The Hilltop Temple at Korukonda- Rajahmundry Continued

The Hilltop Temple at Korukonda

The moment I saw the temple atop the steep hill at Korukonda while on the trip to Rajahmundry, I decided on the spot I would visit it before I left for Hyderabad. I wanted to go up just to find out how far I could see from the top of the hill. My hosts told me it was a steep climb that took about half hour. The steps are too narrow and steep, they said trying to dissuade me. The person who came along with me too did not appear to share my enthusiasm. He made it appear to me that climbing hills wasn’t something we were supposed to be on an official trip. But I made my own plans to go up the hill.

I let it out that we could visit the temple first thing in the morning on the second day of the trip but it did not work up. The guy who came along with me was a natty dresser so he took a long time before the mirror wearing color coordinated socks and combing his hair. Fortunately, we were able to finish the official part of our trip by lunch time. After lunch, I ventured to go alone while they rested. But they came along and up we went huffing and puffing. The temple would be open from nine to eleven thirty in the morning only. The steps were really steep and narrow. I couldn’t rest my whole foot on the steps. Ten minutes into the climb we were breathing hard like we had run for kilometers. The sweat was pouring down from our faces. A ten year old kid had joined us, running up the steps ahead of us.

The view grew more impressive as we went up higher and higher. Far away we could see the heaps of earth dug up for the Polavaram canals. There were more hillocks and lakes in the distance. Coconut trees appeared like small pins. At last we reached the top of the hillock. The temple was more than hundred years old. Some statues had their heads lopped off. There was not much space around the temple. We went around taking pictures. An eagle soared around the temple, gliding smoothly without flapping the wings. It was a beautiful sight. There were only the five of us on the top of the hill. We took more pictures and finally decided to leave.

The descent was as difficult as the climb up. I felt glad when two local officers thanked me saying they had been planning to make the climb but had never got around to doing it. That day they had got the chance to do it. The view was worth the hard climb and I was glad I made the right decision.

This was the second interesting event of the trip after the morning’s visit to the Dowleshwaram barrage. The third happened when we came down the steps. I discovered a unique, local candy- ‘jeeellu’ that I’ll write about in another post.