Hyderabad!

Chowmahalla Palace

Well I just got back from the lovely city of Hyderabad in Andhra Pradesh. Hyderabad is India's fifth largest city and we went there for a South India excursion during the Easter weekend. As I first arrived in Hyderabad, I kept thinking that the buildings were extremely tall compared to those in Kolkata because it seemed to me that they had built the city up instead of out (in Kolkata they try to squash as much as they can into a single street so the roads are more narrow and everything is packed together). I liked the city a lot because it seemed more modern and new.

A city built from the ground UP

After setting up at the hotel, we went to eat at Chutney's for lunch. I ate a dosa, which is a traditional South Indian dish (dad if they have it at any of the restaurants you go to, you should try it), and then we headed off to visit some historical sites.

Inside the palace

The first place we visited was the Chowmahalla Palace. The palace was owned by the nizams of Hyderabad (the Muslim royalty that were once some of the richest people in the world). While wandering around we came to see how the city had changed from its once rich cultural and historical heritage, to a modern city more rooted in contemporary ideals. The palace was gorgeous with its hanging chandeliers and paintings, but it is more like a museum now than anything. The current nizam of Hyderabad has lost much of his fortune and the heir isn't apparent because of the number of offspring and grandchildren he possesses. The nizams once owned 5 of the most precious stones in existence (including the Hope diamond) because the area surrounding Hyderabad once had some of the best mines in the world. Everything in their lives was opulent, but now much of it has gone to ruin.

The clock tower at the palace still chimes

After leaving the palace, we hopped on the bus and realized that it wasn't working so we had to get off and wait until it was fixed. We ended up waiting an hour for the bus to start working but in the meantime we watched a large group of boys and men play cricket in a dusty field. The seemed to really enjoy us as spectators and even had Erik bowl a ball or two. Soon after they started to flock over and we had tons of them asking for pictures and for us to sing/dance. I was asked to pose for many pictures and one man even asked to dance with me (to which I was too embarrassed and politely declined). Like many people in India, these boys seemed to be entranced with my white skin and blonde hair and as I was leaving one even pinched my cheek and said, "Goodbye cutie pie!" (I was extremely close to slapping him for the comment and pinching). I have decided that next time I will stay firmly on the bus if this happens and just watch the cricket game from my cushioned window seat.

Jagannath Temple

Seeing as the bus finally started running, we quickly made our way to the Jagannath Temple in order to take some pictures and tour around. The temple was very beautiful but it was rather late at night so it had become harder to see how lavish it truly was. We walked around in our bare feet and took some pictures of statues lining the walls. I also took a very nice picture of Ganesh's mouse statue for my mom seeing as I know she loves mice ;) After a short while we got back on the bus, went to the hotel, ate dinner, and I promptly fell asleep.

A mouse statue at the Jagannath temple

Another picture for my mom...a huge dead rat right outside our hotel