Reaching my Native place

After spending a night in Bangalore with family, took a flight to Visakhapatnam the morning of 8/1. One of my middle/high school classmates, Ramesh, picked us up at the airport to take us to the train station to catch a train to my native place, Tadepalligudem. We stopped at a restaurant on the way to get some light lunch. It was nice to see him in person after over 30 years. 

It is a four hour train ride from here. You certainly get a coming home feeling after  seeing the familiar sights of coconut trees, and the rice fields along the train route.

My dad and uncle came to the train station to pick us up. Finally reached home for dinner. Spent the next two weeks meeting my high school friends and traveling to the near by villages to visit family. In this part of the world, during the harvest festival, betting on cock fighting is a common place. The bets are typically in thousands of dollars!

Rooster being raised for fighting

Not too long ago, there used to be a lot of boat traffic, transporting goods, in the canals. There is hardly any such traffic now a days.

Disappearing transportation boats

My dad was also in the process of closing the tractor spare parts store after running it for 44 years, which was named after me. The doors were finally closed on 8/14. Donated some sports equipment to the elementary school behind our house. Participated in the Independence Day celebration function at the school on 8/15.

We all left the same night by train to Hyderabad.