Palace Tour 2

i had always hated the idea of converting royal palaces to heritage hotels...a national property like a palace should belong to the goverment and be open to the public... I am talking of my thoughts before i visited the Taj Falaknuma Palace....my work brought me to the palace, and no sooner than i stepped in to the hotel, i had made up my mind that i have to get my family here, no matter how big a hole gets burnt in my pocket... and what could be a better occasion than celebrating Gulton's birthday... i thank my office for the opportunities it creates for me outside of work...the opportunity to taste the Nizams lifestyle....and the opportunity to pose in front of decoration showpieces, and confuse oneself as to where to pose ...probably thats the reason the hotel folks prohibited photography intending to make lives simpler for us


i would not add to the information overload on the web by describing the palace, and i think its better to delegate it to the Taj Falaknuma website

I conclude this post reiterating the advertisement punch line of Mastercard:
"Welcome drink - Rs 700
Malai Prawn - Rs 1000
Biriyani - Rs 850
Smile on mom-in-law, mom and Gulton's face : Priceless
there are certain things money cant buy...for everything else, i use my salary"


and off course, i dont see a problem in dedicating few of our treasured palaces to the Hotel chains, if it assists India push up its GDP

beyond the boundaries of life and death

in this extreme unpredictability of life, seldom we realize that the most predictable aspect of life is death... and most of us tend to make preparations for all small and big events of our lives, barring death, .... but not the Qutub Shahi rulers of Hyderabad!

....an evening walk around the royal graveyard would justify my statement...the Qutub Shahi tombs... Built by the emperors of the Qutub Shahi dynasty, the graveyard primarily consist of mosques and tombs built on the graves of the kings, queens, their close relations and descendants.......most of the kings constructed their own tombs amd mosques during thier lifetime, hence preparing for his life post death....there are a total of 16 tombs, of them 7 big ones belonging to the kings, and the rest belonged to their successors...a big well supplied water to bathe the corpses before the burial ceremony.... the bodies were then shifted to a mosque, where the last 'Kalma' was read as a ritual, the king was thereafter moved to his tomb for the final burial....post burial, the mosque and the tomb was sealed, and access was restricted except for the family members ....most of the tombs seem similar ...but an eye for detail would reveal the minute engravings that distinguishes and separates a tomb from another... a half constructed tomb would inevitably catch the visitors eye...the tomb designated to one of the last rulers could not be completed due to intervention and interruption posed by the Mughal emperor Aurangazeb during his conquering spree...i remember seeing tombs of Kuli Qutub Shah (1, 2 ...and lost the count), Hayat Bakshi Begum, the royal doctor, mnister, and the 2 Hindu sisters, Taramati and Premamati...in terms of the charm the place exuded, i fantacized it as the Indian counterpart of the great pyramids of Egypt...

as always, sharing the album here

Never seen a graveyard so beautiful and romantic...
...as i strolled down the majestic tombs, a song by Tagore oozed from my heart and flooded my mind..."jibono moroner shimana chharaye...bondhu je aamar royechho daraye..."
(Bengali to English translation for my handful readers:
Beyond the boundaries of life and death...
you, my friend, you are waiting for me...
in the sacred sky of my heart.....
your seat is encapsulated with light.....
dont know, in what deep faith and unknown hope and happiness...
i seek you with open arms...beyond the boundaries of life and death)

a place to cry

For food lovers, hyderabad is synonymous to biriyani and a large variety of delectable dishes that the city offers... dishes like the hyderabadi biriyani, haleem, firni would definitely top my countdown...and so would the famous eating joints serving those, my favorite being Hyderabad house, Paradise, and Shadab... Shadab would definitely grab a bigger heart/ stomach-share compared to its peers and competitors because of the authentic Hyderabadi/Muslim culture the place emanates....located in the old city at a stones throw from Charminar, the restaurant houses a separate block where guests are made to sit on cots while dining as lip smacking delicacies are served on the tool in front of them... the eatery looks more glamorous during the ramzan months; decorated with mini bulbs and multicolored light streamers, the hotel gets all posed to attract, greet and pamper the visitors' taste buds

Not delving deeper into the world of spices, aromas and flavors, let me come back to my blog topic... mention of Shadab brings to my memory another historical monument hiding right behind it, as if to grieve in peace and silence, escaping the glances of the hundreds and thousands who frequent the restaurant each day...the Badshahi Ashrukhana... sitting in its neighborhood on those Ramzan weekends as I devoured mouthful of chicken biriyani,little did I know of this beautiful, yet unimposing piece of Nizami architecture standing the test of time...in its heydays, the Ashrukhana had its wash areas, stables and rasoi operational in full swing...the interiors of the main building is inlaid with tiles embedded on a blue porcelain sheet... unlike the current day quadrangular tiles, the tiles used to decorate the inner walls of the Ashrukhana are much smaller in size, bearing shapes, colour and form of flowers, fruits, twigs and leaves...a layer of soft wet porcelain mould was spread on the wall, where the tiles were implanted....this is a very ancient form of Persian tile work, which is no longer prevalent in Persia too...in 1908, the flooded Musi river washed away the tile work till up to 6 feet from the floor...those portions could not be repaired, hence those zones are now painted, the design being the replica of the tiles above...i coined these pieces of information from the caretaker of the Ashurkhana, who inherited his job of supervising the monument from his great grand fathers... the Ashrukhana houses images of massive, old and sacred Shrines of Islamism, the mosques of Baghdad, Turkey, and Mecca Madina, where lakhs of pilgrims flock each year...every Thursday, the sticks are decorated and clothing are wrapped around those, making it resemble a well dressed human...the monument also had several metallic 3 dimensional structure of palms....a Congress man would have taken inspiration to market and brand his party in an innovative way...i was so engrossed in the beauty of the tiles and the blue glass chandeliers, i missed the significance of those palms....the oldest Islamic mourning place in India, the Badshahi Ashrukhana experiences more footfalls and tear drops during the Muharram months...

in introspection as i conclude this post, i realized that sorrow is as integral a part of life as is happiness....and while most religions emphasize and celebrate happiness, i kind of liked this unique concept in Islamism where this fundamental aspect of human life is accepted and observed with reverence....

last but not the least, click here to view the image gallery