I am here to describe a new location, at a forest temple-ashram where I had stayed for 2 whole weeks for Navratri-2009 celebrations. The location is a village called Penchalkona (alternatively Penusila). Reason for posting here - could serve a good location for a night of sky-watching.
http://wikimapia.org/#lat=14.3398187&lon=79.4150162&z=16&l=0&m=b - is where I stayed.
There is one direct bus from Bangalore at 6:45 am from KSRTC (platform # 15). Or go to Nellore bus depot, and wait for a bus for Penchalkona on platform # 10. At 70km away, the bus would take you through some eerily vast, and flat green landscapes. I was constantly looking out for potential sites in the lengthy miles I travelled, in the scorching day's heat.
By night, this place could be well at Bortle 2, if you station
yourself in the dense forest, or some hamlet amidst it. Lot of light pollution in the village itself, and you need to be away. Knowing Telugu language would be a nice thing.
There is also a Somasila Dam, and Kanderlu reservoir nearby (as seen in Wikimapia) for sight-seeing. Chittor, Tirupati and Rapur (Mandal) is the route where the bus would pass through, from Bangalore, in around 10 hours.
Now the verbal sketch of the panaroma of the place. This ashram is situated at the foothills of an immense range of mountain just in the backdrop, called Garudadri. Not confirmed, but someone said, it is the 7th mountain range of Tirupati (90km away).
Read the para on "Penchalakona" :
http://nellore.nic.in/places.htm
Its a very very spiritual land away from civilization in entirety, considering the value of two-three temples in a small patch. An old Lakshmi and Narasimha Swamy
temple is the main feature, along with an ashram of one Divine Soul, where I was.
Inexplicable are the winds I witnessed here; I could brand this place as the *windiest* place I have ever witnessed. Terrifying gusts of wind blew down from the direction of the mountain. The only one main road (with a series of shops) looking straight upto the mountain, was the pathway for the torrential winds sweeping downwards. Walk here, and a human weighing in 70 kilos literally had difficulty putting the next foot-step! At night, at times, it felt as if windows would shatter, not only would hefty trees uproot, but even the transfixed solar-heater panels would fly off !
Another element suited right for an artist, were the foggy clouds overhanging on the mountain; morning, evening and even afternoon! The gigantic mount, as if seemed to block the army of clouds passing, and made them seem at a low
level.
There is also a waterfall and a pond some walkable distance from here, but this time there was scarcely any water cascading. Views during monsoons reveal a completely reverse picturesque scenario (see link below). The now dried river bed we walked through was scattered with thousands of multi-colored stones, and it was easy to walk bare-footed. See pics in the section about Penchalkona.
http://madraswanderer.blogspot.com/2008/03/penchalakona-falls-in-monsoon.html
The fauna here consists of many tigers, leopards / panthers, wild bears and wild boars. I am not sure if lions exist here, even though their existence in this forest seemed apt.
In my earlier part of stay, Moon wasn't there, and it was damn cloudy and drizzling at times. Last 2 days skies were pretty clearer, but with Full Moon around. So I couldnt judge the skies here, guesstimated at Bortle 2. Surely, next
time and looking forward. Thanking You.
**************
Amar A. Sharma
Signature : Bowing down in eternal reverance to the Almighty Nature, both Terrestrial and Celestial... |
