Telugu Film News

Souvenir hunters, those bitten by the curiosity bug and YSR’s aficionados continue to throng Chintamanu Tippa, nearly three weeks after his helicopter crashed on this hill-top.

There was a mix of reverence and irreverence among visitors who swarmed the place in hundreds on Sunday. A pastor, Prakasam, was seen reading out to his flock from a Bible about how important it was to tread a virtuous path on this earth to go to heaven.

Ice-creams!
Down the hill, an ice-cream vendor was doing brisk business selling choco-bars and scoops at Rs. 10 apiece to visitors as well as to rifle-wielding commandos of Greyhounds, standing on vigil against naxalites in the thick Nallamala forest.

On Sunday, he sold Rs. 800 worth of ice-creams and in between, made a quick dash to the crash spot while his assistant looked after the mobile vend.

Debris
Equally out of place was a trophy -- a triangular piece of the chopper’s wreck -- being carted by a youth Parameshwar while another man was seen taking away a whole seat cushion in a large plastic bag.

Debris like metal pieces, flight-related documents, maps and burnt clothes lay strewn around, providing a stark reminder of not only the goriness crash but also the shoddiness of the clean-up operation.

The sloping hill-top or the Tippa, part of the Pavuralagutta hill cluster, has rocks scattered all over.

When the chopper crashed and skidded, it burnt or cut trees in a 50 X 15 metre swathe leaving a brown patch in contrast to the green foliage all around.

Synthetic smell
A synthetic smell, either of aviation fuel or burnt plastic, hangs in the unpolluted air of the verdant forest, now being littered at a fast pace.

Braving odds, people from far and wide continue to make a beeline to the hill. They include women and children, trotting fast to keep pace with their men.

Apparently, they want to check out the visuals of the terrain they have watched endlessly on television or formed a mental picture on their own. Those with a spirit of adventure took a detour to Rudrakodu temple, nestled in a clearing on the hillside and often a watering hole for naxalites. On Sunday, Greyhounds were enjoying a bath in the temple tank.

Bone-rattling ride
Atmakur, a major gram panchayat, 75 km from Kurnool, is where the arduous journey begins for those coming from afar as it is here one can hire a rugged jeep or a tractor.

It is a bone-rattling ride across rocks, deep ruts and streams, including bigger ones like Galeru, ends 23 km and 70 minutes later from Nallavagu, the village from where the forest starts.

From there, it is a long haul by foot, mostly on the bed of a rocky, dried up hill stream, that leaves the not-so-fit breathless and sweating. Home Minister Sabitha Indra Reddy did not clearly belong to this category as she traipsed uphill without much ado last week. A false step on the round rocks of one-at-a time path can mean a sprained or a broken ankle but then who cares. Such things do happen during a pilgrimage or a picnic, which it was for many in Pavuralagutta.