Kothagudem

 I cannot forget this place, as I was born there. In modern day Telangana, it was my angana (playground) from 1960-70 and again from 1977-80 when we lived there. One area we lived in was Writer Basti (colony), and we cycled a lot. Even went to the Yellandu Club a few kilometres away on the bicycle, for a swim in summer!'

Bhadrachalam nearby had a famous temple of Rama. During Ramnavami, there used to be a huge crowd in that town, nestling around the Godavari river. In Kothagudem, we had two rivers- Edla vagu and Muredu vagu, flowing through the town.

It was an idyllic coal-mining town, with the club as its major social activity. But we also roamed around on long walks, or bicycle trips. School was St. Mary's and the nuns were kind and smiling. There was a water tank which all students drank from, without bothering about water quality.