Society to Save Rocks in Hyderabad: A rollercoaster ride

Discover Hyderabad's heritage rocks with the Society to Save Rocks. The Society has been organizing rock walks for the past 28 years now. In collaboration with The Great Adventure Club, it conducts Rockathons an adventure event to highlight the need for preserving rocks

On a Sunday morning, a motley group of people — geologists, trekkers, professionals, students, parents with little children — gather in Hyderabad. Wearing caps, well-fitting shoes and carrying water bottles, they head out excitedly to meet their old friends, the rocks of Hyderabad.

The Society to Save Rocks (www.saverocks.org) has been organising these rock walks on the third Sunday of every month for 28 years now, with an aim to discover the city’s heritage rocks and explore new trails. But as the twin cities expand, these unique rock formations face the risk of being flattened out (an example is the rocks being drilled at Khajaguda Hills, despite a High Court order in 2019)

Frauke Quader, the 86-year-old secretary of the Society, leads from the front the fight to preserve the heritage rocks. At her house in Jubilee Hills, a collage of rock photographs greets visitors at the door. “The city is growing, and we have to get used to it. But I get depressed with so much development,” says the octogenarian,

The Society conducts 12 rock walks a year and conducts an annual Rockathon (an adventure event to highlight the need for preserving rocks) in collaboration with The Great Adventure Club. The walk at Narsingi Forest Trek Park in January, marking a decade of the Rockathon, attracted around 150 people. The first Rockathon in 2014 had 100 visitors and increased to 500 participants in 2017, after which the numbers gradually dropped.

Frauke attributes the decline in numbers to the number of events happening during weekends in the city. “First, it’s already too hot. Second, people are going out more these days, but they prefer to go far away from the city.” Apart from adventure sports like rappelling and zip lining organised by The Great Adventure Club, the Rockathon’s less strenuous programmes like quiz contests, rock balancing, and painting for children, as well as one on snake awareness programme are popular among families.

Besides exploring incredible rockscapes, the rock walks — there have been 336 till now — are an interesting weekend recreation activity. Based in Bengaluru now, 70-year-old businessman Vinod Reddy has been part of rock walks for 18 years, including the two-day annual outstation rock walk to Hampi in Karnataka in February.

He began joining the walks to go out in the open air and meet people. He says, “I am completely fascinated by rocks; interacting with people like Frauke who shares so much information, makes me happy. How the rocks visited us millions of years ago and we blew them to smithereens in seconds is a sad story,” says the septuagenarian whose first rock walk was in 2004. and recollects his memories. “Society members Lata Marur (artist) and CJ Rao, rock walk lead and an organiser from the Society met at Public Gardens and we drove to some far-off place towards Ramoji Film City.”