About The City: Vishakapatnam or Vizag as its called in its anglicized from is the 2nd largest city in Andhra Pradesh. Being a port city it is known as "The Jewel of the East Coast" – it also is home to Eastern command of Indian navy besides boasting of a port & ship building units. Being a industrial city it has many Oil PSUs, steel plant as major employers. Despite all this the city still has a old world, laid backness about it. I havent seen traffic jams from whatever I got to travel in city. Even with narrow roads I never saw commuters getting into me-first mode or screaming at each other.
People also seem cool, no one seems in a hurry & everyone is approachable. I met this guy sitting on beach & asked him to take a pic of me with sea as background. 10 minutes later we are having tea together & I see him enjoying his evenings even on my 4th trip there – we have had 6 teas & 60mins of conversations so far. What I mean to say is people are friendly including the autowallas. I havent seen them charge extra even when they realize we don’t know the local language. [ this is purely from my experience, individual experiences may vary]
Location: Vizag city is unique from other coastal places in the sense that it has sea on one side & mountainous terrain on the other. Located on the east coast this is also has chennai-kolkata highway running thru it. Its connected well by trains, road & domestic flights.
My Visits: All my travels to vizag were work related, so there was no separate time for sight seeing. Its from the time I could ‘make’! Also the two places I am detailing was within walking distance from the hotel & hence covered easily.
a) Ramakrishna beach – often called RK beach this is one of the many beaches Vizag has. This is favorite place for many walkers –both at dawn & dusk. It comes to full life in evening with many chat stalls coming up. The waves are not too big, one can easily wade 25mtrs into sea & still come back without getting your pocket wet – shirt pocket I mean! There is a telescop tower here where u can pay 3Rs & watch distant ships in vizag port as if they are at arms length. Also special jeeps take you from here to a boarding point for a ferry ride.
b) SubmarineMuseum: This is in very walkable distance to RK beach. A decommissioned submarine is converted into a museum to give aam janta a look into the inside of a sub marine. I wanted to see this for 2 reasons – 1) I had seen many programs on submarine on national geographic 2) I met a submariner from Indian navy who had been in deep seas & had made me curious with his tales.
INS Kursura - A brief History: INS Kursura was commissioned at Riga, erstwhile USSR, on 18 December 1969 under the command of Commander A Auditto. The submarine embarked on her maiden passage from Balrisk on 20th February 1970. The induction of INS Kursura show cased the augmentation of the 3rd dimension of the Indian Navy. She was the corner stone of foundation of Indian Naval Submarine Arm. During her 31 glorious year of service the submarine traversed 73, 500 nautical miles participating in almost all type of Naval operations. INS Kursura played a vital role in the 1971 indo-Pak war. She was the pioneer submarine extending goodwill and harmony through visits and flag-showing missions to other nations. In her vast life span, INS Kursura changed hands 13 times, the last Commanding Officer being Cdr KM Sreedharan. INS Kursura was decommissioned on 27th February 2001. Considered the Grand Old Lady of the Indian Navy, INS Kursura, India’s fourth submarine, was hauled on the beach with the help of the National Ship Design and Research Centre (NASDRC) in 2001 and museum was formally inaugurated by former Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu. The submarine displays its complete weapon package, including torpedoes, and gives the public an insight into the life of a submariner. This is one of its kind museum in whole of asia. ( info courtesy – Indian Navy website)
I wondered if the submarine felt like ’Fish out of water’ when it was pulled ashore!! ;-)
Time for Orgasm: Surely INS Kursura is small compared to modern nuclear submarines I had seen on TV. Still to bring that 90 odd meter long of metal calls for some task. I was already excited seeing a submarine on ground, now imagining how engineering heads must have worked to pull it on ground made me thinking. I hope they have documented it so we can marvel at it. I took few photos from outside, brought the tickets –both for myself & for my camera! Before entering I roamed around it taking pictures of torpedoes, sea mines & other things related to the sub, but kept in the lawn around.
Yeh IntoSpi Kya hain?: Without delay I entered the sub welcomed by the guide. They brief about its history, various sections, systems etc. I asked question I wanted to ask. I had wondered about how subs can fire missile & still no water enters them as missile leaves it. I got the answer. The missile chambers closed from inside & open at the outside only at firing. Whatever little water enters in that brief time stays is missile chamber before being pumped out! With each section my excitement only grew – the huge engine room, the narrow bedrooms, kitchen do give insight about life inside. I was told a submariner had to be without bath for as long as 2 months in those days!
With each passing section I was left wondering about what a engineering marvel a sub is. Which made me think of the intellect of man, which then led me to think of God who created man & gave all his creativity to him. I came to final section & suddenly I had a question – how to steer this huge thing under water? The guide led me to a small liver hardly 6inches long & said this is what control the direction, turn of the sub.!! This was enough for me to reach the zenith of excitement. My mind was thinking about how such a small thing controls a huge sub ( very much like a tongue controls a man!) but my soul was rejoicing in God who gives intellect to man to make these things. I couldn’t hold excitement any longer – I came out screaming “thank you God, for making man & giving him your brain(?)! ;-)
Etymology: By the way IntoSpi is Intellectual+Spiritual = Intellecto-Spiritual ( similar to saying Afro-Asian!), but used as IntoSpi for lack of space in title ( thanks to MS!) ;-) Intellectual orgasm is when only mind is involved in thoughts. In IntoSpi orgasm both mind & soul are at work simultaneously. The mind is thinking of Engineering & the Soul is thanking God.
Other attractions in & near Vizag: I have not been to these places, but found mention about them in the hotel travel brochure. Araku Valley, Borra Caves, Vizag museum, Dolphin point, Light house, Ancient Buddhist temples etc
Thanks for reading.