Musafir

There will be few locations to which we would want to visit again and again. For me  this journey has been extremely memorable, for this was along with my old classmates whom i met years after completing my Post Graduation.  Also this is one journey which can be enjoyed only if taken by a group.

The occasion was also set. One of our classmates was getting married in Rajamundry and we all took time off for the wedding. Four of us travelled from Bangalore. The journey was pleasant with nothing much to talk about. However,  when we entered the Godavari districts, we kept on looking at the scenic beauty which we cannot find anywhere in Andhra Pradesh. As we neared our destination,  the first thing that struck was the vast river of Godavari and the railway tracks on a bridge above the river.It was a memorable sight of the river. Never did i know that on that the same day, i would be seeing the river more closer than ever.

The train was running late, so we were the last to reach Rajamundry. My friends from Hyderabad and Chennai reached before us and they planned for this trip. We thought we would miss it as we were very late. We were put up in a nice Hotel in the town and we rushed getting ready for meeting the others. The other group had already left and we planned to catch up in the middle. And we were off on a trip to the exquisite and amazing Paapikondalu.

Papidi Kondalu or Paapi Hills are part of Eastern Ghats through which Godavari pierces and flows in twists and turns towards east. Entire area of Papi Kondalu is covered by tropical rain forests and deciduous rain forests. The original name for  this hill range was ‘Papidi Kondalu’. Papidi is a rough translation for partition in Telugu. Since this range looks like a well designed partition that splits river Godavari, this name was coined.

We travelled over 30 kilometres in a Jeep to reach a place ahead of the boat which the rest of our friends had already caught.

We were accompanied by a  local who knew where to catch the boat without missing it. We went over to the back of the river Godavari, and spent some time waiting for the boat. It was a memorable sight of meeting classmates and Juniors in college at the same time, that too after college. We joined the others on the boat, had breakfast and went over to the deck to enjoy the sight.

To be continued…