Day 5 (Apr-16) : The Translation Problem!

We left Hyderabad early in the morning. Leaving the crowded city at last was a moment of bliss. However, as I slept at the back of the car, pictures of the historic city made a slideshow on the screen of my mind.

         We are now in Vijaywada, a beautiful, clean, and spacey city. But, a problem .  .  .  .  .

Well when we reached the city, we asked a rickshaw driver about directions to APTDC (Andhra Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation. During our last road trip also we had mainly stayed in hotels roun by tourism development corporations) hotel. The guy didn't know Hindi or English. He took us to a hotel in the city. The people here did not know English or Hindi. I wish somebody like my friends Revanth or Sruthi had been here to fill this gap in communication.

       What’s more, we asked another driver to take us to the riverbank of Krishna. He did get that part. However while we were walking by the dam, he was telling us about many things of the town. All in Telugu. All we could understand were a word or two from each of his sentences. We think we understood what he said, but we would never know what the truth is. A good example of the saying 'ignorance is bliss!!!!

        The little river I saw in Mahabaleshwar has become a mighty giant here in the south. It seems the river rises very high during the floods. Taking all into consideration, it was really great fun

Day 4 (15-Apr) : Another brick in the wall (let's say in charminar!)

We thought of living another day at Hyderabad so that we could see Salarjung museum. This is the advantage of visiting places with no fixed plan and having so much flexibility.

We visited the Salarjung museum in morning. Wow it was really something. We weren't allowed to take cameras inside, but it was fantastic! The intricate beauty of Rebecca, the beauty of Babila was indeed breathtaking. The musical clock too was a cool sight. To complete the action packed day, we even saw reporters shooting Sania Mirza's reception. There were tons of them in front of Taj where the function was taking place.

Hyderabad seems to have the worst traffic we have seen anywhere :(

Reporter being reported!

Day 3 (Apr-14) : Other things in Hyderabad

I am posting this link at 3:00 in the morning. Well I thought that Hyderabad would be quiet a boring place, but believe me I was completely wrong! We saw Charminar yesterday in noon. . Now, Charminar is a magnificent monument, but terribly crowded. We could not get any place to park so we left the car in front of the restaurant where we had our lunch and left the keys with security there in case they had to move the car and too an auto-rickshaw to go there. I did get an interesting shot of Charminar.  If you observe, in non of the photos the base of the building is visible. That is because of the crowd you would see there.

We also went to Salarjung museum, but, due to Ambedkar Jayanti, It was closed L

But the best thing I noticed today was a difference in Pallavi Bua. I don't know what change I saw, but somehow, I felt she was a bit different now. The fact that she is now a proper Bua for me rather than a Didi, is pretty difficult for me to digest, but on other hand, interesting too!

She showed us the Microsoft campus, but photography was not allowed there. I had never even imagined it to be such a big office with so many facilities! It was certainly very majestic by its sheer size. The landscaping etc could put some resorts to shame.

Charminar     the side view

                                                                           

                A different angle

The normal shot

Bargaining at Charminar

Day 2 (13-Apr) : Hyderabad

   Well, we are presently in the city of Hyderabad staying at the excellent APTDC hotel at Taramati Baradari. The hotel is extension of the heritage building. We visited the superb fort of Golkonda. When we were watching the Sound and Light show there, the electricity went off and we left after waiting for 15 minutes. We picked up Pallavi Bua at 8 pm from near Cyber Tower and went to a Chinese restaurant for dinner. Pallavi Bua had got a cake and we celebrated mom’s birthday there. Then we went to Golu bua's place of residence and even met her roomy there.

         As an update, after posting my last Post, I crammed some logarithm into my small brain till around 11:30 in the night last night (I started at about 10:45!). We left Omerga at about 8:30 in the morning. Reached Andhra Pradesh via a small route through Karnataka. It was a fun ride. We had our breakfast in a typical Dhaba, with the unusual and interesting name of "Guru Nanak Punjabi Reddy Dhaba !!"

          In Hyderabad, we tried and tried to find our hotel, made a lot of u-turns but ultimately with help of directions provided by the hotel manager and mainly the good luck, we made it to our hotel. It is behind the monument Tirumati Baradari, a structure made by the king for his beautiful courtesan, Tirumati.

       

                                           An Angle I tried to get in the fort

                                                          

If only the rocks could talk.......

A picture from Tirumati Baradari

Talking about an impenetrable Fort!

    

 

My photogenic mother.

                                            

Jail where Ramdas was kept for 12 years

Arches

Ruins of the Golconda fort

view from Pallavi Bua's house

Day 1 (Apr-12) : Bare beginnings.

Anybody who has read five point someone will think that I am copying this heading from him.

But I just couldn't think of a better heading. Well as briefing, we left Pune at about 10:30am. We are presently in a hotel in Omerga. Thanks to Sanjay Kale uncle, I could experiment with photography on the move. Just check some of the photos I clicked. 

          The back seat is packed with a lot of luggage, (courtesy Gollu Bua). Just like last time, the beginning always is filled with a lot of ideas, tension, etc. but, we will get used to within three-four days.

      Two of my cute sisters Sharmila and Anuradha too visited me the day before our leaving. Well it proves what a cool trip its going to be !!!

The road after Solapur

Sunset

Walls of Nul Durga fort

                                           

                                                           The Team