How will you feel if you got a chance to step out of your daily life? Say, someone casts a spell upon you and you got transported to a different world – a different place, a different era. Where all identities of the present world are conspicuous by their absence so much so that you feel time itself has stopped moving. It would be a surreal experience. That’s how we (a bunch of 8 adventure-seekers) felt when we recently went to “Raidurg” – a place close to SHAR.
Now, SHAR is not exactly a ‘tourist’s paradise’. But, even in this forsaken place, there is a small pristine paradise. Situated on the northern fringe of SHAR, surrounded on all sides by the PULICAT and totally cut-off from the mainland is Raidurg. One of our friends who had visited this place recommended it to us as a place to get good fish. So we decided to give it a try and all 8 of us bundled ourselves into a hired taxi (the faithful ambassador) and landed at the place.
Raidurg is a small village and the only means to reach it is by a boat. We saw a fisherman on reaching there and we hitched a ride in his yacht.
As we entered the village, we felt as if we had gone back in time by at least 50 years. There were no roads, only man-made trails. The huts in the village were very short. One can enter only by crawling on all fours, and then inside, there isn’t any place to stand upright. Bushes and shrubs around the huts served as fences. As we entered the village, we could see people sitting in front of their courtyards and passing away their time in idle chit-chat. Children roamed about on the streets playing their merry games and women were busy in their homes doing their daily chores. It was like a ‘50s black-and-white movie playing.
We started wandering around. Wherever we went, people stopped whatever they were doing and stared at us. It was as if they couldn’t believe people from outside could come into their small hamlet.
We were roaming around when our de-facto guide (the taxi driver) took us to a house where a lady was busy preparing something – and the next minute, we all had a glass of toddy in our hands. It seems toddy making is a cottage industry here. We had a drink but didn’t like the taste. Sensing this, our guide took us to another house where the toddy tasted much better. So, while we entered the village looking for good fish, we ended up having toddy instead. Great !!!
The place drew us towards itself and we were happy to oblige. We wanted to spend as much time as possible, but couldn’t as evening was approaching fast and we had a long way to go back. Besides, we had to go to work the next day. So, spending the night there under the open skies was out of question though it would have been great. We felt sad to leave the place. But, on the bright side, we can always come back here. This place is not very far from SHAR centre and if one has any spare time, he can always plan a trip here. Atleast, it will make our wretched stay in SHAR feel better. It’s with such happy thoughts that we finally bid adieu to the place and came back to our hostel rooms.
TRIVIA:
Now, SHAR is not exactly a ‘tourist’s paradise’. But, even in this forsaken place, there is a small pristine paradise. Situated on the northern fringe of SHAR, surrounded on all sides by the PULICAT and totally cut-off from the mainland is Raidurg. One of our friends who had visited this place recommended it to us as a place to get good fish. So we decided to give it a try and all 8 of us bundled ourselves into a hired taxi (the faithful ambassador) and landed at the place.
Raidurg is a small village and the only means to reach it is by a boat. We saw a fisherman on reaching there and we hitched a ride in his yacht.
As we entered the village, we felt as if we had gone back in time by at least 50 years. There were no roads, only man-made trails. The huts in the village were very short. One can enter only by crawling on all fours, and then inside, there isn’t any place to stand upright. Bushes and shrubs around the huts served as fences. As we entered the village, we could see people sitting in front of their courtyards and passing away their time in idle chit-chat. Children roamed about on the streets playing their merry games and women were busy in their homes doing their daily chores. It was like a ‘50s black-and-white movie playing.
We started wandering around. Wherever we went, people stopped whatever they were doing and stared at us. It was as if they couldn’t believe people from outside could come into their small hamlet.
We were roaming around when our de-facto guide (the taxi driver) took us to a house where a lady was busy preparing something – and the next minute, we all had a glass of toddy in our hands. It seems toddy making is a cottage industry here. We had a drink but didn’t like the taste. Sensing this, our guide took us to another house where the toddy tasted much better. So, while we entered the village looking for good fish, we ended up having toddy instead. Great !!!
The place drew us towards itself and we were happy to oblige. We wanted to spend as much time as possible, but couldn’t as evening was approaching fast and we had a long way to go back. Besides, we had to go to work the next day. So, spending the night there under the open skies was out of question though it would have been great. We felt sad to leave the place. But, on the bright side, we can always come back here. This place is not very far from SHAR centre and if one has any spare time, he can always plan a trip here. Atleast, it will make our wretched stay in SHAR feel better. It’s with such happy thoughts that we finally bid adieu to the place and came back to our hostel rooms.
TRIVIA:
- There is an old temple on the way to Raidurg. This temple is now in ruins. Anyone interested in historical adventures can check it out as it looks to be a great place for exploration.
- Don’t forget your swimming trunks while going to Raidurg, else, you may miss out on a great swim.
- This place has a wide variety of sea shells. Anyone with a keen eye can get a nice shell without much effort as we got this time.
- Though the village is not connected to the mainland, it still has some modern amenities like DTH, telephone, schools etc. yet it retains its old world charm inspite of that.
- On the way to Raidurg, there are lots of small lakes, each offering itself as a potential spot for picnic.
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