Coconuts, Cotton and Crabs

As one drives along the narrow but smooth roads with lush green fields bordered by tall coconut palm trees and water canals, one could be forgiven for thinking that they are in Kerala. Welcome to Konaseema, the Kerala of Andhra Pradesh.  It is the triangular patch of land where the river Godavari, the second holiest river in India, breaks up into many  distributaries and merges itself in the Bay of Bengal.

If Egypt is called the gift of the Nile, then Konaseema has got to be the gift of the Godavari. For millions of years, the Godavari has been depositing alluvial silt at its mouth, thereby creating a land which is extremely fertile. However, during monsoons, the rampant waters of the untamed river flooded the entire delta, destroying crops and homes and making it impossible to reap the benefits of nature’s bounty.

The people of Konaseema found their saviour in General Sir Arthur Cotton, a British engineer, who, after a thorough study, built a 3.5 kilometre long barrage across the river at Dowleshwaram, a few kilometres downstream of Rajahmundry, in 1852. He also built a network of irrigation and navigation canals and linked the Krishna and Godavari rivers. In fact, he had to fight tooth and nail to get the requisite imperial sanction. As a direct result of his efforts, the flood stricken area metamorphosed into the rice bowl of India and ushered in an era of unprecedented prosperity to millions of people. To this day, he is honoured by the grateful natives who have accorded him a demigod like status and have erected hundreds of statues in his honour and his birthdays are celebrated to this day. The visionary engineer had also proposed the interlinking of Indian rivers and the creation of a riverine network to improve irrigation and transportation and facilitate development of commerce in the country. Unfortunately, his proposals were rejected by the imperial authorities.

The entry to the Konaseema region is from a bustling town called Ravulapalem, located on the Golden Quadrilateral (NH5 connecting Kolkata and Chennai), some 250 kilometres south of Vizag. There is a huge ornamental gateway proclaiming its status as the Konaseema Mukhadwaram or the main gateway to the Konaseema region. In the centre is an niche shaped like a temple; the presiding deity is a man in a blue suit riding on a white horse. That man is none other than Arthur Cotton!

Driving across Konaseema is a sheer feast for the eyes. Mile after mile of lush green paddy fields flank the route and occasionally, one comes across boats sailing in the rivers and water canals. It feels great to see neatly uniformed children commuting to English medium schools on bicycles, autorickshaws or mini-vans. Then there are literally hundreds of wheeled vehicles from pushcarts and bicycles to tractor driven trailers laden with bananas, custard apples and other agricultural produce suggestive of a buoyant agro-economy. The people are friendly and helpful, even the autorickshaw drivers, who are normally a surly lot. When they are asked for directions, they gladly oblige, even offering to drive ahead and show us the way.

We are headed to Dindi, a village on the Vashishta river, the distributary which delineates the southern border of Konaseema. At Dindi, the Andhra Pradesh Travel Development Corporation (APTDC) runs an establishment called the Coconut Country Resort. One falls in love at first glance. A spacious parking lot, an attractive building roofed with red tiles set in the middle of a coconut farm create a favourable impression. However, when we interact with the staff, the positive impression gives way to disappointment. The staff is not very helpful, the POS terminal (Credit/Debit card machine) does not work and I have to drive to an ATM machine in Razole, about 10 km away.

At Rs.3,500 a night, it looks like a good bargain. The rooms are huge, the bathrooms have Jaquar fittings and the views of the river and a blue tiled swimming pool are spectacular. However, the property is badly designed and poorly maintained. The platform of the washbasin, for example is at a height of over 4 feet from the floor, the floor of the bathroom is wet, the sheets are not exactly clean and the room service is extremely tardy. I am of the firm opinion that sarkari establishments should be given to private parties to run them. Professionalism is missing and when that happens, the customers get short-changed in the bargain.

There were a couple of houseboats moored beside the resort’s jetty. Staying on them was an option for us as but we had a lot of sightseeing to do. For those who prefer to soak in the ambience and are not interested in visting temples, etc., it could be a great way to chill out.

After a short rest, we drove to Antarvedi, the point where the Vashishta merges with the Bay of Bengal. This is considered to be a very holy place due its location at the confluence of the Godavari and the sea. It is said that it was the venue (vedika) for a maharudrayagam performed by the saptarishis and thus came to be called Antarvedi.

We first visited the Lakshmi Narasimha temple, a 15^th century shrine built over an anthill which concealed a self-manifested (swayambhu) idol of Lord Narasimha. The temple has some gorgeous sculptures but the colours seemed a bit too bright to me.

Beside this temple is a recently constructed circular temple shaped like a Shri yantra and is said to have been built on the site where the sage Vashishta had an ashram. Not far away is an ancient Shiva temple where the idol of Neelakanteshwara is said to have been installed by Lord Rama himself.

We then went for a boat ride down the river to the point where it merges in the sea. Nothing special about it but we saw the ruins of an old abandoned lighthouse and a modern one on the shore. The beaches here are infested with literally thousands of red crabs.

After return back to land, we proceeded to the new lighthouse but it was closed and we had to content ourselves with snapping a few pictures of the lighthouse and trying to photograph the elusive red crabs which quickly scurried down holes in the sand whenever I tried to get close to them. I took a couple of snaps using a telephoto lens but the pix were not satisfactory as I did not use a tripod. I also saw a heron standing still stalking a prey and it was a photo-op too good to miss.

We returned to the resort before sundown and enjoyed the sunset there. We than had dinner at the restaurant there. When I asked him to put the tab on my account, he insisted on payment in cash. When I scrutinised the bill, I found that I was being ripped off and being charged for stuff we did not even order. When I started quizzing them about the bill, they immediately gave me a bill for less than half the amount. It was a less than pleasant end to what had been a lovely day.