The roads are choc-a-block and we’re crawling our way through
the illogically confused body of buses, cars, trucks, auto rickshaws,
motorcycles and bicycles occupying the road sprinkled with a good number of
pedestrians trying to cross through the spaces in between all these. Well, it’s
hardly an unusual aspect of travelling in Hyderabad that I need to write about.
Commuting in Hyderabad is no less than a Herculean task, and if you think, “oh,
a little patience will surely get me through the traffic to my destination”,
hold on! Did I mention the heat radiated from the black tar roads, the exhaust
of vehicles, the smoke filled air and the sun beating down on you will make you
feel like you’re being cooked in an oven and leave you with no remembrance of
your destination? In fact, it has quite the effect of turning commuters into
warriors who are only determined to fight their way out of this obstacle-laden
course.
It’s a big surprise, when, just a turn
into a small lane off the main road and a small driving distance later I emerge
onto this seemingly endless tract of muddy land with patches of green every
here and there, rocks of all shapes and sizes jutting out of the land at
various heights meeting a sapphire blue sky in the distance.
The group is assembled and all ready
for the “rock walk.” We make our way through a “kuchha road”, wild greens
bordering us on either side. I can see a large number of millipedes on the
ground. And termite hills. There are the ubiquitous ants too, so many that it
almost makes you discount their presence. Now we walk over almost flat rock
surfaces, now we climb over a few higher ones even as we brush our way through
the nettle branches. The “walk” is a long
and a little arduous but I can see the exhilaration on every group member’s
face. We’re surrounded by an impressively beautiful panorama being revealed by
every step we take. There’s been a cool breeze blowing all the while. It’s
sweet and uplifting and energizing.
However, the best parts of our “walk”
are the mammoth boulders we keep encountering. They’re millions of years old
and absolutely magnificent. I can’t help being in awe of them because they
inspire a feeling of regality. Here is an overwhelmingly beautiful form of
Nature which makes us sit up and truly admire her beauty. Curious, because an
odd indoor plant or a smattering of trees in the cityscape hardly evoke any
feelings. As a few members of the group are pointing out, some of the rocks are
perched one on top of the other in precarious looking formations yet they are
perfectly balanced, and what’s more they’ve stood like that for thousands of
years.
Walking, climbing, gushing about the
landscape together, we are just making our way over a narrow strip of what
looks like a bund wall when we see a swatch of pale blue on the ground in the
distance. It’s a lake! It almost seems like some secret lake being revealed to
us ecstatic bunch of “rock walkers” lapping up every ounce of nature we’re
encountering. I wonder at the serenity of the place - there are a few locals by
the shore washing their clothes, four buffaloes lounging in the cool water and
some children happily flying kites - and the whole scene is tranquil and the
quietude induces a soothing calmness of the mind. After a while of resting
amidst the rocks and the greenery and a bit of sketching and painting by some
members, we start to make our way back. The sky has turned a darker shade of
blue and the clouds are now glowing orange. We assemble back at our designated
meeting point exchanging notes and talking. There are beads of sweat on most of
the group members’ foreheads. Everyone’s breathing harder - the kind that
always accompanies strenuous physical activity. Only, in a strange way the fast
breath is cleansing and invigorating. Keats’s “A thing of beauty is a joy
forever” is running through my mind. I can hardly wait for our next “rock walk”
now.
