My trip to Salarjung museum,Charminar and Mecca masjid

I went to Salarjung museum,Charminar and Mecca masjid on Saturday(25-Apr-2009).
I took the 216 bus from Gachibowli and reached the Koti bus stand.After that i walked to Salarjung museum.It was a walking distance and also the people were quiet friendly and helpful as i reached there by asking directions along the way.

The Salarjung family had been the primeministers of Hyderabad under the rule of the Nizams and the Salarjung museum owes its existence to the collections of Salarjung III whose artistic patronage leaves you spell bound.
The museum stands tall with three sections with a ground floor and first floor with scores and scores of artwork of historical value.You can find articles ranging from sculptures, paintings, scriptures, arms, ivory work, textile, porcelain, woodwork, furniture etc etc mainly from India,China,Europe,Japan and Egypt.It is a delight for all those like me who totally dig at history,culture and art etc.The ticket is only Rs.10 which i thought was really cheap for a museum of its size and sophistication.The place is maintained pretty well with usable drinking water and decent toilets at regular intervals.The food costs a fortune at the food court(Well !! they have to make money somewhere...;))

Next place in my list was Charminar!! I have heard of Charminar for so so long and i was really excited about going there.I walked for sometime from the museum when it started raining! Again i asked for directions all through and caught an auto somewhere in Pathergatti road and settled for 10Rs after some bargain.As the auto neared the landmark i could see the setting and environment change quite a bit with a lot of activity ,people and big ancient arches!Finally I was at the Charminar!!

The view was so exhilarating!!! There i was , bending my neck at acute angles, trying to fully see the four minarets jutting into the sky with exquisite design and craftmanship.I prompty got the ticket for Rs.5 and climbed up the winding stairs in one of the minarets.People are allowed to climb up the charminar upto the first floor and not any further! I climbed upto the first floor to watch the busy streets down below with the noise,traffic,people and life on all four side of the minar.The lively sights and sounds made me feel like i was in some exotic historic town in Istanbul or middle east!!I climbed down after a while and messaged my mom about how thrilled I was.I really really had to share that with someone! I missed my parents!
Then i went over to Mecca masjid which is just couple of paces from Charminar munching away cut mango pieces appropriately sprinkled with salt/chilly powder!Heavenly it was.

Mecca masjid is a really old mosque built way back in 17th century.Just a few months back i had seen a picture taken by one of my friends,of this landmark and had been fascinated by the structure.Back then i was surprised to see the fluttering pigeons which neatly added to the mood of the picture,but when i went there I realised that it was impossible to take a pic of the place without those pigeons! There were just too many of them.People are allowed to walk around the front yard of the mosque which has a small water tank in one of its corner.
After visiting the mosque i reached the nearby bus stand after walking through an alley, as directed by the friendly traffic cop!!I got my 65G bus to mehdipatnam pretty soon and the journey back home was uneventfful except for a six rupee tender coconut and five rupee watermelon plate.

I managed alone all through the trip with my broken hindi which is only just a litttttle better than Mohanlal's hindi in the movie "Company".I never felt lost even once!! I love this place :-)
Also the summer of hyderabad isnt bothering me too much!! I got to admit that i have been carefully avoiding the middaytimes but still the heat is perfectly manageable on the other times!I have heard a few people say that the summer in hyderabad can be a shade hotter than in chennai but iam yet to see any proof of that!In fact i had seen hotter summers in mysore when i had been there a couple of times!

I had initially planned to go to Ramoji film city on sunday but upon googling,I found out that the place was a little too far and i wasnt having a very clear idea as to how to go there!Also taking so much of pain the very next day that too for a trip alone didnt sound too exciting so i decided to give it a miss! I guess any other trip has to wait for a weekend after return from the chennai trip during the long weekend!
Lets see :-)
PS:It was just a site seeing trip, so i didnt take any pictures!They dont let any camera inside the salarjung museum anyway!! :)