A hidden Gem

Last week ,along with my friend Akram I was searching the localities of Shaikpet for an apartment when we came across this beauty.I havent been able to gather any info about it.But from its architecture and construction I assume its from the Nizam era.Pity i didint have my Lumix with me.

 

                                                Here you can see the coloured windows.

                                                   Here is a Mosque.

State Central Library,Afzalgunj

Yesterday one of our lecturers took a leave and we didnt have any classes in the afternoon.Instead of going back home I thought of visiting some heritage structure.After some brainstorming I zeroed in on State Central Library in Afzalgunj, formerly known as Asafia Library.It is one of the biggest libraries in India.The state central library started in 1891 by Nawab Imad ul Mulk and later shifted to the present status.I called up shoaib and he readily agreed to accompany me.We boarded a public bus from Mehdipatnam to Afzalgunj.From the afzalgunj bus stop, it is a short walk to the library.The front arch of the library could be seen from a distance beautifully framed by the surrounding trees.As we entered the library complex the first thing I noticed was the number of students present here.They were everywhere, some sitting on the
flight of steps that lead to the main door of the library,some in the lawns,some near the gate etc.
We stood before the steps, took in the view and took some pics.The facade of the building is its best part with a big arch with some beautiful decorations.We went inside and the first left turn is the
reference section.It has a number of other sections like the newspaper section,technical section,periodical section urdu section etc.we scrolled through the books row by row and in 15 mins finished.(There werent many books here though i cant say if they have kept them in some other part of the library)The reference hall was big and spacious with all the glory of the Osmanian architecture.But sadly it not kept in shape.The whole building looked in a dilapadated state.Unless some one takes care we may lose this building too.After taking out a couple of 'Imperial gazeteers of india' books i asked a person who looked like the caretaker about books on hyderbadi history.He called a girl and instructed her to give hyderabad history book to me.she took me to another room and gave me a book.I thought she would show me an almirah full of books,and here she was pinting toward a single book.I was disppointed but took that book anyway.I suspect they dont take youngsters seriously.These days whos interested in history,they may be feeling.Anyway I skimmed through the book.It was published during the time of the 7th nizam in 1929 .The book was good,there were some good old pictures.We sat there for 2 hours.At 5pm ,as
the time for iftaar was drawing near,we decided to leave.Before leaving the complex we made a walk along the perimeter looking at the building.The main building is in a poor condition with moss growing in some areas.At the back a relatively new section has been made,the urdu section.

There is also a technical section.The most popular one here.Those students I saw earlier were here for the techical section.After coming out i took some more pics and then left satisfied after seeing one of the best buildings of the Nizam era. 

Paigah Tombs

Public Gardens or Bagh-e-Aam in Nampally is a place i saw many times while passing through nampally while going to abids.But i never had a chance to visit it.Finally last sunday,getting bored i called up akram and farooq and suggested a trip to PG.The three of us soon boarded a bus to nampally.Its a journey of around 15mins from Mehdipatnam.We got down at nampally busstop, crossed the road and reached the park entrance.Having reached the entrance we were a bit confused about the layout of the garden. some aimless wandering later we found our bearings and started our stroll.The garden itself is beautiful with a small lake in the middle.To our pleasant surprise we found a number of school children who came on an excursion.Strolling leisurely,with a gentle breeze blowing,we watched the kids joyfully whistling and shouting as they


played 'out-out'.After this leisurely walk i came down to business.My actual idea behind this visit was to take a look at the 6 heritage building that this garden encloses.I could only find 5 i dont know what the 6th one is.The 1st is the archaeological museum.We made a quick visit inside and the main attraction of the museum is the Egyptian
mummy.Its one among the 6 mummies found in India.There are many other artifacts,guns,coins,paintings and things on which i ,as an ameteaur cant comment.Maybe sometime later ill write an entire post on this museum.Next heritage building was the Jawhar Bal Bhavan. We couldn't go inside as some renovation was going on.I clicked some pics and
then moved on to the next building,the Jubilee Hall.This was a palace made in 1913 during the reign of Mir Osman Ali Khan.The silver jubilee coronation of the 7th Nizam

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was held here hence the name.As we were taking some pics ,a person who looked like some kind of a supervisor asked us who we were and what we were doing.On telling him that we were students and taking pics ,he rudely stared shouting at us and told us to leave immediately.I tried talking but he would have any of it .He kept asking us if we had permission to take pics.I still dont know if we require permission or not.Anyway we left him there shouting and moved on to the next building the Shahi Masjid.Walking ahead i saw a building with some intricate designs made all around it.This was the mini Bal Bhavan.Presently it houses the HQ of dept. of horticulture.From
here we wound up our small tour and i boarded the return bus happy with the knowledge that i could strike off 5 more names of heritage structures from my list of 150.
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