HDPC Photography Trip
Route :Hyderabad (ORR) - Mahabubnagar Beechupally
Vehicle : Mini bus
Date of travel :12th August 2016 (mid night)
Date of pushkaram : 13th august 2016
Photography : allowed free
Introduction about HDPC
As an avid photographer after purchase of my new camera
canon 5d mark iii I attended some workshops with Hyderabad digital photography
club hosted by Mr.Ram Nagesh which were well organized.He organied a photography
tour with 15 members.This was my first trip with HDPC and the trip was well
planned in advance.Its a weekend getaway trip .
Itinerary (The trip plan to cover)
Day 1 = August 12th started our journey from Hyderabad
in mini bus
Day 2 = August 13th early hours –1st
day of krishna pushkaralu started @ beechupally (this
was not in our list) ,Orvakallu garden (our accomdation booked here) ,Gandikota
Day 3 = August 14 Ahobilam
Actually the trip plan is to cover Gandikota (great canyon),yaganti,ahobilam,bellumcaves,but
we could not stick to the plan and missed out Yaganti,Bellum caves and ahobilam
lower temple,prahalad badi,malola narasimha swamy temple.
Journey from Hyderabad!!!
The first foot print of our journey started ……..as per plan
schedule the reporting time for boarding announced by hdpc is by 9:30 pm at our
place (JNTUC).we were waiting but as as
usual our van and our team members started late
following the HST (Hyderabad standard time) and were late at their other
pickup points.whatever the reason may be finally our team was late by two and
half hours.Finally at 12 am me and my friend got into the mini bus.Again the waiting
process was continuing at some other pickup points which were fallen towards
our route Miyapur,Kondapur, Gachibowli.Finally we were at ORR (outer ring road
@ gachibowli) and waiting for some one here.At 1pm we resumed our journey from
ORR.In short I can say a best classic example of Hyderabad standard
Time!!!after boarding our mini bus after a while I slept .And at around 3:00 am
our bus stopped a while at beechupally.
1st destination Beechupally –Krishna Pushkaralu
2016 –Most Cherishable trip
Auspicious event of Krishna Pushkaralu 2016:
This was actually not in our trip plan. Luckily I was here
at Krishna pushkar bathing ghat.This was my consecutive celebration of holy dip
in Krishna river for pushkaralu.we are
so fortunate that yesterday the government has declared officially about the
dates of Krishna pushkaralu .Can’t believe it that on 2nd day of Krishna
pushkaralu I was fortunate to have holy dip in the river at auspicious time i.e
(brahmi muhurtham) with very less crowd.The
Krishna river is grandely decorated with colourful lights and are lit up at all
bathing ghats & bridge at beechupally.But
the water in the river is very muddy due
to heavy downpour last week.
Birth place of Krishna & its Mesmerizing journey
Mahabaleshwar near jor village in dakshina kasi Wai (satara
district) Maharastra is where the Krishna
river has started her journey and this point is known as birth pplace of gorgeous
Krishna river.It travels all the way
from Mahabaleshwar enters karanataka ,Telangana,Andhra pradesh and empties herself
in Bay of Bengal at Hamsala deevi & Nagaya lanka in Krishna district of
Andhra Pradesh and it gloriously shares
her journey by giving life resources of all the states it flows.In short I can
describe her as life saver to all these states.
Beginning her journey from the breathe taking western ghats
through dense sahayadri hills,nallamalla hills having large dams on its journey
thru Dhom-Dhom ,Hippagiri barrage,Alamatti (Karnataka),Jurala ,Srisailam(Andhra
Pradesh),Nagarjuna sagar till
pulichintala dam (Telangana), Prakasam barrage at Vijayawada (Andhra Pradesh).It travels
around 1300kms .There is a beautiful saying about Krishna river in Marati “shanth
vaahate Krishna maayi” means Quiet flows Krishna.The journey of her is quiet
,serene and finally end up her journey by merging into Bay of Bengal coast at
Hamsala deevi (island of swans).
This place hamsala deevi falls in the route of Vijayawada –Avanigadda –Hamsala
deevi 86kms straight route.Another route
from Machilipatnam –challapalli-Mopidevi-Avanigadda-Hamsala deevi 60kms stretch.
Distance between Avanigadda to hamsala deevi is 20kms.
Nagaya Lanka is the place 25kms away where another baranch
of Krishna river merges in the sea.Here at this beach you can see a light house
too.
Krishna river on its bank all thru its journey houses
numerous pilgrimage places such as Jurala (somasila –sangameshwaram,here
confluence of bhavanasini & Tunga bhadra joins in Krishna river. Due to Jurala
project sangameshwaram temple is now drowned in Jurala project.These temples
are visible only when the water level comes down.Srisailam
,Alampur,Beechupally,vedadri,amaravathi,Vijayawada etc all these places have
very famous temples situated on the banks of the Krishna river.
Telugu speaking people call this river as Krishnaveni…..
What is Pushkaram???
It is an Indian tradition dedicated in worshipping of 12
sacred rivers depending upon the the travel of Jupiter to a particular zodiac
sign .Each river has its own Zodiac sign and it is believed that the river
becomes holy more powerful ,purified and energized during these days. Pushkaram
means 12 years ,For every 12 years once each sacred river is celebrated as
festival /fair .This year it’s the turn of Krishna river to celebrate.This
usually observed when zodiac house Jupiter
moves to virgo and it is celebrated for 12 days from entry of Jupiter into
virgo with austerity. The pushkaram is observed throught out as the Jupiter planet remains in that zodiac
but usually the 12 days of pushkaralu are more sacred.
Who is Pushkarudu???
Pushkarudu means one who energizes the rivers more powerful
and provide spiritual purification.The pushkarudu takes holy dip in the river
during these 12 days and people believes that by taking holy dip in the river
during this auspicious time will wash their sins.
What we do during Pushkaram ???
During pushkaralu usually we go for a Holy dip in the river
and perform other rituals like rites(pitru karma’s) dhana’s(donating),Tarpan’s
etc are usually performed and it is a strong belief that doing these activities
it gives great solace to the departed souls of the clan.
This year Krishna Pushkaram started on12th august and lasts
till 23rd august 2016.there is a hub of Krishna pushkaralu in both
telugu speaking states with many bathing ghats.
Holy dip during pushkaralu:
The Krishna pushkaram rangapur ghat at beechupally is over flooded due
to heavy rains and looks muddy .As we are nearing the bathing ghats we can see
sign boards and warning boards about crocodiles presesnce in the river.Best
part of the Telangana Government has fenced the bathing area to protect people
from crocodile attacks.By seeing mud water
my friend has made up his mind not to bath in the river.But in my case I
wanted to take holy dip in the river and made a successful step in taking holy
dip in the river.This was my 2nd Krishna pushkaram event celebration
in Krishna river.Before this in 2004 I took my holy dip at srisailam Krishna river.
Faithful belief during pushkaralu:
Parents of bride and bridegrooms are in much worry as there
will be no marriages can be performed during pushakaralu .The areas surrounded
around the river which has pushkaram period those places people cannot perform any functions related marriages.
Things to do in pushkaralu:
1)
Take holy dip at the authorized ghat areas.
2)
Do not carry heavy luggage and take care of
jewellery you wore and your belongings .
3)
Try not to pollute the ghat areas ,do not litter
and dispose off the garbage ,plastic covers,bottles in the dustbins provided.
4)
Follow the rules and regulations ordered by
authorities.
5)
Due to heavy public ,please take care of your
family members and children.
Now its 5:00 am ,after holy dip we moved to our van and
resumed our journey to Orvakallu garden where our accomdation is pre- booked. I
can say simply it was a memorable unexpected holy dip in Krishna river during
krishna pushkaralu which will be framed
in my heart always.
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Time for the Break from the boring city life…
2nd Destination : Orvakalu Garden
Timings : 8:00 am -6:00pm & Garden opened 24/7 days.
Mystic beauty in the rugged terrain ,Igenious rock
formations under the shade of mighty
rocks.With cherished memories resumed our journey from beechupally pushkar ghat
to orvakal rock garden in early hours around 6:30 am.where our accomdation is
prebooked in Haritha hotel by Andhra pradesh tourism department.Its a
paradise for photographers can capture the beautiful sunset views.
To reach Orvakal we have to take the nandyal route from Kurnool
city .It is a tiny village located in Kurnool district which is 239 kms from Hyderabad and
23kms from Kurnool railway station.These rock formations are stretched over
about 2kms along the highway falls on the route NH18 and are very hard to miss.
Rock Garden
These rock formations of orvakal are promoted as miniature
grand canyon and these are mainly formed by rare silica and Quartz rocks that are naturally carved into various shapes
probably by wind and waterbody near by or by rain water.
Entry is thru AP tourism’s haritha restaurant ,a mud path
takes us to the rock formations. We can see several rock formations like
sphinu,some animals rocks spread across as far as you can see we can free to
climb our way up.After a tiring sweaty walk up to the highest point,we are
rewarded with an amazing view of gorge behind the rock garden an it is spread
in 1000 acres park.
We can take our vehicles inside and park in front our
accomdation houses.
In front of the hotel there are small play areas at various
places for children.In between the rocks there are some animals & birds
statues made of scrap metal.
The pathway from the rooms to the restaurant are not
properly lighted in the night.So carry torches as the lights are lit only in
the front of the cottages.
We climbed most of the rocks to find landscape view.
Accomdation
The rock garden has a resort inside with hut type concrete
and multi-stored buildings /houses both
AC and Non AC rooms per day charges 800 rupees.
Breakfast time at Haritha restaurant!!!
As per the plan today our visit to Gandikota and reported
time is 10:00 am. After our tiring walk around rock formations,Rock garden has
a restaurant inside which serves breakfast,lunch etc.Here the restaurant is
divided into two portions,one is AC room and a cave seating area.As we are in
time constraint I ordered idly and dosa
which are good in taste.But the service was extremely slow and we should remind
them couple of times about our orders.Because of this we are late by an hour
again.
People travelling in this route, stop by for a break to have
food here.Right from the entrance a number of cottages are constructed. Around the
line a delightful trekking experience
through climbing rocks.
Kethavaram Rock paintings
From Paleolithic era ,these are located along a stretch of
the orvakal rock formations.
Quick Info :
Buses ply from Kurnool to nandyal pass thru Orvakalu.
No much information about the Orvakal rock garen,anywhere in
internet.
Carry an umbrella to avoid heat.
Experience the stay for a night in this area.
Try to visit Kethavaram rock paintings.
