startling banals
21 October 2006
Golconda Sound & Light Show
Golconda the fort of dreams, of the benevolent, visionary, liberal, romantic Qutub Shahs, the fort to whom Hyderabad owes its existence. I was almost completely ignorant of its glorious history & grandeur before seeing the show. It is a fantastic show held at Golconda fort in the evenings where they play a recorded voiceover (compered by Amitabh Bachhan) with music lights and all.
Santosh & I are both too lazy to plan anything in advance. But we were shamed into taking part in a meticulously planned trip to Golconda and the tombs of the Qutub Shahs by an old friend from iitb Mr Senthil Kumar who works in Hyderabad as a senior scientist in India's pioneering biotech company Shantha Biotechnics. He had absolutely everything sorted out.
Meet at Kookatpalli at 1. See his home. Eat lunch at Kookatpalli. Proceed to Mehdipatnam from where we were supposed to catch a bus for Golconda town. Everything went as planned and we reached the town by 3. It was foolproof! He said we would stroll in the wooded area of the tombs of the Qutub Shahs till 4.30 when the sun will be bearable. Then we would go around the fort and be back by 6.30, have something to eat and be ready for the light and sound show at 7.
I cannot describe the show. Simply beautiful. Ghazal, poetry, dialogues, tales of adventure, love, wisdom and passion. The story of the Qutub Shahs unfolds as the sun sets and the fort as if comes to life again with the clever light and speaker systems which follow the commentary. No more flowery descriptions.
Funny thing was that some tourist guides could speak bengali and even the majority of tourists were bongs. The view is fantastic and the tombs are magic and a trip to another age. One of the most visited is that of the revered Queen Mother - Hayat Bakshi Begum the wise matriarch. I photographed a poem about the tombs.
Hyderabad is a charming city of friendly people with the cute accent. When we went to Lakdi-ka-Pul for bus tickets to Bombay, the lady asks, "Kitna ticket hona?" Santosh said to me, "Yaar iss shehar mein saari cheezey hoti rehti hai" :D
Meet at Kookatpalli at 1. See his home. Eat lunch at Kookatpalli. Proceed to Mehdipatnam from where we were supposed to catch a bus for Golconda town. Everything went as planned and we reached the town by 3. It was foolproof! He said we would stroll in the wooded area of the tombs of the Qutub Shahs till 4.30 when the sun will be bearable. Then we would go around the fort and be back by 6.30, have something to eat and be ready for the light and sound show at 7.
I cannot describe the show. Simply beautiful. Ghazal, poetry, dialogues, tales of adventure, love, wisdom and passion. The story of the Qutub Shahs unfolds as the sun sets and the fort as if comes to life again with the clever light and speaker systems which follow the commentary. No more flowery descriptions.
Funny thing was that some tourist guides could speak bengali and even the majority of tourists were bongs. The view is fantastic and the tombs are magic and a trip to another age. One of the most visited is that of the revered Queen Mother - Hayat Bakshi Begum the wise matriarch. I photographed a poem about the tombs.
Hyderabad is a charming city of friendly people with the cute accent. When we went to Lakdi-ka-Pul for bus tickets to Bombay, the lady asks, "Kitna ticket hona?" Santosh said to me, "Yaar iss shehar mein saari cheezey hoti rehti hai" :D
Photos of Golconda
3 Comments:
yeah it was a good trip thanks to Senthil, he must have been giving us gaali for our laziness and why we did not go to Koti after so much insistence from his side, anyway.
yes.
"you go to Koti. you will get all the buses"
"Senthil, do you believe in god?"
"Nothing like that re.."
:))
"you go to Koti. you will get all the buses"
"Senthil, do you believe in god?"
"Nothing like that re.."
:))
but we cooked dinner for him at your home even though we were dead tired and he liked it too :)