Thursday, June 18, 2009

Suryakshetra 99 Araku Valley


SURYAKSHETRA –99
Dr P V Sesha Sai
E-Mails:
shodasisai@rediffmail.com, shodasisai@yahoo.com, shodasisai@hotmail.com,
Phones: 91-40- 27661613, 55581368 Cell: 94404 22613
27th May 2005

What this little man speaks…

I believe that you have gone thro my earlier mail mentioning about my trip to Visage and other places. This time I visited Arab Valley along with my wife. 24th and 25th we were there requesting the local tribal to show us the way to visit ancient Goddess temple of the tribes. The temple is situated in the village itself and it is named as GANGAMMA TALLI TEMPLE. Surrounding villages too worship this Goddess and it is very big idol along with an 8-foot length of snake pit.

Araku Valley is situated around 3100 ft above sea level. Visakhapatnam –Kirandul trains pass through the place. It is really a worthy journey in the train when particularly the train passes through 52 plus caves one of which is more than 1 kilometer length. We can enjoy many valleys and greenery in any season. However, summer is not a right time to visit this place though it is considered as OOTY OF A, but we had very bad experience as HOT OOTY OF AP, and the Tourism Development Corporation failed to provide water and current to the tourists particularly in MAYURI GUEST HOUSE. As and when you desire to visit this place, I SUGGEST YOU TO PREFER PUNNAMI RESORT where swimming pool and other facilities help you to feel comfortable.

Nearly 25 kms away from Araku, there is yet another worthy spot at Dumbriguda CHAPARAI which is 3215 ft above sea level, where water constantly flows. Since water flows through a very big stone mat, it is called as CHAPARAI.

ARAKU in Telugu is nothing but red soil. There is another very very important worth seeing place – it is called as PADMAPURAM GARDENS. The Government is taking special interest to help the tribes to realize the importance of herbal plants. It is more or less a promotional activity. We can see CAMPHOR TREE, CHAKRAMANI that is vitamin rich of its quality; SARPAGANDHI for hypertension; KALABANDA for Diabetes; CARDAMOM; PEPPER AND many such. The spicy material like Dalchina Chekka, Sunamukhi etc can also be seen. It is worth visiting since one can know what the plant is and how it looks like.

It is really a place worth visiting once but take care so enjoy by booking a proper place – PUNNAMI HOTELS (YATRI NIWAS) only and their phone number is 08936 249490. We are not fortunate to stay in this hotel, but after physical verification we found that this is the best hotel in the locality. You may contact Central Reservation Office in Hyderabad through phone 040 23298456/57. Probably you need to book the accommodation in advance of say more than three months for your stay in November to January and THAT IS THE ONLY BEST TIME WHEN YOU CAN ENJOY ARAKU VALLEY REALLY.

Something about BORRA CAVES can be seen in the next letter.

I shall be back again soon…

HARA HARA MAHADEVA DR P V SESHA SAI

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