Aala Santhosh Reddy

n 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, reletively 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 offereing 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 panoromic 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

Found these in my random browsing.

Source: Sony India

• Sony’s new 8.0 Megapixel and 10x optical Superzoom Camera the Sony Cybershot DSC-H10 for Rs. 15,990

Have been waiting to get myself a good camera with loads of features. This one looks interesting but need to wait for sometime to know the feedback. Definitely worth watching.

Also the 21 Megapixel Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III.

• Zenith’s new Smartstyle PC - A look alike of the Apple iMac with prices starting from Rs. 20,000

No where near Apple’s iMac in terms of styling or attention to detail. The price though is quite low, wouldn’t try it. At least after having worked on a new iMac (at office). Prefer to wait till the prices of iMac come down. Will definitely try getting one.

Who doesn’t like a new refreshing design? Especially if it is something to do with information heavy sites. Here are a few of them which I like for the way they present the information. Some of the websites have gone in for the design makeover recently and some long ago. Feel free to point out more such redesigned websites. I am all eyes for it.

• http://www.guardian.co.uk/
• http://www.economist.com/
• http://www.businessweek.com/
• http://beta.cnn.com/
• http://www.bbc.co.uk/
• http://www.nytimes.com/

List to be updated.

I look forward to weekends. Saturday to be more precise. This is the day I and Akhil often go out for lunch. We make it a point to eat at a different restaurant each time. However, the exciting part begins after the lunch. A visit to the Crossword book store and then a cup of coffee in Brio. The restaurant located in the store. Do check out their range of coffees. Personally I think they are much better and cheaper than the range one would get elsewhere.

As usual last Saturday we had lunch at Indijoe. Followed it up with a visit Crossword to and picked up some books. The only sore point was that we couldn’t get a cup of hot coffee. Bad luck. Of the three books we picked up, one book caught my attention - The Pregnant King.

Mahabharatha and Ramayana are my favourite epics. I particularly remember Mahabharatha quite well. This is where the story of Yuvanshva caught my attention as I never came across this character in Mahabharatha. To my delight I found this was the work of the author — a fictional story.

The Pregnant King

Publisher: Penguin Books India
Author: Devdutt Pattanaik
Published in: February 2008
Price: Rs. 295
Classification: Fiction

Verdict: Interesting Read

Description:

Author Devdutt Pattanaik takes the liberty of using his imaganation and inspiration from folklores to sketch an impressive story. This is the story of a King who becomes a mother to become a father to become a king. A story of Vallabhi, a kingdom which yearns for the rightful king who never comes.

Set during the time of the Kurukshetra war, the story unfolds the desires and egos of the inhabitants of the royal palace of Vallabhi. It starts with the crowning of the new King of Vallabhi — Shilavati the widow queen (as a regent) as she carries the heir (Yuvanshva) to the kingdom in her womb. Then the struggle of Shilavati, a woman with the head of a king, to hand over the power to her childless son who has three wives. The son for whom things go awry. There is also the brahman couple who return as brahma rakshasas to seek revenge on him.

In brief the story is of Yuvanshva’s many questions for which he seeks answers. About his failure to produce children even with three wives, why his mother doesn’t crown him the king and finally the question of whether is a mother or a father.

And there are other characters like his son who finds the story behind his birth unbelievable. The second queen who rejects Yuvanshva as a husband. Arjuna and his story of how he felt being like a woman. The ugly-looking yaksha, Sthunakarna who spends his life as a woman and a man helping characters like Shikandi and Somvat. The book ends with Yuvanshva finding the reasons for his confusing existence and events that happened in his life. Overall a good book to read once.

And do head to Goodreads. This is yet another online service that helps us see what our friends are reading. We can also keep track of books read and organize them into shelves.