Golconda fort

From my recent visit to my favourite fort...

Lotus Pond

Amidst the hustle and bustle of the Hyderabadi lifestyle lies- Lotus Pond, mostly hidden between Banjara hills and Jubilee hills.

Though we could not find Lotuses in the pond (probably wrong time), there were quite good number of fish of different varieties.

We were happy to find a place which promised to give us fresh AIR.

Here are a few pictures...




A caption aptly written...which is in the next photo.




I liked the pattern of these leaves...




A prayer of the forest...Click on the photo to read.

A very beautiful temple or rather 'group of temples' that we found accidentally in the old city of Hyderabad. I say group of temples as there are almost 10 to 11 temples which are same as the other with a Shiv ling inside the temple and a Nandi facing the shiv ling.
Here are a few pictures:

Summer and the mosquitoes

Sitting on the net they resemble and remind me of the whole lot of pigeons that balance on the electric wires in and around the area of Punjagutta (in Hyd.). Yes, am talking of the mosquitoes of Kondapur against which we need to wage a war everyday. As compared to pigeons which try to balance their bodies on the high tension wires, these mosquitoes sit perfectly on the net at night even when the pressure of the cooler tries to blow them away. They patiently wait for us to keep either our hands or legs very close to the net so that they wouldn't miss out a single drop of blood. By dawn atleast one or two manage to get inside the net to have a feast and cannot move after that because of their gluttony stomach. What surprises me more than these mosquitoes are the people around who manage to sleep at night without a mosquito net. We too tried doing the same but couldn't manage to sleep for a single night. No amount of repellents or fan would keep them away (apart from the whole flat windows having been nailed by meshes). Though the whole area gets really nice breeze in the evening and night, everybody is forced to shut tight the doors because of the blessed creatures. There is one activity which both me and S seem to enjoy because of these mosquitoes is using of the electric racket to kill them. We do get some kind of sadistic pleasure by killing them that way and it is fun to run behind them.

The cosy mosquito net

Mosquito nets can serve two purposes:

One, as a home decor accessory it can add to the beauty of your cot and bed (so, as a want).

Second, the most important, to protect oneself from 'obviously' mosquitoes (so,as a need).
As far as our family is concerned, it's serving the second purpose thanks to the Shilpa Park mosquitoes (breeding park for these killer insects).

Whatever may be the reason i have always liked using mosquito nets.
The process of tying it every night and then reassembling it the next morning is quite cumbersome and boring;that is the reason why my mom would tie it for me then every night murmuring few words for not doing my works.

Now i am forced to do the same job to save my girl from those creatures. Though initially i was happy as S had taken over the job, later i realised that the responsibility was falling on my shoulders gradually.

But at the end of all this painstaking work i do get a cosy place to dwell in the night.
It creates a separate room-like space once you enter it and makes your bed look more bigger than it actually is (it just looks but doesn't make your bed big in reality:()

These protecting nets can even be nightmarish once it gives way to a single mosquito. But right now i am worried about the next season- 'Hyderabad Summer' and 'The Use of a Mosquito Net'!!!

Revisiting

Revisiting the Qutub Shahi tombs and Golkonda fort gave me another chance to take few more beautiful pictures of these relics of the past...Here are a few of them...

Caged

It is hard to see the wild animals caged behind the bars. Though we (me n S) liked the vastness of the Hyderabad Zoo, it’s a sad sight to see animals singled out from their counterparts. Taken, that some of them are savage but not compared to the savagery of we humans who would neither let them live in the jungle nor outside.

Just a few days ago, I was teaching my daughter to differentiate between water animals and wild animals of the jungle soon she blurted out wild animals do not stay in jungle but in the zoo! That day too is not very far.

I like shopping on the streets of General bazar: the crowded street, inexpensive stuffs and the lively ambience etc etc.,
This weekend's visit there proved to be even more inexpensive as we tried our hands by taking up the local train for commuting rather than wasting time, petrol and money.
The whole day was made more 'delicious' by the pav bhaji of 'Bombay chaat'.
I don't think i've ever had such tasty pav bhaji in my life.
Yummy....

Glimpses of Qutub Shahi Tombs

Charminar

A Rajasthani shopkeeper at Dhola ri Dhani resort, Hyderabad.

Magnanimous Golconda Fort

One thing I must admit about visiting this place is that, me and S (he carrying my daughter too) had to climb up 365 steps to view the complete fort and we were completely exhausted at the end. And we were worrying about our condition for the next day as our muscles would remind us of our previous day adventure (which usually happens), but both of us were as perfect and painless as we would be everyday!
Call it the miracle of the fort and its structure.
Here is a picture of the beautiful fort...

Chowmahalla Palace

Though S has taken me to many places in Hyderabad i keep cribbing that he hasn't done so.
That's because my thirst for visiting historic places doesn't seem to end.
Recently we visited the Chowmahalla Palace which really speaks of the grandeur of the Nizams.
The main attraction of the palace in the chandeliers in the durbar hall the beauty of which is magnificent.
We fell short of time to see all the four mahals,each mahal unique in itself.
After a long time it was a great weekend at Hyderabad, as i was thoroughly bored by the usual shopping malls and crowded parks.

Hotels of Hyderabad

Me being a foodie, have been wanting to write about the hotels of Hyderabad from a very long time...
Especially, my favourite canton soup at 'The Minerva Coffee Shop' and also the real flavor of some chinese food...
Next is my all time favourite rava dosa at the 'Chellam' restaurant...
The king size buffet at 'Ohri's Jiva'...
Very delicious methi paratha at 'Kamath's'...
Hara bhara paneer kabab at 'Angetti'...
And ofcourse last but not the least, my hubby's 'Tuppada dose' though the receipe comes from his Gaga...

There are other hotels where its hard to find some good food but one has to visit those hotels once atleast to have a glimpse at their interiors....
The train model at 'Saheb Singh Sultan'...
The traditional south Indian temple interiors at 'Athithi Inn'...
The dhaba style ambience at 'Angetti'...and so on to go.
But all these places change your mood for good!

Chaos in Birla Temple

Me and S visited the famous Birla temple yestarday.
Though he had visited it lot many times, for me it was the first time.
I had just read the name of the temple in one of the A.P Tourist guide but didn't know that the whole temple was built in white marble!!!
The temple resembles more or less like the ISKON temple in B'lore but only that its marble built.
It's a marvellous structure with very explicit carvings and spread around a vast area.
But there were certain things which irked us both whlie entering the temple.
Firstly, it was the security- which required us to surrender our mobile phones in the counter.
I had seen temples where they asked people to switch off their mobiles but never had i seen this kind of security anywhere.
And the result of such security was obviously people "loosing" their mobile phones.
As we walked up to the main temple what we got to see was the endless Q of people, and ofcourse it took us more than 45 mins to atlast see the GOD.
Now comes the most interesting part- before we could God's darshan we received 'thirtha' and next stands a 'priest' literally streching his hands and snatching the money from my hands which i was supposed to put in the Hundi.
Me, on the other hand, thinking that there is no hundi royally gave all the money to the pujari.
Only after all this drama were we allowed to have the darshan.
And there was the 'HUNDI' for which i didn't have any money left:)
So the meaning here is simple and needs no explanation.
The preist did not have just one or two notes, there was bundle of it.
S being completely enraged with it, decided to lodge a complaint againt the pujari at the office.
We went to the office and they wanted everything in writing, so we did.
While this was happening, i saw a man enter the office, stand near one of the security personnel, sneake a Rs.50 note, speak to him in Telugu and vanish.
And what was that all about nobody knows.
After we gave the complaint in writing, the priest was called for and enquired for which he tried giving lot many excuses.
Later, even after so many arguments,we felt that it didn't lead us anywhere.
It's just for that time being he would be enquired and left unpunished.
So we decided to leave the matter then and there and were out of the blessed temple.

First impressions on Hyderabad

-> The cost of living is as high as its summer temperature. I go to buy something,i see the price and keep it neatly on its own place as everything is exactly double priced as compared to my hometown. But still there are certain which i HAVE to buy:( while i curse the city and make the shopkeeper rich.

-> Less of traffic compared to Bangalore (not that B'lore is my hometown but having seen the traffic there thought its the best place to be compared with). But ofcourse the traffic woes here are of a different type- as you find very less people who follow the traffic rules and signals (which seldom work)!

-> Lots and lots of restaurants serving good food yet i have heard people wait for hours infront of these resautants just for a meal.

-> The youngsters doesn't seem to be as spoilt as they are in other big cities. They are much decent and sober. But ofcourse the look in the eyes of majority of men are disgusting; or may be that's the reason why people wear some decent clothes.

-> One thing that's worth mentioning is the sweet that you get here called Kabani ka meetha. Made out of dates it really is a feast for sweet lovers.

-> One more thing i really enjoyed here is the long ride next to the Hussain Sagar lake during the late hours. Watching the glittering lights of the town as you pass by the lake is very beautiful.

My impressions about the architectural and historical places are yet to come as i haven't been to visit those places yet.