A Date With Ramoji Film City

13th November, a new morning, a new day, but it was our last at Hyderabad, as we were to leave the city back to Mumbai in the night. But not without visiting Ramoji Film City - the largest film city in the world. It is just 25km from Hyderabad; it is an enchanting blend of man-made wonders and nature’s pristine beauty. Sources of extraordinary gardens, authentic sets, lavish locales, rides, thrills, adventure and excitement combine to offer an amazing experience. Its said if you have the script, the talent and the money, you can make a movie within the film city. It is said to be a 22 thousand acre land, some part of is still to be developed. It is an amazing experience to be there its worth the money you have to pay. Being huge it has a lot to offer and still can offer plenty as there are some barren areas. Lush green gardens, fountains, film locations, epic monuments and structures, it was like a small world within these 22 thousand acre. We were given a brief tour of the place via bus in the beginning. We were shown film sets that covered locations from India as well many other parts of the world. There were housed which could easily converted into something else like Hospital, Jails, Courts, etc. in no time. There were different sets for different purposes like a village area, an urban aria, some town in England or America or any other place in the world, an airport, parts and bits for around India, there was a whole lot of stuff in this mega plot, Hotels, Restaurants, Drive Inns, Merchandises, Rides, etc. After the bus ride we went to see the Hawa Mahal, Caves, and many other fascinating places at Ramoji. There were many rides there, but the most that fascinated me was the Bumping Car ride, I and my friends went in as many as 3 times before we could leave the place (just 3 times because it was always crowded). We had our lunch at a restaurant called Chanakya where they serve vegetarian cuisine. The whole day was filled just marveling at the film city and looking around, yet we could not completely see the complete place due to the shortage of time. Many things amazed us as we had never imagined a dream could be this big. One needed a lot of money to fulfill such kind of dreams, especially a dream this big that took so many corers of rupees to be built. The Film City was so huge and such a lot of work had been put up for its proper working, and maintaining it everyday. Having seen Ramoji Film City was an experience of a lifetime, an experience that will stay fresh in my mind now for many years to come. Hyderabad is surely blessed with a lot of wonderful things, the heritage, the food, the locations, the life, and not to forget Ramoji Film City and of course, the Snow World. It was nice to visit the Ramoji Film City in the end because it was an incredible experience... as they say, save the best for the last...

My Hyderabad Trip

It was on the 21st of November when we completed our board exams, and now needed a much needed break and I knew our Industrial Trip (to Bangalore) was what would do just that. It was roughly decided, the trip was to take place on the 28th of November, and our return would be somewhere on the 3rd-4th of December. Everyone was pretty excited about the trip and wanted to have a very good time there, forget the last trip (to Pune) which was an easily forgettable one.
On the 22nd we got to know that our trip had to be postponed, now to be taken place on the 10th of December (10th to 14th) due to problems in the ticket reservation. There was another twist in the plans (no not again); our trip now was not going to Bangalore but now at Hyderabad. The best part was that the date had not changed but the previous of our stay had been reduced (to just about four days). But we knew we would make the best of it and have a blast...and we did.
It was 10th of December; I got up as earlier as 4 in the morning. I had to leave earlier as there was a boycott of the local trains on the very day. Buses had been hired from our college to CST. Reaching there we took a Mumbai-Hyderabad Express which was to leave at about 12:40pm. Our seats were not properly registered as many of us were separated, but we still found ways to come together and have some fun. We were told to bring our own lunch so we had fun eating and sharing it. One of my class-mated had brought 2 packs of cards and most of us just played cards. There was not a lot to do in the train, so at times we had to patiently wait for out destination to arrive. We had to sleep in the train itself as we were to reach Hyderabad next morning at about 7 in the morning.
Reaching Hyderabad, we were pretty much excited about the trip, the sight seeing and the industrial visits. Not too far away from the station there were buses waiting for us to take us to our hotel. Hotel Woodbridge it was called, looked good, and it was the same in the interior - lavishing. After reaching out hotels and getting our respective rooms, we were asked to immediately get fresh, come for breakfast and we were to quickly leave for our first Industrial Visit. It was a place where cloths dying process, and some regional cloths were made, next was a thread making industry, threads made of syntactic material, not cotton.
Sadly, our other industrial visits were cancelled as we did not get the permition of the respective officials, so we went sight-seeing (thanks to that, we got a lot of time for sight-seeing). Our first stop was at the Salarjung Museum, it was said to have the collections of one single person. Honestly, watching such a huge collection one can only wonder how and what it really took for that person to collect such a huge collection of antics, paintings, crockery, mirrors, watches, furniture, etc. and all this collection was not only featured antics from India but also from many other parts of the world, like Japan, Chine, UK, France, etc. We later went to the Hussain-Sagar Lake; we also took a boat ride there. It took us all around the lake. In the middle of the lake they have constructed a big statue of Buddha which looked stunning in the night. After that wonderful experience we returned to our hotel for our dinner, then for some sleep.
The next day we went sight seeing as there were no more industrial visits planned. We went to the interior of the city to see one of the greatest heritages of Hyderabad, the Char Minar. It looked amazing but, locked in the crowded streets its slowly loosing its charm, thought the workers there are trying their best to restore it original glory, its still loosing its charm. Later we were asked to go shopping, there was not a lot in the place for me to shop so I just hung around with my friends viewing the place. We were taken to our hotel for lunch later where we spent some time and then were off to another place called Snow World. It was like an amusement park inside a building. It was not all of snow, it had a Horror House, place for games, a few rides, a small place for shopping, etc. The best was the floor where they created artificial ice, a complete snow world with temperatures of about 2° C. We had a lot fun in the snow, throwing snow balls, playing football (not really, but just kicking the ball). We also danced which was very tough in the kind of clothing we were provided there. But the best part there was playing Volleyball in ice. After that experience (my first experience in snow), we took a small tour of the building, watching everything they had over there. I also took my very first dashing car ride there, with a little less fun as the controls there were not very easy.
We went back to the hotel for the night eagerly awaiting for the dawn as it was our last as well as we were to be taken to the Ramoji Film City - the largest film city in the world. It has been acknowledged by the renowned Guinness World Records as the World’s Largest Film Studio Complex. Its said that if you visit Hyderabad and fail to go to the Ramoji Film City it was really unfair to your visit. It was quiet an experience there at the Ramoji Film City where we were for almost for the whole day.
The day was almost done, we head back to the Hyderabad Station to come back home to Mumbai, via the Hyderabad-Mumbai Express. The trip was long, and we had the same pass-time as we did while arriving here at Hyderabad, i.e. playing cards, pranks, singing songs, etc.
All in all it was a wonderful experience, a trip to remember. Everything just went a well as one would love. This one’s going down in memory lain... maybe to last for ever.

In Any Other World

“Those who want to live will leave this Earth and those who know how to live will stay.”

We belong to a planet, and that planet is Earth, here we lived, grew and evolved, how can we ever think about leaving it and not saving it. Today, we know our world is slowly dying, but it can be saved, still there is life in it and we need to act quickly in order to restore it. We cannot just give up and try to find any other world. Even if there's a world like ours out there and one decides to invade it, will we be welcomed there? Will we be able to live amongst those not like us and even if we do, who's the superior one? Us or Them?

Today, like we are trying to search for life in the space, maybe there is some other who's trying to do the same, i.e. trying to find life in this vast space of ours in various Galaxies and Milky ways. Maybe they've seen us but not bothered to invade us. Beware! Someone's watching over you, maybe! We don't kow, maybe they've been here earlier, or maybe they've set off from their world to ours...

And what if the other planet is suitable for life but the life there is not as vibrant as Human life, then maybe we can live upon there and make it a world of our own. We'll have to be very careful there and not repeat the same mistakes that we made on Earth. Life will be the same but the moon the stars and our sun would not be the same. For us who stayed on the Earth for long would go down memory lain and recollect those sweet days on the planet that we helped to built then destroyed it with our own hands.

Maybe it's not too late, we still can save this planet. But only if we join our hands and be together we can bring that change. All we need is understanding amongst each other, we don't need wars, no fighting. And then we need to give up on certain things that affect our Earth. It is easy on as one can put it but it is practically very heart to follow. But can't we do some bit to save Our Planet, or maybe a little bit more for the planet that brings life to us now for so many years.