reaching that speck at the top 

My colleague from work, Dwarka joined me on this trek. We reached Udaygiri by 8am and after a good breakfast started looking for an auto to take us to the starting point of the trek.

After much searching and some dead ends we finally reached the starting point of the trek. There were stone steps rising away, which disappeared into the thick forest after some distance. These were engulfed by shrubs and trees all around. I stopped here and noted the altitude. It was 300 MSL. Time 1100 Hrs. We started the climb aiming to go as high as possible. We had been warned that going in twos was quite risky as there was the danger of wild animals attacking. The villagers had told us that a group of 4 or more is the safest. Keeping this in mind we decided that we will stop whenever we feel its not safe to proceed further.

The day was cool and the sky was covered by a carpet of clouds torn here and there revealing the clear blue of the sky. The sun was peeking between the clouds now and then. Overall it was an excellent day for a hike.  So on we went on the stone steps. As we gained some height on the towering cliffs of the hills came into proper view. We were surrounded by the hills on three sides leaving one side offering views of the surrounding plains.The sides of the hills were red in colour, characteristic of the soil in these areas. After about 20 minutes we met another group of hikers resting under a tree. They were a bunch of middle aged guys who looked as if they lost steam and had settled down to have a rest. They inquired about our target and we said we were aiming for the top even though we know it was quite late to do that. Inspired by our intent they decided to join us. They offered us some snacks to eat which proved heaven sent to me later in the day.

So with the middle aged guys joining in were now a team of seven. The trees around us kept getting dense and the top of the hill still looked far away.The stone steps ended near a small water stream. It cannot be called a water stream exactly as it was just a sheet of water flowing over a huge overhanging rock and narrowing down to a trickle of water. The middle aged guys were saying that during the rainy season there is much more water. A couple of them had done this climb before hence the information. Here we rested for a while before moving on. We still had a lot of climbing to do so there wasn't much time to indulge in long rests. The next stop came at a spot where there was a long fortification running along the side of the hill. There was a gateway through which we entered and found ourselves surrounded by the stone walls on two sides, one wall running along the right and one in the front like two adjacent sides of a square. Here the views of the surrounding plains were stunning. As we stood at the corner of the square I mentioned before, in front us, to the right, was the side of a hill on which stood a lone watchtower jutting out from the undergrowth. On the opposite side, to the left was the gentle slope of another hill making a rough V in the middle offering views of the plains ahead. The sky and the land merged into each other far away. 

From here we resumed our climb in earnest,our spirits boosted by the wonderful views. We passed by a number of ruins of other structures scattered here and there. The sky was getting a shade darker and now and then a gust of wind was blowing. Seeing this the middle aged guys were getting a bit agitated. The top was still out of sight and they worried that if they push for the top they wont be able to return to the bottom before dusk. So they had a discussion and decided to call off and head back. Dwarka and myself decided to push on regardless. Luckily for us just as were there standing there another group of three appeared and after a brief talk with them we joined them. Finally after going through another stretch of thick forest, the object of our trek came into view far away. As we emerged from the forest cover into an open land,in front us, there lay a structure exuding a mystical and dark appearance. It was a greyish decaying building rising above the growth surrounding it. At the two front corners stood the sturdy bases of towers. It looked like an English castle and reminded me of the Tintin Comics I used to read when I was a kid. Climbing over the rocks which littered its approach we finally reached it. The time was 1330Hrs. Altitude 856 MSL.

This stucture was a mosque. It stood at the edge of the hill with its front facing the edge. It was a small mosque with one arch in the middle clubbed in between the two towers, the tops of which were destroyed and only the bases remained. The location was breathtaking. We stood here, near the crumbling mosque at the edge of the hill at 856 MSL and took in the views. Directly below us lay the town of Udayagiri. Above, the clouds shone bright white against the clear blue sky. A hazy air hung around the horizon merging the sky and the land indistinctly. Here and there a low hill rose above the haze and revealed itself. The whole land was spread with square cuts of agricultural fields. In all, the view was magnificent. The mosque had a spiral staircase going around one of its towers which I attempted to climb but the dilapidated nature of it made it risky and I stopped midway. After taking some videos from here I climbed down.

We still had the 2 hour climb down and there were chances of us getting lost so without much delay we started our return. It was imperative that we reach the base before it got dark. So we retraced our steps to the best of our abilities as the path had no markers to guide us. By 1530 Hrs we reached the base without any incident and we were relieved. Just as we were going back we spotted the middle aged guys having lunch. They invited us to join and we accepted the offer gratefully. To our tired and hungry bodies this was heaven sent. The lunch comprised rice and dal with mutton fry. It was lip smacking. And a perfect finish to our grueling trek of 6 hrs. 

The Chota Masjid as its called

View from the steps of the Masjid

Here's a short video I made of the trek. Enjoy! 

Chandragiri Fort, Andhra Pradesh.

Chandragiri is a small village 15kms away from Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh.This small nondescript village doesn't attract many serious travelers and is frequented mainly by the local populace.But there was a time in History when this place and its fort held much significance.After the defeat of the mighty Vijayanagara Empire in the Battle of Talikota, the Vijayanagara Kings shifted their capital from Hampi to first Penukonda and then again to Chandragiri. Built in the 11th century its years of prominence were from 1367,when it came under the Vijayanagar Empire till 1792 when it slowly faded into obscurity.   

Now it lies silently amidst the barren lands surrounding it, coming alive only on weekends when throngs of people swarm its corridors oblivious of its history and only interested in the park surrounding it.

A few days back I visited this place from Nellore. I took a RTC bus from the RTC Bus stand in the city to reach  Tirupati.It took 3 hours for this part. From Tirupati I boarded another bus which dropped me in the small nondescript village of Chandragiri after a brief journey of 30 mins.

From the village one has to walk a few hundred metres to the fort complex. It was a Sunday and just a few metres away the road was lined up with cars on both the sides which was a bit unexpected. I don't like crowds and on top of that this was a crowd here not for the fort but for the park. Anyway I resigned to my fate and walked in.There is a ticket counter for entry. The fort complex has two palaces and a park near the point of entry but sadly access to the actual fort on the top of the hill is restricted, I have no idea why.Of the two palaces the first is called the Raja Mahal and the other is called, you guessed it, the Rani Mahal.

Raja Mahal
The Raja Mahal is a beautiful structure with three floors of arched windows on the front and a gopuram like structure on the top.It now houses a museum.The museum has nothing much to look at except a couple of sections. The first section which I liked was the Document section. There were a few documents from the 1810s detailing the correspondence between the then king and a British officer. It was fascinating to look at.Then there was the Coins section which had many Vijaynagara coins on display. Apart from these, other interesting displays were a full chain mail and a model of the Chandragiri Fort complex. After looking at the objects with interest and looking at the people with disgust I made my way out of the museum and headed over to the Rani Mahal.

Rani Mahal
The Rani Mahal looked as if the builder of the complex put his all efforts in the Raja Mahal and when the time came to build the Rani Mahal, lost all his interest. The front of the structure is plain and bland. I walked towards it hoping that maybe the inside will be better but I was disappointed. The moment I entered I found myself at the end. Thats how small that is. Reminded me of Munnabhai's Circuit's famous dailogue 'ye to shuru hote hi khatam hogaya'. I sat here on the grass on the other side of the building and took some much needed rest. The sun was shining relentlessly on the whole time and I was soaked wet with sweat.I saw a lot of couples here looking for privacy. I left soon not wanting to spoil these couples' 'quality' time and wandered over to the quiet canteen at the corner of the complex.

I had some snacks here and a bottle of Fanta. After spending some nice quiet time here I left when some noisy uncles and aunties entered. After spending some 3 hours in the complex I left .

Boating facility for the visitors

Chandragiri was a part of my 7 day trip I had planned during my Engineering Days which couldn't materialize due to lack of availability friends. Since those days a lot of things have changed and I have took to Solo traveling. I was glad I could visit one of the places from that unfinished trip. Still have many places to cover.

Notes
Where- Chandragiri Village near Tirupati,India
How to Reach - A lot of RTC buses pass by this small village.

Orchha,Madhya Pradesh

           Orchha is a charming village in Northern Madhya Pradesh besotted with some stunning pieces of architecture.Orchha translates into hidden city. Tucked away in the plains of central India,15km from the city of Jhansi,orchha truly presents a picture of a tiny hidden city what with its glorious structures,cafes serving english,isreali and korean food, souvenir shops and plenty of foreigners.

           I visited Orchha a few days back during my double off.My total journey to and fro from my room was to take up 32 hours and I had a visiting time of 5 hours in Orchha.That too got shortened when my train was late by a couple of hours and I reached Jhansi by 9am.I had a small breakfast and immediately started looking around for share autos to orchaa.An autowallah informed me that share autos to orchha start from the bus stand and he took me there.An auto to Jhansi bus stand takes around 15minutes and Rs10.From there a share auto to orchha takes 40minutes and Rs15.This is a very cheap mode and one can save almost Rs200 compared to engaging an auto.If you are alone with little luggage share auto is the preferred mode.

           I reached orchha at 10am.As I entered the town clinging to the side of the auto I could see the landscape dotted with many ruins here and there.I got down at the last stop and to the left side I saw the entrance to the palace complex.After a quick look at google maps I trudged along the road leading to the palace complex.The right side of the road was lined with souvenir shops and two cafes claiming that they were recommended by Lonely Planet.One of them really is,as in my preparation for the trip I had referred to Lonely Planet and could recall the cafe name.The other one I couldn't recall and maybe I need to check the latest edition.

            I approached the palace complex,passed under the arch and just ahead saw the ticket counter.I took the tickets and entered the complex.There was a man seated at the entrance who greeted me warmly and asked if I wanted a guide,I politely declined and went ahead.I came across a big open ground.I went straight ahead.To my left lay the Sheesh mahal,a palace turned into a hotel.One can stay in it to experience of staying in a palace.Straight ahead lay the splendid Jahangir Mahal. The architecture of the Mahal was different from the kind I was used to seeing with domes and arches all around.This one had umbrella like structures called chhattris all over.As I entered in, I came across a sqaure courtyard with a fountain in the middle.There were four exquisite chhattris on the four sides of the top floor.There was excellent symmetry in the structures here.I climbed up the stairs on one of the sides and strolled around all the four sides.The view is stunning from here.One can see the nearby Chaturbhuj temple,the Laxminarayan temple and the Betwa river from the sides.On one of these sides I met a foreigner.One of the many I would see that day.Jahangir Mahal was built in honor of Mughal King Jahangir sometime in the 1600s.

After I saw the whole mahal to my.heart's content I moved on to the Raja Ram Mahal.This Was to the left of the Jahangir Mahal a little bit ahead.Built in the same 17th century this palace was very plain when compared with the Jahangir Mahal.The exteriors are plain,there aren't any exquisite chhattris.But one thing that stands out are the paintings on the wall.The murals are very beautiful and interesting.There are many hidden stairs here and one has to keep looking for a way to to reach the top.From the top the views are magnificent.Some of best pics I took  are from here.

Next I walked back around the main palace complex,behind the Jahangir Mahal is the Rai Parveen Mahal.Built for a courtesan of the Ruling raja here.This is a very small palace.Nothing interesting here except for a few paintings inside.Other than that there is a small garden outside.Everything is systematic here.The whole garden is divided into the mughal style of four quarters.Here I met a tourist from Switzerland who was fascinated by the whole palace.We talked for a few minutes and since I was in a hurry now I left rather quickly.

Around here are some other ruins which I did not visit as my time was running out.I had a train to catch at 3pm.and It was already 12 30pm.I still had to eat my lunch.I pondered over the possibility of visiting the famous chhattris nearby.I finally came to the result that it was not possible.So I went to one of the cafe, Ram Raja cafe.Here I had a banana Pancake.From here I went to a souvenir shop and bought a few things.Next I went to the other cafe on the road, the Bhola Cafe. Here I ordered kimchi,the korean dish but the cook said it was not possible so I settled on the simple egg fired rice.It was horrible.Anyway after this I immediately started looking for a share auto to take me back to Jhansi.I found one nearby.Took it and reached Jhansi bustsand.From there I took another auto to reach the railway station just in time to catch my train back to Raigarh.

I was very happy with this trip and all my 32 hours journey was worth the 3 hours I spent in Orchha.

Jhansi,Uttar Pradesh

This is a part of my Adventure Trip to Uttarakhand in May 2014
We reached Delhi in the morning by 5am.India's fastest train,the New Delhi Bhopal Shatabdi was set to depart at 6am.We made our way to the platform 1 and waited for the train to arrive.It did at around 5 30am and we quickly boarded it.

We reached Jhansi at 10 45am.Bhanu's train to nagpur was at 1 30pm.There was only one thing on bhanu's mind the whole time and it was buying a pair of ear phones and nothing else interested him.When we finally reached Jhansi the first thing we did was take a share auto to the city and find a good electronics shop to buy them.We asked around and were directed to go to an area called sadar bazar.It seems every other city in north india has a locality named sadar bazar.Anyway we went there and in our very first try at a shop,got a decent prized ear phones.From here we proceeded to Elliot chowk to have a quick lunch at rolla ,a fast food joint serving rolls,shwarmas and burgers.Then the time came for us to part.Bhanu was to go to the railway station to catch his train to nagpur while i would continue my exploration of jhansi by visiting it two museums and a fort.Both bhanu and myself are not emotional guys and I was thinking of getting over this parting business quickly but bhanu surprised me with a 'when will we meet again razzu?'I was a little taken aback by this but replied that we will meet soon.Hopefully like this sudden plan we will come up with something.After the pain of separating after the wonderful trip we had together I proceeded to the museum known as Rani Mahal.I met an extremely helpful guy who directed me the place.He even came over and told the share-auto driver to drop me off at the rani mahal.

After criss crossing the by lanes of Jhansi I reached the Rani Mahal.I fond out that Archaeological Soceity of India houses its Museum here.Sadly I found the condition of the museum to be very bad.inside there were hundreds of sculptures in various rooms.The exhibits are kept in poor conditions and in someplaces theres no light. The only good thing to see in the museum is the building itself.As soon as one enters the building theres a square courtyard in the middle.To the left there is a staircase that goes to the top floor.Here on the first floor one finds the best thing to see in the entire Museum.The area which I deduce to be the central area of the whole museum where the queen must have interacted with her subjects.Behind this room there is another smaller room with excellent artwork on the walls.this room is a must see.After deciding there was nothing much to see i left the building making a mental note to write to the ASI urging them to improve the condition of the museum.

 Next on the list was the other museum.I was carrying my heavy rucksack and the sun was out in full force.I went to a juice stall to quench my thirst and at the same time inject some much needed salts in my body.In the course of my drinking I asked the juice wallah about the location of the other museum.He gave me the directions and i found out that on the way to the museum lies the fort.It was 2 30pm in the afternoon and there was too much heat.The temperature in nearby Gwalior was 47'C .So I decided not to tempt my migraine and proceeded to the museum first.I decided to visit the fort at around 4 30pm or 5 pm when things cooled down a bit.This other museum was maintained by the State Dept amid was much better than the ASI one.It had many interactive panels and many models.The only exhibit which was remarkable was a british soldier's helmet.

           After visiting this museum I went to the fort and hired a guide there.With Rs100 he showed me around the fort.The fort is compact and interesting.It was here that the valiant queen Rani of Jhansi fought with the British and later died.There is a spot there from where it is said that she jumped off  into the battle with the british.After the short tour with the guide I took an auto and went directly to the railway station where I had boarded my train back to Raigarh thus ending the adventure trip.

Jagityal Fort,Andhra Pradesh

Unknown to most people, even people form Jagtiyal itself,there is a fort in Jagtiyal.

Built by the French during the 18th century,This is the only fort I saw with the entrance still having a bridge on the moat.

But access to the fort is only through another point.

Malangoor Fort,Andhra Pradesh

40km from Karimnagar lies the little known Mallangoor Fort.Information regarding this Fort on internet is almost nil.I read about this fort in The Imperial Gazetteer of India,1910 edition.

I was really interested and told Kiran to find out about this fort among the locals in Karimnagar.We knew about its location and the means to go there from one of kiran's friend.And one fine day we set out for it..Most of the fort is in ruins. 

Climbing this fort was the hardest among all the other forts I visited

Contrary to our expectations there were many local people here.












A small Video I made of the Trip