[RacingHart]

The Dream

We have been planning to go to goa for a long time now. The time, speed, and the distance, everything was measured, but its is one month from now. I couldnt wait longer to take my baby on a highway strech. I was thinking of a short trip before goa, somewhere near to hyderabad. Thought of Ananthagiri, but there was nothing really to see, and more over it was approx. not more than 80Kms I believe, and ruled it out. The next thing that hit my mind was "NAGARJUNA SAGAR" and I was all immersed in the travelogues of my favorite website "TEAM-BHP", showing how Nagarjuna sagar is.

The Planning

It all started on Friday evening, when I walked into the office. Everyone was planning what to drink, but I was planning where to go. I spoke to a couple of my friends, and told them about my plan, and every one was ready. I would finish my shift at 2:30 in the morning on Saturday. Hence, the plan was to hang out at office for another 2 hours and then start to nagarjuna sagar. I didn't know much about the route. Hence enquired about it. I was advised to take the Sagar road, which is somewhere near LB Nagar. Hence Decided the same.

The Experience

"When you are in office on a friday night and you are ready to explore a new place and eagerly waiting for the time to kill it self, you know, that would be the slowest day in your life, I bet."

This was my feeling at 1:00 AM. I was so much excited about it. After eagerly waiting for one and a half hour (Which seemed to me like I was waiting for days) the clock struck 2:30, I was off from my work, and stepped out of the office. Rest of the office friends as well were in. We waited at the office for sometime. We had to pick up one of our friends at Rajendra Nagar, we drove all the way from Nehru O.R.R. and to my amazement, I saw, Nagarjuna Sagar direction board, I was surprised, and we decided that we will take the O.R.R. We picked up our friend from her place, and came back to office, as there was another friend of mine who was stuck with some work. He came out finally at 4:00, grabbed a couple of smokes , and then started towards the O.R.R. The drive was smooth. My baby was begging to rip the roads. So I let it. He he. I was easily hovering around 130 to 150 with four people inside including me, and the experience was "ELETRIFYING".

After some time, we stopped for some "cutting chai" and gosh, that was the worst tea, that I had in my life, but there was no other choice that I had apart from drinking it. We started back again, on the way, I dont know why, but there were around 60 buses, lined up on the onside of the road, and I am not sure what they were waiting for. Because that blocked the road upto the strech of almost 2 Kms. Somehow, we managed to get through, and made it out of the Jam in 20 Mins. The sun was rising, and there was a very mild fog around. Somewhere around 7:30, we stopped for breakfast, and The food as well was not good, but ate it just because we were hungry.


The next stop was nagarjuna sagar. There was this horrific accident that we saw somewhere near a small hill road nearby to nagarjuna sagar. There was this D'zire which had rammed into a truck breaking the front right wheel of the truck apart. (Think of the speed he might be going in). The car was upside down, behind the truck, and the front bumper was underneath the front part of the truck. But, we did not stop there, It was just a glimpse, and we carried on.

We reached nagarjuna sagar, and saw the dam and seriously, WHO BUILT IT? The experience on that bridge, from where you can see Nagarjuna Sagar Dam was . It was gorgeous. We took some pics. (Will upload them very soon. Posting this from office, so no way to upload them here).

The Next Destination

The next destination was ethipothala waterfalls. We drove to Ethipothla water falls, but after reaching the place, we came to know that it opens at 10:00, and it was just 9:00. So we decided to go back, as one of my friend had to come back to office at 4:00 in the evening for some kinda meeting. So we started back. On the way back, we saw these round boats, and some fishermen. We bargained and got a good deal and went the center of the river on that boat. The boat ride again was really amazing. The experience was "Eletrifying" Finally, we decided to head home, and reached Hyderabad around 3:00 in the afternooon with everyone exhausted. I was a dead meat, because I didnt have any sleep at all, and I was the only one driving. I was dead tired. Dropped everyone home, and headed home, and slept.....zzzzzzzzzz

[nacd80]

Originally Posted by RacingHart

The Dream
"When you are in office on a friday night and you are ready to explore a new place and eagerly waiting for the time to kill it self, you know, that would be the slowest day in your life, I bet."

I can totally relate to that! Looking forward to some nice pics.

[sachinj12]

Nice writing. Why don't you put this in the assembly line, complete the whole log in one shot and post it back on the public forum?

: You are exceeding the smiley limit though.

[RacingHart]

Originally Posted by sachinj12

Nice writing. Why don't you put this in the assembly line, complete the whole log in one shot and post it back on the public forum?

: You are exceeding the smiley limit though.

Sorry about the smiley thing. Will post the pics tomorrow as the internet as well at home is down as the cables are dug up.........

[Night_Hawk]

Originally Posted by RacingHart

We drove to Ethipothla water falls, but after reaching the place, we came to know that it opens at 10:00, and it was just 9:00. So we decided to go back, as one of my friend had to come back to office at 4:00 in the evening for some kinda meeting. So we started back

Ethipothala waterfalls are worth seeing. Sad you had to give it a miss.

I was there in April; believe me, the amount of water tumbling down was surprisingly huge even in peak summer.

cheers !
NH

[srikanthpotluri]

Agree with Night Hawk - "Ethipothala waterfalls are worth seeing. Sad you had to give it a miss."

After rains, its a amazing sight. Anyways were the gates open by any chance?

Last I was through Sagar road was while coming back to Chennai from Hyderabad, and it was smooth enough to do at 90KMPH and no traffic whatsoever.

[vnabhi]

Originally Posted by RacingHart

WHO BUILT IT? The experience on that bridge, from where you can see Nagarjuna Sagar Dam was . It was gorgeous. We took some pics. (Will upload them very soon. Posting this from office, so no way to upload them here).

Waiting for your pics, as a travelogue is incomplete without them.

As regards your question, the below pic taken at National Geographic HQ at Washington DC throws some light. You might need to zoom to see the caption below the picture. It reads as 'workers swarm over scaffolding to build Nagarjuna Sagar Dam, India 1963'

[RacingHart]

Originally Posted by vnabhi

Waiting for your pics, as a travelogue is incomplete without them.

As regards your question, the below pic taken at National Geographic HQ at Washington DC throws some light. You might need to zoom to see the caption below the picture. It reads as 'workers swarm over scaffolding to build Nagarjuna Sagar Dam, India 1963'

Attachment 825799

Thanks for the Contribution. You are right a travelogue, is incomplete without pics. I will be posting them by End of the day tomorrow.

I liked the way, you put some light on it. Thank you once again.

Cheers Mate.

[rkg]

Originally Posted by RacingHart

WHO BUILT IT?

It the largest masonry dam built in the world. Dr K L Rao was one of the architects. He was central irrigation minister for two terms.

[himavanth_m]

KLR was indeed a great architect. He was behind many irrigation projects. Father of India's Water Management he is called. He could also see only through one eye due to injury.

Apparentlly, the design of Nagarjun Sagar is such that when one views the whole Nagarjun Sagar Damn from an arial view, KLR letters can be noticed. Not sure of the authenticity of this information though.

[Night_Hawk]

Originally Posted by RacingHart

You are right a travelogue, is incomplete without pics. I will be posting them by End of the day tomorrow.

Waiting for pictures.
Lush green sorroundings of the Nagarjuna Sagar Dam after monsoons would be worth viewing.

cheers!
NH

[fazalaliadil]

Originally Posted by vnabhi

It reads as 'workers swarm over scaffolding to build Nagarjuna Sagar Dam, India 1963'

Abhi,

Also I would like to mention that this is the worlds largest 'Masonary' Dam.

Originally Posted by RacingHart

.....zzzzzzzzzz

RacingHart,

Waiting for the pics. the falls at this time of the year are in full flow, you missed them.

Next time also plan to visit Nagarjuna Konda, a ferry takes you to this Buddhist Island, very interesting artifacts there belonging to Buddha era.

Also try your luck and visit the dam tunnel, just under the dam, near the crest gates there is a lift that takes you all the way down to the lowest point of the gates, and a never ending tunnel seeping with water, an experience one should not miss. Be careful, avoid it if you are claustrophobic.

Regards,

[himavanth_m]

Originally Posted by fazalaliadil

Abhi,

Also try your luck and visit the dam tunnel, just under the dam, near the crest gates there is a lift that takes you all the way down to the lowest point of the gates, and a never ending tunnel seeping with water, an experience one should not miss. Be careful, avoid it if you are claustrophobic.

Regards,

Do they allow this now? It is completely controlled and nobody is even allowed to travel over the dam now.

I have some great memories of visiting the Power house (Both left one and the right one) as well as the dam tunnel you have mentioned when i was in 9th class about 11 years ago.
It was some experience standing next to the huge generators underneath. From the top, they were covered in Green housings but when goes down beneath, there are huge rotors and one can reach very close to the rotating generator. People who work there do regular inspections there.
I was lucky to visit even the Srisailam power house 3 times. The 3rd time being after water flooding into the powerplant and people were trying to restore the power house. They had a marking inside the plant which showed the level of water it reached into the power plant. And it was almost till the top point of the huge power plant.

The tunnel experience was scary. It is absolutely pitch dark in there. Although there is lighting. Sometimes one finds puddles of water on the legs and at that time, I was really scared imagining the fact that we were way below the water level and in case something break we were going to die. I know that these are unnecessary fears now, but at that time, I was young and was quite afraid while going in the tunnel.

[fazalaliadil]

Originally Posted by himavanth_m

Do they allow this now? It is completely controlled and nobody is even allowed to travel over the dam now.

I was really scared imagining the fact that we were way below the water level and in case something break we were going to die. I know that these are unnecessary fears now, but at that time, I was young and was quite afraid while going in the tunnel.

Last time I had been in the Sagar tunnel was about 15 years back, though you need some kind of contact to have access there.

Srisailam lift irrigation tunnel is just too massive been in it when it was being bored and twice after completion, seen the turbines very up close in action. Also been under the Srisailam dam tunnel that opens up to the small crest gates on the right side of the dam.

Yes, the feeling...if somehow the dam bursts or some other unimaginable thing happens, then there is no escape. I too have experienced.

Both the under dam tunnels are good but the Sagar tunnel is more impressive for its depth and length.

[himavanth_m]

@ RacingHeart: I am extremely sorry for hijacking your thread.

Can you please post some pics of the Sagar Dam ? Waiting to see them. The last time I had been to Sagar was way back in 2009. So I am eagarly waiting for the pics.

Originally Posted by fazalaliadil

Last time I had been in the Sagar tunnel was about 15 years back, though you need some kind of contact to have access there.

Yes, one would need some kind of contacts to visit these places. I think it is even more difficult to get access now.

Originally Posted by fazalaliadil

Srisailam lift irrigation tunnel is just too massive been in it when it was being bored and twice after completion, seen the turbines very up close in action. Also been under the Srisailam dam tunnel that opens up to the small crest gates on the right side of the dam.

I havent been to Srisailam in years. But they were building some underground power house there. Is that finished?

And the feeling near a turbine is unimaginable. . Yes I remember going to the crest gates. Thanks for bringing back some memories.

Originally Posted by fazalaliadil

Yes, the feeling...if somehow the dam bursts or some other unimaginable thing happens, then there is no escape. I too have experienced.

Both the under dam tunnels are good but the Sagar tunnel is more impressive for its depth and length.

+1

Also I have been to the dam construction of Veligallu Reservoir and Dam Project Near Galiveedu (Or say closer to Rayachoti) And I have been to these tunnels while construction. Amazing experience for me when I was there 6 years back. SEW Constructions was the contractor and it was a 43 crore project if I am not mistaken. The amount of concrete required to build a concrete dam is huge and there will be loss of lives while construction of these projects.

In NagarjunSagar there is a small memorial place listing all the names of people who lost lives at this

These access tunnels are also the places where people use it to drill holes while dam construction and force concrete at high pressure into the ground to reduce seepage. I think this is done once in some x years at all dams to reduce the seepage. It is indeed a marvelous sight to see these dams being constructed and I am one of the lucky persons to visit the veligallu project.

You also have mentioned about Nagarjuna konda. It is a must place visit and it is wonderful. While the construction, these were at a much lower level and due to reservoir there was a risk of these getting drowned in water. So Govt collected and transferred all the artifacts and put them at a place called nagarjun sagar.