Charminar during Ramzan

You might have heard much about the sight of the area around charminar during the ending days of the holy month of Ramzan.The area is crowded with people even at 2 30am with shopkeepers selling everything from kurtas to tuty frooty.Standing tall among all this chaos is the Charminar, illuminated subtly.Here are a few pics I took the last time I went to Charminar.

Hussain Sagar

Hussin Sagar also known as Tank bund was built by Hazrat Hussain Shah Wali in 1562 (that makes it older than the city of Hyderabad, which was founded in 1591).

It was Built during the rule of Ibrahim Quli Qutb Shah.It is built on a tributary of River Musi.



                           

Vilayath Manzil (Country Club)

Vilayath Manzil which presently is under Country Club,was once the Devdi of Nawab Wali-ud-Daula Bahadur.He was the second son of Paigah noble Sir Vicar-ul-umra Bahadur,and was born in 1877.


This building was constructed in 1910-1913.So it is around 100 years old now
 
I had a chance to visit this place as my batch's last party of engineering was held here.From the outside it looks in excellent condition.I didnt go inside as I didnt have much time there to indulge in my personal interests.
 
Location-Begumpet,near Begumpet Railway Statoion.
 
 

Streets of Hussaini Alam

These are the pics from my visit to Hussaini Alam,one of the oldest localities of Hyderabad.Mohi and myself went on a drive through the streets of Hussaini Alam.

                                 This Kabootar Khana is supposed to be more than 250 years old!

                                                 Thanks Mohi bhai for the wonderful trip!

Yousuf Tekri

I have met people who have been living in Hyderabad for decades but havent seen Golconda Fort or the Qutb shahi tombs.It always amazes me as to how could they ignore the centuries old evidence of our culture and history.They all give the same reason.'we arent running off to someplace we will watch it sooner or later'.'uska bhi waqt ata yaro!'(typical hyderabadi nizami attitude).To be frank even i had this attitude for a heritage building close to where i live(since the building in question is relatively not that signifiucant compared to the monuments i mentioned above i have forgiven myself in my court of justice)

Finally last friday I decided i had enough of this and went off to Yousuf Tekri building,along with shoaib.It is located on the tolichowki-mehdipatnam road,adjacent to the mamu's food joint.This building belonged to Nawab Yousufuddin Khan,a subedar of Gulbarga,during the reign of the sixth Nizam Mir Mehbub Ali Khan.It is built in the form of a castle and is more than 120 years old.I was surprised on seeing the interiors.Some people were putting on paint on the walls and the whole place looked beautiful.On asking I was informed that this painting was for a movie shoot that was going to take place in few days.I learned later that this is a favorite location for shooting movies.

There is no problem in going and seeing the building.You need no permission and nobody will stop you there.

Saidanimma's Tomb

Today I had some work in Ranigunj.While going towards the bus stop near tank bund,I stopped by Saidanimma's tomb on MG road.It is on the left side of the road while going towards tank bund from Ranigunj.

This tomb belongs to the mother of the Abdul Haq Diler Jung,a noble in the Asaf Jahi court.Built in the late nineteenth century(1800s).Even though this was built in the Asaf Jahi time(nizam's time) it has predominantly Qutb Shahi features.The tomb is full of ornamentation and looks similar to the work in Paigah tombs.

This structure lies on the main road and one shouldnt miss this when taking a stroll on the Tank Bund stretch.

Spanish Mosque

Today evening I went to the Spanish Mosque in Begumpet along with shoaib.It is also known as the Moorish Mosque.Built in 1906 by Iqbal-ud-Daula,the paigah (the same family which built the Falaknuma Palace) it is a copy of a mosque in spain and is the only one of its kind in India.

'Madhu Vottery in her book 'A Guide to the Heritage of Hyderabad' says 'It is one of the best maintained mosques of the city,existing in its original shape even today.

We went to the mosque at the time of the Asar namaz.As we were gazing at the mosque from one end , a man waved at us from the mosque and motioned us to come near and take a closer look.The masjid is beautiful with the golden colour and is unlike any other mosque I have ever seen.Though it is small it looks something from the pages of Arabian nights.As the time for the namaz was getting near we made wazu and offered our namaz inside.After the namaz we took a few pics and made our way back home.

Note- no need to worry about taking pics as no one really bothered us.

Additional Info-from wikipedia
The other notable features are Moorish arches inside the prayer hall, Quranic verses in exquisite calligraphy inscribed on the inside walls, the absence of an ablution tank and a courtyard. In plan, the mosque comprises a main prayer hall, two rooms in front of it and a central corridor for entering the hall. It is over this central corridor or the entrance porch that the octagonal dome stands.
           The mosque is built with stone masonry in lime mortar up to the basement and the superstructure in brick masonry in lime mortar. The roof is jack arch type on iron girders with brick and lime concrete. The domes, minarets and small turrets are built with brick and stone masonry and the outer face plastered with lime mortar. The central dome has a perforated screen.

            Believed to be a copy of a similar mosque in Spain, it might have caught the attention of the Paigah noble, either during his eight month long tour of Europe or he may have stumbled on a photograph. Whatever the source, the Nawab lived up to his reputation of being a great builder having a penchant for creating something unique, as seen from his magnificent hilltop Falaknuma Palace.

H.E.H Nizams Museum

The other day I visited the newly opened city museum inside the HEH Nizams museum.The prices have been reduced since I last came here from Rs150 to rs70 now.I bought the tickets and went inside,I skipped the first section and went directly to the second section which is the recently opened city museum.The whole section is divided into small cubicles,each one describing one facet of Qutb shahi and Nizami life,including trade,military,society etc
         I liked the 'Do you know' sections the most because they had some interesting facts.To give an example,one of Sindbad's adventure wherein he finds himself in a land full of diamonds is  believed to be set in the hills east of Hyderabad(Which were known as Golconda Mines) so famous was Hyderabad for diamonds in those days.There are many other tidbits of interesting info like this.Theres a big picture album containing pics of famous structures and buildings some of which exist now and some do not.There is a big LCD screen there in which they screen some documentaries which I unfortunately couldn't see s there was some problem with the power there.All in all it is a good place for a enthusiast of Hyderabad history.

Location-Purani Haveli
Ticket-Rs70
For camera-Rs150

Heritage Walk 3

The third walk as usual started off from charminar.This time I had my friend,Shoaib for company.
Compared to the last two walks this time there was a much larger gathering of people.Most of them were carrying DSLRs with them and they looked like a part of a group or something.Because of the large number two groups were made.Our guide for the day was Mr Qayyum.
 We started off after a brief explanation of Hyderabad's history, towards maidan chowk road.The first stop was the Nizamia Hospital or the Unani hospital as it it popularly known.

Name- Unani Hospital
Built by- Nizams in 1929
Designed by - Vincent Esch
Indo Saracenic Architecture
Even though it is surrounded by buildings of Qutb Shahi times,Charminar and Mecca Masjid,it fits in quite well due its architecture and colour.

While passing towards the next structure,the Sardar Mahal, we came across the Rath Khana,which is nothing but a European style gateway.

Name- Sardar Mahal
Built by-6th Nizam in 1900
Named after- Sardari Begum, wife of 6th nizam
European Architecture but planning is indigenous as can be seen from the design of inner courtyards which used to have fountains and green shady trees.Presently occupied by GHMC(south zone office) 

Between the next structure and the Sardar Mahal there used be a palace known as Malwala Palace.This was supposed to be the only wooden palace in Hyderabad.I should add here that two years back shoaib and myself spent an hour wandering through these streets to find it.The locals werent that helpful as it looked like nobody knew anything about this Palace.Finally our search lead us to Masqati Milk's office who were occupying the area formely enclosed by the palace.They refused permission saying that nothing was left to see except a big wall.I said no problem, Il take a look at that.So we saw whatever that was left of the palace which was nothing but a big wall,as the person at Masqati's told us.
Coming back to our walk,it led us to the Mansoor Khan's Mosque which is a Mosque from the Qutb Shahi times.Nothing spectacular about it.

Next was the Bargah Panj e Shah e Vilayat
Built By- Qutb Shahis( Abdullah Qutb Shah)
Structure related to the Shia sect of muslims.
Here a caretaker of the Bargah related the events that led to its creation.The huge stone houz(meaning a container)here was impresssive.Those who wanted a closer look went inside the structure meanwhile I took some pics of the place and the locality surrounding it.

Walking ahead we came across the Khadm-e-Rasul Alwa
Built in the time of Qutb Shaihs in 1575(before hyderabad was formed,only golconda city existed then) .This is another important religous site of the Shias

Moving ahead we came across yet another mosque of the Qutb Shahi times,the Mandi Jama Masjid and then we passed under the Mir Alam Mandi Kaman.(Kaman means Gateway)
It has a pointed arch and tall wooden door in it.From here we came into the Mir Alam Mandi (Mandi means a market)It was built in 1804, making it the oldest market in Hyderabad.As can be expected from a market there were people everywhere selling everything from kothmeer to kaddu.We passed this and walked some distance in the bylanes till we emerged on to the main road leading to the last structure, the Purani Haveli.

Before that we passed by the Devdi of Inayath jung Bahadur.
Built in European style
Inayth jung was a famous scholar who tranlated the persian map of Hyderabad Deccan 

  After taking a few pics here, we came to the last stop. the Purani Haveli.
This site was initially earmarked by Mohammed Quili Qutb Shah(Who founded Hyderabad) for his peshwa,Mir Momin.After wards the Nizam aquired it for his son Sikander Jah from the decendents of Mir Momin.The Palace was built but the Nizam moved in the much more impressive Chowmohalla Palace and this remained unoccupied for many years.It gained prominence again when the fouth Nizam added many structures to it ,then the Fifth nizam was born here and finally the sixth Nizam made it his permanent residence.The plan of the palace is Symmetrical with a fountain in the large courtyard.It was inpired by the palladian villas of Europe.  

       Presently one part of it has been converted into museum,H.E.H Nizam's museum.Another part has Princess Esin's women's Education Institute.
      Here our walk ended.We had our free breakfast and just wandered around for sometime.After sitting there to our heart's content we made our way back to Charminar.I boarded the bus back to Mehdipatnam pleased with myself,knowing that I can cut off some more monuments from my 'heritage structures to see' list

Click Here for Walk 2