Malakonda

My father spent his initial years at this place and he wanted to see the place very badly.We planned to visit -Malakonda-the abode of Lord Narasimha.The route to reach Malakonda is via Singarayakonda,kandukur,malakonda.



Above : View from below the temple



Above: On the way to the temple



Above: Govardhanagiri -near the kalyani



Above : Another view from the top of the temple

Again since it was summer ,that was something which always keeps me on my toes.We booked a garuda on the bangalore ongole route.As we woke up early morning we were surprised to see the highway was covered with dense fog with very low visibilty.After a tense 2 hour drive manovering heavy lorries on the way ,we finally managed to get down at Singarayakonda.From here we took a bus to Kandukur where we got a room.After a quick breakfast ,we headed towards the busstand to catch a bus toward Malakonda.





Above : View from the top of the hill



Above : Mica deposits in Malakonda

Malakonda is about an hour journey from Kandukur -about 30 kms.We reached around 9:30 am and took an shared auto to climb the hill.The temple is open only on saturdays.We then had darshan of the lord.After that we visited the laxmi-narasimha devasthana had darshan.After the Archana we were given the prasadam which we had and decided to climb down hill.It was really hot day and the sun was out in full blast touching close to 40 degrees.Another interesing feature of Malakonda is that it is situated in a shrub jungle .The vegetation here is very unique -the flora variety here is not found in any of the neighbouring areas apart from malakonda which makes it interesting.Even the rocks found here have many unique minerals not found elsewhere in the nearby areas.


We came back to Kandukur ,had lunch and slept like a log till 5pm.Evening was much cooler,we decided to check out the local market.



Above:Interesting display of food!!



Above : Chillies at the market




Above : The tobacco crop in the fields


Kandukur is the largest producer of Tobacco in the world,there is also a central tobacco research institute in the city.It is a matter with matter of pride that i can say that my grandfather ran one of the most successful hotels for about 18 years in this town,before returning back to our native in Karkala.To this day no other hotel has come anywhere near to breaking this record.As we moved along the market there was an old man -dad recognized him,so did the man -it was a break from the past.



Above : Old man selling tobacco leaves at the market



Above :Downtown Kandukur



Above : An old well dotted with many sculptures in its walls



Above : A temple in the town

We later visited an old temple where one of dad's friend is a priest and offered pooja to lord hanuman.We visited another old friend -spent about an hour .

A day well spent with dad enjoying his childhood memories brought back.We headed back to take the volvo back from
Singarayakonda to Bangalore.