I'm a long way off the tourist trail now. In Hyderabad I saw the odd foreigner in shopping malls and at the main historical landmarks, but here I'm pretty much a lone ranger as far as representing the Western world is concerned. As such, I have become a minor celebrity and I'm getting selfie requests.
Coming to these places gives you a taste of what everyday life is really like for the locals, although of course the locals aren't staying in the Presidential Suite (picture below). That's in Vijayawada. Earlier I had a more modest hotel in Warangal, for which the booking confirmation email stated "Unmarried Couples Allowed". Good to know, albeit not an issue on this particular occasion. I was halfway tempted to troll them by asking if the other half of the couple had to be a woman (gay marriage is not legal in India), but the receptionist didn't speak English, and things could have got awkward quickly if I'd tried using sign language.
Warangal is a UNESCO World Heritage site, due to its impressive repertoire of monuments from the Kakatiya dynasty, which ruled much of Eastern India around the 12th century. (Indian history is pretty complicated: the country was first unified long before Christ and has been split apart and re-unified and re-conquered several times since then, although things look more or less stable right now.) Vijayawada doesn't have quite the same level of historic interest but it does have the enormous 1.2km Prakasam barrage, upon which depends almost all the irrigation for farming in the state of Andhra Pradesh. The barrage dates from 1855 and the bridge was added in 1957. When you walk across the span you can hear Vedic hymns being piped out non-stop through speakers the whole way. No instruments, just chanting. It's quite eerie.
One downside to going off the tourist trail is the absence of certain home comforts that Indians generally don't bother with, like good coffee. And good beer. And good pizzas. See the first Edd vs Food below. It was at the highest-rated pizza joint in Vijayawada, where the menu boasted "Italian-style" and "New York-style" pizzas. But it was the kind of pizza that would get you shouted at if you served it up in Italy; and if you served it up in New York, you'd quite likely get shot. That said, in all fairness, it was edible enough: roughly on a par with what would result if you oven-cooked a Taste The Difference pizza from the frozen section in Sainsburys. Managing expectations is the key to happiness.
And on a much brighter note, in Warangal I had the best curry of this trip, and possibly of my life to date. See the second Edd vs Food below. England's cricket team may be having a tough time in India, but it's all smiles here for me.
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| Prakasam Barrage |
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| Reverse view of the above photo |
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| Wise words indeed. Especially if you say them in a comedy Indian accent. Another one I saw was 'Use Seatbelt To Avoid Death', which is admirably direct. |
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| Presidential Suite in Vijayawada |
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| Thousand Pillar Temple (roughly 12th century AD) in Warangal |
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| Warangal Fort, former capital of the Kakatiya dynasty |
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| Edd vs Food #153 Indian pizza. See comments above. All of the meat visible in this picture is chicken. |
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| Edd vs Food #154 Curry heaven. See comments above. Chicken patiala with biryani rice at Aranyam in Warangal Interesting touch: an omelette, which you can just see sticking out from under the curry. |
