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Living with Multiple Myeloma in Hyderabad , India . Random musings .


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Road trip from Hyderabad to Kavali

Time for my yearly sojourn to Granny’s village near Kavali. From 23 Dec 2017 to 27 Dec 2017.

Drove from Hyderabad to Kavali via Nalgonda-Narsaraopet-Chilakaluripet-Ongole.

 

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Started at 7am and planned to have breakfast at Village Aharam , an organic restaurant which is around 20km after exiting the ORR. We saw huge crowds  and so decided to go to NGrill resto which is 50km from the ORR. This was equally crowded and had to wait for a table.

This stretch is a busy one , with lots of people driving between Hyderabad and Vijayawada and prefer to have breakfast in one of these places.

Stopped for lunch after crossing Narasaraopet . Found a kachcha road on the left and parked under a tree.

A pleasant drive with all the greenery and great weather. This time of the year is beautiful for travelling by road. Excellent roads especially the stretch from Chilakaluripet to Kavali which is part of the National Quadrilateral. It is an 8 lane express highway  , maintained beautifully and is as good as any interstate highway in the USA and other developed countries. Thanks to our erstwhile Prime Minister Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee , we are able to drive on such roads in India.

We drove through a variety of fields . It is the season for various crops like Chilli , Cotton , Tobacco and Paddy during this time of the year.

Reached Kavali by 4pm. A non-stop drive would take 7 hours.

Life in a village is like life on another planet . They have their own set of joys and challenges.

Here are a few sights along the drive :

A Marigold field.

The Krishna river near Miryalaguda. The left bank of the river is in Telangana and the right bank is in Andhra Pradesh.

There is a Restaurant above this Toll gate.

Following pics are from our village :

 

Paddy fields.

Spent a few days in our village which is 5km from the Bay of Bengal. The population in the village is around 500 . Each time I visit , I  see a few developments in the village . One of the road leading to the village is being widened as a small harbour is being developed around this part of the ocean . Lots of Autos in the village now . The erstwhile Bus has been stopped due to increase in the number of Autos. A water tanker supplies water to every house in the village for washing/cleaning  purposes. There are no water supply yet, though pipelines have been laid. Filtered drinking water is also supplied in 20 liter plastic drums from a water treatment plant for a decent price. The underground water in this area is salty and not fit for drinking. There is just one well on the outskirts of the village which has sweet water. One of them in the village has bought a Car and an Air Conditioner. The first signs of urbanisation in the village 🙂 Sign of prosperity .

Recently TTD has started construction of a Rama temple in the village.

IMG-20171004-WA0015Smartphones are being used to check weather conditions , levels of water in the surrounding lakes as the irrigiation is through canals . They also check information about government schemes.

Enjoyed fresh unpolluted air and fresh food. Started back on the 5th day at 9am and reached Hyderabad at 5pm. Had our packed lunch under a huge tamarind tree . Had Tea at Vivera restaurant near Narketpally. One can buy some fresh veggies too at this place.

Back to the hustle bustle of the city…as we enter the Financial district in Hyderabad …

Till my next visit…..

 


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Drive to Shadnagar and a Tomato farm

This time we drove South towards Shadnagar .The town is on the right side of NH7 while going towards Bangalore from Hyderabad. We took a left turn as soon as we reached the town.  After driving straight for a couple of kilometers we took a detour just after a village named Buchigudem.

Very soon we came across a tomato farm. Several men and women were busy harvesting ripe tomatoes in the farm.

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As usual I was excited and hoped to get hold of some tomatoes.

Despite the hot summer there were a few fields here and there.

We moved closer to the labourers and asked if they would sell the produce to us. They told us to ask the owner who was sitting close by.

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The owner agreed and we managed to dump 10kilos in the rear of our car.

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He agreed to give 10kilos for just Rs 100. Whereas these were being sold for three times the price in the city.

I spotted goru chikkudu kaayalu or Cluster beans stored in plastic bags near the heap of tomatoes and we picked a few kilos .

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Felt good that we got some farm fresh veggies :))

The fresh air and gentle breeze was invigorating.

 

Love spending time away from the city once in a while. I have this wish and always dream of having a small house at the edge of a village adjacent to a farm  🙂

It was teatime . On our way back we stopped at a roadside restaurant named ‘Aashiana’ , adjacent to the highway , in Shadnagar. We ordered Mirchi bajjis. They were some of the best Mirchi bajjis I ever had . A waiter served the items while we waited in the car.

NH7 is a busy highway which connects Hyderabad and Bangalore. 

Wish to go there again just to eat those Mirchi bajjis 🙂 and also pick up fresh veggies.

 


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Drive to Shabad via Moinabad

Mom, Sis, BIL ,niece and I went on a long drive to Shabad from Kukatpally via ORR.
We took the right at APPA junction on the ORR and drove towards Moinabad . Took left turn there.
We wanted to check out  agricultural land in the area between Moinabad and Shabad.
We came across beautiful fields with flowers.Didn’t expect to see any vegetation at all as it is peak summer here in India.

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We also passed by several polyhouses.
We stopped at a vegetable field and were thrilled to see cucumbers, beans, ladiesfingers etc.

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On seeing us the caretaker approaced us and agreed to sell some produce to us.

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Dumped some veggies in the car dikki.

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Everyone enjoyed eating the cucumbers at the field.
The temps were too high.

Also came across peacocks roaming in the vast open grounds.

After the veggies break  , we drove to Shabad . Checked out a few more bits of land around Shabad we drove towards Chevella and then back towards ORR.

Came across many more polyhouses on the way back but it was getting dark and we planned to visit them some other time.