September 4, 2011

Hyderabad, a city in our southern neighborhood sports quite a few attractions to merit a family visit in a non-summer vacation (summer is punishingly hot). Ramoji Rao film city which provides day long entertainment, the mock snow world, the marble wonder Birla mandir, Golconda fort, Salar Jung museum full of medieval antiquities and most importantly, its sumptuous variety of both veg and non - veg food (including the famous Hyderabadi Biriyani) are few of them. But the true charm of the city and its life lay at and around its most renowned landmark Charminar.

A bus from almost everywhere in the main city of Hyderabad takes you to Afzal Gunj and if you are not that scrupulous about travelling conveniences, a shared rickshaw is the most exciting mode to reach there. Mere five rupees can fetch you a prized seat beside the driver and you may take it provided your arms are strong enough to cling on to the metal during a bumpy ride. You feel like accompanied by a close family in an auto packed with six or seven people. I had six co travelers: 2 Burkah clad old ladies, two young tourists and two students. As the beautiful mansions pass, you feel like a privileged invitee to Nizaam’s private Banquet; taken along with your family in a jumping wheeled palanquin.

Thanking the auto driver for zipping past a million pedestrians in no time, you turn and look for Charminar, only to find a unending series of shops like a gigantic line of Yachts floating in a ever swelling sea of humanity. The first striking fact here is life. Men and women saunter and shop here in such great numbers that it looks typical representation of India, so populous and overwhelmingly lower middle class. The petty shop keepers throw all the tantrums to grab the attention of potential customers. The number of people shopping and going up and down the street is astonishing, making it a unique extension of Hyderabad, which in no way is like any other of its quarters. In a nutshell: it is a gigantic shopping plaza for the masses.

All the streets streaming out of Charminar quarter are full of shops. The total number is estimated to be 14,000. Laad bazaar area has plenty of shops for you to pamper your women. The bangles sparkle in their cases, colorful sarees glitter from a height, draping the headless hanging mannequins. Every colour in the world embodies a fabric and is up for display as a dress material. Half of the employees perform the attention grabbing act. It’s a bitter competition between these boys, the one with louder voice and more animated movements gets his prized catch; another prospective purchaser.

In every by lane you find at least one shop looking like mini museum thanks to the age old items it offers for sale. Outside few of the shops you find items known to you only through your grannies bedtime tales. Some clock shops sport watches made by men who have died and companies which have wound up many centuries ago. The carts, both mobile and immobile are useful trade implements. Ice cream seller pushing his cart, cycle rickshawas (in different designs) plying goods is still vogue here at least to the petty shoppers. Age runs back a few decades if not more when you stroll in this quarter.

Step ahead and look beyond the obvious. You’ll be stunned to note that every building that houses the petty shop is a gorgeous medieval mansion. Just wipe out the merchandize stocked in front of them in your mind’s eye and you realize that each of them is an elegant “Haweli” (mansion) deserving dwelling by a “Nawab” or a noble man if not by the King himself. If the administration was bit heritage literate and population pressures were much scanty, then the houses should have been on display and the goods at much distant place. But, the reality of the population supported by this trade might make it a task not possible for a few more decades if not a century. So, see the people, enjoy man’s triumphant survival instincts at their best. The sheer number of grand mansions is both astonishing and a powerful indicator to Hyderabad’s prominence and stature in its prime.

The number of mansions was impressive and their condition though not immaculate, is still worthy of artistic appreciation. If Nizams in the heaven wish to take back the reign of the city back into their hands very little they’ll have to do at this quarter; find a alternate place for those poor souls and scrub all the dirt deposited by the passing of time and vomit of the autos.

Move ahead a few more yards and one of the four grand arches (each located on prominent street leading to Charminar) welcomes you to bygone times. Suddenly, from the crowded background emerges a tall and majestic structure of stately charisma. The structure isn’t strikingly grand but its minimalist aesthetics and grand symmetry of four minarets gives it elegance thoroughly deserving the prominence that it enjoys throughout the planet. A European had termed it “Arc De Trompe” of the east, but the Napoleonic structure by a long way lacks the medieval charm that its oriental cousin.

In 1591 when William Shakespeare was busy penning his Hamlet and first settlers were flirting around the coasts of what is now US, A Indian King, Mohammed Quli Qutb Shah ordered its erection. The dreaded Plague that haunted London and ravaged whole of Europe made its presence felt in Hyderabad too (surprisingly, for the dreaded disease the world was a small place even then). It is said that this edifice was built as a memorial for cure of Plague in the city.

Once atop the Charminar, wonderful view of the places around unfold themselves and you also get a closer glimpse of the elegant looking outer carvings of the Minarets. The space inside at the top seems surprisingly vast. The King is said to have held Durbar and conducted his prayers. There are plenty of prayer spaces and a little mosque too is housed inside. Good view of the Mecca Masjid and Yunani Hospital are added rewards, so is the chance to see the countless battalions of rushing yellow roofed autos and the view of innumerable souls garbed in Human bodies.

Amidst the buzz of sellers and honks of the Autos I reached the Masjid area but was bit skeptic to enter it. Firstly I have never entered a Mosque before and secondly I thought I looked a most ill fitting creature to enter a mosque ever. While every man coming out of the Mosque was decked in clean whites and sported a foot long beard, I was wearing most bizarre T-shirt, a quaint Jeans and there was not a strand of hair on my whole face. This made me fear that I would look too odd to be allowed to enter. Still the affable air gave me the courage and to my utter surprise no one seemed bothered by my presumably awkward presence. I felt like a man with clean whites and foot long beard myself. Atmosphere was solemn, calm and serene. It’s a wonder only a few seconds back I was at a place which could surely contend to the coveted title of noisiest place on whole earth and now I was reveling in silence. A stone from Mecca (from Aurangajebs times) and a watch from Switzerland were the two diverse relics. People prayed earnestly inside the mosque and sat and sauntered on its outer yard.

The thing that touched me most was; the Charminar housing a Mariyamma temple at its base. It wasn’t built by Kings but it being thriving in a locality so overwhelmingly Muslim made me proud about India’s tolerant heritage that is mostly followed by masses and is being attempted to ruin by the selfish politicians and their blind followers. Yunani Hospital too is a elegant structure. I relished the beauty of its dome from outside.

At night fall I kept walking every lane and by lane. All the famed Hyderabadi items made their presence felt. The thick layered “Burhewali Chai” , Street side Biriyani, Islamic version of Pundit “Hakeems”, Panwalah; all were there. Fate of poor old men forced to toil was very visible. Walking in the night in the ill lit by lanes made me feel either I was in a different country or in a different decade. But it all was mostly a comforting portrayal of life and its truth.

As you keep moving away from Charminar, shops turn more sophisticate and the buildings-modern and slowly it dawns to you that you are back in to the reality. No matter you have shopped or not you are sure to carry relics of the place with you. Deeply impressed scenes of day to day life and its hustle-bustle, colors and magnificence of the dress materials and truly medieval aura of the surroundings are few of them.

Visit this place to feel overwhelmed by life, its struggles and its beauty in its simplicity.