Locked up for months! Forget holiday plans, a normal day out at work was not possible any more. The COVID-19 health crisis has turned the world upside down. Everyone needed to just step out, but safety was of paramount importance. Just like us, a few friends of ours had also been completely quarantined.
At the beginning of this pandemic, in a conversation at home I had suggested the idea of social quarantining. That is, people who are safely quarantined and are uninfected, can make a social group to hang out with each other. After all, human is a social creature and for his mental and emotional well being needs to spend time and socialize with others. And luckily for us, we have a few friends that have been a saviour in these taxing times.
Niki and Picee (clearly not their exact given names) are part of those. Niki is one of our dearest and oldest friends and his wife Picee has become an equally integral part of our lives. We decided to go on a day hike d=somewhere close to Hyderabad. Drive up in the morning and back home by evening, so we don’t have to stay anywhere. Niki is a storehouse some amazing information when it comes to offbeat travel ideas and he suggested we go to Khilla ghanpur. A tiny village with a beautiful fort around 109 Kms from Hyderabad. We didn’t even want to eat outside so we packed our breakfast and our lunch and all the water we would need.
On a Sunday, the 28th of June we started at around 7:30 from home. First stop at hillside cafe to eat. We just parked on the side, stood around the car and ate our homemade sandwiches. Abhinav entertained us with his juggling skills while we were at it.
On our way, we came across this gorgeous critter who was the reason for a mini traffic halt. Once we reached the village or the fort according to our Google map, we couldn’t find an entry. We were guided by a few locals and we found a spot to park our car and start the hike.
It was steep sometimes, sometimes with steps but, it was always fun and pleasant. The view was gorgeous as we kept climbing up and the lake at the distance looked lovely. We came across a tiny temple, which had two huge footwear in it. We kept wondering and speculating all the reasons it was so.
After a while we came across another temple and soon from there one of the arches of the fort. Time for some photo op.
Next to the archway, there were a flight of stairs going up and we obviously had to climb to explore. It was nothing but ruins. This place wasn’t being managed or taken care of. We came across some more gorgeous creatures. All enjoying the sunny day out.
After climbing a little further, we were at a clearance. We could see a trail going down and one going straight ahead. We saw some locals going down too. We decided to go straight first and then maybe explore the lower sections on our way back. Just a few meters ahead, the path was clear and we could see a lake down below. We wondered if that’s were the locals had gone to. Time for some more pictures.
Very soon, we came to the end of the trail with no way further. It looked like there was a tiny grave, where we were at. We sat down for a bit and started walking down again. On a side trail, we found some ruins and an unkempt lake. Niki was talking about a canon that is somewhere at this fort. We couldn’t find it or a trail leading to it.
We finally just walked back down. Aren kept myself and Picee busy with the word game. We were running out of words and luckily we were at the end of the trail. We had spent exactly 3 hours. After washing up a bit, we started driving back. We served ourselves lunch and ate in the car. On the way, we saw the village market, teeming with hundreds of people, wearing masks but standing barely a feet apart. #facepalm
Well, it was a Sunday well spent and I was super happy that it was an active one at that, spent with people I love!
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