Rock Walk Talk

On Sunday, the six of us Dukies, along with a group of about 30 others went on a hiking trip with a group called “Save the Rocks.” They are “an environmental organization that seeks to notify, preserve, and spread awareness about the fascinating ancient granite rock formations present in the Hyderabad and greater Deccan areas.” In addition to shorter monthly hikes to these rock sites, they also have an annual day-long hiking trip to a more distant site outside of Hyderabad. Throughout the day, I wrote a play-by-play log of events, as seen from my own perspective. The field-note-like action statements and impressions are intended to portray a somewhat disjointed continuum of experiences as one would experience them in real life (italicized statements indicate thoughts, quotes — other people talking, regular text observations, etc.). I hope you enjoy the trip as much as I did!

6:23 – Tagore International House
Pile into the car. Groggy eyes. Throaty voices. Semi-delerious sleep-slurred speech. Who’s got food? Someone asks, “Can’t we just sleep?” Ahh, but where is the fun in that? Commence speed-bump-colliding ride through the city.

6:58 – Hyderabad
It’s such a thing to see the city in the morning; a new perspective brought along with the freshness of a new day. The sun rising over the buildings, daylight streaming through palm trees. The women sweeping the roads. But also the homeless awaking in the traffic circle, stiffly sitting up to converse. A man polishing his rickshaw. A cart of coconuts pushed down the street. A man with a rickshaw full of . . . raw chicken?? Fresh veggies and colorful textiles uncovered to rest in gleaming sunlight. Cool breeze on my face. Pairs of people engaging in relaxed conversations while walking down the street.

7:52 – Parking Lot, Secunderbad
Dropped off. Listen to instructions. Wait . . . this trek all day?? Uh. Okay. Climb onto the bus. Someone jokes that maybe we should have rationed our limited food. I hope we can get more. Eh. Well, anyway, now we’re off! Anticipation builds. Settle into comfy leather bus seats. Nap time? Sleep punctuated by musical magical multi-noted horns that beget a smile.

9:15 – Leaving the city
City buildings fade into the distance as green landscapes fill the horizon. There are more trees now. A sea-green Shiva temple offset from the road. Fields. The most frequent horn now is our own magical one. We stop at a small town. To buy a dozen bananas for 30 rupees or one apple for 20? It’s an obvious choice. Then water and sweet bread. And idly! Oh-my-goodness-delicious-steaming rawa idly. Four for a mere 10 rupees! Sonam would be proud of my thrift. Steaming hot chai. YUM.

9:54 – A small town
Remount the bus. Breakfast as sugar cane fields and rice paddies flash by. Resume nap time. Except first I see actual oxen pulling a cart and finally understand the purpose of the bump on their necks that holds the yoke in place. Bumpity-bump goes the road.

10:46 – Somewhere between here and there
Left-hand turn into a landscape of tree-bush fields as far as the eye can see, their verdant scape punctuated by precarious rock stacks and rolling hills. And I think I was just kidding about the road before. This one is actually bumpy. Haha.

10:52 – Yedupayala near Medak
Winding through a small town. Telugu writing on the walls and on some rocks. Neat! More rice paddies. Three little goats walk through one. Then a small lake on the right. Bus stops. And now we’ve arrived.

11:15 – Hiking Site
Don my multi-colored bandana and gobs of sunscreen. Pull out my camera to a screen that says “internal memory full.” Oh. Shoot! No memory card for pictures. Ah, well, I guess my memory will have to be my travel bag. Circling around the small lake, and parting brush to ascend a rock-scattered hillside, the trek begins.

11:22 – A hillside
Picking through brush to rest on a flat rock bed. A series of step-like rock leading to a semi-narrow rock seems like a good site for scaling. A slight scratch to the knee, but that’s okay. Wave hello to the group on the neighboring rock pile. Descend. Trek. Repeat.

12:43
Cross a few rice paddies. Sight a tree full of monkeys. “Just don’t smile at them and you’re fine.” That’s good advice. Nonetheless, swiftly continue on.

12:57 – A water dam
Warm sun rays on my shoulders. Step into the water. Spiraly shells and sand between my toes. A cool breeze pulls at my bandana.

13:37 – Returning to the bus
OMNOMNOM LUNCH.
Time for a quick nap?

14:49
Hiking resumes.
Let’s go!

15:43
That rock looks a whole lot like Snoopy’s head. Apparently it’s resting on a rock of only . . . one inch in diameter??

16:38 – On top of a 100-foot rock formation
Oh. My. Goodness. What a sight. Wow. What a sight! What am I doing right now? I must be crazy. But I feel like I’m on top of the world. Crystal clear azure expanse melts into forests of jade broken only by blocks of weathered granite and golden-green rice paddies. Four Indian young men, a father, his younger daughter, Alikiah and I – it seemed we had conquered the world. Teamwork. Stretching. Pulling. Ingenuity. Climbing. The exhaustion was worth it. So much more than worth it. Breathtaking, unhindered natural beauty. Bittersweet goodbye. Descending one careful step and slide at a time. Once more upon solid, safe, simple earth.

17:35 – On our way to the temple
Formations of Snoopy, an eagle, and Aladdin’s lamp loomed above as we pressed onward. Another small town. A temple nestled inside white-striped gargantuan rocks.

17:49
Weaving through bustling streets. At a small shop, buying a ginormous bottle of water for 30 rupees. The shopkeeper is kind and throws in two pieces of gum for free. Return to the bus. Another glass of chai and some melted chocolate make for a wonderful completion to the day. I bet the sunset would be beautiful. There’s no way I’ll be awake to see it.

18:01 – Homeward-bound trip
A water bottles falls from the overhead compartment engendering an exclamation from one that stirs me awake. Twilight has fallen. I was right about the sunset – the sky is a beautiful pink-orange that fades like painted brushstrokes into a purplely-blue. Scores of silhouetted trees once more flash by. For some odd reason I think our horn has changed tunes to just a single note. Hmm.

19:36 – 5km from the parking lot, Secunderbad
Stop and go stop and go and BRAKEEE and go we go through rush hour traffic. I was mistaken about the horn. I think it was just the manner in which he honked it which was different. Whatever the case, the musical magic has returned and I have to smile.

21:33 — Secunderbad
After dinner at the mall we stand here and wait for the car that will whisk us away to our beautiful home. The day has been wonderfully full and I am ready to sleep.

10:35 – Tagore International House
Home. Shower. Tired limbs collapse into a pillow-soft mattress. Blissful rest in preparation to take on another day in this amazing place that is India. What a day.

❤

-Rachel