Blogs from Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India, Asia - page 25

Sorry to leap ahead to the end of the story here, but it is my last day in India. I have the rest of my time in the North yet to post - I wrote it by hand on the trip, and I haven't had a chance to type it all in yet. Since we've been back in Hyderabad, we've been wrapping up our business. Mainly, this means finding some way to pack up all of the cool things we bought into 4 bags, each no more than 23kg. 23kg is a surprisingly low maximum weight for a bag - just a normal sized travel suitcase full of clothes weighs this much. If you're trying to carry much else, you'll go over. And, I've observed this week, word gets out quickly that someone is flying to ... read more

Hi, Everyone-- Well, I have arrived in Hyderabad and am slowly getting comfortable with life here. I have taken some pictures of my school, my dormitory, and the surrounding areas that I've posted here. So far, the worst thing that has happened is that the mosquitoes are eating me alive. I have to go and get some repellent. Yesterday marked the beginning of regularity here at HMI. My Persian teacher is trained in classical Persian. He last studied English in 1995, and so we have some difficulty understanding each other. Because he communicates better in Persian than in English, we mostly communicate in Persian. I have tutorials with him for three hours, Monday thru Friday. The culture here is completely different from what I am used to. It seems there is a holiday almost every other ... read more

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 ... read more

Today's main event was a journey to the Golconda Fort, the castle of the Muslim kings of the state of Hyderabad in the 1500's and 1600's. The Fort follows the same plan of European castles and fortified towns. There is a large defensive wall around the ancient town of Golconda, and on one side there is the citadel, Golconda Fort, which contains the royal palace, the armory, soldiers barricks, and several giant cisterns intended to carry the town through a seige. The citadel itself is beautifully constructed, with interiors of vaulted arches. The staircase leading up to the highest point of the citadel has very wide stairs, designed to allow the riding of horses up to the top. Most of the defensive feature of the citadel are fairly standard in castle construction. Basically, the problem was ... read more

Today, Priya and I went to meet her friend Sanaa and altogether we went to a large craft fair in the Jubilee hills section of Hyderabad. Last night, riding in from the airport at 5am was obviously not representative of the traffic here. Today, I got to see the real deal. From Priya's to Sanaa's, we took an auto-rickshaw (simply called an "auto" here). Catching an auto involved walking down the street from the apartment and waking an auto driver sleeping in the back set of his auto. Note that he couldn't have been comfortable - an auto is basically a moped with a bench and enclosure bolted on. They're tiny and open to the air/smoke/dust/beggars that you encounter on the road. In the open air of the rickshaw, you get the full appreciation of the ... read more