Work ride II (Gulbarga, Hyderbad 1790km) November 2015.
Started my ride at 3am from Bangalore with light drizzle,
the depression in TN kept the drizzle on for almost a week in Bangalore and
heavy rains in Chennai and neighboring areas. Nearing Nandi hills and
Chikballapur, the weather was freezing cold, surprised to see fog near Anantapur
at 6am appx 200km from Bangalore.
Railway crossing first stop,
Deviation from Gooty road was end of smooth ride, thought it
was just for short distance but it just continued as nearing the railway crossing
had to waste 30min near patikonda railway crossing could see people crossing
the closed gate by their bike and cycle,
the way the people were admiring my bull and asking about my ride was making me
feel good, lost time of how those 30min waiting for crossing went by.
Mantralayam,
Stopped here to take a picture of bike with Mantralayam
entrance little did I know that was the last picture of my trolley wheel seen
in the photo, wheel was missing when I reached my destination was very lucky as
it was trolley wheel not the bike wheel. Engineering of Tungabadhra bridge full of metal
was an wonderful ride with good flow water in one corner of river.
Best road from Raichur to Gulbarga,
There are 3 routes to reach Gulbarga from Raichur, with the
help of an policeman took the best route to reach my destination but I was
surprised that the best road via Devadurga -Jevargi was best for some good
patches rest all were off roading wondering how would the worst ones be, even
though it was single lane that took too much time to cover the distance first
300km of my ride was covered in 2hrs 30min and next 300 took 5hrs 30min.
Sharanbasheshwara
Had a great time in Gulbarga after my work went to
Sharanbasaveshwara temple that is an one amazing piece of architecture especially
the glass design on interior top of temple, inside combination of gold and
black on sculptures were one among rare to be seen in this place people tell
its more than 300years old, outside of temple is different in color than other
temples it has black outside with gold color at top for gopuram, next to temple
they have their own school and college built like palace looks outside, locals
tell its one of the best educational institution in Gulbarga.
Kaja Bandha Nawaz Daragha
Its second biggest Daragh (dome )in India although its the
holy place of Muslims and famous tourist spot the maintenance is not upto mark
on outside of daragha there are many tombs there with domes but the interior of
the main dargha is mesmerizing you just get lost looking at it glass work in
interior of dome and art work done surrounding the tomb is just amazing one can
still wonder how it was done in those days, with script written in a circle all
are still intact, no taking photos inside but its best to be seen by naked eyes.
The surrounding area is also called as Chota pakistan. This place is an must
visit for the people who go to Gulbarga, I would suggest you to go there by
noon are evening.
Gulbarga Fort,
My second week work got shifted to Gulbarga so did the
accomadation the hotel was right in front of Fort it was my third visit to
Gulbarga this time I made sure I visited it, its spread in vast area having two
entries to get in surrounded by water (now drainage). Most of the buildings
have crumpled down but the illegal occupation inside have made it dirty, in
mornings one can spot many motors pumping water from road side underground
water pipes to their houses. Open defecation can be seen all over the fort, one
has to mind every step especially while walking on top of fort.
Jamia Mosque and viewpoint where canon still exists are clean spots seen inside fort, Jamia
Mosque can hold 5000 people inside it, has unscientific structured beams and
pillar and many researchers and scientist still wonder how was it made in
1376AD, One tower has canon which can be visited all time of day I still wonder
how people would have got that rot iron canon to top without any modern
equipments and rotate it to fire, the other high point has timings for entry
they lock the gates by 4.30pm it houses 3 cannons in same place with step wise
height differentiations and hardly 1 and half ft passage to rotate cannons in
circle, one can see entire Gulbarga city from here.
Buddha Vihar and ESI Hospital
Newly built place very silent inside and around it, the wood
work in mantap inside is marvelous piece of work with brilliant carvings and
sculptures on it, if one needs some
peacefully time this is the right place to be, with meditation hall underground
its absolute silence there guided by an monk, it has two stupas and a school
and a lineup of guest houses surrounding it, though its 8km away from centre of
city its worth a visit, as heard by locals it was built by Rs one thousand core
also one can spot sparrows in huge numbers here. On the way to Buddha vihar one
can spot 4 new buildings built like an palace right next to the highway in a
huge area, at first I thought it was University, but later got to know its ESI
hospital it's something unique to spot in an region of Gulbarga where
development is less. Unfortunately it's not open yet for service hope the
equipments doesn't get rusted by the
time they throw it open this project also consumed Rs one thousand core.
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| Morning sun rise |
Gulbarga to Hyderabad
My plans of visiting Bidar got cancelled due to lack of time
and moved to Hyderabad, it was Sunday early morning playing hide and seek with
sun in some parts of stretch was fun with cool morning breeze, as closing to
Hyderbad border at distance in mist I could see a group of people walking and
jogging towards me on road I slowed down the bike thinking it's my bad time and
was prepared to take a u turn and have a escape route, as they closed by it was
a group doing their morning jog on highway, that gave me a huge relief and
continued my ride little further there were kids doing fitness in middle of
highway. slowed down a bit and moved on, could see a couple of biker groups
going on their weekend ride on that stretch as it connects to a forest, giving
them thumps up continued my ride to end in road block due to marathon happening
which I wasn't aware, 5km to youth hostel took me 30min to reach where my biker
friend Sharath was waiting for me, bird and classic reunite in Hyderbad.
Brila Mandir, Golkanda fort
Brila Mandir is completly made out of white marble stone neat and clean well
maintained, no cameras or mobiles allowed inside, one can leave them in cloak
room, where the Q is huge for keeping and while collecting, its temple of all
Hindu gods made from marble, on a small hill surrounded residential place with
narrow road , close to Hussain Sagar lake you can spot few historical places
from view point of the temple, we headed to Golkanda fort as nearing the fort
wall we felt like we are inside the fort but one has to travel another 2km from
outer wall of fort to reach the fort, seriously I would suggest you to take a
guide along with to know history of Golkanda, guide charges were Rs 750 but
they take you around explaining each and
every part of fort, at entrance you have clapping portico, where many
people keep clapping in the chamber, the clap from centre of chamber can be
heard as echo to top of fort, for this the clap has to be done from the centre
where a small marking is there, few feet away from it, just an ordinary clap,
effective way of communication on those days to alert about invaders. Few
meters ahead there was an water channel below the ground which was used as ac
during summers, the ministers and royal family used to be put in a swing and were
swinging above water level, but now the height has been reduced so people can
walk through it, as soon as you get out of this place towards right hand side
you see patches of grass maintained in blocks on ground it's called as Nagina
Bagh, where jewels were put in those blocks
in open for sale like now we have market for vegetables. But after
independence grass has grown in those blocks for us to graze instead of looking
at glittering jewels and ornaments, as we moved ahead there is a huge tank
that's 1st stage of water entering fort for purification, it used to pumped
uphill during those time for a 3 stage purification, you still spot pieces of
broken pipes when you move around. Ramadas prison which was actually a store
room was converted into a prison for Ramadas he spent 12years of his life in
it, during that time he carved Hanuman on the wall out of stone which still can
be seen. Ibrahim mosque inspired the
ruler to build Charminar resembling the
architecture of 4 towers at top most of the fort you can spot darbar hall which
is open. and while ascending it's just ruins of palace, barracks artist room
and amphitheater, even now they have light show during night at the fort premises, while moving ahead from open
theater you come across talking wall where you don't require a telephone to
talk to the person on other side of the wall, stick your ears to wall and you
hear voice of other person talking very clearly, same vice versa between walls,
little ahead there is chamber similar to clapping chamber at entrance, where
one can hear drop of pin on the floor in centre of chamber and whisper is heard
loud, where the king and queen can
listen to the person talking without being seen, nearing exit there is 3 storey
complex which was used as fire arms
depot but they are converting it into a museum.
Salar Jung Museum
Heavily guarded one
of the best museums in India I have seen till date, it requires minimum
5hours to cover those 32 rooms some of
rarest of rare collections they have, it's worth an visit once a life time if you
are in love with history from toys to diamond studded swords, guns and
artifacts etc the list goes on.
The return (Hyderabad to Bangalore)
As we had late night we slept of for 4 extra hours, we were
behind schedule departure, luckily it was a cloudy morning without not much of
heat at 9am beasts roaring to its full, going through rain and sun in noon,
till evening everything was smooth until Sharath dropped is wallet 20km appx
before Hindupur, luckily he had written is house phone no in the wallet, the
finder had called his dad and informed about his wallet, by then we were 60km
ahead from the place of where wallet was, we rode back only to get caught with
drunkards having the wallet he lost all his money it was a big amount but got back
the documents with scuffle, very unpleasant experience wasting two and half
hours of our time, and learnt an very good lesson never to keep anything loose,
as we were nearing Bangalore the chill breeze kept us extra active and were at
last with an all sorts of experience concluding my 2015 rides with this trip.
Bikes,
Thunder bird 500
Classic Chrome 500
Riders,
Santhosh Venkataram
Sharath Chandra
