Very first I ever heard of Medak was when I was a kid and started taking interest in assembly elections. The name Medak stuck in my mind as it is neither Urdu nor Telugu word nor English. The linguist in me could never figure out the genesis. Then I heard of Medak in some text book lesson "medaku patnam churchni choodu". I heard of Medak and its church couple of times later on wanted to visit when I got a chance. This weeekend that chance came. My good friend R's in laws are from Medak and its just 80km from Hyderabad. He was going for a day trip. So, we tagged along.
The party consisted of 7 adults and 2 kids. R, J, Uncle, aunty and the cute little sniggy in one car. My bro, sil, me and Vibhu in another car. We started at 8:30am unusually punctual for the 2 couples in picture. First stop was 'mallanna gutta'. A nice, not-so-famous village temple where deity resides in a cave on a small water pond. It was interesting. pleasant place only marred by the hot burning sun. I enclosed a pic of sniggy and vibhu. They had a great time playing in the temple and its 5-storeyed chariot.
After spending an hour, we moved on to next pit stop. Ramayapalli was the next stop. We got to see uncle's native place and the house where he grew up. It was a simple but resourceful village. Nice place to own a farmhouse (not a far-fetch as its 80Km from city, with enough water and fertile soil to grow all kinds of trees). We had an awesome lunch thanks to uncle's brother and family. We also got to meet cute and bright Lavan Kumar. 3.5 years kid who travels 30kms in auto to go to a decent school. Made me wonder if we were going back or ahead in time. It was paddy and sugarcane season, so checked their fields. After a nice lunch, we went to Medak. From there we went to a place where the much celebrated local fare 'edupayala jatara' happens.
Frankly, it was so hot, this was a part which I would nt have minded skipping. Moreover, the temple, with some live chicken cutting was pretty gory. Glad I averted my gaze in time. I dont want to remember any other things there. So, lets skip it. This is a place for hard core bhaktas or geologists who are interested in Deccan plateau's rocky terrain. Rest can avoid.
Thats a glimpse of Deccan plateau and unusual rock formation for you. Unfortunately, with the crazy painting, u cant seem them in natural forms.
Then we went to to the famous church. Cathedral is second tallest in Asia with gothic architecture. Frankly, I was a bit disappointed it was nt as I great I was imagining it to be. I have seen better churches in the west. But, once you enter inside, there are three stained glass walls which are really worth all the effort that we put in. Church is a stone structure with out much ornation. about 175 feet tall. After that we met uncle's good old friend who showed us what good hosting is about. In about 3hrs of span, I ate a samosa, kaju katli, dry fruit laddu, ice-cream with fruits and drank some frooty. Talk about obliging the host :-) It turned out, today was Easter. Nice place to go on easter. My reflections on Medak -- Take a peek at it if you are on the way. Otherwise its a small remote town with hardly any development in the past 40 years.
A pic of Medak church
So long folks...
-v
PS: Btw, I finally figured out how Medak's name came. Way back in 1100-1300AD when kakatiyas ruled from Warangal, there was a femine and Medak was the only place where they could grew rice. So, this came to be known as 'metuku seema' (The land of the rice grain). Metuku eventually became Medak.
