Golconda & Charminar

On Sunday I had breakfast with Sumedha at the Westin hotel. He had a membership which allowed him to take a guest with him during the weekend. Tempted as I was to have another dosa, I could not resist a good British fry-up - bacon, eggs, sausage, tomato & baked beans - it was great! I enjoyed talking with Sumedha - a very cool bloke. He was originally from Sri Lanka but had worked in New Jersey and also Mumbai.  he told me about a place in NJ that they call 'Little India' - somewhere near Edison - will have to check it out when we get back.

Golconda Fort

Light Show

Later in the day Mazhur (driver) picked me up and we headed into the Old City - I wanted to visit Golconda Fort again. I'd been there a couple of times before, but  not on this trip yet. The fort dates back to 1143 - that's pretty old in my book. Seven Kings of the Qutub Sahi dynasty ruled over Golconda from 1518 to 1687.  The fort was built on a hill that overlooks Hyderabad. It's quite a climb in the heat of late afternoon, but worth it - the views are amazing. Halfway up there's a mosque, and then a bit further up is a Hindu temple - it's odd how often you see these two close together in Hyderabad. The place was busy, especially at the top - seems to be a common place for families to come on a Sunday. I waited at the top until the sun set, then headed back down the fort to the bottom. Once there I noticed that the walls were being lit up, creating a spectacular vision.

Golconda

On Tuesday evening after another long day at work, I asked Mahur if he could take me to see Charminar at night, since I had heard it would be lit up for the Biodiversity conference that was happening in Hyderabad. The traffic was unusually light, mainly because in Indian Prime Minister had visited earlier in the day and a lot of people had stayed at home fearing bad traffic! We arrived at Charminar and was astounded at the sight - yellow, green and blue lights had transformed the mosque. The colours produced an incredible image. I spent the next hour walking around the structure talking far too many photos.

Charminar