Trip to Vizag

How beautiful the city looks with backdrop of the setting Sun

The History of Visahakapatanam
According to history the city was named after the God of Valour 'Vishaka'. It was part of the Kalinga kingdom, under Asoka's rule in 260B.C. It passed on later to the Andhra Kings of 'Vengi'. After this Pallavas, Chola and Ganga dynasties ruled the city. In the 15th century, Vishakapatnam became part of the Vijaynagar Empire.

View from for the hotel window

View from the window of the Taj Gateway

The Europeans, the Dutch, the French and the English established themselves from the 17th century onwards and used this as a major trading center to export textiles, tobacco, indigo etc. This coast played a major role during the reign of Asaf Jahais and Golcondas. 
Vizag is built along the seashore, of the Bay of Bengal, and is bounded and broken by the bold headland called the Dolphin's Nose (357m. above sea level). The city boasts of a beautiful beach with a long beach road ending nearly at Bheemapatinam on the Northern end. The surrounding area is dominated in the west by the well- forested  western ghats and farther east is drained by numerous rivers, like the Godavari and Indravati.

The city is surrounded by three hills, each of which has a shrine dedicated to different religion: Venkateswara temple on the Venkateswara Konda, Baba Ishaq Madina Dargah on the Dargha Konda, and the Church of Virgin Mary on Rose Hill.

These fisher-women were quite happy to be photographed: they seem to be liking the unexpected break from the routine.You can make out from their smiles.

Waves hitting against the rocks, I simply love the sea, can spend hours here...

It is really wonderful to watch the waves gushing in with such force

  The lovely Rushikoda Beach in Vizag with golden sands is the best beach in Vizag. However instead of going to the regular beach, as it is very crowded, it is better to drive a few miles further down the road and find some secluded beaches like this. Here we found some lovely and  very friendly fisher- women, who were not only excited to see visitors on this isolated beach, but also readily agreed to pose for pictures.

The Kailasgiri Hills and the Ropeway

Known as the Thomas' Folly in the colonial era Kailasgiri is situated at an altitude of 360ft. A charming hillock on the sea front bordering a small valley within the city. The magnificient statues of Shiva & Parvati are illuminated at night and is worth seeing.

Boats, boats all sailing calmly...

A Ropeway that takes people from the foot of the hill to the top of the hill and back. It is an added attraction to this wonderful place. Sitting in the cable car you can have some of the magnificent views of the city and the Bay

The view from the top is mind- blowing

The park gives an enchanting view of the sea, beaches, lush green forests and the ever bustling city. Kailasagiri is a glider's paradise with excellent gliding facilities.

                               INS Kursura

The INS Kursura was commissioned at Riga. erstwhile USSR on 18th December 1969 under the command of A. Auditto. The Submarine embarked on her maiden passage from Balrisk on 20th February 1970. The induction of Kursura show cased the augumentation of the 3rd dimension of the Indian Navy. She was the corner stone of foundation of the Indian Navy Submarine Arm. During her 31 glorious year of service, the submarine traversed 73,500 nautical miles participating in all kinds of Naval operations. It played a vital role in the 1971 Indo- pak war. She was the pioneer submarine extending good will and harmony through visits and flag showing missions to other nations. In her vast life span, INS Kursura changed hands 13 times, the last commanding officer being Cdr KM Sreedharan. INS Kursura was decommissioned on 27th February 2001.

After that, Kursura has been converted into a submarine museum on the RK Beach Vizag.

The INS Kursura against the backdrop of the Bay Of Bengal in Vizag.

Inside INS Kursura

The best time to visit Vizag is from November to February with moderate temperature and little precipitation.

Chapel Of Bones : Portugal

Facade of the Chapel of Bones

Rama, Ananth and our daughter Puja
waiting outside the chapel.

 In many bone chapels, or catacombs, the bones are just strewn arounnd, hardly serving any purpose. However at the Capela dos Ossos, the purpose of the bones is carved into the entry way, "Nos ossos que aqui estamos pelos vossos esperamos", meaning "Our bones that are here awaits yours!". Seems so scary yet so profound, the meaning : literally dripping from the bones. The 16th century monks who built the Chapel of Bones wanted visiters to contemplate the rather transient nature of life, and they used a rather macabre sense of humour in bringing the point home.

A soft featured Madonna statue provides some comfort in the stark surroundings of this Chapel

Even the beautiful paintings in the ceiling are paintings of skulls

 This Chapel is inside the Igreja de Sao Francisco in Evora Portugal. The walls and the central piers are lined with human skulls and bones bedded in cement. Inside the dimly lit chapel, it takes a moment to realise that the interior walls amd pillars supporting the arched ceiling are composed entirely of neatly stacked leg bones, arm bones and skulls. Once the shock of this realisation subsides, we begin to appriciate the almost comical sights of hundreds of skulls lined up jaw to cranium, to make borders  around the sections of vaulted ceiling.

 A statue of Jesus and an ornate gilded altar are overshadowed by the Chapel's most gruesome decoration: two desiccated  corpses  hanging bizarrely on a side wall. They are the bodies of a man and a small child which are several centuries old, but there are still skin and shreds of clothing clinging to their pathetic frames. The story goes, that the man was a wife abuser and his little son was just as disrespectful to his mother. The man finally beat his wife to death, but before she succumbed, she put a curse on her husband and her child. She declared that they would soon follow her in death, but, since they were so evil, even Hell would not accept them. As predicted, the evil pair died. When they were to be buried, the ground mysteriously turned hard as rock, and their graves could not be dug. So, the monks took their bodies and put them on permanent display in the Chapel, as warning to other wife abusers and bad children. The legends shows the Franciscan monks to have been feminists way ahead of their time. In recognition of this, local women engaged to be married cut off their hair and place the braids at the Chapel entrance, making a symbolic sacrifice of their girlhood in suppplication of a happy marriage. This custom continues today, with several fresh braids on display.

An art to be admired

 Now all this may just be rumours, for the truth is far less romantic; They were denizens of local cemetries facing eviction. Eveora went through a building boom in the late 1400s. Noblemen from Lisbon, less than 100 miles away, found that the area was good for hunting. They invited their friends to vaccation in their hunting lodges, and before long all the glitterati from the capital were buying up huge tracts of land, on which they built, large country estates. The local monks worried about the rampant construction encroaching on the area's burial grounds. They dug up the remains as a protective measure, and decided they would not only keep the bones safe within the church, but use them to glorify God as well. And so the chapel was built, as a place of meditation and prayer for the Franciscans. This Chapel is indeed a chilling display of imagination that no words can describe.

It is not as scary as it looks. The  corpse of the evil man and the evil boy

 Just opposite the evil man the evil child you would find a poem which reads:

   Where are you going in such a hurry traveller?

     So little do you reflect on death:

   If by chance you glance at this place,

    Stop..... for the sake of your journey,

 The more you pause, the further on your journey you will be.