And this post itself is about one of Vizag's Hills, specifically one visible from the APTourism Guest House at Rushikonda (where I had stayed on my recent visit to Vizag) -- unmistakably so as it seems to have been cleaved to the bone by a giant, apocalyptic claw or used as a site for target bombing runs by combat airplanes.
A hill that looks more like an open wound -- bleeding ochre and red earth -- than any I have seen.
A closer look showed that this wound seems to have been terraced with plots / layouts and even bandaged with concrete (roads? sewage lines? sidings? your guess is as good as mine) that stands out white like scar tissue.
Just in front of this bleeding eyesore is another eyesore. Bungalows for the super-super-super rich built on an oh-so-nice, 15 degree incline, man made, bulldozer carved hill that towers over the Casuarina stands that fringe the beach and gives every one of them a "sea-view".
Rumored locally to have been sold for Rs. 3 crores and upwards.
In between (and I speak from my earlier peregrinations here) there are a lot of plots / layouts (some of them in three and four levels) terraced out of another hillside. You will find exotic lawns sprouting green there and nameplates in metal and stone announcing ownership that has come quickly, easily and one would think (in cases where the nameplates say -- "Dr. _________, USA") cheaply.
I am not surprised that the little I could see of the white-bellied sea eagles and the peregrine falcons was NOT at Rushikonda but at a distance, where there is no discordant development (and dynamiting) happening.
I am not surprised that I found fish (no, I did not take pictures) bloated and bluish green every 50 or so feet on the beach that the APToursim Rushikonda property overlooks.
I am surprised (as when I wrote "Vizag's Hills", some seven or so years back) that the hills don't quake.
And, I am surprised at how short-sighted and consumerist an idea, so-called "development" is.
