Week 40, 2025: Road tripping

G’day folks.

This long weekend, I went on a road trip with my family to Warangal. I did most of the driving, of course, and the whole thing began from a casual conversation at work. (It is a running joke at this point!) The original plan was Hampi, but my dad decided to join at the last moment, and since he’s not comfortable with long drives, we settled on somewhere closer. None of us had ever been, so it seemed like a good compromise.

It was a short 3-3.5 hour drive out of Hyderabad. The drive was smoother than expected; the highways were open and there wasn’t much traffic either. (Quite understandable, given Friday was a public holiday.)

Warangal, when we finally arrived, was... quietly confident about its own pace. The Fort was magnificent in its weathered, crumbling way. Some of the gate-like structures stood there like time portals. I don’t quite know how to put it into words, but the vibe was undeniably “heritage-y.” (If that’s even a word.)

It also was a pilgrimage of sorts. My mom wanted to visit a few local temples, and so we did. One of them, dedicated to Kāli Ma (Bhadrakāli), was fully packed when we visited; the kind of crowd where you don’t walk so much as get moved by collective momentum.

Alongside that, we also visited the Thousand Pillar Temple. The temple itself was beautiful; a precise kind of symmetry carved centuries ago, somehow still holding its own. I took some photos of the architecture, and of the intricate details within the masonry. The stonework here (and at the Fort) was stunning.

We also stopped by Lakhnavaram Lake, which offered a welcome break from stone and crowds. The water stretched out calmly, reflecting the sky in a way that made you forget for a moment that you’d been navigating heat, traffic, and the centuries-old architecture.

Warangal wasn’t Hampi, but it had its own pace, its own stories, and plenty of sun-soaked stone to admire. We’ve started planning the Hampi trip for next month, so maybe I’ll finally get the boulders and even more ancient architecture.

And before that, next weekend holds another adventure: Goa. Somehow, these trips just keep stacking up. (Not complaining!)

Until next time!