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

Bina and Me

I lived a piece of defence life today....

Meeting and separation are a part and parcel of life..from the stories i heard from baba on his experience and life in the Indian Air force, i could well imagine that of all good and bad phases of the defence life, separation from neighbors and friends during a 'posting' was probably the most painful episode...putting a brake (or may be a break) to a relationship of 3 or 4 long years, where airmen lived together with their families in one particular station, shared everything ranging from their offices, evenings and lives, to mangoes guavas and other fruits/vegetables growing in the station; as their wives exchanged recipes and dishes; mingled with each other and imbibed each others culture....so long i had used my mind to imagine a situation as such..but today, a heartfelt emotion triggered by an incident made me experience a bit of defence life.....

My attachment with Bina was definitely not as strong as the one between 2 servicemen living in the same station...but the fact that i had a friend talking my language,having similar hobbies & interests as mine, and living just a block away in my complex was quite comforting...or rather, i say it was relieving...it is not that we met very often and chatted a lot...12 hours of my day on all the 5 weekdays is spent away from home in my workplace....occasionally, on my way back from office, I met Bina and masima (her mother-in-law) buying vegetables and groceries from the stores in front of our compound...hence commenced our casual conversation, the duration of which ranged from 5 minutes to 45 minutes depending on my hunger levels (most days i am hungry like a shark by the time I reach home)....Bina was my source of information about all upcoming events and get togethers happening at NCL Godavari

Bina had an artistic bend of mind...she was a champion in drawing and painting....anything related to arts and crafts interested her immensely...that was one more node which strengthened my attachment with her....we shared ideas on glass painting, nib painting, shared information which any of us dug out from the internet, and showed our paintings to each other as we experimented with the different forms of art...

Bina was an early bird....last year winter, it was Bina who managed to drag me out of bed on cold weekend mornings much before the sun could illuminate the streets of Hyderabad, in search of flowers and fruits growing in the desolate townships of BHEL and Dandamudi Enclave....the above mentioned projects were designed in an eco friendly fashion with a lot of flowering and fruiting trees planted along the border of the individual plots...some legal hindered the construction of bricks and mortar, but the plants underwent their natural growth cycle to blossom to flowers and fruits, probably for us to have them plucked...Bina did not frequent the sparsely populated townships on weekdays, probably due to lack of time and companion...but on weekends, we jointly marched through the mist encapsulated empty lanes in our expedition of collecting flowers and papayas....sometimes, a Gujarati friend Pooja joined us in our morning adventure trips...we forgot our age and behaved like kids as we plucked flowers, buds, or spotted some beautiful unfamiliar bird..of all the hours i spent with Bina, this was by far, the most enjoying and memorable one.....the advent of summer dried up the flowers and whithered the fruits, thus halting our weekend meetings...

Be it Ganesh Chaturthi, Janmashtami, Shivratri or any other function conducted in our compound premises, we eventually paired up ( Bina and me; and our mother in laws together)...I remember a Rangoli and cooking competition being conducted in our complex where the 2 of us emerged winners...Bina stood first and I came second..had Bina participated in the cooking competition, she would have definitely bagged another trophy...My Bengali preparation of payesh and patisapta secured me the second position....the 2 glistening crystal trophies in my living room would always remind me of Bina and that fun filled competition day ...even if we both participated and competed with each other, the competition between us was healthy and we took it sportingly....in Bina's absense, any future competition of this nature would lose its charm ...

There is one more, and a sad connection between the 2 of us....we both lost our father in laws in a span of 6 months..mine being first followed by hers... shortly after which they consolidated their plans of shifting to Bangalore...

I met Bina today evening as we bid adieu to each other...her house devoid of any furniture or art pieces created by her...dont know whether i would say this is the 'last' time i saw her....tomorrow morning, before i would wake up, they would have left Hyderabad!

Palace Tour - I

Since time immemorial, Charminar had been the emblem of Hyderabad.....tourists visiting the city flock to the old city on the banks of Musi river to catch a glimpse of a heritage that symbolizes our city...or probably to experience the old world charm of the minars, bazaars,the hijab clad women, surma lined eyes, white bowl shaped caps which reminds one of the tales of arabian nights....

but right behind the Mecca Masjid, within 200 meter radius of Charminar, stands another, and probably more majestic example of the architechtural heights attained by the nizams, who once ruled this land....a splendid palace consisting of luxurious fountains, impressive gardens, imposing gates, intricate meshwork of nizami designs on the four Mahals, from which the name Chowmahalla palace got derived....a palace less frequented by visitors as compared to the Charminar, probably because of lack of adequate marketing and promotion than what the palace deserved...

Had Amrita not insisted on visiting Chowmahalla, in her last training session in Hyderabad, we probably would not have discovered this piece of hisorical magnificence, at least, not so soon....the way we experienced the abode and the lifestyle of the nizams and the begums was unique in its own way...when we stepped into the palace, we were 2 minutes away from the scheduled closure time...the security guard, being highly loyal to his duty hours,barred us from entering.....hence leaving me with no other scope than to adopt a drama and a basketful of lies....my Wells Fargo visiting card emphasized and supported me in all ways....my designation of 'Corporate Communication' and the proposal of a 'venue recce for an upcoming event of my company' did all the trick...a typical example of misutilization of my corporate identity....the three of us (minus the entry tickets) were escorted by a local officer guiding us through the different facades of the building....contribution of my husband is note worthy here in terms of his timely cognition and appropriate application of lingustic skills.... the security personnel assisting us was a cute young lad hailing from Assam...and our Assamese root immediately established connect and brotherhood....he and my husband were both happy to converse with each other in Assamese... very nicely, with utmost care, he showed us the place around...had our 'bhaitie' not been there, we probably would have ended up seeing and guessing things on our own...he coordinated with his fellow co workers and the other security guards and showed us all the places within that limited time frame... the 4 palaces now houses a museum exhibiting different items used by the nizam, the items ranged from crockery, armaments, stagecoaches, vintage cars, robes, showpeices, furnitures, chandeliers, so on and so forth...a well maintained garden tops up the beauty of the place....

for now, let me rest my pen, and let the pictures do the rest of the talking

by the way...i didnot completely misutilize my id card....highly impressed with the grand demeanor of the palace, i have proposed to my folks in office for conducting an event in Chowmahalla...and hope to see the day in near future

Lakeland Hyderabad !

a satellite image of my city would probably exhibit several blue blotches of lakes or waterbodies that it encompasses .... and of all small and big, named or unnamed/ familiar or unfamiliar lakes, my favourite is the one located in Shamirpet....

post my accident, the experience of rebuilding my lost confidence seemed quite rewarding...the driving lessons and practice sessions through the long green tracks of Alwal on a Saturday evening led us to the vast, horizon spreading, pristine lake of Shamirpet.....when we reached the evening sun was about to take plunge into the depth of its water.....various shades of rainbow colours emanating from the drowning sun painted the entire canvas of the sky in its own tint....in accordance to the sky, sheets of water absorbed the colours like a mirror as its own image got reflected and refracted through the transparency of the water....

the rocky terrain; physical geography which surrounded it, and probably the formation of the lake seemed quite enchanting...i am no geologist, so if i am to describe in simple words to what a layman's mind could construe, it seemed to me as if chunks of rocks in the stony heart of the deccan plateau got depressed; scraped/scooped out to form a hollow for water to accumulate, hence imparting form and shape to the current evening getaway and a lover's paradise of my city.....the banks of the lake constituted of huge masses of rock gradually sloping downwards to meet the water....

time seemed to stall as we sat on the shores of the lake....at the air water interface, a gentle breeze caressed and teased the water surface, leading to the formation of mini waves, traversing from the centre of the pool to the outward margins only to break itself apart in to millions of water globules ....the waves breaking on the shores in a continuous, predictable rhythm seemed like a hymn sung by nature, as if to put the humanity to sleep in its soothing lullaby.....at the middle of the lake little islands made of rocks of different form and shape , projected their head up above the water, probably to help a piscivorous kingfisher or a cormorant catch its prey for lunch....

the only sound waves our ears captured were the shhhhh....of the wind blowing between the strands of our hair, an occasional screech of a parakeet, and the sound of water hitting the stony banks of the lake...i had the desire of walking around the lake along its circumference in a 360 degree turn...the shells of dead molluscs, green grass, rocky protrusions, half eaten fish discarded by herons lay strewn on the banks.....

the lake was bigger as compared to my imagination or eye estimation...and a complete circumnavigation would have taken hours together....the setting sun invited darkness and there was no way we could ignore or reverse it....turning homewards was the only option..

A piece of Rajasthan in the heart of Hyderabad

Would like to start this blog quoting Tagore ...."Dekha hoy nai chokkhu meliya, ghorer hoite dui pa feliya; ekti dhaaner sheesher aagay ekti shishir bindu"...translating for my non bong readers (in case any), "didnt bother to see the beauty of a sparkling dew drop on the blade of a paddy leaf, just two steps away from my home, "........

.....for me, my experience with the "Aai Mata temple" of Jeedimetla would testify the above statement...i had been in Hyderabad for the last 2.5 years, and heard of this temple several times from the marwari grocery shop owners, and my fellow rajasthani neighbours....had the wavering flag from the peak of the temple didnt catch my attention, i would have never realized what i missed....a grand majestic temple of Vaishno devi (Aai Mata as referred to in Rajasthan)built on a similar structural frame as the imperial palaces of Rajasthan.... situated a kilometer away from my house, amidst the chemical factories at the junction of Jeedimetla Village and Shahpur nagar industrial complex, this temple is known only to a handful localites and rajasthanis living in and around that area.....tragedy lies in the fact that the 3 year old temple is oblivious to most hyderabadis, so much so, that there is no mention of the temple in internet, neither on my all time favourite ready reckoner 'Google Maps'....

the temple is pinkish/orangish in colour, (the trademark colour tint of most Rajasthani palaces, a shade very close to the one of Hawa mahal), constructed with stones which got shipped from Rajasthan...the temple has magnificient tombs with intricate designs engraved on them, and 'jharokhas', very typical of Rajasthani architechture, adding to the glory of the temple....a huge wooden door, with elaborate ornate designs of lotus flowers and leaves, coloured with golden foil and "meenakari" glasswork, leads one to the main worship area...3 deities preside there, the primary being Maa Vaishno Devi at the centre, with Gora Bhairav and radha Krishna on either sides... made with sparkling white marble in glass polish, the idols look gorgeous....dressed in a bright red 'Odhni' or 'Chunri'; and a golden yellow saree, the goddess looked stunningly attractive...

i conversed with the pandit to widen my knowledge of Maa Durga and her various forms... This is the excerpt of what i learnt from him: in Rajasthan, Vaishno devi appeared as a small girl and meditated in a cave for several years....some time later, Mata came to Rajasthan from Gujarat in a different form, and this time in the make up of an ordinary lady....since she migrated to rajasthan ( Gujarat se Rajasthan aayi thi, ) so she was called Aai Mata.....

right next to the temple, a marriage hall is getting constructed.... so hope to see the temple in a grander and more splendid shape in times to come...

Flip through the image gallery, and I am sure you would want to come over.

PS:: Driving directions:: from Bowenpally, hit the NH7....cross Suchitra X roads and proceed towards medchal...keep an eye to your left...near jeedimetla Village, you would find "Deewan Family Dhaba" to your left....take the lane right next to it and drive for 1 kilometer approximately.....ask the autowalas or any one where the Aai Mata temple is, and you will soon catch a glimpse of Rajasthan in Hyderabad