Hyderabad – Buddha & Biryani
Our visit to the capital of the Southeastern Indian state of Telangana was a short trip by recent travel standards. With domestic flights in and out, we stayed for just 5 days. The shortened duration was designed with the intention of allowing us extra days back on the boat to complete various boat chores, including the time and labour intensive re-chaulking of the cockpit teak.
Similarly to Chennai, Hyderabad has no defined centre. Though there is a metro this did not turn out to be as useful as we had hoped so we ended up relying on Uber more heavily than we have on our other city visits. First port of call was the giant stone Buddha which is sculpted out of one single granite stone and stands majestically on a small island in the middle of the Hussain Sagar lake. It is the world’s tallest monolith of Buddha. You reach the statue by boat, a small ferry that shuttles people back and forward. The lake was a bit aromatic, to say the least. But the smell lessened once we moved away from the boarding pier, and the increasing scale of the Buddha statue soon took our mind off of the stench.
Close to the Hussain Sagar is the Birla Mandir Hindu Temple, built-in 1976. Young by Hindu temple standards and even marginally younger than the eternally youthful Bryan. Indian roads don’t cater well for pedestrians, so getting to the Birla Mandir involved playing chicken crossing a 6 lane highway. Although given the lack of lane discipline the 3 lanes either side was more like 8 or 9 and life in your hand’s stuff to cross.
Nearly all of the temples we have visited there is a strict no shoe and no phones rule. The same was true for the Birla Mandir. The limitation of not taking phones means no on the spot fact-checking but ensures that you take in the beauty of what you are seeing unfiltered through a phone camera lens. The temple is constructed of 2000 tons of pure white marble and is really stunning up close. It also offers a great view across Hyderabad from the higher levels.
With phones back in hand, the internet told us that the three day Deccan Festival was scheduled to start at the Qutb Shahi Tombs close to Golconda Fort. That was the limit to the information we could find, so we decided to visit the tombs anyway in the hope of finding out more once we arrived. It turns out, the festival was a complete red herring and the ticket office guy had no idea about it. Thankfully it wasn’t a wasted visit. The tombs and mosque of the Kings of the Qutb Shahi dynasty were spectacular. Much of the site and tombs are under renovation which started in 2013 and is on the tentative list for listing as a World Heritage site.
The tombs are close to the Golconda Fort which was an early capital city for the Qutb Shahi dynasty. Rather than a traditional tour around the site, we opted for the evening sound and light show, an outdoor hour-long telling of the fort history with accompanying light effects. We decided to treat ourselves to the executive seating – an extra 60 rupees. This resulted in us sitting in beige plastic chairs rather than the regular seating white ones – both colours exactly the same design. Not quite the style bonus we were looking for, but thankfully the mosquitos managed to stay away during the show. Maybe they just don’t like beige? The story got a bit complex at times, but the general gist was the rise and fall and rise again of the dynasty leading Hyderabad to become the city that it is today.
Many Indian landmarks liken themselves to those in the west. For example, Alleppey backwaters are known as the Venice of the East. The Charminar, a monument and mosque, is sometimes described as the Arc de Triomphe of the East. Though it does not quite have the French va-va-voom, the Charminar is an impressive looking building and located in the middle of a lively market that was fun to walk around.
Avoiding the persistent auto-rickshaw drivers who are constantly haggling to pick up a fare, we walked to the nearby Chowmahalla Palace. This was the palace of the Nizams (rulers) of Hyderabad and is not only a beautifully preserved historic building but a well thought out and informative museum on Nizam and the Palace history. Many online sources referred to the penultimate Nizam, Mir Osman Ali Khan, who died in 1967. He was also claimed to be India’s all-time richest Indian with a net worth of $236 billion But the information presented in the palace referred to a subsequent Nizam, Mukarram Jah, the grandson of Mir Osman. It seemed curious that there was so little information about him. Google to the rescue, what unfolds is a real black sheep of the family story. His greatest achievement it seems is to have gone from being handed an inheritance beyond most peoples wildest dreams and end up more or less penniless in Turkey. He achieved this feat in a little over 30 years. Quite spectacular, for all the wrong reasons.
Our timing leaving the palace was in line with the need for lunch. Hyderabad is claimed to be the Biryani capital of India, so it seemed fitting that we were in walking distance of one of the highest-rated Biryani restaurants in town. The Hotel Shadab looked pretty basic, but we determined that anywhere that had customers still queuing for lunch at 3 pm in the afternoon had to be good. We were not disappointed and had not one but two of the tastiest Biryanis we have ever had. We hadn’t factored in portion size though and were not able to get through the mountain of food we were given but were just thankful we hadn’t followed the waiter’s advice to order more.
We often stop off at Churches, not for spiritual enlightenment as such but we do enjoy seeing the different architectural styles and taking time to sit and reflect in the relative tranquillity they offer. The only Church we visited in Hyderabad was the lovely All Saints Church and spent a relaxing hour of peace and quiet. I even started my first attempt at sketching, with an attempt at the Church interior with the expert tutelage of Bryan. Our thoughts soon returned to food again and the chance to try one of the other top recommendations for Biryani – the Barwachi Restaurant. We rated the food though still thought the Hotel Shadab was best. At least we got the portion size right this time though.
One of the other food discoveries in Hyderabad was that it is home to a number of vegan restaurants. We tried The Gallery Cafe, which is not full vegan but has a range of vegan options on the menu and also the fully vegan Terrassen Cafe. It is also a slow food cafe, which means it uses locally sourced products and is intended to be prepared, eaten and enjoyed slowly. Their iced Vietnamese coffee with condensed coconut milk was delicious. We ended up eating there twice in an attempt to try as much as we could from the menu. It was above our typical travel food budget but a lovely treat to eat such well-prepared and delicious plant-based food.
A bonus evening for us was at the Lamakaan. This is a cultural centre that was within walking distance of our hotel. It popped up on the events listings for Hyderabad with a showing of the Woody Allen film “Annie Hall”. Even better, it was free of charge. That is our kind of entertainment!
By our final day, we were beginning to feel like we had exhausted the touristy things to do and ended up going mainstream with a visit to the only IKEA in India – sorry, it had to be done! As ever with IKEA, we ended up buying essentials that we hadn’t realised we needed when we went in and are now the proud owners of a lovely long-handled bottle brush.
Back to the boat and Bryan continues to tackle the big task of re-chaulking the cockpit teak. Our next adventure is at the end of the week when we head to Goa for a week-long yoga retreat, coinciding with my birthday.
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