Telangana – Page 2 – Map In My Pocket

Save The Sunday!

Sunday before last, I was in the Indian School of Business for their Digital Summit 2016. The “workshop” was barely more than a platform for the internet and social media giants to come and ‘perform’ their sales pitch!

So, in a bid to Save The Sunday, I walked around the campus looking to photograph anything that caught my eye. Luckily I loved photographing the wonderful symmetries, à la Jantar Mantar.

Bill wasn’t unkind or rude by nature, but now he struck. ‘I appreciate your kind invitation’, he said, ‘but I never go to the Yatch Club. I’ve never been inside it.’

Mr.Smithers looked alarmed. ‘Why not, Mr.Wainwright? Surely it’s a fine club.’

‘It isn’t that. Only you see I have a good many Indian friends – some of them very distinguished – and as you know, they are not allowed to enter the club. So I don’t go either… it seems to me rather odd considering that India is their country.

-Louis Bromfield, Night in Bombay, 1940

Atleast, they did not need a debate to decide if they were indeed an Indian Institution.

Shamirpet: A Lake in Resort Land

Popular amongst the lakes of Hyderabad is the Shamirpet Lake. It is expansive, beautiful, not too crowded and peaceful.

Small wonder then that the majority of the resorts in town are located here. There is a deer park too in the vicinity, making it the ideal weekend getaway.

Do not fancy the cacophony of a run of the mill resort? The tourism department’s Haritha Lake View Resort is a quiet and scenic option too.

Though the water in the lake once touched both the Deer Park & the Resort, with the monsoons doing a no show last year, most of the lake is now dried up. Nonetheless it still is picturesque enough to spend a pleasant evening.

March 8, 2016

Standing Still: Moazzam Jahi Market

Named after Moazzam Jah Bahadur, son of the seventh and last Nizam of Hyderabad, The Moazzam Jahi Market is built entirely in stone.

Modelled after the ‘Universal Stores’ of the West, construction of this popular landmark began in 1933 by the City Improvement Board, whose President was Prince Moazzam Jah. Besides being a centrally located traders centre, it was supposed to have housed the fruit market that sent fruit to the Nizam living in the Falaknuma Palace then.

On the completion of the market in 1935, a clock was installed on the Minar facing the main street crossing. Today, this Clock Tower is iconic in the Old City of Hyderabad.

The architecture of this triangular granite structure is striking in its antiquity. Which is what probably prompted Nikon to conduct a photowalk here, the first Sunday of February. It is also on the HMDA’s Heritage Buildings List.

With remarkable archways, spiral staircases, colourful doors, flocks of pigeons and a flurry of activity from the 100+ shopkeepers setting up shop and scattering grain for the birds to feed on, the courtyard is the most integral part of this building.

Travel Blog_Heritage Buildings in Hyderabad

81 years and this market has stood still. Not much has changed but the generations of shopkeepers and the kids that stop to binge on the “famous” handmade fruit icecream.

March 5, 2016

Heart of Hyderabad: Old City

Now that I am working on the 52 Photowalks Project, I am constantly on the lookout for heritage walks and photo walks happening in the city. Seek Sherpa’s Galliyon Ke Raja was my first such.

It was great fun. Like walking around the Streets of Old City looking for subjects was not enough of an out-of-my-comfort-zone moment, there was this whole ‘Street Photography’ tag attached to it too! But, luckily for me, it was a great first. I even got to learn quite a bit on controlling the camera and understanding lenses better from the very helpful and nice ‘sherpa’ conducting the micro-tour (as they call it).

Now, no more words. I believe and hope that this time around, just the pictures are enough to tell a tale.

February 27, 2016

Golconda Fort: Through The Ages

The Golconda Fort is a testament to the history of Hyderabad and this region.

Originally a fort of the Kakatiyas, it went through the Bahamanis to the Qutub Shahi Kings, who made it their capital. From the earlier peacock and griffin carvings to the later fort walls with its numerous bastions and battlements bear evidence to this fact.

Anyone who has lived in Hyderabad long enough will tell you how important this confluence of Hindu and Muslim cultures has been in shaping not just the city but even its distinctive language! Hyderabadi as it is called (a mixture of Urdu & Hindi) even extends its influence to the local Telangana dialect of Telugu giving it it’s distinctive twist.

Built on a hillock 400 feet high, The Golconda Fort derives its name from the Telugu word ‘Golla Konda’ meaning Shepherd’s Hill. Legend has it that a shepherd found an idol here and the reigning Kakatiya King built a mud fort around it.

Surrounded by a deep moat, an outer wall and an inner double wall, this Fort was neigh impregnable. Made even more daunting by the cannons mounted on its 87 bastions, Golconda was the strongest amongst the forts of Deccan. It was Aurangazeb who finally managed to infringe the fort in 1687 and it is said that even this was made possible only because of a traitor on the inside.

Meandering up the hill, within these fortifications, is yet another stone wall made from the boulders already there. So, this once-unconquerable-now-in-ruins fort is still striking in its architecture.

But the truly remarkable samples of the ingenious design and planning that went into the construction of this fort remain the Persian wheel water Supply and the acoustic signalling mechanism.

Relying purely on gravity, water was collected from, stored and supplied at different levels of this massive citadel!

Every building and wall is positioned in a way that allows sound from the entryway to be carried up to the hilltop. Believed to be a communication mechanism for the guards, one can still experience this by clapping at the threshold and hearing the echo travel.

The third feat of engineering in Golconda that has stood the test of time are the archways built in a way to allow cool breeze to circulate through the various palaces and halls, a definite breather from the summer heat of Hyderabad.

Other interesting must-sees in this fort complex are the still intact Aslah Khana (3 storeyed armoury), Ramadas Bandikhana (where the legendary devotee of Lord Rama, Bhakta Ramadasu was jailed by the last ruler of Qutub Shahi Dynasty, Tana Shah for surreptitiously ‘borrowing’ money from the royal treasury to restore the Bhadrachalam Temple), Baradari (pavilion on the hilltop), Ibrahim Masjid, Mortuary Baths (in today’s context just beautiful archways built in Persian+Turkish style), Taramati Mosque, Nagina Bagh (once a thriving diamond trade centre as attested by none other than Marco Polo, today, a garden).

It is believed that even the Kohinoor was mined here!

Things To Do: Get a guide who will take you up the hillock and regale you along the way with intrigues of the court from an era gone by.

or

Watch the Light & Sound Show conducted by the State Department of Tourism, where every evening, the history and romance of this beautiful place is recreated through music and story telling.

or go early in the evening and do both. :)

Of Sunny Days & Brisk Breezes

Hyderabad’s International Kite Festival found its way to a larger venue this year – away from the hustle and bustle of Necklace Road – the Aga Khan Academy near the airport.

Makara Sankranti is an important Indian Harvest Festival celebrated across the country. This day marks the return of the sun after the cold winter and is a harbinger of the coming harvest season for farmers.

Also known as Pongal in some states of the South, it gets its name from the dish that is made this day. Rice from the first harvest of the year is cooked in milk that has come to a ‘pongu’, meaning boil and sweetened with jaggery or sugar.

In Gujarat, where the biggest Kite Festival of the country takes place, it is Uttarayan. How ever many be the names that this festival is called by, the one common thread that weaves through it is the ‘flying of kites’.

India is of many religions and this is one of the celebrations that brings together, them all. For, it is believed that the custom of flying kites was brought to India by the Persian muslims!

Yes it does not make up for the nostalgia of that simple childhood joy. Of stringing up your kite with manja (thread coated with the tiniest shards of glass), running around with your spool on the terrace as you try to ‘cut’ as many kites as you can and then counting your loot at the end of it all.

But, this 2 day Kite Festival does bring to you an array of different kinds of kites from across the globe.

It is usually right after the sun rises and before the sun sets that one flies kites while it is still pleasant and the sun isn’t too sharp, but it is still breezy enough for the kites to take to the sky.

& with the setting sun, out goes the light and the International Kite Festival 2016 of Hyderabad draws to a close.

February 5, 2016

The Lost Pump House

I was born in Hyderabad, and I have lived here most of my life. But, it wasn’t until a year ago, when a friend mentioned Fox Sagar Lake, did I even become aware of its existence. He hadn’t heard of it either, till his work for a magazine helped us discover this Lake.

& This lake is beautiful. Period.

Hyderabad is known for its Hussain Sagar and The Buddha Statue there. The Hussain Sagar has an iconic status that it shares with Charminar and now, Hitec City. But, in reality, it is an extremely polluted lake that stinks up the air! Inspite of this, being the only water body in an otherwise hot and crowded city, it draws in crowds by the hundreds and even thousands on holidays. I, like everyone else, have been drawn to it too.

On the other hand, is The Fox Sagar Lake. In the city, but wide, expansive and cheerful. You can still see buildings, but at a distance.

Though not so popular with the locals, it definitely is a hit with the birds! I wasn’t really expecting to see so many birds of such varied species. Truth be told, I did not even know what to expect. All we did was follow the route traced out on Google Maps!!

But, what adds to the charm of this Lake and makes it so special is the antiquated Pump House built on it.

Nearly 120 years old, the lake and pump house were apparently built by the Nizam of Hyderabad as part of his program for bringing in water to the city. There is even an 1897 inscribed on its dome! :D

You reach the pump house by a stretch of narrow elevated road, which is more of a dirt trail sloping off on either side with thorny shrubs as barricades. So, the only way to reach it is by foot or by a bike. When we had gone there do a recce of this place, we were driving as suggested by google maps and we were already on this road with no where else to go but ahead! Some careful manoeuvering did get us there, but I wouldn’t suggest this.

Walking is more fun anyway, for then you notice more.

The Pump House is a beautiful structure which also creates gorgeous, intricate shadow patterns with the sun’s rays. You would not be able to resist clicking pictures of it!

Waiting – literally – just around the corner is a view just as picturesque if not more. You can go around the ledge for a beautiful view of the lake and the breathtaking quality of it is enhanced not only by the absolute vertical drop from there, but the cool breeze blowing in your face.

Well, finding not just water but in a place that is relatively un-intruded upon by man, plus the bonus of a cool tranquil breeze is a very rare occurrence here, so, I am sorry if I go a little overboard with my adjectives!!