Hyderabad Tour

Well, at the outset I must caution the neutral reader that I shall not remain neutral. In fact, you stand cautioned by the fact that my opinion of Hyderabad is rather biased, due largely to the summer heat. Clearly, one must never ever venture to tour Hyderabad in the summer. Make it in the winter and maybe you will like it more.

Hyderabad, the capital city of the state of Andhra Pradesh has developed in recent years at a fast pace. So much so that it is considered to be at par with Bangalore. Well, the Telugu speaking populace would claim Hyderabad or Cyberabad to be the IT hot spot of the country, whilst the populace of Bangalore will vouch for itself. Let’s just keep it at the fact that both have grown very fast in recent years and that both have traversed the IT path in a major way. By the way, did you know that the Indian HQs of Microsoft and Oracle are in Hyderabad?

Anyways, as I was saying, summer is the time to avoid Hyderabad. The temperatures soar above 40 degrees Celsius, not the exact comfort to travel around. Make it in the winter, when the temperatures remain at a pleasant 16-18 degrees.

The airport is situated at Begumpet, and is well connected to important parts of the country and abroad. The main railway station is Secunderabad. In fact, Secunderabad and Hyderabad are twin cities connected by the Tank Bund. However, many are not aware that there is another major railway station - Hyderabad Decan, at Nampally, which is closer to the Old City. As a traveler, perhaps this is where you would like to be.

There are two trains from Howrah Station that travel to this city. One, the Falaknuma Express, and two, the East Coast Express. Go for the Falaknuma Express, it is faster, has a pantry car and does not stop at some 58 stations like the East Coast Express.

There are many places to stay in Hyderabad. There are budget and economy hotels to really luxurious ones. Take your pick. I wish to refrain from making any advertisements for the Hyderabad hotel industry.

For my part, I stayed at a Government Guest House, thanks to a kindness of a gentleman whom I wish not to name. All I can say is that this Guest House is in Basheer Bagh, really not far away from the older part of the city, and also very close to the Assembly House.

I will detail the various places later. For now, I would just like to mention that I couldn’t travel like a tourist due to the oppressive heat.

And would like to leave you with a picture of the Charminar, which supposedly is the hallmark of the city.

Going to Hyderabad

I am going to Hyderabad tomorrow. Accompanying my wife on her training and hoping to visit some places of interest in Hyderabad. However, the temperatures there are scorching. In fact, I was reading about Hyderabad in a website and it said something like - if you were planning to tour Hyderabad in the summer, you must have survived the Saharan (or sub-Saharan, i don't remember which) climate for 6 years, and should have done splendidly well. Not very encouraging, is it?

Anyways, I had to go, and if I can, I will visit some of the places. Of course, I also intend to shoot lot many pictures and hope to post some here soon.

For now, I may be off blogging for a while. I want to enjoy my vacation. So wish me luck.

India Gate

A ten-minute walk from Bangabhavan, where I had put up in New Delhi, passing by Max Mueller Bhavan, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan and Baroda House, I reached India Gate. The 42 metre tall India Gate is situated such that many important roads branch out from it. At the heart of New Delhi, on Rajpath and leading to the Rashtrapati Bhavan, it is a monument built by Edwin Lutyens in memory of the Indian soldiers who laid down their lives in World War I and Afgan Wars. However, many of these roads closer to the Gate have been closed to vehicular traffic due to terrorist threats in recent years.

The shrine itself is a black marble cenotaph with a rifle placed on its barrel, crested by a soldier's helmet. Each face of the cenotaph has inscribed in gold the words "Amar Jawan" (Immortal Warrior). This cenotaph is itself placed on an edifice which has on its four corners four flames that are perpetually kept alive.

Inscribed on top of India Gate in capital letters is the line:

To the dead of the Indian armies who fell and are honoured in France and Flanders Mesopotamia and Persia East Africa Gallipoli and elsewhere in the near and the far-east and in sacred memory also of those whose names are recorded and who fell in India or the north-west frontier and during the third Afgan war.

The names of the soldiers who died in these wars are inscribed on the walls.

Unfortunately, during the time I was there in Delhi, the India Gate was not as brightly lit up as it usually is. Interestingly though, when I walked up to it, a bigger area was cordoned off, as the Navy Day was being celebrated. Hence I had to be satisfied by looking from a distance at one the most important, significant and beautiful monuments of modern time in Delhi.

The second image has been captured using optical zoom only. Digital zoom was not required and is usually avoided as it stretches the image and leads to poor quality shots.

Delhi Agra Trip

Well, I never much liked New Delhi and this last trip in the first week of December did not help much either. In fact, what was surprising was that winter had not stepped in. It was rather pleasant, for a change, because I have always found Delhi to be either too hot or too cold for comfort.

This trip also took me to Fatehpur Sikri and Agra, which was thoroughly enjoyable. One thing I must mention that I liked a lot in Agra was that one could book a car right outside the station and this booth is manned by Railway police. Not only that, they would give the bill to the customer, who upon the satisfactory completion of the tour would pass it on to the car owner or driver, who would in turn submit it with the Railway police to get the amount. And all the while the amount will be with the Railway police. Cool idea.

Travel guide – Book Taj Express from Hazrat Nizamuddin in Delhi to Agra. Book the return tickets for the same day, unless, of course you would like to see the Taj Mahal in moonlight. This train leave Nizamuddin at 7.15 am and reaches Agra Cantt around 10.15 am. Either book a car for the trip or get bus tickets for a conducted tour of the Taj Mahal, Agra Fort and Fatehpur Sikri. You would be back at the station by 6.30 pm and your train is scheduled to leave Agra at 6.50pm. The Taj Express would reach Nizamuddin around 10.10pm.

Travel tip – Do not carry any food articles, wires, cables, chargers, inflammable articles, intoxicants, and the like into any of these monuments. Carry enough water with yourself, but leave the bottles in your car/bus.

Travel request – Please keep these places clean.

I was shocked by the wretchedness and dirty pathway when I walked from the Shahjahan Garden Gate towards the Taj Mahal. The authorities must take note of such issues. Visiting such an ancient site, one of the wonders of the world, and walking through dirt and dung are not very inspiring and flattering.

Here's one picture of the Taj Mahal.