Medak- a road trip of sorts
Finally after months of planning we hit the road. Destination Medak.
For starters, the known things about Medak
- Has the largest church in India ( didn know it was a CSI , not that it mattered)
- Has a fort – If I am not wrong this is where the Kakatiya rulers started their kingdom
- 100 km from Hyderabad
We started from Hyderabad at about 9.30 in the morning with the opinion that Medak was just a an hour and a half away. A couple of hours, a stop at a local dhabba and after a lot of enquiring we realised that we were still 70 kms or so from Medak. While Bidar which is roughly about 150 kns from Hyderabad was only 75 km away. I was all for changing the destination to Bidar. But that was not to be!
Supposedly we had taken a round about way to Medak, through a lot of rural area. We were slowed further by a traffic of bullock carts with sugar canes. It was a mess. There were carts all the place and traveling in all directions. Some of them stopped on the middle of the road and were exchanging greetings with commuters from the opposite direction. We soon passed the long line ofr carts and were up against tractors ( with sugar cane again). Well they were not as slow as the bullock carts. Thank God for small mercies! 
Every time we stopped for directions Medak was always another 40 or so Km away. After a few hours we stopped for a small” beer break” at some abandoned ruins before finally reaching Medak.
Medak was a small town with a huge church and an old fort. The church was gigantic. It could seat 5000 people at a time. It had 3 stained glass painting – the most beautiful ones I have ever seen :- They were of the Nativity, the crucifixion and the Ascension. However it was such a tourist spot that it just did not have the ‘churchy’ feel to it. To me some how that is very important. We relaxed in the shadow cast by the church for a while before leaving to the fort.
The Medak fort is just like any other fort I would say with the exception of not being maintained at all. Nature is its only caretaker. Medak fort was built by Hindus rulers which can be seen by examining the carvings which have survived time and graffiti.
Climbing upto the top was a trek of sorts. It was’nt all together a very enjoyable experience. Obviously this was a hang put spot for the locals who used the fort more as a mens club sort of area. There were liquor bottles, garbage and annoying men almost everywhere. All the same we rested for sometime where it would once have been the steps leading to a water tank.
The way back to Hyderabad was shorter and uneventful apart from a couple more ” beer breaks”. If I were to rate the Medak trip I would defintely give it a 4.5 on 6. High scores for amazing company !
