Kondaveedu Trek
It all started with a click of a button. There were mails pouring in saying that we need to have a trek team similar to what the CTC has right now. And so the process began. It all began with a mail from Sridhar who pulled out people from Andhra Pradesh through the CTC listing. Luckily, me being a member of the CTC came in contact with the team.
The schedule was laid out and date was fixed on 13th September Saturday. Its good to have one day trek at times. While working we don't get leaves for week and feel bad for not doing treks.
Well to get on, the day has come with all the planning that was done perfectly.
Myself along with my two childhood friends, (we were actually bench mates since 5th grade) Srinivas and Aravind, set out for this trek by car.
We started our journey after calling Sridhar making sure about they boarding the train from Hyderabad. We three were from Visakhapatnam and the rest are from Hyderabad. We three earlier also did Mountain Biking in Kullu-Johlari pass in the month of May. So we were all pumped up to do this trek too.
We started at 9pm, and were late to start by 3 hours. We actually planned to start at 6pm so that we can reach by 12 or 1am the next day and take some good rest in a hotel. But as we were late we reached Guntur by 3:30am. We took small small breaks in between in order to get rid of sleep. But Aravind could not hold and slept at the back. We too were singing discussing about the thieves and also about the ghosts (these were the good pass time discussions to be off from sleeping ;) ). Finally reached Guntur by 3am and it took us half-an-hour to find one good three star hotel “Vajram”. By the time we got settled it was 4am. Watching the nicely laid out bed, we three jumped and in a split second our eye lids were closed.
And there came the wake up call, well the call was not from the reception but from our own Mr.Sridhar saying that they have reached and informed us to be at the bus stop in 10 minutes. I said OK and closed my eyes, suddenly I woke up and realized that it was not 10 hours but 10 minutes. Then the time went like a jiffy and we were ready and reached the bus stop in 25 minutes (:D, yep we were late!!). At the bus stop met Arun, Raghu and Sridhar. We had a good Idly breakfast and then we bought all the necessary water bottles.
Also we got the packed lunch packets for three of us.
So after packing up everything, the bus was waiting and we boarded the bus to Kondaveedu. All the finances were taken care by Arun, Raghu and Sridhar. After getting at we need to take an auto to the foothill of kondaveedu and so we got two autos win which there were 11 in one auto and the rest in another auto. The ride to the foothill was very pleasant. It was through the lush green paddy fields and the air was fresh. That kind of breeze motivated us all to have a blast on that day.
All were at the starting point of the ruined fort which was spread across the hill. We were waiting for the other auto to come by and in the mean time busy reading the history of the fort.
A brief history::
The Kondaveedu fort was built by Anapotha Reddy in the 1250 A.D and later developed by Ana Venkata Reddy. Both of them were prominent rulers of the Reddy dynasty known to be benevolent patrons of the art and culture. Later, the fort considered as impregnable with 24 bastions and spread across 30 hillocks was ruled by Gajapathis. Famous historians like Amol Mujumdar and Roy Chaudhuri praised the fort in their writings. Recent archaeological excavations unearthed a 14th century inscription penned by Kavi Sarvabhauma Srinadha and in idol of Raja Rajeswari. Of late, the fort turned into a treasure trove for treasure hunters. The seizure of a massive golden "panchaloha" idol, weighing 5 kg last year, gave credence to the theories that similar treasures could lay deep in the earth.
Now you guys thinking of what I'm thinking?? Na na we could not find any treasure out there
Now you guys thinking of what I'm thinking?? Na na we could not find any treasure out there
The moment has come to start the trek. We all gathered, Sridhar gave a brief instructions on safety, about the ruins he knew and about the routes to the ruins. At the beginning we thought to explore a lot this time rather than moving on the same old known paths. So After a brief orientation session, we formed two groups one exploring group and the others follow the footsteps of Sridhar. So Myself, Srinivas, Aravind, Raghu, Arun, Sasi, Sandilya, Phaneendra, Kasi, Uma were the exploring team led by Raghu.
Where ever I go if I find rocks, for no reason my hands and fingers get a hitch to climb them and there was Sridhar always encouraging me to go and climb this rock that rock. So I did climb all those which ever was on my way and it was AWESOME to climb on these rocks. I enjoyed a lot ( conquering those rocks ;)).
After reaching at the first watch tower, we rested for a while had few energy drinks took some beautiful snaps. It was a perfect day for climbing. There was strong breeze flowing, not so hot as there were clouds around, overall the air was clear and we could see the horizon. There was an eight pillared hall kind of structure, from the King might used to have a good picturistic view of his kingdom below his fort. The place was superb!! May be the king doesnt need any air blowing machine to cool him off. It was all natural air blowing non-stop. Simply perfect!!
We all came to the same spot again from where we started to ascend the second hill. Now this was a pretty plain road ... oops plain path (there were no roads). After walking for a about 20 minutes we reached the king's court beside that there was the queen's palace. Even though AP govt considered it as a heritage site, still these buildings are in bad shape. Most of the mindless people carved out their names on the walls making it look very negligible. Mostly the govt might have did a face lift for once, but failed to maintain these structures. Anyways, we rested for a while as everyone are now feeling rumbling in their tumblings(feeling hungry-- according to my boss son's saying). We walked past a pond and reached a spot what is called as signature spot for taking photos sitting on a vertical trunk under a shady bush. By this time everyone were very tired of climbing and walking. Most of our bottles were empty and few were collecting and filtering the water from the near by pond. We had chapatis along with jam and pickels.
Now the most interesting thing is that we had a voting for another climb. Srinivas asked who are ready for the next climb? The next one was on a huge rock. One step wrong and we will find ourself in the pond. Myself, Sridhar and Raghu were ready. I did not expect Aravind to come by, but he raised and was doubtful to come along till we had a start. Apart from him everyone else were like not at all listening to the question. Ok the next question was obviously who wants to take rest until we 4 return from the climb. AAAHhhhhhh! there you go, everyone raised their hands.
Well we started to climb the rock. First we could not find the way out to the rock, somehow we managed the way and started doing rock climbing MMPH! MMPH! ................while we were climbing there was a herd passing by,those goats were excellent climbers, every time I heard them being the good climbers but I got the opportunity to see them live in action.
Then Sridhar, Raghu and Myself went to trace the right route, after a gap of 25 minutes Sridhar found the way and then again the journey began. By this time we all were exhausted and had empty water bottles. But still all were strong in reaching the ground. As we were passing we reached a point where there was a small stream of water. GREAT!!! was the call and we all had filled the thirst and slowly stepped towards the last leg of the trek, reaching Gopalapuram. Myself, Srinivas, Aravind and Zehra moved in one batch and reached the village where we were waiting for the others to come by. Finally the trek came to an end.
Out and all it was the beautiful trek and an excellent trek. Everyone enjoyed a lot and we got one jeep and reached Boyapalem. There we had few cool drinks and snacks and boarded a bus to Guntur. As myself, Srinivas and Aravind had no proper sleep last night we three were drowsing in the bus. As soon as we got down we quickly gave a send off to everyone and rushed to the hotel got freshen up and in a jiffy went into sleep. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
The next morning we started back to Vizag.
I would like to congratulate Sridhar for a successful trek and putting his efforts to make it one of the memorable events. It was an awesome experience traveling with you. Hoping to look forward to do more treks with you ;).
Also I appreciate and congratulate the rest of the troop members (kondaveedu rockies), for completing this trek without cracking any of your bones ;). That was a good momentum going in the batch and especially the girls who have shown tremendous and excellent spirit during the trek.
Wish to meet you soon next time for one more trek.
As I expressed my feelings to all the members through mail, in the same way I would like to do one more time expressing my best wishes to you all.
Good luck.
Chaitanya.