Trip to Araku Valley

Hi,

Araku – If you have not heard of the name, let me try to use my pen to describe the beautiful mountainous area near Vizag. Dad, Mom, Deepthi and I attended my cousin’s wedding and were happy to catch up with many close relatives some of whom I had not met for years. The plan was to travel back home the same day until Deepthi proposed a trip to the Araku valley area to spend a nice day. It was easy for her to convince me and Mom, but Dad put up a strong fight having got tired of back-to-back journeys. But then, I always had confidence in Deepthi’s persuasive skills. Deepthi not only made him agree to the trip but also managed to get a booking at one of the jungle resorts in Araku valley region. She booked a ‘Wooden Log Hut’ accommodation for the four of us at the ‘Jungle Bells’ resort in the village named ‘Tyada’. Hold on if you want to know more about the jungle resort and the feel of the tribal culture we had experienced there.

So, the four of us set off from Vizag in a train that started early morning. The rail journey was one of the best I had - through tunnels that took us into the heart of the Eastern Ghats. Although I hadn’t kept a count of the number of tunnels, I could hear the 9 year old kid sitting nearby yelling at the top of her voice, “50”. We came across several beautiful lush green valleys and chill waterfalls that shone in the early morning sun.

We got down at the station ‘Borra Guhalu’ meaning ‘Borra Caves’ and walked down the railway tracks and then off them to get to the entrance of the caves. On a board that was hanging at the entrance, there was a description of the history of the ‘Borra Caves’ and also the scientific explanation of the formation of caves in the mountains. The name ‘Borra’ is a telugu and oriya word meaning hole and the caves have been named so as – ‘years ago when a cow fell off the mountains into a huge hole, the caves were discovered’. Legend says that the cow had fell through the caves into the river flowing at the bottom of the hills and came out alive. That had triggered the belief that there was something divine attached to the caves. The river was named ‘Gosthani’ river. Gosthani translates to cow’s udder.

The scientific reason for the formation of the caves seems to be the flow of water for years together through mountains breaching the rocks (something of that sort). Several structures of stalagmite (or was it limestone – plz bear with my feeble brains) have been formed inside the caves due to the settling down of the dripping liquids into various shapes. These structures have triggered the imagination of the people who believed that idols of various Gods have been formed naturally inside the caves.

After reading the description, we walked down the entrance of the caves. It was a beautiful sight. The hole at the top through which the sunlight beamed would have triggered the imagination of writers like Enid Blyton. We hired a guide who took us through the caves showing us various structures which have been imagined to be Lord Shiva, Parvati, etc. And then he pointed us towards certain dangerous locations inside the caves where a lot of honey combs resided (2, 3 people who ventured in there never returned. And then he showed us the top of the caves which was black (ash-like) in colour and told us they were all bats. Deepthi asked him, “I hope the bats won’t attack us”. He assured us they won’t. Some of the structures there seemed to have got the black ash like colour due to the bats (probably some deposits from the bats which he did not want to talk about).

Then, he showed us a place at the top of the cave where there were some idols people worshipped. We walked up there and realized that it wasn’t as easy as it looked. Getting down was far difficult because a small slip would have costed us our lives. We came back to the entrance of the caves all exhausted because of the hiking. On the way back, he showed us various locations inside the caves where famous movies – ‘Jagadeka Veerudu Atiloka Sundari’, ‘Guna’ and ‘Jamba Lakidi Pamba’ were shot. If I were in the production team of those movies, I would have lost 10 Kgs by the time the shooting had finished. We came out with huge satisfied smiles on our faces. Deepthi was all smiles as she knew everyone was thankful of her. It was not all over yet.

We took a jeep to ‘Tyada’ where we had booked a room in a jungle cottage. It was a hilly road and we reached there in 40 minutes. ‘Jungle Bells’ was a nice resort with several wooden cottages built on the lush green hills. We had to climb to our cottage ‘the Wooden Log Hut’ – a wooden hut-shaped accommodation mounted on logs which were planted into the hill. There was a balcony and 2 rooms with attached bathrooms. We finished our lunch and had a nice afternoon nap all tired from the hiking. We were in for a surprise when we went down to the jungle restaurant in the evening for tea. The tribal women were about to perform the tribal dance ‘Dhimsa’ in an area just next to the restaurant. I finished my tea and was all set with my digicam to capture the tribal dance. Some men came and lighted a fire and to my surprise were heating the ‘dhol’ in the fire. Deepthi said heating the ‘dhol’ would help them produce louder beats out of it. The tribal women walked in, all of surprisingly same height. They were wearing saris in the tribal fashion (tucked into the blouse).

Bang on time, the music started and the 13 women holding each other at the waists started moving in an amazingly synchronized fashion. I was not tired of watching them dancing the same steps for about an hour. Each time after going around the stage twice, they would all gather in a circle screaming in a high pitch voice. The dance was a treat to watch except for some 5 minutes in the middle when one of the crazy guests got on to the stage and danced rather awfully causing annoyance to the tribals. He was soon pulled out of the stage and the tribals danced merrily leaving us with a taste of their culture and lifestyle. After the dance, we 4 finished our dinner and went back to our cottage. Dad and Mom went into their room, but Deepthi and I decided to enjoy the moment by dancing like the tribals. Hearing our footsteps, Dad and Mom came out and immediately Mom joined the party. The 3 of us held each other by the waists and danced like the tribal women for about 15 minutes on the balcony. It was truly a great moment I will remember for years to come, the 3 of us just hopping around merrily holding each other’s waists. Dad got a bit conscious to dance but he sure was helping us with the choreography and was a good audience.

With thousand watt smiles we went back into our rooms and had the best sleep of our lives. We got up early morning the next day and set off in a bus to reach Vizag from where we caught a train to Rajahmundry and reached home at about 3 PM. This surely was one of the best places I have ever visited. So when are you going to visit ‘Araku Valley’?