There are no rocks, no hills, no greenery, no nothing! Absolute barren stretches all along. All of the long road, for the next 3 kms is visible right from here, and there is no sign of life. As the cab travels along the totally nondescript, long and straight road, bordered with nothing, you can’t help but doze off into dreams of wandering in lonely deserts in search of food and water, with strange lizards and cruel cacti looking on. The sun glares at your face, and you wonder what brought you here, of all places.

That will be how you can describe the journey in most parts of the Rayalaseema region of Andhra Pradesh. The journey to Belum caves was nothing different either. Approximately 275 kms from Bangalore, in the Kurnool district of Andhra Pradesh lie the longest caves in the plains of India – the Belum caves.

In no man’s land, these caves pop up suddenly out of nowhere. Actually, they don’t even pop up. They are completely underground. Even when you purchase the entry ticket for this natural wonder, you would just be wondering where the caves are. Then as you enter the caves and move further, you realize slowly, they were right beneath your feet!

The caves are a natural formation of limestone deposits that cause interesting structures over the passage of time – a process that takes millions of years. Stalactite and Stalagmite formations can be found here. A completely underground passage way, large chambers and wonderful rock formations have been formed here, which is the reason for the tourist attraction.

These caves are the second longest in India (the longest ones measuring about 22 kms are Krem Liat Prah in the Jaintia hills of Meghalaya). As there is a lot of information about these caves on the net, I will just give you some travel tips.

• The caves are totally worth the visit. If you are somewhere around the region in Andhra, definitely make it a point to visit here.

• The total walk inside the caves is around 2 kms. It is hot (Outside air is pumped inside using compressors. Still you feel the heat). You will sweat like hell. Carry a towel to wipe yourself out. It is absolutely necessary.

• It is not advisable to drive here. Because, you might doze off as I had already mentioned. There is absolutely nothing scenic on the highway. You can see the road as far as your eyes can reach, and you can see nothing! Take a cab!

• Guides are available at the entrance. They take Rs.10. Hire one of them. One, they carry a torch to show you the way. Two, they tell you a lot of stories about the caves.

• Some places in the caves need some acrobatics to reach. Sometime you might have to crawl. Not too frightening. It might be difficult for the aged.

• There is no accommodation near the caves. You have to stay at Anantapur or Kurnool. Nandyal is also a nice place to stay. The caves are about 75 kms from Nandyal. Food is served in a small restaurant near the caves. Don’t expect too much – simple, tasty Andhra meals are served.

Now, over to the pics…

Entrance to the caves

Vinoth, Rahul and Karthik

A game of hands

Rahul, the devil

Near a man-made fountain

Details on the ceiling

Vinoth looking on

A secret passage

Details on the ceiling

Karthik posing

An underground chamber

Buddha statue outside on the plains

Karthik falling in

Enjoy maadi…!

Hearty wishes for an exciting and fun-filled new year 2010 to all readers!

I finished my last year with an eventful vacation in Goa, enjoying all the beaches and birds of the west coast.

What’s more exciting?

The new year for me has already begun thunderously, with my write-up on Parambikulam Wildlife Sanctuary getting published in The Banyan Trees.

You can read my article here. Many thanks to Dhivya.

The Banyan Trees is a new-age online monthly magazine that gives a platform to display creative content. The Banyan Trees team has been doing a great job, and the magazine has improved a lot since its first issue in November 2009. I wish them all the best in their effort. A neat looking flash version of the magazine…

What’s even more exciting?

Looking at the wonderful show put up by the Banyan Trees, I have been lately thinking about starting my own magazine. It will be a collaborative effort, with the help of friends. Watch out for the first issue very soon…

If you thought Goa is all about beaches, you are wrong! Goa has something for all types of people. If you are the kind who wants to just laze around doing nothing, Goa is the place for you. If you want to party hard and rock the night, Goa is the place for you. If you are a fan of old Portuguese forts, Goa is the place for you. If you are a religious person, and want to do church-hopping Goa is the place to be! We decided on a mixture of these. We started our Day 2 with a visit to the famous churches of Goa. Click here for our Day 1 in the dream called Goa.

Dancing in the beach shack

To visit these churches, you will have to travel a good 30 kilometers from the Calangute area. We had our hired bikes and started out, braving the scorching sun, which grew hotter and hotter as the day progressed. The Old Goa, where these churches are located, is a small town, but with magnificient and imposing churches. The churches remind you of the glory of the past history – the Portuguese history.

Mammoth structures with impeccable architecture and soul-binding divinity – these churches will never fail to excite any person inclined to buildings. The only thing you will have to be careful and protective about, is the heat of the morning, which could easily make you tired walking around these huge structures. The long and stunning hallways of these churches leave one wondering how they were built in the first place, centuries back! We spent all the time in the morning watching the churches, and had lunch at a small restaurant in Old Goa. As would always be the case, we ate fish, fish and more fish. The fish never fails to amaze in Goa, which is another of the reasons why we felt so bad leaving the paradise.

Returning from our trip to the churches, we had very little strength left in us for the day. We had earlier planned to visit the Vagator beach, about which we had heard a lot, but on the last moment, decided against it. We took bath in the Calangute beach till we were tired, and till we had enough and more of the beach. It was an exciting experience. The waves are a bit strong towards the Baga beach, but it is not a subject of worry, since there are umpteen people in these beaches, and the Lifeguard is always there to help you in case there should be any problem.

Dil Chahata Hai fort

The evening was again time for a sumptuous beach dinner of chicken, prawns and fishes, not to mention the bottles of beers that went in. There was a live karaoke party in the restaurant (beach shack) and we were listening to all kinds of songs we had never heard till then. Buffalo soldier… song was the best of the lot – with a cheerful old guy singing, and he was indeed very good. People (read gals) in the restaurants also were excited by the song. There is no limit for excitement in Goa. They came towards our shack and started dancing alongside, adding to the mood of revelry. We enjoyed the whole of the night and went home tired and exhausted well after midnight, and again had a dreamy sleep. I had given instructions to everyone to be ready for the next day’s adventures at Vagator, and not to delay the start at any cost.

We greeted our last day in Goa, again with lot of expectations. I just changed my mind, and decided that we will ride to Arambol beach rather than Vagator, and visit the Vagator beach if we had enough time while returning from Arambol. The ride to Arambol was quite long. May be it is around a 35 kms from Calangute. But, the beach is well worth the travel. We rode and rode and rode and finally came to the spectacular beach called Arambol. It was paradise on earth.

Bikini babes and stunning damsels marked the Arambol beach. We had never seen so many hot ladies in bikinis, that we soon decided to ditch any other plan for the day, and just remain in the Arambol beach, and that was not a bad plan at all. One remarkable thing about Arambol beach is, the waters are so shallow that you can go quite a distance into the sea, and still the water remains at waist level. The waves are not too strong at all, and it would be a completely enjoyable experience. To spice up things, a great looking female and a guy got into water, and all our eyes lit up, and we wondered – Is this India…? We enjoyed our bath in the waters for another 2 hours or so. Time flew by, and we never wanted to leave, but we had to, since it was our last day, and we had to board our train late that night.

Actually, there is a small fresh water lake near the Arambol beach, which is a nice place to take bath in… but we had to walk quite a distance (about 2 kms) to reach this. It would have been a nice walk skirting the beach, and the place was at a visible distance only, but again as we had to leave that day, we decided to reserve the lake for our next trip. We took more eyefuls of the bikini babes, and had lunch again at a nice beach side restaurant at Arambol beach. Chickens, fishes and prawns again. On our way back, we saw that almost the whole of our day had been spent in Arambol alone, and no one regretted it. It was the best of the beaches. Not too crowdy, shallow enough, white and clear sand, and to top it all, bikini babes. A nice way to end our trip.

We came back to our room in Calangute, took a short nap, then woke up, bade farewell to our nice host, and started back to Panjim. Rahul bought some wine to be taken back to friends. We also bought a special cake called Bebinca, which Rahul said would taste great. But I warn you, it tasted just like normal halwa, and was grossly overpriced. So, beware.

We had some fruit juice near the station, and then boarded our train to Bangalore. It was one of my best journeys. All of our hearts were refusing to wake up from the dream called Goa… All we were discussing was about when we would make our next trip to Goa…

Vinoth is getting married, and I am moving to my own house in Bangalore… Balayya has shifted to Banashankari. So, practically we are all heading in different directions. But we have decided to come together (at least the bachelors) in December of 2009 to make our next week-long trip to the dream called Goa. Let us see if we make it to our dreams…

Click here for our Day 1 in the dream called Goa.