In the next few minutes, we had zeroed on Srisailam - pending our 'illustrious' Imtiaz Bhai's confirmation... After that, I scourged through the net for all that I can find on Srisailam and ran home.... I had plans ...but dozed off.... until I heard 'your 20 minutes start now' ....well, it was Llewellyn’s call….all I could manage was ‘make it 30 minutes’ and rushed to get ready… Half an hour later, I was at the KPHB main road…I was 11.15 pm and we set off towards Golconda where Imtiaz Bhai joined us…we were on our way and reached Mannanur at 2.40 am….. we had to wait till 6am – coz vehicles aren’t allowed in the night…. So, we parked and went to sleep….not without joking about Imtiaz Bhai’s polyphonic snoring (a lil later I got to know what that meant!) …. I got up around 5:40….the place was filled with vehicles of all sizes….small carriers, lorries and trucks, cars and so on…. And people were pretty casual….only until they heard the vehicle at the beginning of the line start – a lorry –…. At the sound of that engine everyone hurried to their own vehicle and started…and soon that place was like a starting line of a race…. Everyone testing their engine ….and raring to go…. The moment the gate was opened, it was a free for all…blaring horns, noisy engines, and flying dust replaced the quiet and serene environ…wish I had a video of that few mins…the change from the calm and quiet morning to the blaring horns….
We let everyone go by,….and started off at the end of the line….as we went by, we found peacocks grazing…we stopped by the road to watch the sun rise below the sizzling power lines….after a few more stops, we reached the first view point…went through the bridge and then up to Srisailam…. After breakfast at the Punnani restaurant, we were hoping to get on the ropeway and the go to the dam…unfortunately, ropeway wasn’t working ….quite a disappointment…so we walked down to the dam – the 650 steps, at least that is what they said - went boating and by the time we got back, we were quite tired…. And since Imtiaz Bhai had refused to come with us…we told him there were a max of 350 steps….to which he asked ‘one way or both together’!!!!! I got to say it was quite a sunny day….not a day where you can stand out in the sun for long…in spite of all the water around, the place was dry and hot….so, we started on our way back…. A lot slower because of the umpteen stops…. At one place, we went beyond a gate at the viewpoint…and got some wonderful pics of rocks and the dam…all the close-up shots of those rocks and trees growing from them are from this place… Then we stopped along the bridge….and again it was a good place for some pictures…and ya, some of these pictures show you vast land – the kind of vastness you don’t expect to find all that often… Another great place was this dam on our way back…it was post-lunch…after a lunch where I couldn’t help laugh at some of Imtiaz Bhai’s gyan to that hotelier….and the way he did it… After we got out, we came across this kinda dam we had crossed in the middle of the night when we were going to Srisailam…while the two of us wanted to go up and check the dam on the other side, Imtiaz Bhai wasn’t all that enthusiastic…. I don’t knw why….but he refused to do any climbing or walking that day…. So, he stopped and asked an old man who said there is no water at all….but then, we found steps leading to the top,….insisted he stop and went up….and was it beautiful…it was wonderful…and I wont forget the way this guy got on a plank and went all the way, paddling with his hands….it was amazing…time and again, makes me wonder, how big is man? Often, we tend to forget that man is like a small speck on the face of earth…. So let me end that gyan now…. From there it was a series of stops and we reached Hyd after 6….by the time we came to the other end to our homes, it was close to 9…. And that was the end of yet another traveling weekend...
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