Eating @ Abhiruchi

Near Paradise Circle
2789 6565

The absolute best Andhra Thali in town. Priced about 50/- its unlimited papads, fried chillies, rasam, sambhar, curd, 3 veg dishes, dhal palak, rice & roti are an absolute steal. The crowning glory, is their melted ghee which is the closest I have come to tasting ambrosia. Its supplied in unlimited quantities & enhances the flavor of everything.

This place is normallty crowded every afternoon & evening, but believe me, its more than worth the wait.

If you would like to add some non-vegetarian dishes to your meal, just ask for the chicken roast. A very well sauteed chicken in an amazingly spicy, yet not too spicy masala for about 75/-. The chicken liver fry at 45/- is a must try, if you want to add iron to your meal :)

And for someone not interested in a thali, just order the chicken biryani for 60/-. Its the andhra pulao variety & I personally favor it over the Paradise variety.

Don't look for ambience & comfy seating. Its just manageable. The decor would rank about 2.5, but the food would rank a 4.8 on a 5 point scale. Service is 4.

They also deliver around the vicinity for orders above 300/-. Call 2789 6565 for placing an order.

best outdoor places in Hyderabad to take your woman on a date

If you are anyway hazarding it, you might as well do it in style. In the first of a series, TUSHAR DHARA presents the best outdoor places in town to take your woman on a date.

There are times in the life of every guy when he finds himself trying to impress a woman, despite all his good sense. And there are times in the life of every woman when she finds herself subjecting herself to that, despite all her good sense.

Good sense obviously doesn't always prevail, but you might as well try to get out unscathed. I mean, there are so many things that can go wrong when you take a woman out. For example, you are speaking passionately about how you think June is the best month of the year (or something equally inane), and a droplet from your mouth lands on her. Or you stretch trying to show off your biceps and belatedly remember the hole in your shirt at the armpit. Or the pizza crust you're trying to break using a knife and fork suddenly lands on the next table and the middle-aged man there passes a rather undignified remark like "Ammayi pakkanunte ollu teliyatledaa?"

These are the hazards of the endeavor - you gotta live in constant fear of 'em, telling yourself that no pain, no gain (and, once you're wiser, what gain - but let's not digress). But there are some that you can avoid. Mostly location-specific embarrassments, like being hounded by a new beggar every 2 minutes, having a 90% male crowd around you that is 100% sex-starved leer shamelessly at the lady and pass lewd comments from hear-shot range, smelling unfriendly odors in the air and having to interact with unfriendly watchmen.

And that's where we come in. fullHYD.com presents a series of articles on the best places to go out on a date in town. Theaters, parks, restaurants, game centers… we'll have them all covered. And here is the first of them. The best outdoor locations in and around town to go to for a dignified ambience and a nice time (well, it's all perspective!).


GANDIPET

Gandipet comprises the most happening amusement joints in the city. 20 km outside the city towards the west, it has, in its vicinity, one of the most scenic spots in Hyderabad, the Osmansagar lake. There are whole loads of picnic spots around the lake making it an ideal getaway for families during the weekends.


Osmansagar - lake of the setting sun

The 29 sq km reservoir was formed by damming the waters of the river Musi. There are steps on the landward side of the bund that lead down to a small park from where you can wander off into the scenic rock formations that abound in this area. There are several decent dhabas nearby to take care of the hunger-pangs.

The popular resort Treasure Island is three-quarters of a kilometer from the Osmansagar Lake. TI is the center stage for all the star-studded music concerts, and comes alive on weekends with some mind-blowing music played at a deafening wattage. There are plans to bring the top rock bands in the country - Agni, Moksha, Parikrama, Pentagram etc., to play in our own Hyderabadi version of Woodstock, with the bands playing continuously one after the other for thirty-six hours. Keep watching this space for the info.


Elless World - fun at the edge of town

Also situated in Gandipet is the first theme park of its kind in AP, Elless World. It is open from 12 noon to 8pm, though the park authorities claim that they let couples (only) in as early as 9:00am. There are different kinds of rides like the dragon-roller coaster, Dream Girl (a diagonal Ferris wheel) and striking cars. The entry fee is Rs. 65 per person and Rs. 50 for kids less than a height of four feet. The ambience is not that great, but it is worth a visit at least once. One other feature is that if your group has more than 50 people you can get a discount of 20% on each ticket.

But the resort that steals the thunder in the Gandipet vicinity is Ocean Park. It is located just beside Elless World. The park is open from 11am to 8pm. It has got some wonderful water slides going by names like body slide, crazy cruise and zip zap zoom. It is greatly recommended for people who revel in having a blast in water. And that forms quite a majority.


Ocean Park - for the ablutomaniacs!

Though the fare is a bit expensive - tickets for adults cost Rs. 150 and Rs. 90 for children, with the parking and food being additional expenses - it's worth all the fun guaranteed in the water. School students will be charged Rs. 60 per head plus Rs. 15 for lunch, while for college students it is Rs. 100 with an extra Rs. 15 thrown in for lunch. But there should be a minimum of 50 students to avail themselves of these packages.

You can also hold birthday celebrations, conferences (?) and parties here - you need to contact their main office at the Blue Chip Arcade in Himayatnagar. The telephone numbers are 322-3824 and 322-5660. You can also call the park directly at 08413-33335, 33336.

Ramoji Film City - tinsel town in town

RAMOJI FILM CITY

Here's where the dreams of the most majestic kind are made and sold. It is the largest film studio in India (and it also claims to be larger than Universal Studios in Hollywood). Spread over 2000 acres, RFC has prime areas for shooting movies. There are more than forty gardens of all varieties, and elaborate sets that include jails, railway platforms, airports and the like.

RFC is open from 9am to 6pm, with the option of spending the night in one of the many graded star hotels. The cost of spending a day here is Rs. 150 per head. If you happen to be film buff, déjà vu is assured. And you might even catch a star delivering his dialogues or shaking a leg. There is also a special honeymoon package for newlyweds. For details please contact the film city at 925-46555 or call their city office at 323-5678.

DURGAM CHERUVU

Of the many scenic lakes in Hyderabad, Durgam Cheruvu, or the Secret Lake, near Jubilee Hills holds a place of prominence. The reason for this intriguing name is that it probably was a well-kept secret twenty or so years ago when there were no proper roads to get there. But that's not the case anymore.

Durgam Cheruvu - the hidden delight

The rock formations here are really breathtaking. Climbing one of the many hillocks that surround the lake would get you get a stupendous long range view of the area, with the Hi-Tech city just about visible.

THE SHAMIRPET PARK

The Shamirpet Park - a little bit of wilderness in your life

The lake here, situated 24km north of Secunderabad, is the most verdant of the lakes. Its isolation is an added advantage, offering you a serene ambience. There is also a deer park situated here. There are some cottages that can be rented through De Lara Resorts and Orchards Ltd. You can call them at 928-44510/928-44520.

RUNWAY 9

Hyderabad can also pride itself upon being the possessor of one of the very few go-karting tracks in India. Runway 9 is located near Kompally on the Medchal road, about 9km from Paradise circle. Though go-karting is the main attraction, there are also other sports like pool, archery, shooting and roller-skating on offer.


Runway 9 - the go-karters' paradise

There are also plans to open a cybercafé and a disco. But go-karting remains the most popular sport here, with the cost for four laps being Rs. 125. Runway 9 is open till 11:30 at night. You can book it for parties too. For details please call 928-32753.

THE HUSSAIN SAGAR LAKE

The Necklace Road - when driving is not what you want to concentrate on


If driving outskirts is not your cup of tea, you still have the Necklace Road and the Hussain Sagar lake to fall back upon, right in the heart of the city. The Necklace Road is a long road encircling the lake. With lawns overlooking the waterfront, it looks especially beautiful at night, when it is lit up.

There is also the Lumbini Park at the beginning of the road (on NTR Marg), a family place that is pretty crowded on weekends. The Tank Bund and the Necklace Road are good for aimless drives, but stationing your vehicle there while sitting in it may invite unfriendly cops - especially on Necklace Road. A P Tourism also offers rides on motorboats in the Hussain Sagar. This is quite fun in the nights when the lake looks like that ->! Only, at Rs. 75 a person, it is expensive too!

Hussain Sagar - glitter around the icon of serenity


So there. These are the places that you can take the lady to, places with a respectable ambience.

This is not a comprehensive list of parks in town, and you'd doubtless see some notable absences. Well, we're telling you where to go to.

Eating @ Noodle Bar / Bombay Blues

Noodle Bar / Bombay Blues
Hyderabad central
Punjagutta cross road

Tried out Bombay Blues and the food there was quite lousy. The sizzler, the nachos although world famous where quite bad. Bombay Blues is a place, I would not ever go back & eat at esp given that my expereince at Bombay Blues in Bangalore too was quite bad. Although friends who have eaten at the original bombay blues in its city of origin - bombay- found the expereince there quite good.

So, was initially hesitant to even try out Noodle Bar given that its run by the same company & they all share the same kitchen along with Copper Chimmney or so I presume. But the chinese soup @ bombay blues had been the only good dish, so in the interests of culinary discovery, decided to risk it. And, I'm really glad I did. I now eat at Noodle Bar at least once in 15 days.

The seating is oriental minimalistic, so if you have a back problem, then wait for one of the side tables to get free. Otherwise just seat yourself at the first available table.

Start out with the chicken steamed wanton with mushroom (149/-) The flavor is light & delicate. If you like your meals heavily spiced, then avoid this item. The Thai minced chicken salad (95) is pure meat decorated with 12 slivers of capsicum, so if you are looking for a dose of veggies in your salad, this ones not for you. But if you are looking for a light single item, this can serve as main course.

If you are in the mood for only soup, as I normally am, in the middle of winter, head straight for the broths. The half portions are an entire meal for people with a slightly healthy appetite. I'd love to see someone who can complete the full broth. If you can finish a full broth at one setting, then I might sponsor your broth : ) Try from the tom yum (thai spicy) the Miso (Japanese with soya) or the black pepper one. Priced about 75 for the half & 150 for full. The half can actually be split into 2 and it would still be more than other chinese restaurants serve in a soup.

you can even try out your own special combination (225). They hand you a paper with varieties of noodles, herbs, sauces, vegetables & meat. You chose, what you would like in your dish & the chef will rustle it up for you. Gives an entirely new twist to normal requests (like hold the tomato, or extra spicy please)

The sizzling chicken chilly (149) is also an entire meal with rice served along side. This is the best of the sizzlers that they serve in my book. The thai red chicken curry (159) is wonderful & coming from the southern coast, its comfort food for me. I have this when I'm missing mom's & grandmoms cooking & am too lazy to rustle it up myself. The rice is a little less given the quantity of gravy. (unlike ohris on the 3rd floor which gives too little gravy for the amount of rice in the dish) But you can order extra rice (39) and split the dish between 2 people, if you have had heavy starters.

One of my favorite restaurants in Hyderabad. The waiters now give me great service, but it could be a perk of being one of the regulars. Because if I remember right, service in the beginning wasnt too great.

A word of caution, if you are looking for Indian chinese then this isnt the place for you, head to Nanking...... (another of my favorites + he's got the new brighter space just opposite the original nanking, now if only v can do something about the taxi guy in that lane who blocks all the parking spaces.....)

Eating @ Big Byte Bakery

Big Byte Bakery
Sri Nagar Colony
Hyderabad
2374 2471, 2373 7209

Big Byte is one of the better bakeries in Hyderabad. Not as good as Bakers Inn, but somewhere close. What a neo-hyderabadi must realise is that, bakeries in Hyderabad also serve as coffee shops. They are a progression of the Irani chai centres. So theres normally a large seating area and a lot of animated conversations happenning simultaneously at varius tables.

Big Byte is normally filled with a lot of college students who keep the atmosphere bright & peppy. They serve the normal savouries & sweets & also things like pizzas & burgers that are served fresh & hot. Pizzas (veg & non veg) range from 45-65 with an extra 10 for extra cheese. Burgers are in the 20-35 range. Sandwiches & cutlets (very tasty) are really reasonable at less than 15. Rolls are about 20 each.

There are also special snacks like chicken 65 (20/cup) tandoori chicken (25/piece) chicken drumstick (18/piece) chicken pie (12/piece) Do try the Chicken spring roll(20/-) thats is more indianised than the ones you get a chinese restaurants. The portions are small, but what else can you expect for these unbeatable prices. You can have your puffs hot at 10-15 bucks each & the pastry is really crisp/soft in thin layers.

Theres also a wide variety of pastries available. You can even order cakes by weight, ranging from 120/kg for a plain sponge cake to a chocolate chips n nuts for 300/kg. You can even have customised birthday cakes.

The food is tasty & great for end of the month days when the budget is tight because it is filling. They also do home deliveries for orders above 150/- call the above numbers for details.

Eating @ Minerva Coffee Shop

Minerva Coffee Shop
Amrutha Mall
Somajiguda
2341 5910, 2340 4635

A vegetarian restaurant thats open trhough the day for snacks & sundry items.

Seating is plush. The restaurant has a wide open feel to it, which tends to suprise given its location. The bathrooms are in the process of being done up, so hopefully, they will improve soon.

Their lunch thali, is supposed to be good, but havent tasted it yet. The dosas (around 30/-) are amazing. Definitely try the dynamite chilli ginger chutney that goes with the dosas. The idlis are soft & fluffy, the vadas (26/-) crisp & comforting in a way.

If you go at lunch time, apart from south India snacks, you can also order from the Chinese section which includes items like Baby corn and black pepper (90/-)

They have a range of drinks including lassi (33) Ice cream sodas & milkshakes.

Nice place to catch up on evening tea, mid morning coffee or a late lunch.

Food 3.8, Service 3.8, Decor 3.5

Drinking @ Coco's

Coco's
Plot No 217
2nd Floor
Road No 2
Banjara Hills
Hyderabad 500 034
Ph : 2354 0600

Located opposite the KBR park, a lot has been written about the wonderful view from Coco's. Honestly, there's hardly anything that you can see once you reach there.

Its located on the terrace of the building which also houses, Shikaar, Tex Mex & Sundowner. The set up is neat. Its partly open air & the weather in Feb is ideal for this seating, late evenings. The seating is on bamboo based furniture & theres an artificial gravel kind of flooring in one section. The other section has more formalised tables which are more comfortable for eating. But if you want to relax & enjoy your drink, head to the bamboo section.

Music is played softly in the background. Theres an outstanding picture window behind th bar, which is lit from the outside, so you can see these tree branches, wherever you are seated.

This is the only open air, drinking hole, that I know of in Hyderabad. Crowd mix is between family types & friends catching up. Service is a little slow & you have to keep asking them for things like chutney, sauce & lime to go with the snacks you order. But the sheepish grin your request is accepted with, makes it kind of ok. Complimentary peanuts come with each round of drinks. BOB is around 120. Pint is 80. Cocktails in the 200 range. Mocktails a little lower. We stuck to beer.

Their kebabs are excellent. Definitely try the reshmi kebab. Or, if you are really hungry, order the kebab platter for 450/-. With 12 varieties of kebabs, 2 naans & dhal, its very worth it. They have a live grill section, on the rooftop itself, but we weren't in the mood. Anyone else try the grills @ Coco's ??? The Spinach stuffed mushrooms for 80/-, were a little bland & seemed like they had been defrosted just before frying. So, do stick to the kebabs. They do offer some items that are passable for dinner, but would advise dinner somewhere else.

All in all, it’s a nice place to catch a drink if you want a change from a noisy pub on a Sunday evening or if there's a little kid among the group that’s meeting up. But just stick to the kebabs.

Eating @ Tex Mex

Tex Mex
Plot No 217
2nd Floor
Road No 2
Banjara Hills
Hyderabad 500 034
Ph : 2354 0600

Located on the ground floor of coco's, the decor is still stuck on shikaar & so is the menu.

There are a couple of mexican items on the menu. Oops let me rephrase that. There are a couple of mexican names on the menu. If Ruby Tuesday ever saw what they serve here as Potato skins (110)..............

Tried the sopa de tortilla (60) which wasnt too bad & some chicken wings (100) that were only slightly better than what dominoes delivers & then we headed elsewhere to continue dinner.

It wasnt that the food was bad or not tasty. It just wasnt mexican. It was indian food with mexican names, not even a semblance of a cross cultural fusion. Plain & simple Indian, with a distinct leaning to punjabi cuisine. If you are looking for real tex mex food, take a trip to Bangalore & eat at the joint off commercial street. I cant remember the name right now, but the food there is fabulous, the one at forum mall in Bangalore cant compare to that mexican joint. can anyone help me with the name ?????

also heard theres a great mexican joint in chennai.....

When in delhi, head to ruby tuesday. Potato skins & a chocolate tall boy & you are ready to sleep like a baby.

OK im digressing all over the place, so will stop right here.

Shilparamam: Festive Time

If its neighbour is distinguished as a centre of excellence in IT education, Shilparamam, a contrast in time and substance to the Cyber Towers, is memorable as a unique achievement in reviving and preserving centuries-old handicrafts and folk forms of theatre and dance. On display at the crafts village is the colourful and magnificent artistry of the countryside in all its splendour. The setting is exquisitely scenic and serene, encompassing 50 acres of greenery, millenia-old rock formations and undulating landscape. The vast expanse of land of this beautiful village is a gift of the Andhra Pradesh government to the South Zone Cultural Centre.


The entire project is conceived as an endless, year-round festival of arts and crafts showcasing the talents and the skills of the rural folk from all parts of the country. You enter the village through a majestic gateway flanked by two life-size terracotta horses. In sections specially provided for them, you can see craftsmen chiselling raw wood into objects of everlasting value, sculpting wonders from stone, harnessing metal into stunning images of gods and goddesses and weaving magic in cotton, silk and gold thread. These live demonstrations of artisanship bring back to the visitor pictures of a bygone era of Dhaka muslin, Kondapalli toys, Bankura horses, gudda-guddis of Punjab, temple arts and a motley of Indian arts and crafts forms which have survived the assaults of both the industrial and cyber revolutions. In short, a visit to the village is an unforgettable spiritual experience for the visitor.


As one visitor remarked: "The village was conceived with an idea to create an environment for the preservation of traditional crafts. A festival celebrated at Shilparamam is a ‘reincarnation of arts and crafts’ when artifacts, related functional skills and supportive traditions are presented in a manner connecting the boundaries between theatre, crafts, music, dance and poetry, each complementing the other."

Apart from demonstrating their skills, the craftsmen have set up shops, more than 450 of them, decorated in simple and rustic styles to sell the goods they make from textiles to artifacts and knick-knacks. The shops and most of the structures here are representative of rural aesthetics manifesting in thatched roofs, rangoli-carpeted floors and folk frescos and murals. You can buy textiles ranging from Tangail, Sambhalpur, Paithni, Kashmiri to Kanjeevaram, Dharmavaram, Tanjavur, Madurai, Peddapuram, Bandar, Guntur and other sarees. For the younger set, a wide collection of salwar kameezes, ghagaras, kurta pyjamas and dupattahs is available in unending variety of designs and patterns. All this is in your reach in a setting of rustic architecture, a centre-stage of cultures and a melting pot of traditions.


Among the men and women dedicated to a resurrection of the country’s centuries-old arts heritage can be found distinguished artisans who have won state and national awards. In one of the stalls, you can see a state award winner for ceramic painting and elsewhere a national award winner for Kota sarees. The father and grandfather of the artisan you see selling Bidriware are recipients of awards from the Karnataka government.


There is a breath-taking range of village theatre covering Tholu Bommalata, Burra Katha, Butta Bommalu, Puli Vesham and puppetry. There is an auditorium enriching the happiness of the visitor by featuring classical and folk music concerts, plays and magic shows. Shantiniketan's Subroto Basu has fashioned a rock garden here by blending his own rock collections with the natural and picturesque rock formations found in the village. There are lakes and inland waterways in the village flanked by lush green lawns on the one side and coconut groves on the other.You can pedal or paddle a boat on the lake. There are also places where the gourmet can taste ethnic food in traditional milieu.



Besides these thrills, the village organises special annual events like the festivals of arts and crafts in March, cultural shows at the time of Ugadi, Dasara and Sankranti. This is the most glorious time weatherwise in Hyderabad to visit the village and buy what you can and fancy, attend a music concert, see a dance recital and take a tour of the village through performances of several folk dance forms like Dappulu Dhimsa, Koya and Veeranatyam.


How to reach :
Citybuses
10H, 47K, 47S

Timings :
11:00 - 20:00

Ticketing :
Rs.10/- for adults
Rs 5/- for children

Salar Jung Museum: One-man Wonder

Salar Jung museum is the fantasy of an art visionary come to life which waited for its consummation for another great lover of art Jawaharlal Nehru to visit the historic city of the Quli Qutab Shahs and inaugurate it on 16 December, 1951 when the collections were hurriedly assorted and housed in Diwan Devdi, residence of the Salar Jungs. Every year a million visitors pay homage to this great repository of art and history. The priceless collections were moved in 1968 to a new site from the 100-year-old palace Dewan Devdi of the prime ministers. Legend has that the museum houses art collections of three generations of the Salar Jung family, beginning with Salar Jung, who was prime minister under


The incomparable treasures of the museum, consisting only of a part of the original collection, are an amazing amalgam of antiquity and modernity, the three Salar Jungs scouring continents for objets d'art and returning home with shiploads of artefacts. It is believed that during the colonial period a lot of the art wealth of the country was shipped to the metropolitan countries and the Salar Jungs are credited with bringing back some of it to enrich the collection. The museum represents, in popular belief, the largest one-man collections of the world. They reflect the stunning range of time and place of these treasures, some of them belonging to different civilisations and dating back to the first century and retrieved from nearly every nook and corner of the world. However, the chief architect of this great and magnificent congeries of art is believed to be Salar Jung III, i.e. Nawab Mir Yusuf Ali khan.

The museum is home to 43,000 art exhibits and 50,000 books collected from all over the world. Old timers believe that the present collection constitutes only half of the original art wealth amassed by Salar Jung III. His employees siphoned off part of it, since Salar Jung was a bachelor and depended upon his staff to keep a vigil. Some more art pieces were lost or stolen during the shifting of the museum from Dewan Devdi to the present site. The museum, declared an institution of national importance by an Act of Parliament in 1961, overlooks another landmark, the languid Musi, of the four hundred-year-old city founded by Mohammed Quli Qutub Shah. This great treasure trove is a tribute to man's eternal quest for beauty and elegance, particularly India's remarkable cultural diversity and heritage.

The marvellous expose unveils the art heritage of India, Asia, Middle East and Europe and includes Persian carpets, Chinese porcelain, Japanese lacquer ware, sculpture, invaluable collections of jade, bronzes, enamelware, paintings, wood and inlay work from Tibet, Nepal and Thailand etc. There are Aurangzeb's sword, daggers belonging to empress Noor Jehan, emperors Jehangir and Shah Jehan, the turbans and chair of Tippu Sultan, furniture from Egypt, paintings etc. Among the sculptures stands out the world famous statue of Veiled Rebecca, her beautiful face hazily visible through; hold your breath, a marble but gossamer veil. The visitor may mistake it for a gorgeous woman draped in a wet garment. Equally captivating is a double-figure wood sculpture done by G.H. Benzoni, an Italian sculptor, in 1876. It stands before a mirror and shows the facade of a nonchalant Mephistopheles and the image of a demure Margaretta in the mirror.

A bewildering variety and array of clocks greets the visitor in the clock room. Seen are the ancient Sandiaers in the form of obelisks to huge and modern clocks of the twentieth century. Others in the range vary from miniature clocks which need a magnifying glass to imbibe their beauty and complexity to stately grandfather clocks from as far away as France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland and Britain. A visual delight is the musical clock Salar Jung bought from Cook and Kelvy of England, a virtual mechanical marvel. Every hour, a timekeeper emerges from the upper deck of the clock to strike a gong as many times as it is the hour of the day.

Other attractions are a gallery exclusively devoted to the celebrated family of the Salar Jungs, a children's section, a reference library and a section devoted to rare and ancient Arabic Urdu and Persian manuscripts, including a handwritten miniature Qoran. On display are unique mementos like the panegyric in Urdu presented to Sir Salar Jung and Nizam VI in memory of their visit to Delhi to witness the Imperial Proclamation of Queen Victoria in 1877. The first room houses the personal items of the Salar Jung household such as various mementoes received by the Salar Jungs, embroidered sherwanis and a commodious and arresting masnad (ceremonial throne-like chair used by Salar Jung III). In the room, you can also see a large portrait of Mir Yousuf Khan, the clothes of the nobility, their books and furniture and bric-a-brac.

Walking through the museum is walking through the ages of several civilisations, Indus, Egyptian, Mesopotamian, Roman to name a few and is bound to disengage the visitor from the present, the current and the immediate and transport him to a world he is familiar with only through reading. Throughout your trek through the endless halls, rooms, galleries and corridors of the museum, you are in a daze.

Stunning is the jade room or gallery hosting items articulating the delicateness and elegance of jade, which is not found in India and believed to have been introduced during the Mughal rule. Though the stone is imported, the articles of jade on display in the gallery were all the handiwork of Indian artists. Jade, soft and lucent, was carved into handles for small daggers studded with precious stones and inlay work. A jade wine bowl you can see here is a thing of beauty, dainty and transparent. Also striking are the wine cups made of jade with leaf and flower motifs. You can also see small and cute jade platters which at one time adorned the dining tables of the Salar Jungs.The jade collection also includes a jade stand of Altamash (1209-10 A.D); fruit knife of Mughal empress Noorjehan (17th century); hunting knife of emperor Jehangir; an inscribed archery ring of emperor Shah Jehan done in dark green jade (17th century).

The textile gallery is a depository of Indian textile art in cotton, silk and wool, dominated by a collection of brocades woven with silver and gold thread and the world-famous Kashmiri shawls. Gold and zari add to the value of the embroidery, which showcases also phulkari embroidery work from Punjab. An entire rich and brick-coloured cotton expanse disappears behind a fine façade of intricately woven silk thread in a burst of colours.

You can also see glassware from England, Austria, Ireland, France, Belgium, Czechoslovakia and Turkey besides glassware belonging to Ming and Ching periods. Manuscripts on show include the great Arabic Al Quran in Nashq done by Yakut-al-Must’sami bearing the autographs of Moghul emperors, Jehangir, Shahjehan and Aurangzeb; Roudat-ul-Muhabbin by Amir Hussaini Saadat (1379 A.D.); Urdu poetic composition Diwan-e-Mohamed Quli Qutub Shah (1595 A.D.) done by Quli Qutub Shah himself acquired from the Golconda Royal Library.

There is the Ivory Room resplendent with intricately carved items and articles among which worthy of mention are chess sets, statuettes, painted objects done by using the cutaway technique. About the technique an article appearing in the Hindustan Times says, “Here the ivory is first carved with a lacy surface design. The space behind it is cut away till the design shows up like a screen. And further carving continues at deeper levels of the ivory. The object then acquires a trellis-like case and the forms within forms are created out of a single piece of ivory.”

Every form of art in its ancient glory finds its representation in the museum. Statuary includes a standing Buddha image of limestone from Nelakondapalli (2nd or 3rd century A.D.); Mukhalinga from Kausambi (4th or 5th century A.D.); Ananthasayi Vishnu with his ten avatars carved on top (12th century A.D., Kakatiyaa, Warangal); Jain, Buddhist and Hindu bronzes dating back to later Pallava and Chola periods and the two most famous exhibits of the museum – the Veiled Rebecca and a sycamore wood carwing portraying a double statue of Mephistopheles and Margaretta. The mammoth collection includes paintings such as “Soap Bubbles” by Fransesco Hayez of Italy; “Piazzo of San Marco” by Antonio Canaletto (1697-1768) and “Venice” by Marc Aldine of Italy. Pottery items range from Dresden (Germany), Sevres (France), Capodimonte (Italy) to Wedgewood and English porcelain.

In short, the museum is a standing monument to the artistic genious of mankind throughout the space-time spectrum.

How to reach :
Citybuses
2, 8, 9, 72

Timings :
10:00 AM to 5:00 PM
Closed on Friday.

Ticketing :
Rs. 10/- for Indians
Rs. 150/- for Foreigners

Qutub Shahi Tombs

A little away from Golconda fort are a cluster of tombs, the most authentic evidence of the Qutub Shahi architectural traditions. Ensconced amidst picturesque and landscaped gardens, known as Ibrahim bagh, is the grandeur of these tombs dedicated to the memory of the seven Qutub Shahi kings who ruled Golconda for nearly 170 years. These constitute the most eloquent specimens of Indo-Persian architecture influenced by Deccani structural perceptions. The total impact of this fusion is the emergence of a distinct Qutub Shahi school marked by ostentation of arches, domes, minarets and columns. These architectural tendencies began surfacing in the time of Ibrahim Qutub Shah and reached their climax in the reign of Muhammed Quli Qutub Shah. The tombs are also an unequivocal manifestation of the structural engineering talent of the Qutub Shahi period.

The tombs still retain their original glory despite the combined assault of time, weather and man. The mausoleums of the rulers of Golconda and the founder of Hyderabad city are a standing tribute to their artistic fervour and constitute a storehouse of history. In the complex known as the Qutub Shahi tombs are buried others too who were either the close relatives of the rulers or nobles who served them faithfully. Prominent among these other tombs is the one erected in the memory of Hayath Bakshi Begum, daughter of the illustrious Muhammed Quli Qutub Shah, founder of Hyderabad city and the man who built the masonry colossus Charminar.

Most of the larger tombs are double storeyed while the smaller ones have single storeys. This large and close group of royal sepulchres stands on a raised plateau, each one of them erected on a wide quadrangular terrace reached from all sides by flights of steps. From the plinth to the peak, the mausoleums are marked by symmetry in arches and arcades. At the centre of each tomb is a sarcophagus crowning the burial vault and the crypt below. Several of the green and blue tiles adorning the many domes are missing now, a sad commentary on our sense of history.

Almost all the tombs are quadrangular and rise from nine to 15 metres above the terrace, surrounded by balustrades with beautiful minarets at the corners. The complex has around 30 tombs while a few can be found outside its compound. Salar Jung I undertook restoration of these tombs, which were in a state of disrepair and ensured that a protective wall was built to ward off vandals. The tombs are in two large quadrangular enclosures, the first of which houses the mausoleums of Muhammed Quli Qutub Shah, Ibrahim Quli, Jamsheed Quli, Sultan Quli and Kulsoom begum, daughter of Muhammed Qutub Shah. In another quadrangle are the tombs of Muhammed Qutub Shah, Hayath Bakshi Begum, Taramathi and Premamathi, the last two being the favourite courtesans of Abdullah Qutub Shah whose tomb is outside of the quadrangles.

Though people try to grade the beauty of these tombs, each of them is a match to the other in architectural grandeur, though not in size. The modest among them are the tombs of Sultan Quli Qutub-ul-Mulk, founder of the Qutub Shahi dynasty and his son Jamsheed Quli Qutub Shah. The tomb of the founder, who built it himself during his lifetime, is marked by simplicity and symmetry in design and stands on a platform of 30 metres on each side. Its walls and dome measure 12 metres from the plinth while its ramparts have Bahmani style bouquets, four on each side of the tomb. Its inside is octagonal, each side as wide as 10 metres. An inscription outside the tomb says that people always referred to Sultan Quli Qutub Shah as Bada Saheb.


Although small in size, the tomb of Jamsheed is octagonal and extremely well proportioned and imposing, standing as it does on a high quadrangular platform. It is the only tomb where black basalt has not been used in its construction. It also does not have any inscription. Jamsheed’s son Subhan Quli ruled only for seven months and there is no separate tomb for him.

One of the biggest tombs belongs to Ibrahim Quli Qutub Shah, who started the tradition of erecting magnificent structures in the city. His tomb, like others in the complex, is quadrangular with two rows of five arches on each side crating the illusion of a double storeyed building. Above each arch is a balustrade of small arches at the four corners. One can find vestiges of the enamelled glory of these tombs on the upper arches of this tomb. Ibrahim’s tomb has two graves in the main chamber and 16 on the terrace. On all the sides of the sarcophagus are inscriptions in Tulth. It may be mentioned that the most celebrated calligraphers Isphalan, Ismail and Taqiuddin, whose contribution to the wealth of inscriptions on Qutubshahi edifices is legendary, were all contemporaries of Ibrahim Shah.

The tomb of founder of Hyderabad Muhammed Quli Qutub Shah is easily the most impressive, rising to a height of 42.5 meters with a large dome and 28 open arches on each side. The tomb is built on a two-tiered terrace designed to look like a captivating gallery with false openings and with two central pillars. One finds also a feature so conventional to Islamic sepulchural architecture, that is, rich ornamental parapets with minarets at the corners. The founder’s grave is in the vault in the middle of the plinth at the lower level of the terrace, reached by a flight of steps. Another impressive mausoleum is that of Mohammed Qutub Shah, son-in-law of Muhammed Quli. The last of the royal tombs belongs to Abdullah Qutub Shah.


There are several other tombs which belong to non-ruling members of the royal families. At the entrance of the first enclosure is that of Fatima Sultan, sister of Muhammed Qutub Shah. Between Muhammed Quli’s and Jamsheed’s tomb in the second enclosure is the mausoleum of Kulsoom Begum, Mohammed Qutub’s grand daughter. Other tombs belong to Taramathi and Premamathi, Muhammed Neknam Khan, who served Abdullah’s army, Fatima Khanum, one of Abdullah’s daughters. The latter’s tomb like that of her father is outside the two enclosures and the only one which has no dome. There is also the tomb of the great sufi saint Husain Wali, the man who built Husain Sagar, bridging Hyderabad and Secunderabad.

Hayat Bakshi’s beautiful tomb is heralded by a stone tank with a fountain in the middle. The mausoleum befits the status she had enjoyed in statecraft. The mausoleum stands on a terrace, two metres above the ground and is reached by a flight of steps. On its four sides are corridors made up of arcades of seven pointed arches each. Between the dome and the first terrace is a smaller structure with five closed arches on each of the four sides. The parapets on the entabulature of this mausoleum resemble those of the Toli masjid.


The neighbourhood of the tombs has many vestiges of history, the chief among them being Toli masjid. Built by Musa Khan, a chamberlain of Abdullah Quli Qutub Shah in 1671, the masjid is a marvel in stone replicating the Qutub Shahi architectural tradition of blending arches, domes and columns to spectacular effect. Arches, and minarets are conspicuous features of the construction of this great mosque, while a series of consoles supports the entabulature.


The parapets on the roof comprise of a row of miniature arches with perforated screens of different designs. There are ramparts above the roof separated by six small minarets. The interior of the mosque is reached through a great foyer with five impressive arches resting on squat columns. The inner space consists of two small halls between which is positioned a bigger hall providing for mehrab highlighted by floral and stucco decorations. On both sides of the mehrab are arches with inscriptions on them.



In the middle of the ceiling of the inner central hall is a huge stucco lotus with eight petals. Two minarets, each 20 feet tall, stand like faithful sentinels of the mosque. They are an excellent example of the synthesis of Hindu and Muslim architectural usages. From the roof to their peak, the minarets reveal heavy ornamentation and four graceful balconies. There is an inscription showing that Musa Khan had built it.

How to reach :
Citybuses
65S, 80S, 80P, 142S


Timings :
A Museum on site exhibits weapons, armour, and utensils of the Qutub Shahi period. (11:00 -17:00).
Schedule: 9:30 AM to 4:30 PM
Closed on Fridays

Ticketing :
Rs 2/-

Paigah Tombs: Marvel in Marble

The Paigah tombs, though a recent discovery, date back to the late eighteenth century and embody unparalleled grace and elegance in marble. Though these stunning tombs are strewn over 30-40 acres, tombs of the Paigahas who had married daughters of the Nizams and their spouses are confined to a two-acre site. It is this enclosure which is now known as Paigah tombs. The Paigah nobles were very close to the Nizams and very powerful and influential, taking care of the security and defence of the state.

The bonds between the Nizams and the Paigah nobility strengthened with the marriage of Fakhr-ud- din Khan with the daughter of the second Nizam. Fakr-ud-din’s descendants married daughters of other Nizams and consequently, in protocol, the Paigahs were considered next only to the Nizams. The tombs are a series of mausoleums built for these Paigahs and immediate members of their families. These structures are specimens of remarkable artistry showing itself off in exquisite inlaid msaic work. Local people claim that the geometrical patterns of the sculptural features of these tombs are unique and not found anywhere in the world.


Abdul Fateh Khan Tegh Jung founded the Paigah nobility and was rendering service to the second Nizam, who ruled between 1760 and 1803. The Nizam conferred on him the title of Shams-ul-umra, meaning the sun among the masses. Tegh Jung was buried in 1786 at the entrance of the complex, now known as Paiga tombs. An iron plaque at the entrance of the complex traces the Paigah lineage and eulogises the marble magnificence of the mausoleums. The Paigahs were also great patrons of arts, literature and sports and commanded the respect of the rulers and the people.


The delicately carved mausoleums, enclosed in pierced marble facades, commemorate generations of Paigah nobles and are regarded as the finest examples of Indo-Islamic architecture, imbibimg at the same time features of the Asaf Jah and Rajputani styles. A majestic and stately gateway, a double storeyed structure, heralds the tourist’s journey of the mausoleum complex. Above the cornices of the building rise imposingly bulbous turrets embodying sculptural grace and gaiety.


Only classical poetry can do justice to the breathtakingly beautiful structures of the Paigah mausoleums, some of which have elaborate canopies which again rivet the tourist’s attention to the dazzling craftsmanship they embody. Outstanding among them is the canopy of the tomb of the Amir-e-Kabir. Some of the tombs have a rectangular marble fence done in trellis-work made up of a variety of geometrical and floral designs. Each of the four flanks forming the rectangular fence has different motifs. The canopy is supported by pillars which recall images of Hindu temple pillars.


Between the entabulature supporting the canopy and the pillars are several arches fringed again by smaller semicircular arches, a feature unique to Indian arches. The tourist can also find an ostrich egg suspended over Amir-e-Kabir’s tomb, a sign believed to be associated with royalty. On the sides of the tombs are inscriptions in Arabic, likely to be excerpts from Islamic scriptures. The architecture of all the tombs is rich in flowerage and foliage motifs, characteristic of Mughal architecture.


Another tomb which has a magnetic impact on the tourist is that of Sir Asman Jah, on which the sculptor has mounted intricately etched semi-precious stone imported from Italy. The stone is presumed to change colours according to the vagaries of seasons, green when it rains, white in winter and yellow in the sun. Its green resembles jade. The tombs manifest a stunning fusion of Turkish, Greek, Islamic and Rajaputana schools of architecture. The primacy given to detail and embellishment is striking to the extreme.


A series of courtyards houses these tombs enclosed by walls sporting a wealth of lattice work and exotic designs, floral and geometric. Competing with each other to catch the eye of the tourist are geometrical designs done in stucco work on the entrances, the great rosewood doors enriched by intricate lattice work and the details on the tombs. Each wall has different designs in carved marble, some resembling pineapples, drums and serpents, not to mention arched alcoves. Several of the walls flaunt designs of flower vases out of which emerge a variety of flowers.


Another feast for the tourists’ eyes is Begum Khurshid Jah’s tomb, done in marble and inlaid with precious and semi-precious stones, several of them gouged by vandals. Set against the milk-white of the marble, the stones shine in blue, green, yellow and orange. Knowledgeable people compare this tom to the tomb of Shah Jehan in Taj Mahal. It is surprising how these superb treasures remained undiscovered till recently.

How to reach :
Citybuses
105

Timings :
Information is not available.

Ticketing :
Information is not available.

Osmania University: Epic in Granite

Being one of the earliest centres of learning in the South is not the sole distinction of Osmania University. Its eminence is unparalleled in educational architecture in the country and that attracts as many tourists as its academic facilities attract students. Five kilometres of drive from the centre of Hyderabad City brings you through a tree-flanked avenue to a vast pastoral plaza paying tribute to the 2.5 lakh square foot imposing Arts College building, nucleus of Osmania University's 1,500-acre campus, housing a cluster of equally beautiful and impressive buildings of other faculties.



The Arts College edifice is a synonym for architectural uniqueness unspoilt by the arrival of new fangled architectonics. Overlooking the landscape gardens is this majestic structure reached by two flights of wide granite stairs converging and stopping before its awe-inspiring portal that at once is a more eloquent statement on secularism than any other political manifesto. This stately granite giant, an articulate specimen of later Osman Shahi architecture, combines the archetypal characteristics of the Hindu temple styles with those of the Saracenic. Inlaid into this unique form are motifs of medieval Moslem, Arabic, Moorish and even Gothic schools of architecture.



The Arts College was originally Osmania University itself and from here starts a bio-spiritual journey into the world of art and aesthetics revealing itself in sculptured granite. The visitor is mesmerised by the innards of the great welcome arch built in dressed granite, seemingly supported by two soaring, round and polished granite columns. This vertical oblong stands out from the facade and rises higher than the sidewalls and wings of the structure. It is crowned by a trefoil arch, which peaks higher than the walls of the edifice to either side of the portal. The arch houses a semicircular vault with stalactites, resulting in a synthesis of several major architectural themes of iwan, arch and monumental portal.

According to Dr M. Radhakrishna Sarma, a former professor at Osmania's Department of Ancient Indian History and Archaeology, “Modelled after the Persian Pishtaq or the portal found in madarasas and mosques of medieval period, the huge portal is a triumphal arch that extends a splendid and pressing welcome into a sacred interior." To the right and left of the great arch are two double-storeyed colonnaded galleries, each a mirror replica of the other. The entablatures of the first floor are supported on octagonal pillars typical of columnar architecture found in Ellora and Ajanta caves. The second floor balconies are arcaded and flaunt trellised balustrades in a manner similar to the first floor balconies.



Once you leave the frontal arched portal, you step into a magnificent foyer, which unveils the real wealth of architectural diversity of the Arts College building. In front of you and beyond the shining, sprawling floor in pink terrazzo is again another two-pronged stairway presided over by a great window that at one time was the biggest stained glass window next in size only to the window at Medak church. The foyer has four internal balconies on its four sides, forming a kind of squarish halo above the ground floor. These galleries are supported by 24 ornamental pillars, representative of the best Hindu architectural styles, fluted in parts and crowned by amalaka capitals.



If you stand in the centre of the foyer and look up, a strikingly grandiose dome greets you. Islamic in conception and double-decked in structure, the dome’s first deck looks circular to view but has sixteen sides and the second deck, a downward extension of the first, has sixteen niched windows corresponding to each of the sides of the first deck. Three flights of banistered stairs, one to the left of the foyer, another to the right and a third overlooking the foyer lead to the first floor which is a replica of the ground floor plan with minor departures.

This floor has four balconies, all with parapets forming a huge square making the foyer look like a well. “The arcades around the open courtyard, the ornate parapets of the first floor, all of the same dimensions and of Moorish variety give a mirror like effect, again a characteristic of medieval Islamic architecture,” says Sharma who has made a deep study of the Arts College architecture.



Another distinction of the architects and planners of the Arts College building is that all the pink shade granite stone used to build the great building came from quarries within the campus area. Equally beautiful are the Library and Engineering College buildings, less ornate, less baroque and less complex and yet imposing and striking. The Library building is built on what is known as Senate Hall hill because originally the architects planned to build the Senate Hall here. Visitors can take time off from their tour of granite structures and relax in the aesthetically laid out Landscape Gardens, which often is rendezvous for adolescent romance.



Next to the three presidency universities and Delhi University, Osmania is the largest university in the country with ten faculties, 52 departments, 500 plus campus constituent or affiliated colleges offering courses at all levels ranging from the diploma, degree to the doctoral and the post-doctoral. It has 1,500 teachers on its rolls and around three lakh students, 300 among them being foreigners. Osmania started off as the first university in the country where the teaching medium is not English, but an Indian language (Urdu). Another distinction of Osmania is its Astronomy department and more especially of its observatory of international standards which again is the second largest observatory in the country.



Mir Osman Ali Khan, the last of the Nizams, after whom the university was named, said at the opening of the Arts College building “God be praised that this gorgeous edifice is now ready. This structure has no parallel in the world or in India for beauty, grandeur and nobility. The architectural style of the Arts College is like the Urdu language, the manifestation of the Hindu and Muslim styles of architecture and its façade, its pillars and its portals portray the culture an arts of the two people.” To describe the magnificence of the Arts College is bound to end up as a treatise on architecture.



The great granite structure, which reveals such architectural extravaganza, conceals a lot of history of the romance of conceiving, planning and building this elegance in stone. It was the work of Ali Raza and Zain Yar Jung. Sir Patrick Geddes selected the present site of the university and soon the two eminent architects of the State Ali Raza and Zain Yar Jung took off in 1930 on an extensive tour of nearly the entire world to study the various schools of educational architecture. The tour began at Madras from where the duo went to Colombo and then to Japan where they visited University of Osaka and from there sailed to the west of the United states.



For three months, they toured the States studying the architectural styles of older universities like Princeton, Harvard and Yale and the more recent campuses of California, Stanford and New York. From America, they journeyed to England where they studied the architectural niceties of older universities like Oxford, Cambridge, Edinburough and Manchester and also visited buildings under construction of the universities of Kingston, Birmingham and Leeds. Their itinerary took them to Europe where they visited the campuses of Sorbonne, Heidelberg, Munich and Berlin and Austria. They rounded up their tour with visits to Egypt and Turkey to observe Islamic architectural styles.



To sum up in Ali Raza’s words: “In the construction of all Osmania buildings, motifs from different historical periods were borrowed and were made into a harmonious blending. The pillars were modelled on pillars from Ajanta and Ellora caves. The arches were modelled on the arches from the monuments at Delhi, Agra and Charminar and the Mecca Masjid of Hyderabad. In some places, arches and pillars in the styles of Arabia have been constructed. In this way, we have purposely ignored the modern architecture of (Lutyen’s) Delhi.”



In short, the Arts College building is a torrent of architectural glory unleashed on the spectator, a freeze on history, an epic in granite, and a marvel of a visual difficult to denote.

How to reach :
Citybuses
3, 6, 136, 252

Timings :
Any Time

Ticketing :
No Tickets required

Mecca Masjid: A Pilgrimage

HITECH (Hyderabad Information Technology Engineering Consultancy) City: Info Hi-Way



Mecca masjid is one of the oldest masjids in the city and easily the biggest. Muhammed Quli Qutub Shah began building it in 1617 under the supervision of Mir Faizullah Baig and Rangiah Choudhary. Mughal emperor Aurangzeb completed the construction in 1694. It took 77 years to come up as the magnificent edifice we see today. Like many other ancient buildings in the city, the mosque is a granite giant with awe-inspiring innards. The main hall of the mosque is 75 feet high, 220 feet wide and 180 feet long, big enough to accommodate ten thousand worshippers at a time.

Mecca masjid is just a hundred yards southwest of the historic Charminar. Between Muhammed Quli Qutub Shah and Aurangzeb, Abul Hasan Tana Shah of Golconda also continued the task launched by the Qutub Shahi kings. It is believed that Muhammed Quli commissioned bricks to be made from earth brought from Mecca and inducted them into the construction of the central arch of the mosque, which explains the name of the mosque.



Fifteen graceful arches support the roof of the main hall, five on each of the three sides. A sheer wall rises on the fourth side to provide mehrab. The three arched facades have been carved from a single piece of granite, which took five years to quarry. More than 8,000 masons and workers were employed to build this grand mosque. Mohammed Quli Qutub Shah himself laid the foundation stone of the mosque, when he failed to find one person who had never missed his prayers. The king seemed to be the only person who never missed on his prayers ever since he was 12 years of age.

“It is about 50 years since they began to build a splendid pagoda in the town which will be the grandest in all India when it is completed. The size of the stone is the subject of special accomplishment, and that of a niche, which is its place for prayer, is an entire rock of such enormous size that they spent five years in quarrying it, and 500 to 600 men were employed continually on its work. It required still more time to roll it up on to conveyance by which they brought it to the pagoda; and they took 1400 oxen to draw it,” says Tavernier in his travelogue.

As the tourist gets past the main gateway and enters a huge plaza, a large man-made pond of bluish waters greets him. On the edge of the pond are two stone and slab benches and whoever sits on them, according to legend, returns to sit on them again. A room in the courtyard is presumed to house the hair of prophet Mohammed. At the peak of the minarets flanking the masjid is an arched gallery and above that a smallish dome and a spire. Inscriptions from Quran adorn many of the arches and doors. The majesty of the façade of the grand mosque is somewhat obscured by huge walls of wire mesh erected to prevent pigeons from entering the prayer spaces and ruining them.

The main structure of the mosque is sandwiched between two massive octagonal columns hewn out of a single piece of granite. The cornices running around the entire mosque structure and the floral motifs and friezes over the arches remind the tourist of the great attention paid to detail in Qutb Shahi architecture. They have a close resemblance to the ones the tourist sees on the arches at Charminar and Golconda fort.



Though an overview of the masjid yields a picture of a massive rectangular granite monolith, closer scrutiny discloses the sculptural excellence of this axis of Muslim faith and of the parts that constitute its sum. If the tourist can deflect his gaze from the sheerness of the façade, everything from the cornices, the alcoves, the balconies to the parapets and the sundry, reveals an unparalleled aesthetic brilliance. Look at the cornice running on the four sides of the mosque, you will find 25 windows positioned between the consoles. These windows have awnings, not very different in their lineage from Hindu temple architecture.

On the four sides of the roof of the main mosque are ramparts made up of granite planks in the shape of inverted conches perched on pedestals. From the cornice of the mosque, its minarets are not as high as the minarets on the mazaar (Nizams’ tombs) haven from their cornice. The octagonal columns have arched balconies on level with the roof of the mosque with an awning for a canopy above which the column continues upwards till it is crowned by a dome and spire.



As the tourist enters the great courtyard of the mosque, to his left he will find an exquisitely graceful, rectangular, arched and canopied building housing the marble graves of Asaf Jahi rulers from Nizam Ali Khan to Mehboob Ali Khan and their family. It is possible that this structure came up during the rule of the Asaf Jahs because it contains the tombs of the Nizams and their family. At both ends of this resting place for the Asaf Jahs and very much a part of it, are two rectangular blocks with four minarets each.

These minarets have elegant and circular balconies with low ornamental walls and arches. Above them is an octagonal inverted platter from which the rest of the minaret soars till it is arrested by a dome and a spire. This mazaar sanctuary is in reality a far greater specimen of architectural sophistication than the principal masjid and proclaims the artistic penchant of the Asaf Jahis.

The Mecca masjid is a listed heritage building crying for constant supervision and maintenance. Stains and patches can be seen disfiguring the exterior of this majestic structure and cracks are appearing in the octagonal columns. The mosque received a chemical wash in 1995. The tourist is also irritated by the growth of foliage in the crevices of the façade.

How to reach :
Citybuses
2, 7Z, 8, 8C, 9C

Timings :
Any Time

Ticketing :
No Tickets required
Women are allowed until the final sanctum sanctorum

Hussain Sagar: Lake Lustre

HITECH (Hyderabad Information Technology Engineering Consultancy) City: Info Hi-Way



Hussain Sagar bridges not only culturally disparate Hyderabad and Secunderabad, known as twin cities all over the country, but constitutes a continuum between history and contemporainty. It was a quiet and placid lake of 24 kilometres built by Hazrat Husain Shah Wali on a tributary of the Musi during the time of that great builder Ibrahim Quli Qutb Shah in 1562 to meet the water and irrigation needs of the city. This was much before the historic Charminar overshadowed every other landmark in the city. It is now popularly known as Tank Bund, a truncated version of its original expanse, and has acquired trappings and environs that enhance its appeal to tourists as well as the denizens of the twin cities.

The simple bund that at one time connected the British and Nizam areas of the two cities is today a complex of parks, temples, statuary, sites of entertainment and the capital’s administrative hub, enriching and at the same time ecologically damaging the environs of the shrunken tank. The aesthetically built Secretariat buildings, the NTR memorial, the Lumbini park, the Hyderabad Boat Club, a flyover nearing completion add to the attraction of the southern side of the Tank Bund, while the Secunderabad Sailing Club, the Sanjeeviah Park and the Hazrat Saidani Ma Saheba tomb on the northern side enhance its allure for the tourist. Parallel to the tank bund is what is now known as the lower Tank Bund road, which, though built to reduce traffic congestion, has now become the axis of print media activity.

From the southern side, the lower Tank Bund road is heralded by the famous and very popular Katta Maisamma temple and close to it is the sprawling green lung, the Indira Gandhi Park. A new artery known as the Necklace Road links Lumbini park in Hyderabad with the Sanjeeviah park in Secunderabad. But the centre of attraction literally and figuratively is the monolith Buddha statue in the middle of the ancient lake.

The lake, its size and purity are threatened by the ecologically inimical activity of immersion of Ganesha and Durga idols every year and industrial waste, not to mention encroachments blessed by political patronage. This, according to an expert, results in continuous increase of sedimentation and injection of sulphate that endangers marine life. Irrespective of what party is in power, governments lack the political will to check or control these immersions. Yet Hussain Sagar is the most popular boulevard and very scenic, its magnetism increased by a three-kilometre-long row of flowerbeds and lush green lawns running from north to south. On the west is a long protective and ornamental railing parallel to a row of wrought iron benches for romance-prone couples to forget time and mundane world.

Dotting the lawns and flowerbeds on the eastern side are an array of statues to commemorate the services of a host of luminaries who are an inseparable part of the history of the state. These bronze statues range from those of pioneers of Telugu classical poetry like Nannaya Bhattaraka, the great saint composer Thyagaraja, the thirteenth century Kakatiya warrior queen Rudrama Devi, the illustrious founder of Hyderabad Muhammed Quli Qutb Shah, the bard Vemana of the sixteenth century to Arthur Cotton who harnessed the life-giving waters of the Krishna and Godavari rivers and made Andhra Pradesh the rice bowl of the south, and progressive writers and poets like Sri Sri and Maqdoom Mohiuddin.

The lake is surrounded by four major spans of greenery, Indira Park in the east, Sanjiviah Park in the north, Lumbini Park in the south and a green belt area sandwiched between the Raj Bhavan road and the Necklace Road. Indira Park, named after former prime minister Indira Gandhi, is the earliest of these four parks and also a favourite site among the city people. It is also the most sought after locale for shooting Telugu and Hindi films. It boasts of a large nursery, which provides free saplings to persons who wish to add to the city’s greenery. The famous and ancient temple of Katta Maisamma, meaning goddess of the dam, is very close to this park and attracts lakhs of devotees every year.

Both Lumbini and Sanjeeviah are new parks. The entire Hussain Sagar complex comprising parks, statuary, recreation spots etc. was the handiwork of India’s most renowned architect Charles Correa who visualized the Buddha Poornima project with aesthetic ingredients. Lumbini, though referred to as an amusement park, is in reality the versification of nature. The park is named after the birthplace of Buddha whose monolithic statue dominates the lake and everything around it. The park has Japanese style rockery, ancient trees, formal gardens, cacti and imaginatively laid out pathways for strollers. A floral clock greets the visitors at the entrance itself. Then there is a musical colour fountain spouting water and playing to the tunes of popular film hits. Sanjeeviah park, being on the less populated northern side attracts fewer people which is why couples seeking privacy throng the site.

The lake radiates in the night the reflection of the Shri Venkateswara temple built by the Birlas on a hillock close to the Secretariat. The temple is a quarter century old and built of white marble and represents several schools of architecture, though the South Indian school is prominent in the construction of the rajagopuram. Utkal styles of temple architecture marks the tower over the main shrine called the Jagadananda vimanam. The towers over the temples for the Lord’s consorts Padmavathi and Andal are again in the South Indian style. The temple has a 42-feet high flagstaff and the main idol of the Lord is 11 feet tall.

The piece de resistance of the entire land and waterscape of Hussain Sagar is the 18-metre high and 350-tonne monolith of Gautama Buddha in the middle of the lake standing on what is known as the Rock of Gibralter. Two beautifully decorated floating decks shuttle between the statue and the Lumbini Park every day several times and are equipped to stage cultural and musical shows. Another boating point is likely to come up at the Sanjeeviah Park also. This apart, there are facilities for paddling. The boat rides are the most exciting experience of the tourists because they cover the most scenic spots around the lake like the Secretariat, the Raj Bhavan, Sanjeeviah Park, the Lumbini park, Shri Vennkateswara temple and the majestic Buddha statue.

The two-year-old Necklace Road and the Tank Bund are great spectacles in the night and turn into rendezvous for relaxation and romance. The Necklace Road is now much sought after by trade and industry for holding consumer melas and by the government to stage frequent cultural shows and programmes open to public. Laser film shows on aqua screen are an additional attraction. Two impressive gateways flank the Tank Bund, replicating the great Kakatiya and Vijayanagar architectural styles.

Flanked by the Hyderabad Boat Club in the south and the Secunderabad, Sailing Club in the north, Hussain Sagar becomes the annual venue for sailing events and regattas every year. One can see several rowboats and yachts gracefully navigating in the lake. But all this recreation and commercial activity is already telling on the purity and size of the lake. This will keep off the annual migratory birds from coming to the lake and the gardens around and deprive it of its pristine grandeur.

How to reach :
Citybuses
5, 6, 8, 20, 113, 190

Timings :
Any Time

Ticketing :
No Tickets required

HITECH City: Info Hi-Way

HITECH (Hyderabad Information Technology Engineering Consultancy) City: Info Hi-Way



The nascent structures coming up in Madhapur area of the 400-year-old Hyderabad city provide a sophisticated contrast to the great and ancient monuments and palaces in the Qutb Shahi capital. It is a consummation of the vision of an information technology crusader unfolding itself in a healthy hurry, comparable to the architectural dreams of Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah. The structures are a two-phase tribute to a technology that has reduced the world to a global village.

The business like ambience of the HITECH city is in juxtaposition to its equally famous and graceful neighbour Shilparamam, an arts and crafts village, manifesting the simultaneity of two disparate periods in history, and contributing to the variety and contradictions in Indian life and tradition. Both the HITECH city and Silparamam are an evidence of chief minister Chandrababu Naidu's skills in reconciling his respect for the old with his desire to inscribe Andhra Pradesh firmly on the roll of achievers and performers.



The axis of the HITECH city is an artistically and yet functionally built 10-storeyed cylindrical building surrounded by a galaxy of imposing structures raised to house IT companies, foreign and Indian. It is a city planned as an integrated township with all infrastructural facilities like office space, production areas housing colonies, showrooms, cafeteria, health club, banks, shopping complexes and auditoriums. One look at the township will explain why 25% of computer personnel in the United States are from Hyderabad.

The HITECH city has already attracted multinational software giants like Microsoft, IBM, Metamor, GE Capital, Toshiba, and Oracle and Indian companies like Satyam Computers and Wipro. An earth station has come up in the township which links Hyderabad to the five continents of the world. It is planned to permit further growth and expansion with the 160 acres of land allotted by the government. The cylindrical showpiece known as Cyber Towers offers five lakh square feet of executive space.


A companion structure known as Cyber Gateway is nearly complete with 8.5 lakh square feet of built up space. The main features of the city are its land and hillscapes, wide roads, satellite earth station, fast internet access, ATM facility, VSAT and ISDN connectivity, videoconferencing and multimedia systems, power back-up, dust-free atmosphere and medicare. What makes the HITECH city different from other technology parks in the country are the International Institute of Information Technology and the Indian Business School, designed to be motors of leadership in their areas.

The Indian Business School is affiliated to Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and the London Business School. IBS shares expertise and resources with these schools, besides participating in exchange of students and professors. Wharton and Kellogg schools have inducted the latest global management techniques and perceptions into IBS's academic programmes. Faculty members from these institutions now teach at the IBS after designing the school curriculum. Academic, residential and recreational infrastructures provided for students here match those found at the best business schools in the world. The campus structures are a blend of modern and traditional Indian architectures.



State-of-the-art air-conditioned amphitheatres, library, meeting rooms, coffee bars and restaurants mark facilities available at the school. These are in addition to wired classroom conferencing, and hispeed data communication networks. Services such as banking, ATM, infirmary, ISB shop, bookstore, documentation centre etc. are available. The school was inaugurated by Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee on 2 December 2001, praising it in these words: "The speedy journey of ISB from concept to completion was itself a case study of the world class management capabilities of the new generation of Indians who have promoted it."

In its fourth year now, the International Institute of Information Technology has a campus of 62 acres, housing such internationally known corporate schools like IBM School of Enterprise-Wide Computing, Signal Tree School of Excellence in Software Development Methodologies, Oracle School of Advanced Software Technology, Satyam School of Applied Information Systems and Motorola School of Communication Technology. A major aim of the institute is to provide a uniquely broad and interdisciplinary IT education of the highest academic quality.



State-of-the-art air-conditioned amphitheatres, library, meeting rooms, coffee bars and restaurants mark facilities available at the school. These are in addition to wired classroom conferencing, and hispeed data communication networks. Services such as banking, ATM, infirmary, ISB shop, bookstore, documentation centre etc. are available. The school was inaugurated by Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee on 2 December 2001, praising it in these words: "The speedy journey of ISB from concept to completion was itself a case study of the world class management capabilities of the new generation of Indians who have promoted it."



In its fourth year now, the International Institute of Information Technology has a campus of 62 acres, housing such internationally known corporate schools like IBM School of Enterprise-Wide Computing, Signal Tree School of Excellence in Software Development Methodologies, Oracle School of Advanced Software Technology, Satyam School of Applied Information Systems and Motorola School of Communication Technology. A major aim of the institute is to provide a uniquely broad and interdisciplinary IT education of the highest academic quality.

How to reach :
Citybuses
9J, 10H, 47K, 47S

Golkonda: Home of Diamonds

You will have to visit the Golkonda fort, 10 kilometres west of Hyderabad city, to appreciate the majesty and grandeur of the 800-year-old ruins and the architectural glory of those structures, which have survived the ravage of time and rampage by Mughal vandals. One of the most magnificent fort complexes in the country, Golkonda, meaning shepherd hill, was built consecutively by three dynasties, the Kakatiyas, the Bahmanis and the Qutub Shahis, the major contribution coming from the latter. It betrays the confluence of Hindu and Muslim architectural perceptions of the times. It was the capital of the Bahmani kings first and the Qutub Shahis later for sometime, before they shifted the capital to what is now the old city of Hyderabad. The fort has now become a symbol of the composite cultural heritage of the 400-year-old city.

The fort area on the hill is fenced off by a series of high and broad granite walls built in concentric circles, their defences strengthened by several moats and drawbridges. Legend has it that Golkonda was the centre of a flourishing trade in diamonds and that the world-famous Kohinoor diamond came from this market. The rugged and time-ravaged ruins throw up fleeting evidence of a golden age with Golkonda as its essence. The Qutub Shahis expanded the modest structures built by the Kakatiyas in the thirteenth century into a fortress complex that occupied the entire area of the hill and overflowed into the terrain around it. Its outside wall, around ten miles in length, is designed as a first checkmate to any aggression. The width of the wall ranges from 17 to 34 feet broken by 87 semi-circular bastions, 50 to 60 feet high.

All the four impregnable walls of the fort have huge ornamental wooden doors, opening at the centre with iron spikes driven into them so that elephants of the enemy would baulk at battering them. It took the Qutub Shahis 62 years to build the great fort that was completed in 1525. The complex shows off the incredible engineering and architectural skills, which characterised the golden era of the Qutub Shahis. The acoustics of the fort, its ingenious water supply system based on indigenous genius and the air conditioning of the palaces are the stuff in which historians revel. The fort conceals in its bowels the triumph and tragedy of the Qutub Shahis to whose times the bulk of the fort complex belongs.

The Qutub Shahis ruled from 1512 to 1590 the area known to historians as the Deccan, with Golkonda as their capital, which they later shifted to Hyderabad. The fort is built on a 400-ft. high hill, its highest point occupied by a double-storeyed structure, originally called Tana Shahi ki Gaddi. It is now known as Bala Hisar, which is the inner area marked for palaces.

According to some historians, the Kakatiya kings, part of whose territory Golkonda was, built the nucleus of the complex. It was handed over to Muhammad Shah Bahmani of Gulbarga in 1363 by one of the Kakatiya kings. Some maintain that the fort is 2000 years old and that it is older than the fort at Warangal.

After the death of Muhammad Shah Bahmani, Sultan Quli, who was the subedar of Golkonda under him, declared himself independent, thus founding the Qutub Shahi dynasty in 1518. The Qutub Shahis who ruled Golkonda for 170 years from 1518 to 1687 added to the earlier structures of the Kakatiyas and Bahmanis. Muhammad Quli Qutub Shah found water scarcity in Golkonda an intractable problem and founded a new capital on the banks of the Musi, which is now the old city of Hyderabad. Ibrahim Quli Qutub Shah, who preceded Muhammed, repaired and renovated the fort and built a small mosque midway on the steps leading to Bala Hisar.

Most impressive even in ruins, Golkonda houses a number of old buildings, mosques and palaces of historical interest. What once were well laid gardens today are barren and brown bushes. The structures or their vestiges we see today were mostly built in the time of Sultan and Ibrahim Qutub Shahs, the Safa Masjid, the Toli masjid and Kala Chabutara, for instance. It was during Ibrahim Shah’s rule that diamond mines were discovered at Kollur on the Krishna River.

“Three granite walls of megalithic construction encircle the fort,” says Raza Alikhan, author of Hyderabad: 400 Years. Of the several bastions that break the monotony of the wall Petla Burz is the biggest. A Musa Khan, a general of Abdullah Qutub Shah, built the Musa Burz towards the south of the fort to protect the fort from the first Mughal invasion in 1656. At these two bastions are posted the Fateh Rahbar gun and the Azhdaha Paikar gun. On some of these bastions, one can see inscriptions in Telugu, manifesting the interest of the Shahs in local culture. Another bastion known as the Kaghazi burz was entirely made of paper and cloth and was designed to be a camouflage. The idea behind the dummy bastion, a small distance away beyond Musa burz, was to deceive the invaders into thinking that their guns had completely ruined it.

The tourist is bound to marvel at the military architecture and civil engineering works in the fort, which is in the shape of a rhombus surrounded by a glacis. The fort, really a complex of four forts, remained unscathed till a traitor opened the Fateh darwaza for Aurangzeb’s army to enter. This darwaza is 13 feet wide and 25 feet high and is one of the eight gateways, which are well known. Another important gateway is the Banjara darwaza.

Today’s engineers cannot but wonder at the acoustics system of the fort. Even the rustle of leaves at the Fateh darwaza, which is at the lowest level of the fort area, can be heard clearly at the Bala Hisar pavilion on the top of the acropolis. What seems today fun for the tourists was in reality a strategic signalling system to alert the barracks about attempts to attack or sneak into the fort by hostile forces.

The water supply system is no less ingenious. Water was stored in huge cisterns at the foot of the hill and transported upwards through clay pipes to all quarters of the fort. Water was brought to the fort tanks from the Durg tank, which is about five kilometres from the fort. Remnants of the networked clay pipes (which carried water to the upper levels of the fort through the mechanism of a series of Persian wheels) can still be seen as a reminder of the hydrological engineering skills of the day. Water was thus pumped up to the fountains, the royal baths and kitchens in the fort.

At the top of the hill is the much talked about Bala Hisar baradari, a double-storeyed and twelve-arched structure, which is reached after a gasping ascent of 360 steps. This imposing pavilion, known as Tana Shah ki Gaddi originally, is more commonly known as Bala Hisar. Making use of the giant rocks on the hill slopes, one of the Qutub Shahi kings built a wall as a last line of defence, and almost 350 years later, this wall is still in tact. Bala Hisar also houses the temple of Madanna, a senior minister of Abul Hasan Tana Shah. You can also see the small prison where Tana Shah had jailed the great saint Bhadrachala Ramadas for appropriating state funds to build a temple for Rama.

On the terrace of Bala Hisar is a throne carved out of a huge boulder. This is the highest point of the acropolis. As you are about to enter Bala Hisar, two giant arches known as Habshi Kamans greet you. From Bala Hisar, you can see on two faraway hillocks the palaces of Taramati and Premamati, courtesans in the harems of Sultan Muhammed Qutub Shah and Sultan Abdullah. These hillocks are situated on the Osmansagar road.

The fort complex includes the tombs of the Quli Qutub Shahs amidst landscaped gardens, located one kilometre north of the outer wall of Golkonda. Prominent among the buildings outside the fort complex is the Toli masjid; a strikingly elegant structure with five arches heralding the entrance hall and three before you enter the inner hall of the masjid.

The Tourism department of Andhra Pradesh resurrects the history and romance of the kings, princes and queens of the bygone golden era twice a week through a spectacular son et lumiere show. The sounds and sights are recreated conjuring up and animating images of the glory of that period, the saga of Golkonda. The show is presented in both English, Telugu and Hindi. The fort juxtaposes a marvel of yester years with the modern artillery base of the Indian army nearby. Such of what has survived time and vandalism shows that the architecture of the darwazas, the mosques, and their minars matches other great architectural structures in the country.


How to Reach :
Golconda is a fortress and ruined city lying 11 km west of Hyderabad.
Citybuses
65G, 66G, 80I, 142M

Timings :
Opens 9:00 AM
Sound & Light Show (Duration : 55 Minutes)
Show Timings
Winter (Nov - Feb) 18:30
Summer (Mar - Oct) 19:00
English : Sundays and Wednesdays
Hindi : Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays
Telugu : Thursdays
Closed on Mondays

Tickets :
Rs. 5/- to enter
Rs.30/- Sound & Light Show

Charminar: Cultural Hub

Charminar is always on the top of the mind of any tourist visiting Hyderabad. To say that Charminar is a major landmark in the city is to state the obvious, to repeat a cliché. The great monument is a synonym for Hyderabad and the pivot around which the glory and history of the city have developed. To imagine this 400-year-old city without Charminar is to imagine New York without the Statue of Liberty or Moscow without the Kremlin. Built by Mohammed Quli Qutub Shah in 1591, shortly after he had shifted his capital from Golkonda to what now is known as Hyderabad, this beautiful colossus in granite, lime, mortar and, some say, pulverised marble, was at one time the heart of the city. This great tribute to aesthetics looks sturdy and solid from a distance but as one moves closer, it emerges as an elegant and romantic edifice proclaiming its architectural eminence in all its detail and dignity. Apart from being the core of the city’s cultural milieu, it has become a brand name.

Charminar is a squarish structure with four towers in the four corners of the square, each of whose sides is 20 metres in length. Every side opens into a plaza through giant arches, which overlook four major thoroughfares and dwarf other features of the building except the minarets. Each arch is 11 metres wide and rises 20 metres to the pinnacle from the plinth. The minarets soar skywards by 24 metres from the roof of Charminar. Each minaret has four storeys, each looking like a delicately carved ring around the minaret. Some Anglophiles call Charminar the Arc de Triomphe of the East. From the ground to the apex, the minarets cover a length of 48.7 metres.

According to Mir Moazzam Husain, a long time official of the UNESCO and a keen student of this historic city, “these minarets may even symbolise the first four khalifs of Islam, but I cannot vouch for this interpretation with any degree of certainty.” At the western end of the roof of Charminar is a beautiful mosque; the oldest in Hyderabad, and the rest of the roof was used as a court in Qutub Shahi times. Atop the great monument are 45 prayer spaces for the devout where they can offer worship in an atmosphere unspoilt by the bustle of the city. East of this space is a spacious verandah with small and large arches in the middle. The first floor has beautiful balconies from where one has a fantastic view of the historic city and its later accretions.

These are technical details, of interest only to scholars and scribes. For the tourist, Charminar disgorges unlimited architectural wealth exuding from every pore of its masonry surface. The minarets taper off with a bulbous dome, embellished by petal-like motifs, and crowned by a brass spire. Though Charminar has a number of features answering to Hindu architectural usage, the minarets themselves are exclusively an Islamic architectural tradition. Unlike Taj Mahal, the fluted minarets of Charminar are built into the main structure. Inside the four-storeyed minarets are spiral stairways of 149 steps leading you to the top, the highest point one can reach, and providing a panoramic view of the sprawling and amorphous city. Each minaret has four arcaded balconies helping the tourist to imbibe the beauty of the city at various levels.

The essence of Islamic architecture rests in the deployment of arches, minarets and domes in a harmonic whole. This is very much true of Charminar, where apart from the main arches on the four sides; above each arch are horizontal arrays of arches. Not only the four balconies of each minaret have arches but also between the fourth balcony and the crowning dome, you can see arches playing merry-go-round. Even as the arches and minarets of Charminar reflect the influence of Islamic architectural schools, the structure as a whole embodies elements of South Indian temple architecture. Again, flanking each arch are four arched and trellised windows one above the other. The four main arches have thus 32 such windows.

But Charminar actually is a galaxy of prominent landmarks in the city’s history. Its neighbourhood is as interesting a site of cultural heritage as Charminar itself. Around this architectural axis are colourful bazaars, bringing to mind the bazaars of ancient Baghdad and Istanbul, selling pearls, bangles, traditional Muslim gear and Mughlai delicacies. Architecturally significant are the Mecca masjid, Jamay masjid, Char Kamaan, and Miya Mishk mosque. The Nizams too had built a complex of palaces close to Charminar and beyond Lad Bazaar. Among them, more well-known are the Chow Mohalla palace (1750), Khilwat Mahal, the Malwala Palace (1845), the Salarjungs’ Dewan Devdi and Purani Haveli (1803).

The Chow Mahalla palace was built by the first Nizam, Salabat Jah, in 1750 and is presumed to be a more refined version of the Shah of Iran’s palace in Teheran. This is now a heritage building, flood-lit in the night. “The main quadrangle (of the palace) has a beautiful garden surrounding a large marble cistern, the fountains and the splashing waters of which in moonlit nights have been compared by a visitor with one of the enchanting gardens described in the Arabian nights. To the north of the cistern is the grand Durbar Hall, where the Nizams used to hold state receptions and receive official nobles.”

Chow Mohalla was built in several phases in the rule of different Nizams. The pavilion where the rulers held court was known as Khilwat, built in the regime of the second Nizam. Some consider its style extremely baroque. The complex includes Jilu Khana facing Lad bazaar and Daulat Khana-e-Ali, both built by the first Nizam. The four palaces comprising the Chow Mohalla complex are Afzal Mahal, Mahtab Mahal, Tahriyat Mahal and Aftab Mahal. Afzal Mahal is the most imposing of them all.

Sandwiched between the Chatta bazaar and Dabirpura main road is Purani Haveli, the home of the first peshwa of Muhammed Quli Qutub Shah. This complex is in the shape of a horseshoe with a single storeyed building in European style separating two oblong wings of double-storeyed buildings tapering off into single storeyed structures with deep arched verandahs. Purani Haveli architecture combines European facades with Indian courtyards. The Haveli today houses a college for vocational training and religious education. Of the 11 buildings in the complex, only the Baradari is open to public.

From the Charminar, it is impossible to miss the Char Kamaan built three years after the grand old edifice was built. The four arches of Char Kamaan envelop a vast plaza with a tank with an octagonal enclosure. This is now known as Gulzar Hauz, flanked by shops, which, in the times of the Qutub Shahis, were antechambers to their palaces. The Mughals destroyed them in 1687.

Jamay masjid to the northeast of Charminar has the distinction of being the first mosque built in Hyderabad. Muhammad Quli Qutub Shah built it in 1598. The third Nizam, Sikander Jah, renovated it later, respecting the Qutub Shahi architectural norms combining the Indo-Persian and South Indian styles. Not far off from Charminar is the Lad bazaar, a shopping centre specialising in bridal ware, and bangles of great beauty and dazzle. This is now known as Choodi bazaar (Bangles Bazaar).

Some recent buildings, whose architectural trends were inspired by Charminar and Golkonda, and built during the last of the Asaf Jahs’ times, are the Unani hospital, the High Court, and across the Musi the Osmania general hospital. All of them flaunt features of Indo-Islamic architectural styles. Charminar is very much a part of the vibrant life of everyone in the city and its cultural life.


How to Reach :
Citybuses
1C, 2, 8, 9, 57S, 72

Timings :
9:00am-6:00PM

Tickets :
5Rs to climb up the minars. Entry only till the 1st level.

Birla Planetarium

The Planetarium is another magnificent building with a big dome resembling that of the Gol Gumbaz in Bijapur and some of the earliest government structures in New Delhi. A star attraction here are the spectacular sky shows every day with Telugu and English commentaries. The shows unveil the mysteries of the cosmos and the origins of the universe, the comets, eclipses, unidentified flying objects and the clash of titans. The sky show opens with the projection of the galaxy over the spectator's heads producing the illusion of sky and space. These projectors are the most modern and sophisticated of their kind in the country. The accompanying music adds to the experience of virtual reality. It is difficult to imagine how our ancestors could observe these phenomena thousands of years ago without the kind of equipment we have today.

The Planetarium has now added to itself a Dinosorium showcasing a variety of exhibits including a 160-million-old mounted Kotasaurus Yamanapalliensis excavated in Adilabad district and gifted to the Science Museum by the Geological Survey of India. You can also see here a collection of smaller fossils of dinosaur eggs, marine shells and fossilised tree trunks. While Birla temple symbolises the mystique of the spirit, the Science Centre symbolises the unknown realm of matter.



How to Reach :
Citybuses
7, 8, 9, 20, 113, 158, 225

Timings :
6:00 AM to 12:00 Noon
4:00 PM to 9:00 PM

Tickets :
No ticket is necessary.

Birla Science Centre

On the same hillock is another Birla gift to the nation, the Birla Science Centre which inculdes the more well known Planetarium. The Science Centre is another beautiful structure, reflecting the advances made in science and technology. It is a great draw with students aspiring to become C.V. Ramans and Shantiswaroop Bhatnagars. The interior décor matches the architectural exterior of the Centre built over 10,000 Sq. Ft. and designed by architects from Calcutta and Bombay who drew upon concepts and ideas from Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore. The Centre is host to a number of divisions such as the Planetarium, the Science Museum, and the Centre for Applied Mathematics and Computer Sciences.


How to Reach :
Citybuses
7, 8, 9, 20, 113, 158, 225

Timings :
6:00 AM to 12:00 Noon
4:00 PM to 9:00 PM

Tickets :
No ticket is necessary.

Birla Mandir: God’s Marble Home

Industrialists Birlas have built a number of temples of architectural magnificence all over the country which, strangely, are referred to as Birla temples and not Lakshminarayan temple or Venkateswara temple. A quarter century ago, they built a temple in Hyderabad entirely in marble brought from Rajasthan and dedicated it to Lord Venkateswara, known as Balaji in the north. The temple, built on a hillock called Kala Pahad, one of the Naubat Pahad twins, lords over its equally celebrated surroundings comprising the imposing Secretariat buildings, the azure-blue waters of Hussain Sagar, the serene and halcyon Lumbini Park, the luxurious Public Gardens dominated by the Asafjahi-style Legislative Assembly complex and the Reserve Bank of India. From the highest level of the temple, the spectacle around is breath-taking, providing a view of the verdure of the city, the incessant flow of traffic on the Tank Bund, crowds thronging the administrative complexes of the government, the newly-built flyovers and the cultural hub of the city Ravindra Bharathi and the NTR Memorial.

The approach to the temple is through a lane opposite the Reserve Bank, and once you trek this small patch, you reach the foot and both sides of a meandering stairway flanked by ornate banisters. On the way are several marble statues representing the Hindu pantheon. The temple manifests a blend of South Indian, Rajasthani and Utkal temple architectures. Before you reach the sanctum, several structures beginning with the baroque canopies at the foot of the stairway, greet you. The main temple is entered through the four-tiered rajagopuram built in the garudalaya style of South Indian temples. Beyond the rajagopuram swings into presence the great Dilwara temple-style gallery dwarfing nearly every other structure by its intricately carved detail.

The 11-feet tall statue of Lord Venkateswara in the sanctum sanctorum is sculpted from black granite, specially mined and brought from Phirangipuram in Guntur district. This is very different from the white marble statues that one sees in other temples built by the Birlas. Over the statue is a lotus-shaped canopy done in marble again. The tower of the main temple called the Jagadananda vimanam has a close resemblance to the architecture of the Lingaraj temple at Bhubaneswar. Overlooking the presiding deity is the brass dhwaja stambham soaring to a height of 42 feet. In the adjoining mukhamandapam are several sculptures in marble depicting scenes from the Hindu mythology, the Ramayana and Mahabharatha in particular. The temple towers for the Lord’s two consorts Padmavathi and Andal are built in South Indian style, unlike the Utkal architecture marking the main temple.

If you are an early bird, you can catch the melodies of Venkateswara suprabhatam as early as 5:30 in the morning followed by devotional numbers of Annamacharya, Thyagaraja and Bhakta Ramadas. If you come for a second look in the evening, the whole temple complex is bathed in an aura of flood-lit glory. Temple rituals here are done according to agama shastras, the pancharatra agama in particular. Venkateswara temple on the hillock is a place where you are bound to forget grief and greed for the while you are there. The temple itself is cradled amidst tall and ancient trees, manicured and well-maintained lawns, and formal gardens. Birla Mandir is the centrepiece of the capital city’s skyline.

How to Reach :
Citybuses
7, 8, 9, 20, 113, 158, 225

Timings :
6:00 AM to 12:00 Noon
4:00 PM to 9:00 PM

Tickets :
No ticket is necessary.