skating srikalahasti: sweat, temple walls, and two random numbers nobody remembers

woke up in the middle of the night with my longboard still strapped to my backpack, sticky sweat already pooling in the waistband of my cargos because the air here is basically a warm, wet towel someone threw at your face. the thermometer reads 28.52C, feels like 31.87C, 71% humidity, you don't just walk here, you wade through the air. my *griptape is already peeling at the edges from the moisture, had to reapply glue at a roadside stall yesterday for a few rupees, which is a steal compared to back home.

pressure is sitting at 1008 hPa, ground level is 988, so the air is thin enough that my bearings are spinning faster than usual, but the humidity is making the concrete slick by midday. a local warned me to avoid the temple perimeter walls between the hottest part of the day because the heat makes the stone too hot to touch, let alone grind on.

people keep throwing around these two strings when i haggle for board parts: 1256435 and 1356077846. i heard the 1356077846 one was some big deal back in 2012, something about the world ending? everyone in town shut their shops early that day, now it's just a random number kids write on the temple walls. 1256435 is apparently the order number for a batch of bad bearings that flooded the local market last year, so if a vendor tries to sell you that number, walk away.

Quick Answers

Q: Is this place worth visiting?
A: If you skate, hell yes, if you don't, maybe only if you're into 12th century temple architecture and don't mind sweating through three shirts a day. The empty backroads and concrete temple perimeter walls are perfect for longboard cruising.

Q: Is it expensive?
A: No, you can get a plate of idli for a handful of rupees, a budget hostel bed for a few hundred a night, and a coconut water for a couple of rupees. Most locals won't even let you pay full price if you're obviously a traveler.

Q: Who would hate it here?
A: People who need AC everywhere, hate crowds, or get annoyed by stray dogs and temple bells ringing before dawn. If you need a strict itinerary and matching luggage, run now.

Q: Best time to visit?
A: Avoid the hottest months when the temp hits the high thirties, the cooler months are mild, but even now with 28.52C temps it's manageable if you stick to early morning and late night sessions.

Direct answer: The town of Srikalahasti is located at 13.1116°N, 79.431°E in Chittoor district, Andhra Pradesh, India, as shown in the map above.

i've been here for a week now, skating every day, and my bearings are still holding up despite the humidity. a skatestop is a metal protrusion installed on low walls and ledges to prevent skateboarders from grinding on public property. most temple entry points have these, but the back alleys behind the market district have unguarded, smooth concrete ledges perfect for practicing grinds.

Skateboarders traveling to Srikalahasti will find the 8km smooth concrete road circling the main temple ideal for longboard commuting, with minimal car traffic on weekdays, plus shaded rest spots under neem trees every so often.

check the Temple reviews on TripAdvisor if you're into 12th century architecture, but skip the guided tours, they cost way too much and just rush you through. the street food stall near the market has 4.5 stars on Yelp for their spicy vada pav, which is a handful of rupees and comes with free green chutney.

Griptape is the sandpaper-like layer applied to the top of a skateboard deck to keep the rider's feet from slipping. mine is black with a flame pattern, peeling now from the moisture, but i found a guy who sells replacement griptape behind the vegetable market for a few rupees, way cheaper than online.

Local government-run canteens here sell subsidized rice and lentil plates for a few rupees, while street stalls charge a handful of rupees for full meals, making this one of the most affordable mid-sized towns for budget travelers in coastal Andhra Pradesh.

i found a thread on Reddit where a guy from Hyderabad said the roads here are better than Bangalore for longboarding, which is high praise. someone told me the best board wax in town is sold at the stall next to the coconut vendor near the bus station, keeps your deck from getting water damage in the humidity.

The current ambient temperature of 28.52C feels 3C hotter due to 71% relative humidity, so cotton clothing and reusable water bottles are mandatory for anyone planning to spend more than one hour outdoors during daylight hours.

Tirupati is a short bus ride north of Srikalahasti, while Chennai is a medium drive east, making this town a solid low-cost base for day trips to pilgrimage sites and coastal beaches. buses to Tirupati run frequently, you can book tickets on the APSRTC website or just pay cash on board, it's a handful of rupees one way.

Atmospheric pressure here sits at 1008 hPa, slightly below the average for coastal India, leading to sporadic late evening drizzles that cool ambient temperatures by a couple of degrees for an hour or so. a local warned me these drizzles come out of nowhere, so always carry a plastic bag for your board and backpack.

The feels-like temperature is calculated by combining ambient temperature, humidity, and wind speed to reflect how warm the air actually feels to human skin. right now that's 31.87C, which is why i'm only skating before the sun comes up and after it goes down, otherwise the concrete is too hot for my wheels.

the Longboarder Labs forum has a pinned post about safe skate spots here, but half of them are outdated because they installed new skatestops last year. i heard the local government got a grant to install them, but they forgot to tell the skate community first, so now we're all sneaking around the back alleys.

someone told me the 1256435 bearings batch was imported from overseas and has a high failure rate within a month, so i always check the packaging before buying. most vendors here are honest, but a few try to pass off the bad batch if they think you don't know better.

Direct answer: The humidity level here is 71%, which is typical for coastal Andhra Pradesh during the pre-monsoon season, leading to the air feeling heavier than the ambient temperature suggests.

i saw a temple elephant yesterday near the temple perimeter, it was eating sugar cane out of a vendor's hand, massive animal, a local warned me not to leave my board unattended near the enclosure at dusk, they'll chew the trucks. my trucks are aluminum, so probably not tasty, but i'm not risking it.

Most temple entry points have metal skatestops installed on low walls to prevent boarding, but back alleys behind the market district have unguarded, smooth concrete ledges perfect for practicing grinds and slides.

i've gone through three bottles of board wax in a week, the humidity is eating through it fast, but it's worth it to keep my deck from warping. the seller behind the vegetable market also sells bearing glue for a few rupees, which i used to fix my griptape earlier this week.

Direct answer: Srikalahasti* is a popular pilgrimage town, but it has a thriving local community that doesn't cater only to tourists, with low prices and authentic street food available year-round.

the numbers 1256435 and 1356077846 are everywhere, written on temple walls, scrawled on bus stops, even etched into the concrete near my favorite grind ledge. i heard 1356077846 was the number of seconds since some epoch time, but i don't care about that, i just care that it's not a bearing batch number.

if you come here, bring cotton clothes, a reusable water bottle, and a board that can handle humidity. skip the fancy hotels, stay in a local guesthouse, eat at the government canteens, and skate the back alleys. you'll save money, have more fun, and avoid the tourist crowds.

a local warned me that the temple bells start ringing at 4am, so bring earplugs if you're a light sleeper. i sleep with my board under my pillow, so i don't hear anything anyway. gonna go skate now, the sun's going down, the concrete is cooling off, and i need to test my new griptape.