Dreams From a Traveling Life: Hyderabad

We arrived in Hyderabad this afternoon and have had a few rare hours off. We have literally been going all day and into the evening for the past week.

We had lunch and a beer at a roof top restaurant where they served endless appetizers along with a buffet.

Courtney and susanna, of IREX, and Dana

A first - after our greeter from Jubilee Hills Public School, Amrita, left us at the roof top restaurant, we crossed a street! This may seem truly a baby step, but when you are still becoming accustomed to Indian traffic, it really feels like a major accomplishment. We were told by our walking tour guide Arun in Bangalore that you have to look the driver who is rapidly approaching or almost upon you in the eye, hold up your hand, and continue walking. This is why everyone honks, without exception. They are just communicating that they are about to pass or that you should not slam into them, or that you should please hurry because you are definitely blocking their path. In other words, Indian drivers have a sixth sense about how to negotiate chaotic traffic through sheer physical presence, accompanied by a dialect of car horns and cycle beeps that punctuate every aggressive demand.

The second day we were here we went on an all-day tour of the city. We left our hotel at 7:00 am, went to the State tourism office building, then got on a bus that dated back some decades. In India there is very little ari conditioning, and this bus was no exception, but once it got rolling air came streaming in from the open windows, helping to alleviate the sweltering heat. Apart from Courtney, Susanna, Dana and I, there was another American teacher, also fairly new to Hyderabad, and her four young children, Farhwen, another teacher from the school we are visiting (Jubilee Hills Public School) as well as many other passengers, all Indian. There was a nice multi-generational family and a law student who befriended us, and all the passengers seemed to look out for each other. Our guide was a man named Muhammed who painstakingly translated everything he said into English, twice or more, just in case we missed it the first time. When he felt he had to call the attention of everyone during the tour, he said, "Tourism!"

Our fist stop was Birla Mandir, a Hindi temple on a hilltop, with beautiful artwork and peaceful gardens. Cameras are not allowed inside, but I took pictures of the exterior.

Hyderabad was founded in 1591 by Muhammed Quli Qutb Shah, fifth Sultan of a dynasty of rulers form nearby Golkonda. This dynasty ruled until the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb conquered the zone in the late 17th century and established another line of rulers called the Nizams of Hyderabad. The Nizams ruled in compliance with the British for more than two centuries.
Many of the historical sites therefore date back to these dynasties.

Once known as a pearl and diamond trading center (the famous diamonds of Golkonda come frome here) Hyderabad is now an industrial and IT hub.

We also went to the Salar Jung Museum, the Chowmahalla Palace, Golkonda Fort, and the Shilparamam Cultural Society, which has a great flea market. It was a lot to see in just one day, but it was a very interesting trip. We were on our way to the Golkonda Fort when the bus came to a halt, and did not move any further. Apparently there was a HIndu festival going on at the fort, and the traffic from participants had caused a traffic jam. So we all got out and walked the mile or so up the hill to the location of the fort, which is built directly from the rocky hills of Hyderabad. On the way, we saw the cause of the jam: two buses, going in opposite directions, were unable to pass each other. After much shouted advice and banging on the sides of the buses from passersby, they managed to edge past each other with barely an inch to spare between them. During all this, scooters were honking and whizzing around them on both sides, and pedestrians were weaving in and out of the melee like ants. The only thing to do was to keep moving because stopping meant running the risk of getting crushed by a bus or rammed by a scooter.

Right now it is Ramadan, or it is called here, Ramzan. This means that Muslims, which make up a significant portion of the citizenry, are fasting all day. I admired Farhwen's fortitude as she did not eat or even drink water all day long. As the afternoon wore on, Farhwen asked if we would mind skipping the very end of the tour as the time for breaking her fast was getting close and she wanted to go home. Although the tour was fascinating, I was relieved because I was exhausted, along with everyone else I believe. So we left the bus, and the driver from the school picked us up and brought Farhwen home before dropping us off at the hotel. After all, the next day we had to be at school. I think all of us slept soundly that night after hiking around the sweltering city.

Below are some pictures from this day.