TELANGANA SECRETARIAT ACROSS HUSSAIN SAGAR LAKE HYDERABAD
Today was a Déjà -vu day. It seemed like I was reliving the first hour of my yesterday’s life. A day with no self motoring. Slept like a log last night and woke up to the sound of birds and a clear morning. Quickly brushed my teeth and my niece was waiting to have a cup of coffee with me. We sat in the spacious balcony of her 2nd floor flat listening to the ambient morning sounds. It was a really peaceful and relaxed start of the day with a hot tumbler of coffee in one hand and a crunchy rusk to dip into it in the other. And there the Déjà -vu ended. No school buses and other stuff. It was a Saturday morning. So we just sat and yapped away since my niece had work from home option and according to her there was no work. We talked about life and relationships and so much.
When my tummy started grumbling, she quickly got up and made hot and crispy Moong Dal dosa. Even though I had eaten Gongura pickle for years I had not realised that it was not a fruit but the leaves from which the pickle was made. Today for the dosa I had it with Gongura flower pickle called Gogu Puvu. Wow, the tarty flavour along with spices was so different. Then we carried the conversation to the bedroom with my niece sitting in her favourite place - the window sill and I relaxing on my bed. While all this was going on, a lovely cup of ginger infused tea was presented which I gracefully accepted. Soon the topic changed to her professional life and I really wanted to know more about what she does. Realised that Project Finance is a very vast activity and had so much more than what I knew. It was a learning day for me and then the topic moved to HR and then the next one hour was me giving her Gyan on what she should do as a manager. It was really fun talking shop.
Suddenly we saw the clock and noted that it was close to 2.30 pm and we started off on the most common thing of this stay in Hyderabad - yes Eating. Smooth and wonderfully cooked noodles liberally tossed with green and red bell peppers, beans, carrots, cabbage, cauliflower and with a Szechuan Paneer side dish whose flavours were mind boggling. Today the tug of war was between mouth hunger and stomach hunger and obviously mouth hunger won. So I overate.
Soon it was time to leave for our evening outing. We left home at 4pm, went to Karachi Biscuits store. The different types of biscuits and other bakery items spread out there and the aroma was amazing. Bought some and then went to Ratnadeep, a very well known chain of retail stores. Very well stacked shelves and a set of extremely courteous and helpful staff. Having shopped for things required at home we rushed to the centre of the city very close to the Secunderabad railway station. Like every other city in India the crowds and traffic near railway stations is always maddening but at the same time so vibrant. People rushing with bags, autorickshaws suddenly stopping to pick up passengers, roadside eateries catering to the milling crowds. It is always a wonderous sight.
Our next halt was for - you guessed right - Eating and drinking at Blue Sea Tea and Snacks, a very renowned Irani tea shop. Packed to its brim with tea drinkers we had to jostle our way to get ourselves Tea, Osmania biscuits and Samosas.
Standing in the footpath, with noisy traffic passing by, enjoyed dipping the biscuit in the tea and eating. I even tried keeping it dipped till it became soggy and was about to fall off and I quickly dumped it in my mouth. We used to do it with Parle G biscuits when we were kids. I felt like a kid then and remembered an old quote “ Growing Old is certain but Growing Up is still an option”.
From there we rushed to our next appointment, a heritage walk starting at SaidaniMa Saheba tomb in the old part of Secunderabad. We parked the car at the Sailing club and walked to the meeting point.
The tomb was built in Mughal and Qutb Shahi architectural style by Nawab Diler Jung in 1887. Our guides, an architect and a historian gave us some really interesting stories about Diler Jung. Today I also got to know the difference between Stucco and Fretwork (Jaali) screens.
The dome of this tomb is in the shape of an onion and very different from other domes of the era but this design never took off. So it stands out and is very unique. This tomb has been restored in October 2023 by Dept of Archaeology. There was step well close by which as also been recently restored.
We then walked across an area called Jeera (not to be confused with Cumin seeds) and finally to a locality called Bansilalpet which was an affordable housing colony built in the 1930s by an industrial family, Bansilalpitti with Three types of houses. The word Petta can be seen very regularly all over AP and Telangana. Today I got to know that the name Petta was given to any hamlet which had a market in it. We saw another very well restored stepwell within Bansilalpet.
After this excursion, we walked back to the Sailing Club and sat outdoors overlooking the immense Hussain Sagar Lake. Lights had come on and from the distance the Vidhan Sabha, Birla Mandir and many other buildings looked beautiful with their beauty being further enhanced by the reflection in the waters of the lake. We ordered a fresh lime soda and a light snack and decided to head home since I had to leave for Pune the next day. My niece wanted to squeeze maximum out of the time she had with me so she drove around the lovely Tank Bundh Road filled with Saturday night revellers. Food stalls, Gaming Zones, high end eateries, parks all these abound in this happening place. I wish I had more time and energy to actually stop and enjoy the ambience. Came back tired but rejuvenated and all set for the drive to Pune. Still so much to write and of course so much more to see in Hyderabad. Maybe next time.
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