Back from Mypadu- My own beach

Another travel writing assignment for Mapa Mapa. Another holiday for us. This time it was to Mypadu , a little seaside village near Nellore. OH! WHAT FUN!!!!!!!!!!!
Three days of building sand castles, running on the beach and at times into the sea! The guest house where we stayed was five minutes walk from the sea, and we ( Mapa Mapa and I) spend all the of the day on the beach- I playing on and with the sand, while Mapa Mapa talked to the people around us and took notes ( of God knows what?- perhaps crabs, waves and fish). Biga slept a lot in the room- perhaps that is his idea of a holiday.
The sea looks so lovely in the moonlight.
A chieftain to the Highlands bound Cried "Boatman do not tarry! And I'll give you a silver pound To row me o'er the ferry."

Seeing Mapa Mapa write, I also started drawing pictures of what else , the sea? Can't you see?

I am in the process of making sandcastles.

See I have built a sandcastle with 10 towers on the beach. Middle is the king's palace with pink flag.

Sari weaving at Patur village- One morning we ( Biga and I ) accompanied Mapa Mapa to the nearby village of Patur to see how saris are made. This was a new experience for me, for till now I had seen saris ( obviously), but not seen them getting made. Mapa Mapa bought 3 ( 1 for for Thammi, 1 for Bhaiti and 1 for Monidadi/ Mejdadi).

A Holiday in Hampi- the land of big boulders, magnificent monuments and mischievous monkeys

When Ma first told me that this 15 August weekend we would be going to Hampi, I mistook it as Humpty ( remember Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall?) and was unable to understand how we could visit someone who exists only in the page of rhyme books- then Ma showed me pictures of Hampi on her laptop and I understood- we are going to Hampi and not Humpty! Idiotic me!
On 12 th morning we drove out of Hyderabad. The weather was cool and pleasent and ( thankfully!) it was not raining. We stopped for a break at a nice shady temple in NeerManvi, where Ma gave me a bath after which I took a little nap on top of Biga.

We reached Hampi by early afternoon. The scene on both sides was very striking- big boulders stoutly sprouting up amidst the greenery as if the place belonged to them and them only.
In Hampi we stayed in a hut surrounded by the boulders- which were almost everywhere- behind the hut where we stayed , on the roadsides, and even in the Tungabhadra river which flows by the place. Biga told me that this place was once ruled by monkey kings Bali and Sugrib. I think it still is. That explains why the place is bursting with banana plantations , probably to cater to the hordes of those descendents of the monkey kings, always on the move and always monkeying about.

Driving into Hampi.

With Kakai on the banks of the Tungabhadra river.

Hampi was earlier known as Vijaynagar, and ruled by two brothers. Hampi's monuments - hundreds of them - are popular among tourists,both firangs and Indians and the area is one of the exotic locations for the Bollywood and local film shootings. Biga told me that Jackie Chan's film “Myth” was shot in the Hampi.

At the stepped bath in the palace complex.

At the Elephant Stables in Hampi.

If one wants to witness the competition between a human architect ( like my mother) and Vishwakarma (the Architect God of Hindus), then Vithala temple is probably the right place on earth. Any number of words would fail to do justice to this wonderful monument dedicated to Lord Vitthala or Lord Vishnu. Legend has it that Lord Vishnu found it too grand to live in this temple, popularly known as the car temple because of the huge wheels on its sides.
If this is the car temple, then is there also a bus temple, truck temple? I wondered.

This is the resort where we stayed in Hampi- a lovely one by the side of the Tungabhadra river, surrounded by boulders and fields of banana trees. The bathroom had a rock face as a wall.

Below are my Hampi friends. I had a lovely time with them - they swinging me on the hammock and I enjoying it in Maharaja style.

Encouraged by the antics of my monkey friends, I even climbed the ladder to reach the roof.

After Hampi, we went to Badami. Ma told me that once a bad demon named Vatapi lived in the caves high up the hills and in the evening, after the place is out of bounds for people like you and me, its spirits still roams there.

See I am climbing up the steps in Badami along with Biga and Kakai. And below, you are seeing me inside of the caves in Badami, feeling the stone carvings.

A Grand Holiday- on the river, in the hills, by the sea

This holiday, thanks to Mapa Mapa's work, was like my favourite triple flavoured icecream- a combination of river, hills and the sea.

First let me tell you about the Konaseema cruise where we spent a day and night on a houseboat on the lap of the river Godavari.  I had taken my drawing book and in one of the pictures you are seeing me trying to draw the sunset as I see the sun sinking into the river water.

The Araku Valley

The next in line was trip to the Araku Valley for which we took the  train from Vizag. On the way back to Vizag from Araku Valley, we saw the Borra Caves (which Dadai by a slip of tongue once called  Burra Caves- well you might be interested in knowing that Burra is the name by which Dadai calls me) and all of us, including Bhaiti, went down 400 steps into the earth to see the centuries old fossils.

Now about the last and best place on this trip- Rushikonda beach near Vizag. It is a beautiful  place with blue sea golden sands and green hills and Biga has promised me that since it is just overnight from Hyderabad, we will go there again. Here on 11 March I turned four and we celebrated the occassion by having a grand feast in our sea facing room sponspored by Bhaiti- Chilly Chicken, chicken dopiaza, Kadai paneer, fried rice and lassi.

The last word- On this trip everyone had a lovely time -I played on the beach to my heart's content, Biga slept to his heart's content, Dadai bathed to his heart's content, while Mapa Mapa just walked and walked around to her heart's content, saying that it was part of her work and no one ( not even Dadai) dared to stop her for fear for missing another fabulous holiday like this.