City Tour

Yesterday we took a coach bus around the city for a tour of the historical sites. The first place we went were to these tombs of old Muslim kings. Many looked similar, with the big domes on top and the little point, but even so they were really cool. The grounds were huge, we walked for about an hour and a half around that place looking at different tombs. Afterwards we drove across town to the old city where Charminar is located. I didn't catch exactly what Charminar is, it was kind of a big monument in the middle of the road. I was a little distracted the whole time here though, because since we were in the old city, there were many more muslim women and traditional hindu women with their heads covered. As if we don't stand out enough in our own part of town, I would say 97% of the women in the old city had their heads covered, so we especially stuck out. We were also in the middle of Laad bazaar which sells a lot of ladies stuff, like bangles, saris (very extravagant ones, too), pearls, purses and all sorts of other cool stuff.

This was the point in my day where I found myself not only wondering but kind of wishing I had a burqa myself. There's a level of appeal to be able to go anywhere and be nobody, have no identity which washed among the masses.

One of the really interesting things about Hyderabad is that its population is split about 50/50 between Muslims and Hindus, and they live in perfect peace and harmony here, unlike many other cities in India. It does change the dynamics a bit and is very interesting to observe. One of the peer language tutors is Muslim, so if I end up with her, I'm sure I'll get a chance to ask a lot more questions about Muslim life and culture.

After Charminar we toured an old palace of one of the kings, which was very lavish. I wish I'd bought a photo ticket for that one (you have to pay to bring in your camera) because the main hall there was decked out in about 30 chandeliers. That's where we ate lunch filled with mainly dishes traditionally from Hyderabad (and some really fantastic naan bread). After tea, we left for our final destination, Golconda Fort.

Golconda used to be the capital before the Mughals came and moved it to Hyderabad. It was perched on top of the tallest hill in the city and looked over everything for about a mile in each direction. It had a jail, a mosque, living quarters, an audience hall, a beautiful courtyard and much more. We stayed for the sound and lights show at night, where its history was narrated by a Mufasa-sounding voice from really nice bose speakers and certain parts of the fort where highlighted by some really cool lights.

It was an exhausting day to say the least. Today we all get to just bum around, so unless something really cool happens there won't be much to say tonight/tomorrow.

If anyone has questions they want to ask me, my email is kbice@wisc.edu, sometimes I don't even realize some of the more obvious things to say, so feel free to ask via email or facebook. =)