Some time back there was a video on the Atlantic Ocean Road which runs right in the middle of the sea with huge waves splashing on to the road as vehicles passed by, it was a breathtaking yet scary video. We wondered what it must be like to go on that road and then we realised we didn’t have to go all the way to Norway for that. Hop on to Uppada for a similar experience, a mini version of the Atlantic road.
Uppada’s claim to fame
20 kms from Kakinada, along the sea coast is Uppada, a fishing village, well known for the famous Uppada handloom sarees. For travellers like us though, the point of interest was the beach road. After lunch, we drove to Uppada, the idea was to see the beach road and if time permitted, do some saree shopping. Enroute Uppada, we crossed the Vakalapudi Beach which we visited a couple of years ago. It was appalling to see how dirty and neglected the beach had become.
It took us about 15 minutes from Kakinada to reach Uppada. Initially, it was like any other sea coast road though the view of the sea was awesome.
As we drove on, there was a slight drizzle and to our right, the sea was getting closer to the road.
More close ! If felt like the sea would come on to the road any time.
If you are thinking the rocks are there to keep the sea away from the road, well, those rocks are there to support the road ! Every year during the monsoons when cyclones are common in the Bay of Bengal, the road is washed away by the sea and has to be relaid every single time. If you remove the rocks, the road will collapse because the sea keeps eating into its foundations !
A walk on the sea
We, then, arrived at a bridge, whenever there was a big wave, the water gushed underneath and flowed to the other side, it was just amazing to stand there and watch the sea water splash right beneath you !
We got down from the car to take some pictures. When you see the sea rushing on and hitting the rocks with great force, you feel so vulnerable before nature, in an instant, it can wipe you off ! Better not mess with Nature !
But, the best part of this road is another small joint that looks like a culvert, it is at a low level and there are no proper railings, there is literally nothing between you and the sea ! We had seen pictures of it on the internet and that was the reason we wanted to drive to Uppada in the first place. Here it is:
The human mind is a funny one. How come you don’t feel any fear while having fun at the beach but while walking on a road bordering the sea, you suddenly feel very exposed and scared? That sort of summed up our feeling while trying to cross the bridge.
Whenever there are heavy rains, the road here is damaged and the village of Uppada is cut off for any kind of transport. Throughout, you will find rocks holding up the road. One look down at the sea is enough to send you in a tizzy !
We parked our car after the crossing the bridge walked on the bridge, watching every step we took, for some reason afraid that we might slip and fall into the sea ! There is something to a rough sea on the roadside that makes you feel so small. Thoughts of what would happen if there was Tsunami also occurred to us but then if there was a Tsunami, there wouldn’t be much to think about ! Wouldn’t you get such thoughts if a huge wave exploded right beside you?
Unmindful of all the ominous looking sea, crabs ran here and there, they seemed to be having a ball on the bridge !
For some reason our intelligence seems to have taken us far from nature while the so called lesser intelligent creatures seem to have some kind of connect with it.
The sea continued to roar beside us, coming up with rough waves, it was as if every time we tried going near the crabs, the sea was warning us !
Finally, as we were thinking of leaving, a huge wave crashed on to the rocks. This photographer turned just in time to click the sea spraying water on the passersby,
only to realise that our own guys were totally drenched ! We understood, the sea was asking us to “get out” !
And so, after an exhilarating experience, we drove out of Uppada, completely forgetting the idea of checking out the handloom works.
Walk on the Uppada beach road atleast once to get a perspective on where you stand in this world !
From Uppada, we drove straight to Dwaraka Tirumala, a popular pilgrim centre in this region to thank the Almighty for all that we had in life (psst…the secret is, in a moment of weakness, this author had struck a deal with Lord Venkateswara of Dwaraka Tirumala and the visit was in fulfilment of that vow !)
A quick visit to Dwaraka Tirumala later, we were back in Rajamundry gorging on Bajjis and Rosemilk at 10.30 PM and skipping dinner.
The next day, we caught a special train to Vijayawada from where we had booked tickets to Hyderabad. Those in our group who didn’t have reserved tickets were packed off in an APSRTC bus. Railway stations and bus stations were overflowing with long weekend crowds.
The Guntur-Secunderabad Intercity Express arrived an hour late and reached Secunderabad close to 11 PM. We reached home feeling a feeling of liberation on our Independence Day weekend, a feeling that only travel can give you !
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Highway - the only way ! 
Very nice.
Thank you !
+1