October 16th 2011 will be a special day for me to remember. On this day I along with my friends went on a trip to Nagarjuna Sagar Dam. It was a one day trip. A day before, we all planned to go for it. We started early morning; Vasanth picked me from my home at around 5:15 am in his car. We then went to Dilsukhnagar to pick the remaining friends; we picked up Praveen from disukhnagar, followed by Vijay and Jayavardhan from chaitanyapuri. We completed the pick up by 7:00am and then our journey to the dam started.
We took the national highway to nagarjuna sagar (approximately 200 km) from Hyderabad. Vasanth was driving the car. We planned to halt somewhere in the middle to have breakfast as none of us had it. Meanwhile in the car we had snacks brought by Jayavardhan. Till the next stop we talked about the ongoing telangana agitation, while having the snacks. We stopped at Mallepalli for Breakfast where we had dosa and Idli. Immediately we resumed our Journey. Vasanth and Jayavardhan decided to have toddy (called as kallu in telugu). It should be called as neera or padaneer (a sweet, non-alcoholic beverage derived from fresh sap), kallu term should be used when the same neera or padaneer is fermented (it is sour). Thadi kallu is a sap collected from the cut flower of the palm tree. The people who collect it are called as tappers. Tappers collect it early morning and serve to people at a reasonable price.
There are plenty of palm trees on the way to sagar, we saw tappers on the road side and asked if they had freshly collected kallu. Vasanth, vardhan and vijay enjoyed kallu while I and Praveen refused.
Again we resumed our journey and decided not to stop until the destination is reached. In another 1 hour we reached nagarjuna sagar. We reached the dam by 9:30am. We were informed by the localities that vehicles are banned to move on the dam since 2005 due to security reasons. We were a little disappointed. We continued and went to the Nagarjuna sagar power house (where electricity is generated), on our way to the plant we visited the temple. The temple was near by the plant, adjacent to which water released from the dam was flowing. We spent some time in the flowing water, washing our hands and face. Worshiped the lord and went to the power plant. In the palnt, we saw huge turbines which were used to generate the electricity. It seems water from the sagar is released at high pressure into the turbines, this forces the turbines to spin. The spinning turbine interacts with a system of magnets to produce electricity. It was very exciting and thrilling to see such a huge metal structures to spin at high speed. I never saw it before so I felt excited. All my friends felt the same.
We were informed at the plant that there is a place called Nagarjuna Konda, 5 km from here where APTDC is provinding boating facility in the sagar dam. We decided to check it out. At 11:30am we started from power plant to nagarjuna konda. On our way we saw a collapsed bridge just 2-4km away from the dam. As sagar gates were closed there was no danger, so we decided to get underneath the bridge to spend some time in the water. Before that we went over the collapsed bridge and took some photographs there. Vijay was not interested so he stayed away. The water flow was not very strong. Vasanth, Vardhan and Praveen entered into the water and took bath. They enjoyed it a lot as it was a very hot day. Vijay and I were not interested so we took photographs of the dam, bathing friends and ourselves. We spent 45 mins, then returned to the car and started to nagarjuna konda. After traveling some distance we again halted to make ourselves cool at a bar. Vasanth, Vardhan and Vijay had beers, me and Praveen soft drinks.
We resumed the journey and reached nagarjuna konda by 2:00 pm. The boat was about to leave, we parked our vehicle and rushed to get the tickets. The ticket cost is 90/- per head. The boat will take us to a small island which is located in the middle of the sagar dam surrounded by water. The journey across the water was very good with beautiful hills around. It was worth watching. It took 45 mins to reach the island. However by that time everyone was very tired due to humidity, and also we did not had lunch. We purchased few snacks, ate them and took some snaps. After reaching the island, we planned to return in the same boat, without seeing the museum. However we were informed that boat will be there for another 20 mins. So, we decided to see the museum quickly and return to the boat within 20 mins. We went to the museum, but could not find anything of much interest. We retuned to the boat and sat. Unfortunately, the concerned people asked us to get into another boat. We were very angry, but there was no choice we were very tired and week, we got into the other boat. Vasanth found a good place to sit and through out the journey across the river he slept. Praveen and Vijay also managed to get a seat and they too slept. I and Vardhan were standing. Vardhan passed time by playing a game, later I listened to music.
We immediately went to a hotel and ordered food to eat. We ate to the full. Then around 6:00pm we started the return journey to Hyderabad. After heavy lunch, everyone was sleepy, vasanth was as usual driving the car. We halted again at mallepalli while returning and had soft drinks. Praveen wanted to eat pan so he brought pan for everyone.
We finally reached hyderabad at around 8:30pm. Vijay and Praveen got down at chaitanyapuri. We then dropped Vardhan at his residence and headed to lingampally. It was already 9:00pm, it took us 1 hour and 30 mins to reach lingampally. Vasanth dropped me near my apartment and went to his home. It was 10:30pm by then.
It was indeed awesome trip. We all enjoyed thoroughly. The people who are actually responsible for the trip are Vasanth and Jayavardhan. I thank them for organizing such a trip. Again thanks to vasanth for safe-driving. Without his good driving skills it wouldn't have been possible. It would have been more enjoyable if other friends could have joined us. Nevertheless we can always plan for such trips in the future. We should go for these trips regularly to make ourselves fresh. If not we will feel, we are missing something in life.
When people like each other the emotional distance between hearts of two people will be very less. And a mere whisper between them is enough to convey the message. 
