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Hyderabad 2010: Day 1 — Eat Street, Charminar and Mecca Masjid

By Mithun Divakaran
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Jul 31, 2011
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Hyderabad, India, Travel

Date: 26th December 2010

After beginning this year with a visit to the UAE, then Singapore, Malaysia & Thailand later in the year, I capped off my 2010 travels with a trip to Hyderabad. The main purpose of the visit was to attend a friend’s wedding, but we (my usual travel buddies Ramesh and Loiyumba) decided to go a bit early to do a bit of sight-seeing.

This wasn’t my first visit to the capital of Andhra Pradesh. I first came to Hyderabad in 2002 to visit my brother when he worked there briefly.

In some ways I was looking forward to this trip because it was after a span of nearly 9 years that I got to travel by train again. We boarded the Kacheguda Express from Bangalore Cantonment station in the evening.

Kachiguda Express Indian train sleeper bed Loiyumba — Loi didn't wait too long to cuddle up in his sleeping bag and doze off

We arrived in Kacheguda station (not Hyderabad’s main railway station) at a chilly 5:45am. We had reserved a room for us three at Nand International, a nearby hotel, so we figured we could walk it there. But after walking for around a minute or two, we couldn’t spot the hotel and the auto drivers we passed by were telling us they could take us there for just Rs. 10. Figuring it was cold and we had luggage, we got in… and literally 5 seconds later, up the same Station road we were at, we were dropped at Nand International! Pissed at the fact all he had to tell us was to walk a few steps further to get here, we shouted at the auto driver — but relented from ruining our morning and just paid him Rs. 10 to get lost.

We checked in to our three person bedroom/family room.

Nand International three bedroom Kacheguda Hyderabad hotel — Costs Rs. 870 ($19/€13) per night for this centrally air-conditioned room

Since we were still sleepy, we crashed for a few hours.

Got up around noon, had tea and pondered about where to have lunch. In a city famed for its food, we weren’t keen on hitting up the street food joints near Charminar straight away. So we decided to go to a place called Eat Street.

Eat Street Necklace road Hyderabad India — Cost nearly Rs. 60 to get here by auto from Kacheguda Station Road

Eat Street is just some food court by Hussain Sagar Lake, one of the largest man made lakes in India. We passed through scanners (apparently security is pretty tight in Hyderabad) and walked in to a not-so-busy food court.

We checked out the various stalls, some open open for business… some not. You get your usual choice of South Indian, biriyani (of course), chaats, western fast food, etc. But despite being in the city famous for its biriyani, I wasn’t going to eat it from just about anywhere.

Eat Street biriyani fried chicken fries Hyderabad — So I had burger, fried chicken strips and fries instead. Lame, I know.

Ramesh and Loi both tried out the biriyani and they described the food as: “sucks” and “horrible”. So there.

Eat Street Hussain Sagar lake Mithun Ramesh Hyderabad — Loiyumba took this photograph using his camera

Hussain Sagar lake Hyderabad India — Hussain Sagar lake (Photograph by Loiyumba)

Hussain Sagar lake Buddha statue Hyderabad India — There are boat rides in the evening to go to the Buddha statue (Photograph by Loiyumba)

Post-lunch, we already feeling a sense of ‘boredom’ and wondered what to do next.

Hussain Sagar lake park tarot reader afternoon Hyderabad — We left Eat Street and aimlessly walked through the park around the lake

Hyderabad book fair 2010 stalls people India — There was book fair going on

Hyderabad book fair 2010 stalls India — It was the annual Hyderabad Book Fair

Hyderabad book fair 2010 stalls afternoon India — Considering none of us have the habit of reading books much, we left fairly quickly

Prasads Imax theatre Hyderabad mall — Crossed the road over to Prasads

The one good thing about Hyderabad is that they have an IMAX screen, and it can be found at Prasads on Tank Bund Road. The security was pretty tight before entering here as well (I take it’s because of the Telangana issue?). We checked out the mall a bit before going to collect our pre-booked tickets for Tron which was playing.

After checking out Prasads, we stepped out, took an autorickshaw and went to see Charminar, Hyderabad’s iconic structure.

Charminar market bazaar Hyderabad — There are many old bazaars leading up to Charminar... and traffic was very congested

We eventually asked the auto driver to stop and decided to walk it further up.

Charminar pearl bazaar shops Hyderabad India — Plenty of pearl stores here, Hyderabad pearls are quite famous

Charminar fort Hyderabad India — The road goes all around Charminar

Charminar Tiffin centre South Indian food Hyderabad — I ate from here on the third day, really good South Indian food!

Charminar literally translates to “four towers”. Minar or minaret being the towers or pointy structures you find in just about every mosque and char which just means four.

Charminar fort blue sky Hyderabad India — Built by ruler Qutb Shah in 1591 AD

Charminar fort entry visitors Hyderabad — There was a queue going half way around Charminar

Charminar fort street kids old coins Hyderabad India — Old coins for sale. Genuineness unconfirmed.

Charminar fort visitors queue Hyderabad India — We queued up, paid the Rs. 5 entry fee and entered

Climbing stairs Charminar minaret Hyderabad — You climb narrow stairs up one of the minars

Charminar stairs minar Hyderabad — The walls were quite cold

Charminar balcony view woman Hyderabad — You obviously get a better picture of the surrounding from up here

But walking through the halls, I couldn’t really help but not ignore something.

Charminar inside writing damage wall Hyderabad — The walls

Charminar wall damage inscribed Hyderabad — It's quite apparent how badly the walls have been vandalized the past few years by callous visitors

Charminar ceiling islamic architecture Hyderabad — At least the ceilings were hard to reach

Charminar wall names scratched Hyderabad — It's an appalling sight in many of our heritage monuments

No writing damaging walls sign Charminar Hyderabad — Despite the efforts to curb the practice and a law making it a punishable offence...

Charminar wall writing damaging wall Hyderabad — ... even to this day, to some worthless citizens of this country, it's still a joke. As if these historical monuments are just another building to them.

Laad bazaar bangles street Charminar Hyderabad — Laad bazaar a.k.a 'bangles street' -- guess why it's called so

Charminar main hall ceiling design Hyderabad — The open hall in between the four minarets

Charminar ceiling pigeons Hyderabad — Five pigeons

Charminar traffic view from top Hyderabad — Traffic is quite messy (and very busy) around Charminar

Mecca Masjid view from Charminar Hyderabad — Mecca Masjid, where we were headed next

Palace opposite Mecca Masjid Charminar Hyderabad — Nizamia Unani Hospital, opposite Mecca Masjid

Charminar circle view down Hyderabad — It was time to head back down

Charminar steps down minar tower Hyderabad — Down another minar we went

Charminar done, we decided to sit in a cafe to have something to drink.

Charminar restaurant falooda Hyderabad — Ramesh played it safe with Pepsi, while myself and Loi had *extremely* sweet falooda

Gajini-ki-shaadi film poster Hyderabad India — As seen inside the cafe

Gajini-ki-shaadi Hyderabad poster — Looks like there is a parallel film industry within Hyderabad making low-budget unofficial sequels to mainstream film releases 🙂

Excessive sugar intake complete, we decided to quickly step inside Makkah Masjid.

Nizamia Unani hospital opposite Makkah Masjid Hyderabad — The markets are quite bustling in these parts

Mecca Masjid mosque Hyderabad India — Mecca Masjid is the biggest mosque in Hyderabad and one of the oldest in India

You have to leave your bag and shoes at the counter and walk barefoot once past the gates.

Mecca Masjid sunset pigeon feeding Hyderabad India — People had gathered to see hundreds of pigeons being fed grains

Mecca Masjid evening pigeon feeding Hyderabad — Not very exciting... but still

Mecca Masjid pigeons flying evening Hyderabad — It's always such a photo moment when hundreds of them fly away at once

Mecca Masjid entrance hall Hyderabad — I decided to check out the mosque

Mecca Masjid prayer hall muslim Hyderabad India — The main prayer hall

Mecca Masjid prayer hall mosque Hyderabad India — Wonder what those honeycomb-like bags hold

Mecca Masjid side visitors Hyderabad — Went around the mosque

Mecca Masjid pigeons evening lamp posts Hyderabad — Pigeons, pigeons... there are a lot of them

Mecca Masjid pigeons electric wires Hyderabad — Needless to say, there's a lot of pigeon poop on the ground

We left the mosque and decided to call it a day.

Punch Mohalla Charminar Hyderabad — Took a rickshaw back to our hotel

Charminar bakery road Hyderabad evening — That's a heap of bread crumbs and rusk being sold in bulk. Not very hygienic in these conditions I would presume.

Once back in Nand International, I was quite cheesed off. Despite claiming to provide 24 hours hot water, when I opened the tap, I only got cold water. Went to the reception to complain and the man with a straight face told me it only comes on from 6am to 6pm. I then raised my voice and told him “well, that’s not what it says on your website!” and demanded I need hot water as it was quite cold (which it was outside). Only then did I get a bucket of hot water. So a big thumbs down for Nand International because of that.

Post rant, we concluded day one in Hyderabad with dinner at nearby three-star hotel restaurant where we had, yes, biriyani.

It was alright, but I would have much better biriyani in the next few days.

Photos from the 2010 Lal Bagh Botanical Garden Flower Show, Bangalore

By Mithun Divakaran
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Aug 10, 2010
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India, Travel

Date: August 08, 2010

In the 7 1/2 years I have been in Bangalore, I’ve never seen the annual flower show held at Lal Bagh Botanical Gardens leading up to August 15th (India’s Independence Day). So this time, I told myself I wasn’t going to miss it.

Also, I haven’t clicked in a while.

So on a bright Sunday morning, I actually forced myself to get up at 7:30am and made my way to Lal Bagh with my Canon 7D and Tamron 28-75 f2.8 lens in tow.

Lal Bagh had it’s usual early morning joggers but I wanted to make it here early before it got too crowded.

Lal Bagh Botanical gardens entrance — Lal Bagh on a rather calm Sunday morning

I paid the entrance fee of Rs. 40 (it’s Rs. 30 on weekdays and I didn’t qualify for the Rs. 10 ticket for children either). As I made my way in, first up was a vegetables.

Boring. Then I realized the main flower show was inside the glasshouse.

Lal Bagh glasshouse from steps — The Lal Bagh glasshouse

Every year, the organizers put up one big show piece all done up using flowers. Last year’s big attraction was a dinosaur but this year, the organizers paid tribute to our soldiers.

Lal Bagh flower show India Gate vertical — India Gate

And with that, I began clicking…

Bangalore Lal Bagh flower show HAL first prize — There were a lot of 1st prize signs, so I'm not sure who the clear winner was

Bangalore Lal Bagh flower show Petunias — From a distance, these looked like sushi rolls to me

Lal Bagh flower show India Gate water sprinkling — India Gate was sprinkled with water internally from time to time

Lal Bagh flower show India Gate panorama — This is a panorama comprised of 7 shots

Bangalore Lal Bagh flower show salvia — With the dripping paint, more like 'Saliva'

Bangalore Lal Bagh flower show plastic — I don't think this was real

Bangalore Lal Bagh flower china astor — If only sharpening pencils produced such beauty

Bangalore Lal Bagh flower show BDA linaria — Not to be confused with Bangalore Muncipality's 'malaria'

Bangalore Lal Bagh flower show cockscomb red — This was the most interesting looking flower they had at the show -- called the Cockscomb

Bangalore Lal Bagh flower show cockscomb pink — Everybody wanted to touch it

Bangalore Lal Bagh flower show cockscomb flower — From a distance, this looked like cauliflower flower(?)*

Bangalore Lal Bagh flower show pink rose dew — The good old fashioned rose

Bangalore Lal Bagh flower honeybee flying away — Spent a long time shooting this bee

Lal Bagh flower show India Gate side — There were a LOT of photographers...

Bangalore Lal Bagh flower show macro photographer — ... and I wasn't the only one enjoying macro photography 🙂

Lal Bagh glasshouse panorama — If I had my Canon 10-22, I could have got this photo in just one frame -- but this is comprised of 8 shots

All in all, I was very happy with the photos I took. I don’t usually shoot macro, simply because before I bought the Tamron 28-75mm, I couldn’t have been bothered. But now, I’m hooked!

Bangalore Lal Bagh flower show sleeping dog — Man's best friend couldn't be bothered. Sunday after all...

*if you are wondering whether I often have food on my mind, the answer is ‘yes’

Kerala 2009: Vembanad Lake, Kumarakom

By Mithun Divakaran
/
Apr 05, 2010
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India, Kerala, Travel

Date: 28th August 2009

Though the main purpose of this trip was to attend a friend’s wedding, as always, being an out-of-town wedding, I’d use the opportunity to travel around. This time, it was a chance to explore a bit of south Kerala. Being from north Kerala and having only visited Trivandrum years back, I’ve longed to visit the parts of Kerala that are now most synonymous with tourism in Kerala.

We (me and a friend) left Bangalore city from K.R. Puram station in the evening and headed for Ernakulam, an overnight train ride that took nearly 12 hours. Upon arriving (really) early in the morning, we got off the train only to board the one next to it. An hour-long journey took us to our friend’s hometown in Kottayam. Given that we had a day before his wedding — and the fact that his place had little to offer in terms of “tourist sights,” we decided to head for the tourist village of Kumarakom.

When we heard Kumarakom wasn’t very far from Kottayam city, we thought of saving some time by taking an auto. Then the auto driver said it would come to around Rs. 160 (€2.50/$3). So instead, we just waited for the KSRTC bus — which cost us Rs. 6 (too low to convert!) per person. Clearly the better option.

30 minutes later, we were at the “jetty” stop, pretty much the starting point for the boat rides to the lake. There are other roads on either side of the stream that will lead you to the many resorts that surround Vembanad Lake, the biggest lake in Kerala.

We opted for the 1-hour boat ride from the KTDC which cost Rs. 350 (€5/$7). (We didn’t try bargaining because these rides were conducted by the tourism department and it was written on a board there. But you could try.)

Kumarakom lake houseboats backwaters — These houseboats can cost anywhere from Rs. 3,000 to Rs. 16,000 per day

Kumarakom lake houseboats kerala — The prices vary based on the amenities available on each boat

The backwaters leading up to the lake were lined up with houseboats and smaller boats parked on either side. It was an odd mix of luxury resorts among houses belonging to villagers, both living off a tourism economy.

The backwaters eventually lead out to Vembanad Lake.

And even though the pictures may not give you the scale, trust me, it’s big!

Kumarakom Bird Sanctuary is located on the east coast of the lake, which explained all the birds flying around and getting a better view of the lake.

The boat ride is very relaxing and I would definitely recommend taking it at around sunset.

Mithun kumarakom lake boat ride — Me, about to fall asleep from the lazy ride

Kumarakom has dozens of resorts by the lake. From high-end properties from the Taj Group and the famous Kumarakom Lake resort to mid-range offerings farther away. If you can afford it, it really is a great option for a romantic sojourn.

Back on land, we paid up and took a bus back to Kottayam. The next morning was our friend’s wedding, the venue being the local church.