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Around the world in 2000,
via Asia and Madagascar.
Hyderabad (India)
Bec2004-09-18 17:58:46
Displayed times (last time: )
Hyderabad
Thirty one hours later, I surfaced here in Hyderabad, 1400 kilometers south of Gwalior. It had been a long train ride but I did not mind is for it had given me the opportunity to enjoy significant conversations, first with two officials of the Indian Railways who are sharing my compartment and later with an officer from the Hyderabad Air Force Academy.
I gathered from these and other privileged conversations that there is a profound disillusionment about the central and state governments among the educated Indian people who are not directly involved with the corruption that has completely destroyed the tradition of impartial efficiency that was the pride of the Indian Civil Service when the British were still in control.
Hyderabad is the capital of Telegu speaking Andhra Pradesh. This is the South, the people are of Dravidian stock, smaller and darker than the Aryans in the North.
Here is a street scene on Sadar Patel Road just north of the city's most famous monument, Char Minar, built by Quli Qutb Shah in 1591, which can be seen below.
Just south of Char Minar stands Tibbi College, one of the "English Schools" built by the British to train the Indian cadres they needed to administer the country.
Hyderabad's hinterland once formed part of the Mauryan Ashoka's Buddhist Empire in the 3rd century BC. It was disputed by Hindu kingdoms passing into the hands of the Chalyukas from the Deccan plateau in the 7th century and into those of the Cholas from the south in the 10th. The region then became the scene of Hindu-Muslim power struggles after the 14th century until Sultan Quli Qutb Shah established his capital at Golconda.
On the western side of the street across from Tibbi College, Mecca Masjid is one of the largest mosques in the world. It was built in the 17th century by Sultan Abdulla Qutb Shah to accommodate 10 000 worshippers.
The Moghuls took over the region
...
See photographs from:
India Gallery
