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PHOTOS WILL BE UPLOADED SOON , I PROMISE !
July 7th - Meet the locals
Charminar
Our breakfast spread at my uncle's place in the morning included toast with nutella and peanut butter, cereal, and some
upma (an Indian dish that is made with refined wheat). After that, we headed out to Charminar - a monument built by the olden day Muslim rulers of the city. The monument is in the heart of Lal Bazaar, which is a ridiculously crowded market. We got driven there by our driver, Anil, and he parked about 50 metres away after he dropped us off. Little did we know that 50m would later seem like 50km.
As we got to the ticket booth, I casually asked the guy in my admittedly average Hindi how much it would cost us, and we were told it was going to be 100 Rs per person for 'foreigners'. There was even an official sign to that effect. We did luck out that the guy thought I was from here, so my ticket was slightly discounted ... a grand total of 5 rupees. So my knowledge of Hindi saved us 95 Rupees! I was really happy with myself for passing off as a local ... now people can finally stop questioning my knowledge of Hindi ! The joy was short-lived as we were soon mobbed by 'tour guides' asking us to pay 300 rupees for tour of the monument. I say "tour guides" because none of them looked official or had any ID, and could've been just guys off the street. We finally shook them off, and started climbing the ~150 steps upto the top. The view from there was amazing. There were people EVERYWHERE. We could see them in all four directions, and at that point we decided that walking through the market was not really an option. The one view was of the Mecca Masjid, a beautiful and massive mosque. At the top, Carla and Ashley were unwittingly photographed by many a camera phone. We were surrounded by dudes taking photos of them in a not-so-subtle manner. It was ... interesting.
The real drama though was that upon descending the stairs and stepping out of the little gate to the monument, we were mobbed by streetside vendors and beggars. Their desperation was both hilarious and unsettling. I walked out wearing my 3-yr old Oakleys, and was instantly accosted by a man trying to sell me blatantly fake Ray-Ban sunglasses. I told him about 8 times that I already had a pair, and repeatedly pointed to my face to prove it. I was speaking to him in Hindi, so it wasn't like he didn't understand ... and as I just mentioned, THEY WERE ON MY FACE ! Then he got agitated, and started arguing with me that his were better than I what I was wearing. He was trying to put them on my face to prove it. Then he started lowering his price, and got really mad when I said to his 300 Rs offer. He yelled "how can you say no when I'm giving it to you for 300? There, take it, just 300! How can you say no! I'm basically giving it to you for free!" ... While he was ranting, I was desperately trying to call our driver to come rescue us. Carla and Ashley were amused, and Ashley decided to take a photo of a guy who was taking a photo of her. By now a beggar woman had sidled up to me (not how no one mobbed the two white girls in the middle of a crowded Indian city). She had a baby in her arms - a very healthy looking baby. She wanted money to feed the girl. "She's starving and hasn't eaten for days". I would've given her a little pocket change if it was on any other street, but from prior experience in India, I knew that there had to be atleast a 10 of these woman-child beggars within visual range of us. And several 100 other beggars were probably watching to see if I caved. If I gave her any money, they would pounce. So I refused. She kept pleading for some money. Said I had the face of a giving person. Said I looked healthy and God had been kind to me ... I needed to pay back to society. By now I was sick of saying no, and was just desperately calling our driver to see where on earth he was. He had parked only 50m away, but the traffic was such that it had been 10 minutes since he left but he had still not arrived. Carla and Ashley then took their cameras out and started taking photos of me in my irritated state of mind. When the lady saw them laughing at the photos, she started to curse us. Not with curse words, but with weird hand gestures. One of them included a motion of her elbow towards Ashley's head, and the other gesture was the flashing of a weird hand sign. She said we would regret not giving her money. Oh and the glasses guy was still trying to sell me his Ray Bans. He was now joined by a man with a 100 purses dangling of his two arms. Then the lady changed her tactics and said she would remove the curse and bless me if i gave her money. She even guaranteed me that I would get a beautiful and loving wife if I gave her money. The glasses guy retorted ' does he look like a guy who wants to get married with those two girls on either side? " .... make you what you want of that. Eventually the driver showed up, and we jumped in and made our escape.
McDonalds at Prasads IMAX
After the interesting, if expected, experience at Charminar, we decided to get some McDonalds at the really nice IMAX multiplex : Prasad's. As we walked in, every single man in the restaurant turned and stared. Yup, I was the man. Walking in with two white girls, I was the coolest kid in there. They probably hadn't even noticed me and were staring at the girls, but I didnt care ... I felt like the smoothest guy in town. I got my Maharaja Mac - an Indian take on the double chicken burger. It was delicious, and entirely satisfying. We then walked around a bit and had a coffee in the mall before heading to Birla Mandir.
Birla Mandir
As a kid, I visited Hyderabad every year. My favourite place to go was Birla Mandir. My Uncle, Sekhar babai, used to take me there on his scooter every time I visited. So I love going back there, and it was awesome to do it with close friends for the first time ! We got to the car park and left all our belongings in the car .. this included shoes/flip-flops, cameras, and phones. None of these are allowed into the actual temple area. Before we could get into the temple, a family that I assumed was from a village requested a photo with Carla and Ashley! Then more of their family members joined in, and the girls ended up posing for 4-5 photos with these people! They didn't say it, but I think Carla and Ashley felt like rock stars at that point! I, on the other hand, just stood aside with my head bowed in disappointment. No one thought I was worthy of being in the photo. As they finished their little photo shoot, I pulled myself together and we set off to climb the stairs to the top of the temple. We climbed up the beautiful marble temple, stopping at every corner that had a shrine dedicated to a God or Goddess. The carvings in the marble walls and pillars were something to behold. We climbed a little further and stopped at the highest point - an open area where people could sit and meditate and take in the sights and sounds of the city. We could see the city sprawl in all four directions as far as the eye can see. It was quite the sight. We climbed back down and took a few photos of the temple from the car park before heading back to my uncle's apartment for a well-deserved rest.
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Sunil
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I'm surprised to read that u speak hindi :)..The moment you uttered a hindi word in Old city they knew u r an outsider buddy..No wonder you were mobbed by sunglasses and beggars.. Bakra