Drive To Ananthagiri

The Place

Ananthagiri Hills are located about 85Kms east of Hyderabad. The mini hill range is known for its thick woods and trekking possibilities. I would have added more content here, expect that we never really made it to the hills :) (the Vizag Tourism link should be enough to get you excited about the place). However, the drive was one of the most interesting ones we ever embarked upon....

The Drive and The Experience
You can call it sheer laziness, but given the usual Friday evening (rather Friday late-night) vellagiri, it was impossible to leave early Saturday morning for the trek to Ananthagiri. However, it is important to note that lazy folks are very good at justifying laziness.
We therefore unanimously decided that dawn drive is the usual stuff people anyway do, we should rather go for a dusk drive through the grasslands !

With the above unquestionable logic and solid 10hrs of sleep, we left for Ananthagiri after packing some chips and coke at 4pm.
The route to Ananthagiri is fairly straightforward. All you need to do is hit the HimayatSagar Road from the Nehru Outer Ring Road and its a straight route to Ananthagiri from there.

The drive itself is an experience if you are following the setting Sun. Its amazing how much clearer and picture-perfect the sky is once you drive away from Hyderabad.

The roads are clear and traffic was fairly sparse during the onward journey. There are few landmarks to look out for while driving, like the Sree Swaminarayan Gurukul. With Akshardham temple like complex, its quite a building for a school.




As we drove with the sun setting on the horizon, the picturesque landscape and sunflower farms offer quite a sight and excellent photography opportunities.

For those wondering about the loss of color in the above image, don't ask me. Our photographer Sonali has a thing for Black and White these days..

We took a LOT of pics during this drive, its hard to not to put all and make this entry a series of pictures with some subtitles. However, a few more wont hurt..

We decided to turn back as the light was fading fast and a night-trek wasn't really an option. We went for the final roadside walk and took this picture of the lake.


I guess that's the difference between an early morning and a dusk drive. The evening drive does not really have a destination. The sun simply fades away, stars take over and you can return home with great pictures and an enriching experience !

The Medak Trip

The Place

Medak is a small district located about 100kms north of Hyderabad. With a population of little over 40,000 Medak is a place of religious and historical significance. It is also going to host the new Indian Institute of Technology, Hyderabad. Well, its not really hyderabad, but I guess the distance is important to ensure that the poor engineering souls do not even accidentally get a glimpse of city life (or worse, city girls) during the four years.
Another interesting fact is that Indira Gandhi was elected from the Medak constituency in 1980. Her last term as Prime Minister.

Anyway, if you are visiting Medak, you cannot possibly miss:
1) Cathedral Medak
2) The Medak Fort
3) Real South Indian Fast-Food.

So this is pretty much a snapshot of the place itself. How to get there and what to expect follows..

The Drive

There are a couple of routes to reach Medak from Hyderabad. You can either take the Medak Road from Miyapur 'X' Roads or go via NH7. Here's what we did:

We started from Malayasian Township, Kukatpalli and headed towards Miyapur 'X' Roads. At the junction we took the right turn to hit the Medak Road. Its a straight drive to Medak from there.

The Medak Road is not your typical four lane highway. It starts off as a usual 2-lane road and is a scenic ride through the country side. With good weather and music its quite an experience.




You can come across a few curious monkeys on the way. They arent really into photography and I don't think they particularly enjoy being in the frame. However, the photographer Sonali couldnt care less. This one seems particularly annoyed and violated for being photographed from weird angles :)



Honestly the drive would be incomplete without stopovers and arbit pics. Though given the all new enthu for photography we stopped more than once.




At one of these stops we found something that looked like a line of graves in the middle of nowhere. (Yes, the photographer was scared). On closer examination, they just turned out to be a few stones with some Telugu inscriptions.


At this time, Sonali decided to specialize in capturing 'dead stuff' and hence..


Overall the drive is pleasant and offers great country side view of flora. Further traffic is sparse on the Medak Road.


We took the NH7 route on the way back. It's not very easy to get on the highway though. While returning from Medak as you exit the town, you'll hit a Y-Junction. Take left and drive straight for about 20Kms, you'll hit the highway. Take right and the highway leads straight to Hyderabad.

NH7 deserves the 'National Highway' tag. The roads are wide (4-lane) and the ride is exceptionally smooth. You can easily clock 100+ on the highway. The total distance via the NH7 route is a slightly more than Medak Road (about 110kms) though you'll reach faster.

The Experience

Right, so once you are in Medak, the Medak Cathedral's tall facade should be visible on the horizon. Just follow the cross, the Cathedral is located on the main road in the town.

The Medak Cathedral under the Church of South India - Diocese of Medak is the largest in South-east Asia. Built between 1914 and 1924 under Charles Walker Posnett. The church has Italian marble flooring and the glass paintings on the walls (each at least 15 ft. tall) were imported from Britain.


The churce is peaceful and we got a guided tour by the serving priest himself. After receiving the blessings we decided to move to the next important thing. Food.

As we drove out of the church complex, we were sick of eating chocolates and some real food was a necessity. Right next to the church on the left is a fairly decent road-side restaurant. Well, its was more like a dhaba but then they had a guard who helped with the parking.

Two things are striking about South India in general. The people and the food. The waiter at the restaurant was polite, the food was served hot and in minutes. Sonali hogged on the chutney, whereas my favorite was the sambar. After a satisfying meal our bill was Rs. 30. A trip to not-so-big towns can really set the perspective right around value for money. I left 10 bucks for the courteous waiter, 33% of the total bill. The largest tip I ever gave away in pure percentage terms :)

We then headed to the Medak Fort. It would be good to ask for directions when looking for the fort. Not easy. You need to take a left into the market from the town round-about. The fort entrance is about 2 kms from there. Though the entrance itself is barely noticeable. The banner marking the entrance also serves as the stand for drying clothes for nearby villagers.

To reach the fort entrance, you'll drive through a small village. Good place to collect some pictures.

The stone-walled fort is located at the top of the hill, with the entrance starting at the foot of the hill much-like Golconda. Though the fort itself is incomparable in size or magnitude to Golconda.

The view from the top is worth the climb. You can see the Medak Cathedral, most of the town and the lake on the eastern side.

The most striking feature about the fort is that from the outset it feels untouched. Almost as if you are the first person to the find the place. We were pretty much the only people there (and a caretaker who didnt seem to be enjoying his job). To be frank as we climbed further up a weird spooky feeling kept creeping in. I guess, it a lot to do with tall stone walls, dense bushes and the sheer emptiness around us.

We finally climbed down and headed home. Quite an experience. Its amazing how much a town of the size of Kondapur can offer. Medak is definitely worth a visit !