May 10, 2007

Visakhapatnam a.k.a Vizag



A bit late to put this up.. I was @ Vizag as I mentioned in this post on the 'Abhiwarya' wedding day - April 20 , for another marriage and some sightseeing...Vizag , situated on eastern coast of India is the head-quarters of Eastern Naval Command.. Landed there at around 1 PM..The view that u get from the aero plane above Vizag is awesome.. A serpentine coastline abutting several hills, a magnificent four lane beach road , naval and cargo ships...Unfortunately , no photos of that [:(]..
We stayed at Rushikonda, about 8 - 10 KM away from the city, in a beach resort.. ( Punnami beach resort ) .. This snap shows the view from the hotel room where we stayed.. Isnt it beautiful ? ..
This place is simply awesome. I'd recommend it to anyone.. About the hotel, only the location is good..food is not good, neither the service, despite being a 3-star ( they claim so ) .. Yours truly slipped on the beach sand that got carried to our hotel corridor and had a wound on my lower jaw..They didnt have even a first aid box in that hotel..Finally had to use the good-old engineering days method of old-spice lotion as first aid :) . Most of my friends and relatives are not believing this story of 'slipping' on beach sand and getting a wound..:( . I swear, I was not drunk .. neither did I go behind any honey-mooning couples :( ( We couldnt spot any ) .. Aaj ka zamaana to sach bhole bhi aise sochte hai :( :( ..

Anyway, the view of sunrise from this place was also good..but a bit cloudy..so photos didnt come properly..
Guys, how about studying in an engineering college next to such exotic beaches ? To supplement the monotonicity of engineering college, how about having a dental college and medical college nearby to take care of 'proportion' ( U know what I mean :) ) .? .Thats what GITAM College of Engineering is.. Its one of the best engineering colleges in Andhra.. I dont think even the KREC or NITK has such beaches.. The beauty about these beaches are that, these are sort of 'bays' extending inwards between hills..No huge waves, so u can swim without much fear..
The beach road is too good.. Calm and serene unlike the crowded Marine drives of Kochi /Mumbai.. And it has multiple tourist spots near that.. The most notable one being Kailasagiri hills, which you can go up using a ropeway..

There is a decommissioned naval submarine ( INS Kursura )
at the sea shore..You can
go inside it and that too was an amazing experience.. Remember the U571 movie ? Going inside and seeing it brought back those memories.. It is said that it took more than 3 years effort to tow this sub to the shore..
The naval officers explained working of the sub and parts of it..Was very good.. One regret here is that I couldnt go to the millitary port there..





While coming back a strange thing happened.. Everybody at the airport was looking towards me..Even the air hostesses..Nah, it was not kingfisher, it was Air deccan..
For engineering graduates like us who suffered from this Attention Deficit Syndrome from PYTs ( Pretty Young Things ) for quite a few years,it was a pleasant surprise.. Finally I realized
that it was due to the dressing on the wound that I had on my jaw :( :( ..

Overall it was a very good experience..A nice break from work :)..

To signoff, a bit of trivia about Vizag

-- Old name is 'Waltair'

-- Sometimes referred as 'City of Destiny' ( I dont know why )

-- Only city in the Indian subcontinent to be attacked by Japanese war planes in second W.War
( Leave out N.E India and Andamans )..

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12 comments:

Flyaway Mind said...

the beach snap looks great..if i had been in beach-resort-college :p like GITAM, i would still be doing my engineering,i guess(supplees of course :D )
btw, how's the jaw that brought you fame?

raghav said...

hey .. i can bet on the 'slipping on the sand' story .. yeah rite .. cmon man .. cant u think of a better lie ?? *grin*

Ajith Prasad Balakrishnan said...

@rodrigo -- Man..I hope what u have written is not an abuse :)

@flyaway mind -- :) .. Jaw is fine now :)

@raghav -- :D..See this is what I told..Nobody believes this ..Poor me :(

Serendipity said...

nice pic. probably i would hav just kept staring at the sea.A broken jaw after a fight with the sand?;)

Unknown said...

I spent a week at Vizag right after passing out of REC. It is quite a nice place. I am not sure if Air Deccan was flying to Vizag at that time, and so I had to take "Alliance Air"....heard of it ? They made me spend 13 hrs in transit at the Chennai airport :))

I was staying with a relative of mine, who was a very senior officer in the Eastern Command then. Their house was on Beach Road, overlooking the beach ofcourse. The view was awesome and it was raining like crazy at that time. Totally amazing to have the sea winds come hit you while you sit in a balcony with a couple of beers :P

Ajith Prasad Balakrishnan said...

@serendipity -- "sun rise staring at sea ?" :D ..Why no one believes my story about wound :( ?

@Vinay -- Now they have lots of flights to vizag..Air deccan, KF, IA..etc.
Yeah, beer + breeze(r) would be great :)

N A R I YA L C H U T N E Y said...

Well , Well all beach towns have this
enthralling things that keep mesmerising you when you visit it . Hopefully some mallu investor will read your post and will give us an engineering college in beach like GITAM Institute of engineering :)

Deepak said...

I would agree with your slipping on beach sand on two conditions:

1. Never speak/write Hindi. Your grammar is pathetic.
2. Don't generalize!
For engineering graduates like us who suffered from this Attention Deficit Syndrome from PYTs

All of 'em do not suffer from ADS

Ajith Prasad Balakrishnan said...

@NC -- yeah..Lets hope for that ;) .

@Deepak -- :) Yes man..My Hindi is like that.. I still can't figure out what to use ( Ho,Hai,Hoom.. Etc )..
About generalization..:) , true..Maybe u r an exception..And yeah, happy on one account..Atleast u r willing to believe my version of slipping on sand :)

Cuckoo said...

The first pic is awesome & nice way to get fame thru your jaw. ;)

Bullshee said...

Why do I find it difficult to believe that you didn't find any honeymooning coupleS?Not even single firangi hippies??! :D

NITK does have is an awesome beach college, but unless I've been to Vizag,I won't be able to compare.

ANd I totally agree on the med college- engg college monotony break!! Totally!

Ajith Prasad Balakrishnan said...

@cuckoo -- Yeah, instant fame :)

@bullshee -- Seriously man.. Studying in an engineering college was really monotonous :(