Raigarh(Chhattisgarh) My abode for the next 1 year.

Its been 12 days since I moved to raigarh,Chhattisgarh and things are settling down a bit here in my hostel in Vrindavan Complex near Dhimrapur chowk.I am here to purse a PG program in Thermal Power Plant Engineering at Jindal Institute of Power Technology at Tamnar which is 40 km from my hostel.And I will be staying here for the next one year.
          Before I came,I did my homework on Raigarh and found it be a medium sized city but as seasoned travellers will tell you reading about something can be so different from what you actually see.I was underwhelmed to see the state of the city for the first time.From hyderabad to raigarh was quite a downward junp for me.I am yet to see the whole city but from what I have seen I am disspointed.There are no malls here and not many places of entertainment but anyway heres what I gathered in the last 12 days.
           Raigarh was a princely state before Independance as can be seen from the number of old buildings on the streets.I havent seen the listed buildings yet,will see them at my leisure as I have a whole year at my disposal.And maybe post something about them as i used to do in my
heritage hyderabad blog.The city itself looks small time with very few nice restuarants and Getting Non veg stuff is a bit difficult.Theres a central park built and maintained by Jindal Industries.Thats the area where a lot of street food is available including Kolkatta Rolls,kababs,pani puri etc.The river Kelo flows through the city and the bridge over it ,the Kelo Bridge provides some scope for leisurely walking and timepass.There are two theaters in the city,one of them screens movies from Bollywood and the other screens local movies.Subhash chowk is another area where one can buy stuff ranging from electronics to groceries.This is all I could gather from my initial visits around the city.I plan to make some systematic visits to the city and also to the surrounding areas.More posts to follow.

Top 5 places to visit near Aswapuram (within a range of 25km)

Aswapuram is a village located around 325km form Hyderabad and 125km from Khammam ,the district headquarters of Khammam District. The township of Heavy Water Plant is also located here.My dad is posted here and I have spent my childhood in this colony.The area around here lies dry and barren most of the time but when the monsoons arrive the whole area transforms into a shade of green.Aswapuram is at its best in Monsoon.There are quite a few places around here where small picnics can be held.My dad used to take us around the countryside on his bike and we used to visit lots of places.I still try to explore new places around Aswapuram whenever I go there.

So here goes the top 5 places to visit near Aswapuram(in my opinion) within a range of 20km

1-Check dam at Dummagudem (10km)

     This dam was constructed by the great British Irrigation Engineer, Sir Arthur Cotton at around 1800s.It is located near Amagarpelli village,about 10km from HWPM colony.The dam spans the whole width of the river,providing some beautiful views.It is divided into three stages,the first stage is about 1.5 metres in width upto 3/4th of its total length from where it narrows down to a metre in width,which comprises the second stage.In the third stage the height of the dam reduces allowing some water to flow over it providing a gentle cascade of water.The whole dam can be crossed on foot,when the level of the water is not much.During rainy seasons the water flows over the dam providing some breathtaking views downstream.The downstream area is rocky and provides perfect place to sit and take pictures of the dam.Also it has some shallow areas where one can get down into the water without any fear of depth or flow.Perfect for enjoying the thrill of waterfalls!

My brother's Trip Report

Video of the checkdam

2-Chintriyal (9km)

     This one is an old favorite of the colony people.It is around 9km from colony approached from Gollagudem village.The Godavari river provides the best spot here for some casual playing in the water.The depth of the river is low most of the times.Its gets a bit risky in the monsoon months when the level of the river rises and coming here is not advisable.Earlier there used to be a kacha (mud) road and coming here used to require quite a bit of a determination.Recently a tar road has been laid making the place more accessible.I learnt swimming here,with my dad teaching me.Back in our time it was a big task coming to this spot on our cycles and we thought reaching here was an achievement in itself.

3-Tummalacheruvu Lake (10km)

        Tummalacheruvu as the name suggests(in Telugu) is a lake near the village of Muntikunta.It is a scenic lake nestled in between three hills.Though it looks beautiful all round the year , it is the monsoons which bring out the best.The whole place gets transformed into a sea of different shades of green.As one approaches the lake from the Muntikunta village,one can see a small dam on the right side made to channel the water to the fields for irrigation purposes.One can walk over it to the other side and stroll around for better view points of the lake or maybe just sit somewhere and take in the beauty.The area downstream of the dam also provides some beautiful views.There is a swamp like feel around here albeit with fresh water.This place reminds one of the discovery channel show,Crocodile hunters or some scenes from the movie"anaconda'.Some of my friends and me came here one time to catch a glimpse of a crocodile, someone told us was spotted here.link-

Video of my trip with my friends

4-Regulagundi Lake (16km)

       16km from Aswapuram lies this serene and picturesque lake near PV Colony near manuguru. Often visited by the locals for some relaxation,this lake is also visited by the them to perform some rituals.There is a quaint village around it ,which only adds to the beauty this place already has.There are small streams of water flowing out of the lake at one of the sides and one can splash around in this shallow streams.If one comes prepared  one can spend the whole day exploring the area around it.A must visit!

5-Aswapuram Railway Station(and the area surrounding it) (5km)

  This is the rarely used railway station of Aswapuram.Yes we got one! The area around here is scenic and as with most places around here,the best time is the monsoon season.After the rains theis place is an absolute beauty.The station itself is a single building with no platform.Trains and with which I mean two, usually stop here for 2 mins.This place is purely for the nature lovers.

Some links 

Scenes from around manuguru

In and around Manuguru(Guitar theme: Melodium)

Green...and then some more

Bonus

6-Pump house(near Muntikunta Village)

 This is a pump house located on the banks of river Godavari and is between Muntikunta village and Bhadrachalam.It belongs to ITC bhadrachalam.This place is on a higher altitude than the rest of the area.One can sit and enjoy the mighty Godavari here as the width of the river is very large here.Swimming here is not advisable though.

Nagpur,Maharashtra

The Zero Mile Marker 

I had a chance to visit this city of oranges last month.I had applied for a PG course and the chose the centre of exam as Nagpur.It is 500km from Hyderabad and I started two days before the exam date so that I would have plenty of time to wander and check out the city.I went in AP express and started at 7am in the morning from Secunderabad and reached Nagpur at around 4 in the evening.I had a good idea about the places around the railway station and also the route to the hotel where I was going to stay as I spent a lot of time with google maps before starting.so i had no difficulty in reaching my hotel on foot.It was a distance of around 1km and I was carrying very little luggage so it didn't prove to be a problem.Also walking is the best form of exploring that you can do in any city.My first walk in Nagpur gave me some idea about what to expect.Everything was quiet and there wasn't much traffic here.This city reminded me of Vishakapatam in Andhra Pradesh.
             Anyway I reached my hotel,located in an area known as Mominpura,which was famous in Nagpur as the place to get tasty biryanis.It was quite funny,me coming from the city of biryanis and staying in a place famous for biryani.I spent the first evening of my stay in Nagpur by wandering around the hotel and just exploring the surrounding places and streets.I was tempted to try the lip smacking non veg fare offered by the hotels of Mominpuira but the thought of the exam kept me grounded.
I ate a simple thali meals in a nice little hotel near the main road,Central Avenue and slept early.

Distance from Other cities

I woke up early the next day and walked around 2.5km to reach the Geographical center of India(Zero Mile Marker),marked by the British in the 19th century.There was not much here except a marker and a sculpture of four horses.It was a bit disappointing to see that such an important landmark was tucked in a corner not getting the attention it deserved.I took a pic here and
proceeded to my next and the last item on the list,the City Museum.I had reached there 1 hour earlier than the opening time and I had to spend the time roaming the streets outside. It opened at 10am and I went inside and looked through the many galleries.There was the usual stuff,some finds from excavations in nearby places,stuffed animals,damaged ancient sculptures,paintings,coins,manuscripts,ancient clothing etc, two unique things which I saw here were both, types of guns.One was the depression era American made machine gun.It looked similar to the one used by Johnny Depp in Public Enemies.And the other curious thing I saw was the walking stick gun.It was a gun which looked like a walking stick but had a tiny trigger concealed near the handle.That was all,everything else I saw in other museums.

The City Museum

There are some other minor places of interest in Nagpur like some gardens and lakes but i wasn't interestd in those and moreover I had an exam to write.I already received  some stern warning not to go sight seeing in Nagpur from my family but as usual I ignored them.I wrapped up my visit by 12pm and was back in the hotel by 1 30pm.From there on wards,the rest of my time was spent in studying in my hotel toom.The next day I wrote my exam and returned to my hotel,checked out and went directly to the bus stand.I caught the 5pm express APSRTC bus to Adilabad  and reached there at 8 30pm.I had the best meals of the whole journey in a hotel nearby from the bus stand and caught the 10 30pm non stop super luxury to Hyderabad.I slept as soon as the bus started and woke up only when I was in hyderabad.And thus ended my first self visit outside of Andhra Pradesh.

Ananthagiri hills,Vikarabad,Andhra Pradesh

Bijapur,Karnataka

One of the most underestimated places in the southern region,Bijapur has lots to offer to a
history lover.It has the 2nd largest dome in the world,a fort,a beautiful tomb,one of the
biggest mosques in India and more.
  Last month some of my friends and myself visited bijapur.
Our trip started on the night of 24th april.We boarded a Karnataka RTC bus to Gulbarga at 9
30pm and we reached Gulbarga at around 4am the next day.From there we boarded another bus to
Bijapur.In the morning at around 7 30 am, as we were entering the city of Bijapur I could make
out how dirty it was.No wonder tourists avoided it.I have heard that the norther parts of
Karnataka are very underdeveloped and it showed.Near the central bustand garbage was strewn all
around and pigs were roaming around.It was not the kind of welcome I was hoping for.
Anyway,from the bus stand we wandered around looking for a decent hotel which we found after
some search.We had our breakfast and than took an auto rickshaw to Gol Gumbaz.It was Rs7 per
head if I remember correctly.The sight of Gol Gumbaz lifted my spirits immediately.It was
breathtaking to look at.Right from the moment I saw the Gol Gumbaz in my Hisotory Textbook back
in my 5th class I had a desire to see it with my own eyes and here I was standing in front of  it.It felt awesome!

we made our way inside the Gumbaz where we clicked pics and then went to the top where there was the 'Whispering Gallery'. Here below the dome there is a circular platform going the whole circumference of the dome.Here it is said that if a person just whispers at any pint of the circumference it can be heard at any other point on the circumference.But tell you what,theres no chance of testing this as everyone present was,instead of whisering,shouting at the top of their voice.The sounds kept reverberating inside the dome.Wonder what the inhabitant of the tomb must be thinking.Soon we joined in,Ameen and me just kept shouting only one phrase'masterji pitaji ki patloon ek bilang choti kardo!!'and had lots of fun looking at the amused people!

Outside the Gol gumbaz there were a number of horse driven carriages whose owners or shall I say drivers were offering the tourists present, a ride to seven other tourist spots.We approched one and made a bargain ,Rs250 for a visit to Jama Masjid,Ibrahim Rouza,Jod gumbaz,Chand bowdi,Malik-e-maidan and then back to the bus stand.
And so, we set out on a horse cabby.Our first stop was the Jama Masjid.It was very big and a person inside said that in terms of worshippers capacity it is even bigger than the Jama masjid in New Delhi(which is the Biggest Mosque in India).We sat inside the mosque for some time talking with the middle aged person i mentined above.

    Here I watched an interesting scene.a couple of non muslims entered the mosque and began strolling inside the mosque with their footwear removed.Suddenly the mom realised that her kid was still wearing her sandals.She quickly bent down,removed the toddler's sandals and continued with their walk.I was so touched.She could have easily continued with her walk wihout bothering about the baby's sandals as ,one, there was no one except us and two she was a small child.It was heartwarming to see this and was in such contrast to the stories going around in Hyderabad at that time.(Hyderabad was gripped with mild communal tension at that time) 

From the Jama masjid we mooved on to Jod Gumbaz which has a couple of tombs.Its a Dargah now.
From Jod Gumbaz we went to the Chand Bowdi which is nothing but a reservoir.Nothing

spectacular here.From here we moved on to the next most important thing to visit in Bijapur,

the Ibrahim Rouza.

This is the tomb of Ibrahim Adil Shah II (ruled 1580-1627), the fifth king of the dynasty. It

is said that the design for the Ibrahim Rauza served as an inspiration for that of the famous

Taj Mahal.The tomb was very beautiful as well as the mosque on the right side of it.Both are

more or less of the same size.we wandered inside the tomb and gazed at the beautful work on

the walls.

   From here we moved on to the next and the last item on our list,the Malik-e-Maidan,meaning

'owner of the battlefield'.This was supposed to be the biggest medieval cannon in the world.The

cannon's mouth is in the shape of a lion's mouth.The cannon is really huge and I read somewhere that the

person who would fire it ,after lighting it,would jump in a tank of water to escape the

thunderous noise it would make.

We took some pics here and then went off to the bus stand.Here we had something to eat and

then boarded a bus back to Gulbarga.Here rahmath,ameen,layak,shoaib and mudassir stayed back

while I made my way back to hyderabad feeling content on finally visiting a city which was at

one point in history, a rival of the kingdom of Golconda.

A trip to Bijapur,Karnataka

Tummalacheruvu,Telangana