Ok, lemme continue the Hyderabad trip memories from the last post. First things, first. This post is dedicated to all my dear classmates and teachers and HM, who made this trip a WOW Factor. Here, in this post, before the places and details, lemme give an account of those great memories that come with that trip. The best part of the travel was my makeover…. Regular readers know what I am referring to. :D, while others can follow the link...
The Huge Group with Teachers n HM
Well, for the travel, apart from those other eatables, we bought Gobi Manchurian. At night after dinner we started out chit chat, music, dance and drama and almost freaked out our dear teachers, who were in a loss trying to control us. We would never heed to them. Then finally after several requests from them, we went off to sleep at, I think 11, I guess (It was school days, and 11 pm was really something, during school days…). But, as the clock struck 12, we got up again. The non-stop chit chat, music and dance had taken the toll and at 12 we felt hungry. Now, where is that Gobi Manchurian? It is still afresh in my memory. By this time, almost everyone was up after the 1 hr rest. This was the best Gobi Manchurian I’ve ever had. At 12, several tens of hands into one casserole of Gobi Manchurian, that’s it. It was over. Again we tried to dig out the chocolates from our bags and continued with our chit chats till I guess 3 am and then went to sleep.
The next day was our trip to the place that resonates with Hyderabad. Just on pronouncing Hyderabad the monument which flashes across the mind is Charminar. The permission is granted to go in at a mere cost of Rs 5/-. It has a spiral, tunnel like staircase which leads to the top of the monument. It was dark in there, but the streets filled with stuff of every taste looked great from the top. I almost refused to climb down, when my friends pulled me down for shopping. If you are on a shopping spree, Charminar is the spot. It suits every ones budget. You get 2 sets of stitched salwar kameez at Rs.100/- Also you get a single lac bangle with glass work which soar up to even Rs.2000/-. The choice is yours. Interior decoration? Perfumes? Handbags? Dresses? Drop at Chaminar. Hyderabadi pearls are the most important. With my, self-imposed abandon over pearls, I bypassed all those shops. Few of my friends did try to buy. But with the face that spurts out that we were tourists and with the school uniform, the prices were quoted n times higher. Even otherwise, to shop at the shops beside Charminar needs severe, very severe skill on bargaining. All I bought there was a Kumkum box with a typical Hyderabadi specialty glass work. This glass work stuff like kumkum box, bangles, pens, keychains, mirrors, etc, too is as important as the pearls. A must buy indeed.
A few steps from Charminar lead to Mecca Masjid. Mecca Masjid for sure gave me the feel of Haji Ali. Hundred of pigeons here, add serenity to the place and I stepped into timelessness.
Then we proceeded to Salarjung Museum. Since it was a group tour, I had a quick look of the place, but it was my individual tour, I would definitely need a whole day to spend at Salarjung museum. The veiled Rabecca statue sculpted by Benzoni is my favourite. Years have passes, still I remember every bit of that statue. I almost stood there in that room for around 15 mins. The beauty of the woman behind the veil was great, beyond the description in words. Her toe nails, her veins, the border of the purdag, every minute details ought to be noted. I got the portrait of the statue at Rs.30/- The twin statue is another master piece, but I wasn’t so fortunate enough to see it. Somehow, I missed it. The central musical clock is another must see. Sharp at 12’o clock, we gathered near the central clock, to see the clock which is working for centuries. A miniature man comes out when the clock strikes 12 and bangs the bell with his hammer 12 times! This may not sound exotic. But this was constructed when the technology didn’t grow so much. How isn’t the exotic!
We then went to the Sudha Cars Museum. It’s a private museum. Essentially the private collection of a person, Mr. Sudhakar. He had a huge variety of vehicles, right from vintage cars (even 2 Rolce Royce), ancient jeeps, 3/4 wheeled cycles, Hardley Davidson’s. Not just that, he also manages to assemble new funny, freaky cars vehicles too. He had a cric ball car, football car, a shoe car, a burger car, cup car, the list goes on and on and on.
We were school kids at that time, remember? So, we made a point to visit the Planetarium.
It was almost 6 pm by then and we went to the Birla Mandir. The best part here – Well, the shopping place. The highlight – Keychains. I got a pretty few. That was the first ever time I saw, the glorified beaded key chains, in which the shopkeeper, combines the beads of the letters to form the name we want. Now, I find it even in Nungambakkam station. But, then it was amazing. I got a dice keychain and a burning cigarette keychain (with the then budget, and size of pocket money, that was all I could afford, inspite of my craziness for keychains).
It was 7 pm by then. We returned in our bus. And saw the Hussein Sagar Lake through the window pane. The twin cities Hyderabad & Secunderabad are separated by the Hussein Sagar Lake. It has a large standing Buddha statue at its centre. Near it, is the NTR garden. We just peeked in for a crisp, short peek-a-boo and came back to the dorm.
The night at the dorm was a bit too funny. With around 300 girls in a big hall controlled by just 6 or 7 teachers, I could imagine their plight. We would never sleep or let them sleep. Even after putting off the lights, suddenly someone would burst into laughter from some corner of the room and everyone would start laughing and activities begin again, until the teachers shout again and try to bring the situation under control. The murmurs would die and again in the next 10 mins, the same would happen.
Our gang of 6 slept in two rows with heads together, to facilitate the nonchalant chats. Our alarm was at 4:30 to prevent the bathroom rush. Then somehow, we slept. Next morning out alarm went off and our neighbors too got up with us. We assured then it was 4:30 and we would wake them at 5:30. But somewhere something had gone wrong, and it was already 5:30 and we got cursed by them. But as soon as we got up, we realized one of our friends was missing. On trying to find her, we looked around and found her after some space. Her neighbor had rolled herself, along with my friend and both of them were 10 spaces, misplaced!
We bathed inspite of the pouring rain and came out shivering. And it was time for our trip to Golconda Fort.
TO GET THERE:
SOUTHWARDS FROM HYDERABAD:
Salarjung Museum
From Hyderabad Stn: 3.5 km via Gandhi Bhavan
Nearest Bus stop: Afzalgunj
Charminar
From Hyderabad Stn: 4.5 km via Afzalgunj
Nearest Bus stop: Charminar
Mecca Masjid
From Hyderabad Stn: 4.5 km via Afzalgunj
From Charminar: Walkable
Nearest Bus stop: Charminar
Sudha Cars Museum - Bhadurpura
From Hyderabad Stn: 5 km via Puranapool
From Charminar: 3 km towards Puranapool
NORTHWARDS FROM HYDERABAD:
Birla Mandir
From Hyderabad Stn: 3 km via Public Gardens
From Hussein Sagar Lake (Necklace Road Stn): 3 km
Nearest Bus stop: Birla Mandir
Planetarium
From Hyderabad Stn: 3 km via Public Gardens
From Birla Mandir: Walkable
Nearest Bus stop: Assembly
NTR Gardens
From Hyderabad Stn: 4 km via Birla Mandir
From Hussein Sagar Lake: On the lakebund
From Birla Mandir: 2 km
Nearest Bus stop: Secretariat
Nearest Railway Stn: Khairatabad
Hussein Sagar Lake
From Hyderabad Stn: 5 km (to Necklace Road stn) via Lakdikapool
Nearest Railway Stn: Necklace Road, Sanjeeviah Park, James St
Nearest Bus stop: Secretariat
Dedicated to my dearest, nearest, sweetest School pals and teachers...
No comments:
Post a Comment