Bird’s eye view
Today, we flipped.
We flipped the sea-level for 5000 feet.
We flipped the straight highways for a mountain road.
We flipped the blistering sun for a faintly chilly drizzle.
We moved from Gopalpur to Mahendragiri hills, a distance of 130 kms, but since I deeply believe in Management by Wandering Around, we took 4.5 hours to do it, taking in a waterfall in the process.
Let’s see how that happened.
Leaving Gopalpur (8.45 am)
Another lovely sunrise across the sea. The sun penetrated the haze at around 7.00 am, but there was already a beachful of people with smartphones at the ready, eager to record a few reels. We sat in our balcony chairs in a halfway house between gratitude and smug superiority, as we didn’t even have to brush our teeth in order to say 'Hi' to the sun.
Since our lodging had no food provisions, we popped down for toast and eggs, which were slightly below par. I mean, a food-stall is no Michelin star, but the toast had been slightly charred, and soaked in the remaining oil instead of buttered, which led up to a few hard questions on the pedigree of the chef. But we swallowed our pride with black coffee and toddled off to see a lighthouse, one that was another artefact that had survived the 35 year hiatus, and doing quite well, it seems.
That done, we were ready to hit the road.
Gandahati waterfall (11.00 am)
For going just to Mahendragiri, we could have moved deeper inland right away, but since we wanted a peep at this waterfall, we initially drove down NH16 (same way one would go to Vizag), and at Palasa, we left the NH and turned right, passing through villages and starting a mild climb. At some point we must have entered Andhra before we turned right, which was evidenced by a cop flagging us down and coming huffing and puffing to ask where the effing were we going. ‘Mahendragiri’ made him look doubtful, as this was the longer route, but finally he gave up and waved us on. I always say, that at moments of great beauty, words fail us and we go beyond language to pure feeling (though I doubt whether that applies to a harassed Andhra cop poking his head into my car window and dripping sweat all over).
The waterfall was inside a small park, easily accessed, with two major streams flowing down into a pool below. A big sign said “no diving, no soaping and no underwear”, the last being rather shocking. Didn’t realise that this govt was so keen on nudity. We gingerly watched a group of young chaps, wearing towels and shorts, cavorting under the falls, with a lad in particular shampooing his hair as if he had discovered lice in his whiskers.
That said, Panna’s Liril instincts were aroused and she promptly waded in, finally planting herself under the waterfall and getting a solid soaking, with me clicking away like an action photographer at the T-20. We wound up our adventure with some health food (read bananas and daab), and walked back to our car, ready to climb Mahendragiri.
Mahendragiri Hills (1.30 pm)
The road to MH was right up my ally, rolling gently upwards and finally ending with a flourish of around 20 steep hairpin bends in 15 minutes flat. This area is a biodiversity preservation, so this hill and the surrounding ones are fully green.
Mahendragiri itself is a pretty holy place, with many puranic claims to fame. In ancient times, Parasuram is said to have meditated here. In Ramayana times, Hanuman is supposed to have jumped off from here to reach Lanka, though I found no logic for his choice of launching pad. In Mahabharata times, during the vanavas, the Pandavas are said to have spent time here, and each of them had set up temples for worshipping Shiva (Arjuna had camped in a cave instead, finding lugging around big stones a pain). So Kunti, Yudhisthira and Bheema have their private Shiva temples (They seem to have covered a fair bit of territory though, right from Uttarakhand to Orissa).
We took a look at Yudhisthira’s temple before we checked in, since that temple was at road level with no climbing involved. You know how keenly we avoid trekking. So did Yudhishthira, it seems.
Mahendragiri Eco Resort, a part of OFDC, is a new and fantastic property, with a row of cottages overlooking valleys and hills from the bedrooms and verandas, and promising a great sunrise from our beds, if the weather holds up. It had, in fact, started drizzling as we arrived, the temperature dropping by a couple of degrees, and the warm veg lunch we were invited to partake, fitted the bill to the L. (Incidentally, this being a religious locality, I guess only veg food will be served).
We moved into our designated acco post-lunch and stood admiring our cottage 101, spanking new, with a view that was as old as the hills. Panna got rid of the wet clothes that she had been harbouring since the last one hour (the waterfall, remember?) and we settled down to redefing the meaning of chilling in bed. We have no intentions of budging from our room and veranda for the rest of the afternoon. Wi-Fi is non-existent and signal pretty poor, so this night might be a forced detox for us.
Tomorrow we travel to Daringbadi, another hill station, via waterfalls and temples. Do stay tuned.
Photo credits: Panna Rashmi Ray
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