Last week I and my dear friends decided to have a gleeful time together. As summers were approaching, we decided to have a day out before the scorching heat would compel us to stay indoors. We decided to go on a city tour and booked our tickets for round the city trip. The tour began with slight confusion when the bus didn’t arrive at the point we had been waiting. This was followed by us boarding the wrong bus. But finally we were out of this chaos, thanks to a friend who followed up skillfully with the guide of the other bus. And thus began our journey of joy in a vintage tourist bus.
Our first destination was Venkateshwara temple, also known as Birla temple situated on a small hillock in the heart of the city. The temple has been beautifully built in marble. Tranquility and the view from top were just worthwhile!! Then we went to Chowmala Palace. It was simply an out of the world feeling as we walked through the gallery flabbergasted, appreciating the lifestyle of the legendary Nizams. They truly an ostentatiously luxurious lifestyle and at the same time they were the major contributors in development during their rule. As a matter of fact, during their rule,chloroform anesthesia was used for the first time in the world in Hyderabad. The songs from the movie Mugal-E-Azam in the background perfectly added to the aura of the place. We came to know that the costumes were used from here in the famous movie.
Our next destination was Salarjung museum where the English Bracket Musical Clock is the main attraction. A soldier strikes repeatedly every second and another one comes out every hour to beat the gong which is further followed by a harmonious chiming. There is a huge collection of ivory idols, but being an animal lover, I was moved thinking about the plight of the poor elephants. There is an art gallery which has a collection of north Indian, Kangra and European paintings. Veiled Rebecca, a masterpiece in marble made by an Italian artist is simply captivating. As we had less time, we could only spend an hour in a fine place like this.
Then we went to Sudha Cars, a unique museum with an array of wonderful “wacky” cars manufactured from the scrap. Hats off to such a superb creativity!!!
We also visited Golconda fort. “Golconda” in Telugu means shepherd’s hill. The fort still stands tall and strong and is nicely maintained. Last but not the least, we visited Nehru zoological park, the largest zoo in India. We took a train ride of the zoo and came across elephants, crocs, deer and beautiful birds. The king of the jungle was the real treat to our eyes whose majestic disposition was indeed spellbinding! We really enjoyed this day of life and came back in a jubilant mood. I certainly look forward to more such journeys of joy in life.
