Recuperating in Hyderabad/Preparing for the North

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I've taken it easy in Hyderabad after the Goa debacle. It's been nice to be back on familiar terrain, and the peacefulness of my room at Priya's parents' apartment. I'm even used to the noise here - honking horns, all kinds of banging and whistling, and the frequent calls-to-prayer of the neighborhood mosque. Actually, I kind of missed all of the noise!

Yesterday, we went to see the Nizam's jewels at the Salar Jung museum in the old part of Hyderabad. The Nizams were the dynasty of muslim rulers of the state of Hyderabad which formerly occupied a large area of central south India. This region of India has for years produced some of the largest diamonds in the world. The kooh-i-noor, the largest cut diamond in the world (now part of the British crown jewels -

becase they stole it

any Hyderabadi will gladly tell you) was found in this region. Through the diamond trade, the nizams were incredibly wealthy - the richest of the princes of India during the British years. And they had some unbelievable extravagant jewelry. The jewelry now belongs to the government of India, and is displayed every 4 years in Hyderabad. i just lucked out being here during the exposition.

The museum is under heavy guard, and our car was searched on the way in. After purchasing our tickets (Rs 50 ($1.20) for Indians, Rs 500 ($12) for non-Indians), we went through a metal detector and a frisking. Then we walked along a path to the entrance to the exhibit, where again we passed through a metal detector and were frisked. Then we were let inside the "introduction" salon, where Indian soldiers stood with machine guns. We read all about the history of the nizams and the jewelery, and eventually we were lined up to go into the vault.

Having been to see the crown jewels in London, where you walk along a path and view the jewels as you walk, i was expecting the same sort of arrangement. But this is india... so after we were let into the vault, it was a free-for-all, with crowds around each display, and people pushing their way through to see. We managed to see all of the jewels, but it took some agressive nudging and standing-of-ground. The jewels are all stunning. Most of them are so big and so elaborate that they look fake. Most of the diamonds, emeralds, sapphires, and rubies are the size of grapes, and every inch of every piece is either gold or covered with smaller jewels.

We headed home after the exhibit through horrendous traffic. The Indian Prime Minister is visiting Hyderabad, and consequently various roads were closed, police were everywhere, and all kinds of street merchants and beggers had been relocated. The trip home was exhausting, and afterwards we rested.

In the evening, I went with Priya's mom to an indian classical music concert. I've known about the sitar and tabla (north indian stringed instrument and hand drum) for a long time, but I've only recent become aware of the south Indian equivalents, the veena and mridangum. Evidently, Hyderabad is considered the "gateway" between north and south India, and this concert was set up as a meeting of north and south. Onstage there were both sitar and veena, as well as tabla and mridangum. The concert was very nice - all of the musicians were excellent. I had never heard veena and sitar together, so it was interesting to compare their sounds. The quick summary I can give is that the veena sounds a bit clearer, and the sitar sounds more "buzzy", but altogether they seem to cover the same territory.

During the concert, I found my mind drifting to thoughts of veggie-burgers and pizza. I've about hit my limit for rice and sambar, which we eat every day here - I needed some American food. Fortunately, Priya's parents, who have had several american visitors before, knew what I was talking about. They told me most Americans - even Americans of Indian descent - can only take about two weeks of Indian food before they really start craving something American. They gladly helped me out by ordering a pizza from Dominoes - quickly delivered here by a boy on a moped. That pizza really hit the spot. I stuffed myself, and turned in. (By the way, Indian Dominoes has I think a 15 minute delivery guarantee. Priya's parents told me that people will look at how bad the traffic is, and order a pizza hoping it will be late and they'll get it for free, but this ploy hardly every works. Also, remember that dominoes used to have a 30-minute or less guarantee in the US? It was removed because a domines pizza delivery boy was involved in an auto accident, and the victims sued dominoes alleging that the 30-minute guarantee put too much pressure on drivers... India, as far as I can tell, does not have any such thing as tort lawsuits.)

Today, again I slept in (resting up for our upcoming tour of north India). For lunch, we went to Priya's friends house. These people are Punjabi, and eat a different cuisine than native Hyderabadis. I spent some time speaking with the patriarch of the household, who is a Sihk, and a yogi. He has for several years been a follower of "laugh club", which is a mixture of laughing and yoga. He explained to me how laughter tightens the stomach muscles, and releases tension, and just makes you feel good. He told me that he does an hour each day of this laugh-yoga, which consists of bouts of laughing mixed with yogic stretching a breathing. I asked him how he manages to make himself laugh, and he told me that it is done in groups, with other practicioners making funny faces and waving their arms. He demonstrated for us, and neigther Priya or I could keep from laughing. He invited to take me to laugh club when I get back from the north, and I may take him up on it.
(You may be skeptical of this approach, as I am... but as I was leaving, this man asked me how old I thought he was. I sincerely though that he was around 60, and i told him that... he shocked me by telling me he was 87. Something he is doing is working!)

I'm now here are the Hyderabad apartment, and I need to pack up for our trip to Delhi. Everyone is worrying because they're having record cold temperatures in Delhi - odd, because they're having record high temperatures here in Hyderabad! I'm ready for the cooler weather.

Our flight to Delhi is tonight at 2:45 am... why we have that flight is a long story having to do with foggy weather and delays at the Delhi airport. Hopefully I'll get a nap in on the airplane. Before that though, tonight, I'm going to hear Pandit Debashish Bhattacharya, one of the best Indian slide guitarists, perform here in Hyderabad. I have a couple of his CD's, and I've been reading about him for years, so I'm very excited to be able to go hear him, especially here in india with his home crowd!

I don't know what my connectivity will be in the North, so it may be a while before i update this blog again. I'll be sure and take plenty of photos though!

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Comments

[Grace]

Hello
Hi: I am an American living in Goa for the past 10 years. I am truly enjoying your entries and reminiscing about seeing India for the first time through your experiences... Hope Delhi is OK for you -- I hated it except for the Taj Mahal (inside). Good luck and keep up the writing.