Visited Salarjung, Charminar & Mecca Masjid

An old saying goes like this: 'Ghar ki murgi daal barabar'. This is true in case of historical monuments also. Most of the visitors in any historical place are from outside the city in which the monument is located. The locals generally don't find the place as important since it has always been there for them. This situation has been fully true for me. Having stayed in NCR, I never visited Red Fort or Qutub Minar or Jantar Mantar or Lotus Temple. I have seen these places many times from outside while travelling but never actually went to see them during my stay at NCR. The same situation happened at Hyderabad also. I hadn't visited Salarjung Museum or Mecca Masjid or Charminar since the time I have come here. But this time, I decided to make mends. Today, I went to see all these three places.

I started off with Salarjung Museum. I reached there at 11:30AM and straight away headed for Musical Clock. I had heard a lot about this clock & hence didn't want to miss it. Crowd had already started gathering in the hall to watch the 'event'. Since I had some 15-20 minutes in my hand, I decided to visit Rebecca gallery. Here I must confess that I ain't among those persons who will look at the finer details of each work of art..Mostly, I'll just give a passing glance and move on.. I agree that the craftsman must have made something good and he/she must have got good money for it but what the heck, what is the need to drooool over it. So while in Rebecca Gallery, I just saw some sculptures and passed by..until I reached the statue of Veiled Rebecca.. and then, my heart stopped. Oh God, the statue was awsome. Now I know why people sing praises of it. The sheer beauty of the sculpture hooked me..I spent 4-5 mins just admiring the beauty of the statue . Now 4-5 mins is LOT for me considering that I hardly give couple of seconds to each work of art. I tried to think how Benzoni would have created such a masterpiece but was at loss of ideas.
Since the time was ticking by, I went back to the hall hoping to grab a seat but all the seats were already taken. So I stood by one side near the wall and waited for the 'moment'. At 12:00PM, a timekeeper came out and struck gong 12 times and then went back inside the clock. Whoa... what was that? Agreed that the clock is nicely built and has lot of dials..but still, do hundreds of people wait daily for this dng-dong thing?? It is just a watch folks and there will be thousands like this in people's homes. I didn't find anything special in it.. But seeing that the museum folks are earning lot just by showing a watch, I'm thinking that I should also buy one clock with a cuckoo and ask people to pay for watching it come out of watch at the stroke of every hour.. Well, it sounds like an idea to me. If ppl can go to see the timekeeper doing some ding dong, why they won't come to see a murgaa saying cuckroo-koo.. :)) Long story cut short, I didn't like the watch show. There were a lot of other collections too in the museum.. some egyptian, french, south indian, kashmiri etc etc etc..I sleepwalked thro' most of them. Some collections were really good..like the porcelain stuff and the wooden sculpture having two faces.. even the marble sculptures were good. I didn't like the modern art section though. Actually, it was not a problem with the collections, I should say that I don't understand this form of art. I saw a painting by M F Hussain and I couldn't decipher what it was meant to be. It looked to be some random array of colours.. why would someone keep it in a museum.. or for that matter, why would someone even call it a painting? LOL :)) So overall, this museum was worth mainly for statue of Veiled Rebecca and some other sculptures/crafts. The collection was good and I'm sure that the Salarjungs had loads of money to buy all those costly artefacts but then, I sleepwallked thro' all that stuff.

My take: To evoke interst from junta like me, the owners should allow us to get one souveneir free of cost or better still, they can allow us to take an artefact back home. Atleast, then we'll see everything closely and admire the art (and choose the best artifect for us too). OMG, what an idea sirjee....anybody listening???

Once Salarjung Museum was done, I headed off to Charminar. Charminar is 1.2 kms away from Salarjung and both Museum and Charminar are in old city area of Hyderabad. I went to the upper storey of Charminar and saw the surroundings from there. I could see the Salarjung Museum from there. Another thing I noted was that the autowallahs had taken over the road right below Charminar.. I thought to count the number of autos but then dropped the idea. I have posted a pic which I clicked. If you are reading this blog then probably you have got nothing better to do. So could you please count the autos for me and post in the comment section :) I'm just curious to know.

I spent some time at the top of Charminar and then headed for the Mecca Masjid. It is situated right next to Charminar. It is a big mosque and you'll find lot of pigeons just after the entry gate. I spent some time there. Saw some kids playing with pigeons and running after them. Yeah..seen so many times in movies when lots of pigeons fly...today, I was right there.. It is indeed a wonderful sight!!!

Oh yes, before I finish, wanted to mention the entry fees for each place:
Salarjung Museum: 10 bucks per Indian person.. Foreigners need to shelve INR 150.
PS: Photography not allowed inside Museum.
Charminar: INR 5
Mecca Masjid: No such charges...
Better to keep some change handy to avoid any issues!!!

Chalo I'm done for this post.. C u folks l8r..
Bye

My view: General Elections 2009

Finally, election results are out and it is UPA which has emerged as the biggest coalition with Congress coming out as the single largest party. In many ways, this election was perhaps the most important since 1977. At the time, the country was reeling under the emergency rule and people voted for a change. This time, the country was standing at the crossroads and people had to choose the way forward.

Previous 5 yrs of coalition politics had yielded many situations in which most of the partners were pulling govt in different directions. For example, Insurance bill, pension reforms bill, SEZ issue and most recently, the nuclear agreement. The end result: No clear cut policy framework thus sending confused signals to the world. In today's recessionist scenerio, this translates into even bigger problem because investment is meagre and you have to be ahead of the competition which other countries pose. Another important issue was that of terrorism. Who can forget the deadly Mumbai train blasts or the serial blasts in Bangalore, Ahmedabad & Delhi or the 26/11 terror attack in Mumbai. All these issues required a collective & firm response but the govt was too busy in setting its own house in order and in trying to last for the full 5 yrs. It won't be wrong to say that whenever the PM wanted to take some tough decision, he was always pegged back by his partners who were more keen towards their securing their regional goals/aspirations rather than actually do something for the larger good of nation and its people.

Most of these issues came because the 2004-2009 UPA government was made as a result of 'post-poll alliance' and involved far larger proprtion of regional parties. I am not much of a supporter of post-poll alliances. My reasoning is simple. The individual parties ask for people's mandate based on their own manifestos and promises. Once the results are announced, they simply shake hands with other so called 'like minded parties' and come out with a 'Common Mininum Program (CMP)'. Later on, such alliances form the govt and execute policies as per the CMP. But c'mon, to start with, people never voted for the individual parties due to the CMP. People voted for the parties due to each party's manifesto, which, due to post-poll coaltion govt & CMP, is dumped altogether. The CMP is often a much milder version of the mainfesto and as such, no major policy decisions are included in it. This amounts to a treachery towards the people of this nation. Even if one person tries to do something as per his party's manifesto, the allies will cry foul saying that it was not part of CMP. Hence, I strongly believe that if any alliances have to be made, they should be pre-poll only and the common manifestos should be launched for each of such alliances so that people can get information about their policies. This time, UPA has reached close to the majority mark and it appears that no major post-poll alliance will happen. So long, so good....

As far as the regional parties role in national scenerio is concerned, this election has been a watershed moment. Most of the regional parties' leaders don't have any knowledge about the challenges that face our nation. If you ask them any question related to foreign policy or any law, their faces will go blank. However, they play far too bigger role in deciding who gets to be PM. Also, most of these parties always try to bargain their support in parliament in exchange for favours at the state level. Only a few parties (like Left Front) abide and stand by their ideology. This time, before the results were declared, the regional leaders started blow their trumpet and list conditions for their support. Mulayam Singh offered support to ANY party in center if it sacks Mayawati's govt in UP. May I ask why?? Mulayam should understand that it is India, and not UP, which is at stake here. Mayawati offered support to make govt in center only if she is made PM and the justification that she gives is that she is a Dalit and hence, should be made PM. What kind of logic is that? Is this written anywhere in our constitution? Also, will Mayawati tomorrow go to United Nations and ask for the UN secretary general's post based on this reason? Moreover, if we go by Mayawati's logic, then we should be having a PM from each of the thousands of the castes and tribes that India has...Why should Mayawati alone get the post??? I also observed that couple of parties went ahead and formed number of fronts (like 3rd front, 4th front, Grand Alliance etc) but all that is done with only one idea: To get the maximum bargaining power. Fortunately, in these elections, most of the regional parties have lost ground to national parties. This will reduce their interference in the central govt and let it take decisions for the benefit of the country as a whole.

Overall, I feel that this verdict is for stability....the party/alliance doesn't really matter. UPA has triumphed but it could well have been NDA. People have seen too much of political brickbatting over past years and are tired of it. We, the people, are not demanding anything fancy like spacewalks or house on moon etc from the govt. The problems that we face today are the same that we faced 50 yrs ago like jobs, house, water, food, power, roads, transport, safety etc. We want solutions and not excuses from govt. If even now the govt doesn't deliver the goods, people will surely teach them a fitting lesson in the next elections.

Signing off in hope of a better future for all of us...

P.S: Just like most of my fellow Indians, I am not associated with any political party. I only want a govt that delivers the goods.

AC bus stop..literally :))

I couldn't help smiling when I saw the AC bus stop near Chilkur Balaji Temple. The bus stop was 'naturally Air-Conditioned'!!! Didn't get it?? See the adjoining photograph :)) (try to read the small board affixed on the tree trunk!!!)

Visited Chilkur Balaji Temple (Visa Temple)

Thanks to a holiday on May 1st, last weekend was an extended one. Due to soaring temperatures here in Hyderabad, most of my time was spent at home. However, on Sunday (May 3rd), I, along with my roomie, visited 'Chilkur Balaji Temple' on the outskirts of Hyderabad. The temple is dedicated to Sri Balaji Venkateshwara & is situated on the banks of Osmansagar at a distance of 25kms from Hyderabad. It is also famously known as 'Visa Temple'. People hold this temple in high regards. There is generally huge rush of devotees at this temple and chants of 'Govinda' fill the air.

We decided to go there early morning to beat some of the rush and hence woke up at 4:30AM. Phew..I don't remember when I woke up so early last time!!! At 5:30AM, we started from home to Mehandipattnam. Lot of state govt run buses are available from here to the temple. At 6:30AM, we boarded a state govt. AC bus. It took just 45 mins for the bus to reach the temple. Though quite a stretch of the road is being widened on the way, the bus ride was still smooth. On reaching there, we immediately went for the darshan. The whole place was well managed. There was no jumping the queue and the administrators made sure that each and every person follows the rules. Well afterall, everybody is equal in the house of the Almighty. It took us about 1 hr to complete darshan of the Lord. I was also impressed to know that the temple is a hundiless temple i.e you cannot make a donation to the temple by putting money in a designated box (called hundi).

Later on, we went to see Osmansagar. It is at a walkable distance from the temple. I had heard that Hyderabad gets its water supply from this water body..not sure though how true it is. Due to summers, the water had receded and lot of dead fish were seen lying on the shore. We didn't spent much time there and came back to bus stop to board a bus to Hyderabad. Surprisingly, the same AC bus in which we came to this place was waiting at the bus stop. We quickly hopped into the bus and started our journey back home.

Charminar

Last week, I went to old city for some work..It is an enchanting place with Charminar in the backdrop. Clicked this fotu!!!

Of "planned" trips, IPL2 & more

I have lately realized that I make lot of plans but most of them never see the light of day. During past 3 months, I have "agreed and given more than a thought" to visit Hampi (Karnatka), Kanha national park (Madhya Pradesh) and SriSailam (Andhra Pradesh)..but as fate will have it, none of those plans materialized. It would have been wonderful experience to go to all these places..but always, something or other came up at last moment which kept one or other in the group occupied. I love travelling to new places & I reallllly don't mind the effort involved in it, but then there is no fun in going to these places w'out frenz.

But hey, all was not lost. I did sneak to Nagarjunasagar Dam along with frenz. It is 125 sq km long water body in Guntur district(Andhra Pradesh). We also saw Ettipottala Waterfall there. All in all, a good way to spend a holiday!!! And oh yes, I also visited Bangalore recently to catch up with some old dilli wallee junta :))... just to reload some good ol' memories!!!

Nowadays, with the temperatures in most parts of India being above 40 degrees, leisure travelling is off the menu. Most of the people(including yours truly) have been busy killing time by watching IPL2 matches. Sadly, the tournament has been shifted off to South Africa. Last year, I watched a match in the stadium and it was an exhilarating experience...especially those Mexican waves were simply stupendous. I so much wanted matches to happen in India so that I can again go and enjoy the games..but well, nothing bigger than the players' security especially after what happened to Sri Lankan cricket team in Pakistan.

This year's IPL has been more balanced on-field contest between batters and bowlers. Tough to make any predictions on the winner yet. But off the field, we already have a winner... and it is a blog written 'apparently' by a Kolkata Knight Riders player under the nickname 'Fake IPL Player' and it has become a huge hit. It is a hillarious blog taking lot of jibes at various people involved with game..Don't know how true it is though!!! You can read it here: http://fakeiplplayer.blogspot.com

Apart from IPL, the other important event which is happening nowadays is General Elections. Lot of political parties are slugfesting in these matches...Everybody has got their heavyweights in the ring trying to win maximum seats so as to be in better bargaining position. The polling %age uptil now has been dismal to say the least. I thought that the people must have awakened in past 5 years but alas, it was not to be. A voting %age of less than 50% should ring alarm bells in the minds of powers that be. Questions regarding this need to be asked and answers should be found. Why this happened? Is it that people no longer believe in the democratic system??? I don't think so.. I think that they still believe in the democratic system but they don't believe in the "people" that run this system. However, not casting vote is not a solution. If we all want to change this, we need to tackle the bull by its horns... Each one of us needs to fulfill our responsibility by choosing a better leader.. and just in case you don't like any leader, you can use section 49-O to say you don't want to vote for anybody!!! I think that Election Commission should add another button in EVM for this option. Until that happens, this rule can't be properly utilized.

Adios.