Frankly My Dear...I Don't Give a Dam!

The Hindu Temple on the way to the dam

The second day on our exciting adventure of Hyderabad consisted of us visiting the Nagajuna Sagar Dam about three and a half hours away from Hyderabad. We started out earlier in the morning in order to reach there around lunch. On our way there we stopped outside a Hindu temple for a bathroom break and to marvel at the beautiful sight. We took off our shoes and made our way around the hot stones to the inside of the temple where we received a prasad, a tikka (bindi), and a blessing from the Brahmin priests. Like always, the priest made me take the prasad (in the case of this temple it was mishti, which means Bengali sweet) and I was forced to try and eat it all or it would be frowned upon...I wasn't able to pull it off this time though but I didn't waste it either so it went to a good cause. The temples in the south, in my opinion, are a lot more beautiful than those in the north because many are hand-carved and have depictions of gods/goddesses running up the sides.

Buddha statue

Arriving at our destination, we got on a boat where we proceeded to sit and sweat for an hour before we reached the local museum/Buddhist stupa that we were headed towards. The museum held many Hindu and Buddhist artifacts and even had weapons/fossils from the Neolithic age and other time periods. It reminded me of when I visited the Institute of Art in Chicago with my dad this summer and saw all of the Asian artifacts that they had collected. I liked the museum but it was rather hot after we had trekked to the stupa so I mainly stood in front of the fans in the museum and looked around me at the artwork.

Five-pillared stupa

The Buddhist stupa took a little work to get to see because we had to walk around in the sun in order to see it. Kolkata is over 100 degrees Fahrenheit every day and Hyderabad is probably about the same only it is less humid and more dry heat (I actually got a tan while there). Our tour guide showed us the area where the Buddhist monks used to dwell and the five-pillared stupa where relics of Buddha were kept. The five pillars represented Buddha's experiences throughout his life and it was interesting because the stones were built up in a way that reminded me of the stone shelters that the Anasazi built. I also saw a tree next to the stupa that the Dalai Lama planted and they had a little sign next to it that said it was planted by him. I really think my cousin Becky would have enjoyed seeing the stupa because she is really interested in Buddha's life and wanted me to visit some areas that are culturally significant to Buddhism.

The Dalai Lama's tree

After visiting the musem and stupa, we climbed back on the boat and made our way to the bus to make our return trip back to the hotel. As we were driving I took a picture of the sunset over the dam (oh, by the way, the dam is the largest free-standing masonry dam in the world). I was glad to be back in the bus after such a warm day so I could listen to my music while I watched the gorgeous sunset.

Sunset from my seat on the bus