Trip To Vijayawada

An unplanned and sudden visit to the city of Vijayawada made sure that I spent most of the weekend travelling. It gave me the much needed break and a welcome relief from the hectic life I have been used to for the past few weeks.

 

Source: Wikimedia

One day was all I got to visit as many places as I could in Vijayawada. But being an unplanned visit I had to restrict myself to a few places. With the visit to the famous kanaka Durga and Mangalagiri Temple a must, most of my time on Saturday went in travelling and visiting the famous temples. So much so that I could not even take out some time to take a boat ride which was available near our cottage.

Updated (July 3, 2008 ) – Lengthy post ahead

After much deliberation we decided to take a bus to Vijayawada. We started at 11:15 PM on Friday night from Hyderabad and reached Vijayawada early morning the next day.

The first thing one gets to notice entering the beautiful city is the lush green fields on the outskirts, relatively clean air (compared to Hyderabad) and water everywhere (in canals though). We got to the nearby AP Tourism hotel, Haritha in Berm Park. This place was wonderful situated on the bank of the reservoir offering a spectacular view of the Prakasam Barrage, it’s reservoir and Bhavani Island.

Checked into the Rs. 1800 Executive Deluxe Suite. The suite was worth the money at least for the view it offered of the reservoir and the calm surroundings. The suite’s balcony was just 50 feet away from the reservoir. However, the place was bit humid probably because of the reservoir.

We started off to the famous Vijayawada Kanaka Durga Temple at 9:30 a.m in the morning and were lucky not to have a big crowd. We were informed that their is lot of devotees visit the temple on Fridays and Sundays. The temple is very close to the Prakasam Barrage, Bus Stand and the Railway Station.
The temple is situated atop the Indrakeeladri Hill. With the passage way for vehicles blocked to widen the road (a stampede recently led to the death of several people) left us with no choice but to climb up the 200 odd steps to the temple.

Legend has it that Goddess Durga stayed on top of the hill after slaying the demons here. The main temple is well maintained and the goddess looked splendid with the flowers, ornaments and the decoration. We were lucky that we had two visits in the space of half an hour as there was no rush in the temple. Being situated on a hill the temple offers a fantastic view of the city of vijayawada. One could see the dry krishna banks after the Prakasam Barrage. Wanted to go there but again paucity of time did not allow me the luxury of strolling on the river bank. So after climbing down we all had this strange feeling of our legs shivering. This was to do with the stairs which we had to climb up and down.

At 12:30 p.m we took an auto to the temple of Panakala Swamy in Managalagiri, another famous place which is around 12 km from Vijayawada. Locals believe that the god keeps the city safe by having Jaggery Water (Panakam) to keep the hill cool (the hill is made up of volcanic eruptions). We reached the temple by noon and offered our prayers there. As suggested by the pujari at the entrance we could hear a gargling sound as the deity took the offerings. Surprisingly we did not find any ants in the temple while the whole place was filled with jaggery water. There are a few more interesting small temples located on the same hill. Of interest is the rare idol of God Vishnu in a lying pose. This place has also got historic importance with the city being ruled by many kings and countries. Again this temple also offers a panoramic view of the city.

Returned to the resort by 3:00 p.m had lunch at the resort’s hotel and then slept till 8:00 in the evening. Have to say too much travelling and the heat took the toll on all of us. So much so that we couldn’t even muster up our energies to take a boat ride in the reservoir. While we missed the ride it was made up with a pleasant change in the environment. A nice brief shower of rain made the atmosphere more enjoyable and all the more beautiful. After having a quick dinner we spent the night strolling near the reservoir under the starry sky in the cool breeze and watching the waves in the reservoir hit the shore. We returned to Hyderabad on Sunday afternoon. It was truly a memorable visit to Vijayawada.
More about Vijayawada

• Also known as the business capital of Andhra Pradesh and is the third largest city.
• Famous places to visit in Vijayawada: Kanaka Durga Temple, Prakasam Barrage, Undavalli Caves, Bhavani Island, Mangalagiri

Filed under: India, Life, Nature, Reviews, Travel , Bhavani Island, Famous Temples in South India, Hyderabad, Jaggery Water, Kanaka Durga, Krishna River, Life, Mangalagiri, Temple, Travelling, Trip, Vijayawada, Weekend

First Rock Show

It was my first experience of attending a rock Concert. Thanks to Times (the sponsor of the show) and Akhil I had great fun listening to Pentagram and Parikrama perform live last Saturday at Rock Heights near Shilparamam.

Parikrama opened the show but had problems with the back end team who couldn’t deliver the required output. One could see the band members constantly giving instructions to them for adjusting the sound output. But even then it was lovely hearing them perform some hit numbers. I liked the song ‘Am I Dreaming’ from LOTR and particularly the violin bits from Imran.

After a short break we got to hear Pentagram perform. It was their first show in Hyderabad. The big difference one could see was that the band got the crowd on their feet and involved them in the performance. Vishal Dadlani did put some extra effort (He informed that he had a ligament tear in one of his legs) to get the crowd groove to their music. After hearing some great music towards the end of the show and a wonderful dinner at 36 Jubilee Hills I was home with the songs still lingering in my mind.

Look forward to attend some more rock shows.

Filed under: Blog, Hyderabad, India, Life, People , 36 Jubilee Hills, Am I Dreaming, Hyderabad Rock, Live Rock Concert, LOTR, Music, Parikrama, Pentagram, Rock Show, Shilparamam, Vishal Dadlani

Update: Downloaded Firefox 3

Finally downloaded Firefox3 today afternoon. Do check out the Mozilla Europe’s website that sports a refreshing look and gives a truck load of information about how to optimize and make use Firefox3. And for people who are curious to know how many times Firefox3 has been downloaded head to the download counter.

Filed under: Blog, Rants, Reviews, Technology , Firefox3 Download, Mozilla

Firefox 3 | Still ‘Coming Soon’

It is 11:15 PM (IST) and I am still waiting to download my favourite browser’s latest version to be part of a Guiness Record being attempted by the folks at Spreadfirefox. Although I have only one hour more to download Firefox 3 for some reasons mozilla, spreadfirefox and getfirefox sites aren’t responding.

But, I might have already used more or less the same version of Firefox 3 that will be available for download today. I found it fast, intuitive and better than the earlier versions. However, the version did not support a few add-ons and I promptly unistalled the version to get the official release.

Firefox 3 supposedly comes with 15,000 improvements and is expected to perform much faster than Firefox 2 or Internet Explorer 7. Started as a project to provide web users with an easy to use, light weight application that also conforms to web standards, Firefox has immensely grown in popularity. Firefox is available in 45 different languages is estimated to be used by more than 175 million users in 230 countries.

Filed under: Blog , Firefox 3, Guiness Record, Official Release, One Million Downloads

List of Books to Read…

The list of books I have to finish reading is growing. I urgently need to take some quality time out to finish reading them and add them to the list of books I have read.

The first book to add to the list is the much acclaimed bestseller Shantaram by Gregory David Robers which I have been trying to read from the last few months. Fortunately spotted the book with one of my senior colleagues who readily agreed to lend the book to me. The next book to join the list is Einsten: His Life and Universe by Walter Isaacson which my dear friend Ram thought would be an ideal birthday gift (thank you Ram).

A much needed and appreciated decision by my employer ensured that we (Akhil and I) missed the books and of course the superb coffee at Brio in Crossword. Finally we found the time this Saturday to pay a visit to our favourite place and we did cover up for not visiting the bookstore in the month of May.

Akhil went on an overdrive this time picking up more than six books. And as part of the relief efforts from my side I took on the responsibility of reading two books: Everybody loves a good drought by P Sainath and Accidents like love & marriage by Jaishree Misra. And here is the growing list of books that I need to finish reading at the earliest.

• Measuring the World by Daniel Kehlmann
• Unrational Leadership by Charles Fleetham
• The Fifth Discipline by Peter M Senge
• Inevitable Ilusions by Piatelli Palmarini
  
• Being Indian by Pavan K Varma
• The Dogs of Justice by Nina Sibal
• Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts
• Einstein: His Life and Universe by Walter Isaacson
• Everybody loves a good drought by P Sainath
• Accidents like love & marriage by Jaishree Misra

Filed under: Blog , Brio, Books to read, Shantaram, Gregory David Roberts, Einstein: His Life and Universe, Walter Isaacson, Everybody loves a good drought, P Sainath, Accidents like love & marriage, Jaishree Misra, Crossword, Coffee

Sarkar Raj – Struggle for Power

It all happened on an otherwise tiring Sunday with Ram booking the tickets to Ram Gopal Varma’s Sarkar Raj, the sequel to Sarkar. Reached the theatre in the nick of time before the movie started.

First impressions: RGV is back. He commands the attention of the audience in this two-hour long thriller that makes extensive use of close-up shots, a consistent sepia tone, brilliant background score that all add to the excitement. The story in bits and pieces is inspired by The Godfather.

It is the first time I have watched a movie made by Ram Gopal Varma in a theatre. I haven’t watched RGV’s Aag but have seen Satya, Shiva and Gayam and have to say that the film has RGV written all over it.

The plot in short is about how people struggle for power and where it can lead them to. The plot is woven around a power plant proposal to set up in a rural area of Maharashtra. How this proposal is used by the power hungry people to realise their personal objectives forms the crux of the movie.

Shankar (Abishek Bachchan), hailed as the successor to Sarkar, takes charge of the situation and when convinced that the larger good of people lies in setting up the power plant goes all out to support the plant. A very calm and patient Sarkar lets his son Shankar handle the proceedings. On the other hand plans to topple the dominance and the very existence of Sarkar take a violent shape resulting in a lot of bloodshed. Shankar driven by the passion to serve the society at all costs understands quite late that there is something amiss in his analysis of how people respond to the lure of power. Sarkar who remains silent and supportive of his son till the very end correctly analyses the situation. However, it is too late by the time Sarkar takes corrective action.

RGV should be appreciated for the way he has handled the twists and turns in the story. The background score and the cinematography take over in scenes that deal with the violent side of the characters. The Govinda Govinda interlude has been made good use of in these scenes.

The father and son duo (Amitabh and Abhishek) dominate with their excellent portrayal of the characters. Aishwarya is wasted in a character which has nothing to say except remain alongside Abhishek. Apart from the actors, the music and the cinematography deserve special praise. RGV should be happy with Sarkar Raj.

The concluding scene does indicate that a sequel could be in the offing soon.

Verdict: Worth a watch.

Filed under: Blog , Abhishek Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai, Amitabh Bachchan, Bollywood, Ram Gopal Verma, Review of Sarkar Raj, RGV, Sarkar Raj, Sequal to Sarkar