A journey through pictures!

A story of my recent tour through little words and mostly, pictures.

Travelling is such a wonderful thing and i've enjoyed almost all my journey's to this date with the same enthusiasm except that in many occasions i was travelling alone but someone or the other was there for sure at my destination most of the times.



This time I decided to visit my friends village along with a place i've been thinking of visiting for the past few months as it was pending for quite some time. My friend is Adi Narayana Reddy [sitting prettily on the cot in the first pic], who did his Masters from IIT Chennai in Mathematics and recently completed his M.Tech from IIT Kharagpur in Computer Sciences. He lost right hand in his childhood while trying to jump into a well but struck hard on a rock at the bottom which resulted in his right hand being amputated. Nevertheless, he's an excellent bowler and a champion shuttler. A hard worker to the core and keeps everything simple, who loves enjoying life's every moment.



Living in a village is a totally different experience for those who are born n bread in cities but i'm someone whose roots lie deep inside very remote villages and being accustomed to these kinds of surroundings is an added advantage because you won't miss anything that life has in store for you. I stayed at a village called Sriram Nagar which is two kilometres away from Pasurupadu which is again 12 kilometres away from Nandyal, a major town in the district of Kurnool.



You will pretty much enjoy the same feeling with a different setting with what you get to see in a city. Far away from the beaming lights disturbing the clear skies, polluted air making you breathe everything you could ever imagine, the clank and clutter of everyday miseries, the unending complaints dominated by the comforts of life, etc, etc...far away from all these things, i enjoyed my day breathing fresh air, sitting under the trees, with the children playing around after their school and most of them visiting the house where i was staying, only to get themselves clicked which i enjoyed doing the most. There is no better day for a photographer than to click kids who give their best expressions as they cannot do the acting part which most adults do in front of the camera...



After spending my night at the village on a cot outside the house, morning was slated for the start of our tour to Ahobilam which is 75 kilometres away from Nandyal town. Travelling on a bike, zooming through the villages with onlookers staring at you as if you have descended from a different planet is a common sight. One has to just keep going and have to take permission before clicking someone as it may lead to a misunderstanding in most cases.



Forests welcomed us stretching in all the directions our eye could stretch. It was a wonderful sight looking at the unending greenery as we made our way. I stopped by at every place to capture the beauty of nature as it is.


Ahobilam has two major temples, one is at Lower Ahobilam and the other 16 kilometres away called Upper Ahobilam. The main temples are located in Upper Ahobilam and the first temple to greet the eye [in the pic] is situated right in between two big hills .




There are 9 temples surrounding these hills covering a total distance of 20 kilometres, each temple being a different avatar [incarnation] of the residing deity Sri Laxmi Narasimha Swamy.

My only visit to this place was to reach a place 9 kilometres away from the main temple called Ukku Stambham [literally means Iron Pillar]. As it was an uphill task, we were well prepared in advance to face the onslaught of exhaustion and dehydration. We drank three full glasses of lemon juice each and got mango juices and drinking water bottles in our bags as we did not wanted to be left thirsty and hungry somewhere in the middle of nowhere.



As i heard there were a lot of monkeys on the way in the hills, i decided to buy few biscuit packets for our friends in waiting only to click them at a close range.

The first sight of the temple is NO-QUESTIONS ASKED. Just see it. And enjoy something been built in the middle of a place where getting there itself is such a difficult task, how come such a temple is built etc etc. Beggars are a common sight at any temple in India and Ahobilam is no exception.

My first meeting with any one at Ahobilam were the monkeys in waiting. Each biscuit piece was well received with both the hands and they weren't camera shy as they are used to seeing people regularly with weird things in hands which they try to grab if left loose. Monkeys have a habit of storing their food in their mouth like camels store water in their stomach which they use it to consume later on.



As we decided to go up to the last point and weren't sure of the way to reach it without getting lost, we hired a 'trek guide', [most of the guys make a cool Rs.500-1000 bucks on a weekend for their hardwork] to guide us and also tell the tales associated with each place around these forests. It was a good thing that one of the guards attached to a temple accompanied us. His charge was Rs.300/- for a way up and down. [Now when i've been to the last point, i think i am eligible to be a trek guide myself although i'm a costly affair to deal with...ha ha ha]



It was a wonderful sight walking through the hills, trees gracing every small place, streams flowing all the way from the top, rock structures placed artistically in nature's lap...I used up my energies in walking most of the time but tried to capture the beauty through my camera. We did sweat like anything as if we had a bath in the middle. And at one point i was breathing with my mouth rather than my nose, cursing my decision for this exhaustive trek which i felt was talking my life out of me.



The destination was very near but we kept on walking and walking and eventually our hard work did paid rich dividends when we reached the highest point and enjoyed the best sight on offer at this place. You can check out the highest point in one of the pictures. I looked near yet was so far away. An incredible journey and a wonderful place, memories of which are sure going to last for quite some time.

Check out the rest of my story through the following pictures.