intrepidkarthiTwo weeks back I had a very nice experience of visiting Mantralayam where Raghavendra temple is located. It was really a nice experience. But I didn’t expect it would be a lonely trip. I loved it.
Before going there my colleagues advised me to have a telugu guy to accompany me since it is in inner part of AndhraPradesh. It is in Kurnool district, very nearer to Karnataka border. Because those people don’t know Hindi or English, they knows only Telugu. I went to MGBS bus stand nearer to Koti at 10 PM on saturday(3/7/10) night. I missed to catch the last bus. Anyway I had planned to go. So I asked the nearest place to there. They told me to go to Adoni, a place nearer to mantralayam. So I planned to go to Adoni, I got into the bus. I asked the driver about the distance to Mantralayam from Adoni. But he scolded me something because of I asked in English. He thought that I know Telugu eventhough I was asking in English. I told I don’t know Telugu. Then I explained him with hands. Then he told it is 25 KM away.
At around 4 o’Clock I reached Adoni. There was only two or three people in the whole bus stand. Then a bus came around 30 minutes past 4. Then aorund 45 minutes past 5, I reached mantralayam. There I found one very little room for keep the things and refreshing. That lodge keeper told super star visited there once Laughing. Then I went to the temple around 8:30 after break fast. Then I am queued up there inside temple for around one hour. There is the tomb of Swami Raghavendra where he buried alive and one Hanuman statue opposite to that. After prayers I returned back to room around 10. There is no direct bus from mantralayam to Hyderabad. Either I need to go to Adoni again or Raichur, where I can get buses frequently. So, I chose Raichur this time. It is 45 KMs away from there. I reached there in an hour. I have taken photos of Hyderabad letters in telugu to identify buses. After reaching there, I found a fort there and roamed aorund there for sometime. And I have asked for Hyderabad buses. They showed me the bus. But the destination board in the bus was something else in all the buses they showed. I thought they are telling wrongly or I am wrong. After that only I identified that, Raichur is in Karnataka. They have written the
name board in Kannada. Any way both Telugu and Kannada seems to be the same for me. Cool. From there one straight route to Hyderabad. After roaming some time around Koti, i reached home in evening. It was really a nice experience to roam alone Tongue out.