Temples in Andhra Pradesh are just perfect to find serenity...

Everyone has his own believes and desires. Sometimes, in order to achieve utmost tranquillity, we don’t mind visiting the far most spiritual places and sometimes, the state of calmness come naturally to us by just watching an innocent smile of a child. For instance, I find my peace of mind by visiting all those places which are closer to nature like waterfalls, green mountains, virgin valleys, calm beaches and ancient temples. From last few months, I was not able to take time out for myself and with every passing day, I was becoming crankier. So, I decided to take a few days off myself and gave a visit to my maternal aunt who lives in Kurnool, Andhra Pradesh. I remember when I was a kid, my aunt told me that this place - Kurnool was used to be a state capital of Andhra and today, people come here just to visit the famous temples of Andhra Pradesh like Sri Yagantiswamy Temple in Banagapalle mandal, Kurnool.

Temples in Andhra Pradesh

I started my journey with Sri Yagantiswamy Temple, the famous Lord Shiva Temple in Kurnool. The main feature of this temple is its Pushkarini (a small pond inside the premises of the temple). The amazing fact about this holy pond is that no one really knows how the water flows out from the bottom of hill to Pushkarini in all the seasons the whole year and moreover, the water of this pond never dries out. Few also believe that the stone Nandiswara (Basavanna) is constantly increasing in its size. Legend has it that once saint Agasthya came here and took bath in the Agasthya Pushkarini. The water of this Pushkarini is sweet in taste as it is directly coming from the hills. I also visited Veera Brahmam Caves, Venkteshwara Caves, Agasya Caves.

Next, I decided to visit two other most famous temples of Andhra Pradesh Ahobilam and Mahanandi, which were just a few kilometres away from Kurnool (about 70 kms). Apart from these two temples, I got to know about Ista Kameswari temple in Srisailam, another most famous Shiva Temple situated inside forest of Srisailam. This Shiva temple is only accessed by a few ways: firstly through commander jeep, secondly by Srisailam dam and last way to reach this temple is through rope way to patalaganga.

I decided to visit Ista Kameswari temple in Srisailam by rope way to patalaganga and get a chance to adore the scenic beauty of Krishna River having Nallamala forests on both sides of its river bed. Since, I love eco tourism and this trip was not less than that after getting a view of Nallamala forest. After all, how can one miss the chance of reconnecting with nature?

A foodie can die for Festival Feast...

We all have our moments related to food and dinning, today, I am going to share mine with you.

I was just another college student with few aims and dreams in my eyes. When I was in first year, I always wanted to explore all parts of Delhi. When I got promoted to second year, I started thinking about my career and my wish list got a brand new point in it, which was, I want to do something big in my life. Finally, I managed to get into my third and final year of my college life and by that time I was very clear with my dreams and desires which I was going to follow for my rest of the life, which were:

1.    I wanted to explore world on my own
2.    I wanted to learn all forms of dance
3.    Wanted to taste all well known and delicious (and spicy) cuisines available in the world.

Because of which by the end of third year, I already turned into a food lover. Very often, a strange thought used to strangle me that thought was “Am I living to eat or I eat because I want to live?” 

So this time, I decided to go to a food festival for the very first time and was equally excited about it. That food festival was part of Delhi Celebrations for completing its 100 years as capital. I still remember the time, when I entered BKS Marg in Connaught Place, the aroma of food grabbed me and forced me to commit this lovely crime of tasting all the food/ cuisines available over there. 

cuisines of Andhra Pradesh

The ambience of that food festival was vibrant and yet traditional. The organiser of that food festival had tried hard to give it an overlook of a village-fair. There were some 50 plus dishes available from all across India which was proudly showcasing the rich food culture of all Indian States.

But the only state’s food which attracted me the most was Andhra Pradesh’s festival food and some other Andhra Pradesh Cuisine. I came to know about this Sojjapplau which is very similar to Obbattu with dal filling (a Karnataka Dish) used to be made at the time of festivals or at other auspicious occasions. Filling for Sojjapplau is made of Rawa Kesari. It is stuffed with sweet dough, patted to circles and cooked. On the contrary, everyone knows that Andhra Pradesh is famous for its spicy cuisines but Sojjapplau is sweet in taste and also a part of Festival Thali.

Dhapalam, Murukulu, Poori, Vellulli Podi are some other cuisines of Andhra Pradesh which is only made at the time of festivals in Andhra Pradesh.

Well, in the end, I will conclude by writing what we eat does not matter that much rather what matters the most is the person with whom we share our meal and some time those unforgettable moments are hard to recreate and even harder to explain :)