Update - You can have a larger view of the pictures by clicking on them.

On Saturday, I woke up to a boisterous morning. I hate that, particularly if it happen on the weekend when my definition of morning stretches till 1 p.m. If you are too an weekend sloth like me, you know how sacred this time is..you even think weekend is the greatest invention of human kind and the morning is the gem of the weekend, right? :D

I opened my bedroom's door with a pair of bleary eyes. Surprising..surprising..my roommate Narendra whose definition of weekend morning is more liberal than mine was not only awake, but also already hosting a surprise guest from Bangalore.
"Good morning, buddy. Meet my friend Deep."
I looked at the guest. A Sardar!! aah..the reason for all he..he..ha..ha of the morning :)
"Hi..." - the guest extended his hands for a shake.
"Hello.." I greeted back.

A short termed guest always brings instant vigor to the otherwise lazy inhabitants. Wohan jana hain...yeh dekhna hain..woh dekhna hai..usko milna hain..biyani khana hain..etc etc. And all the time the inhabitants keep wondering, what we couldn't do in 2 years, you want in 2 days!!!
It seemed Golconda fort was one of those wohan. I have never visited that place (Actually one evening when the Sun was set, I had been there once to meet someone. It is an amazing story. I will tell someday :) )Neither my other two room mates Uday and Narendra who spent two years MBA and 3 years job here respectively. That doesn't surprise me though. I, too, never visited Lotus temple in Delhi during my 3 years stint there. When you live near to something, you believe you can touch it any day. But it is just that, that day never arrives.

We set out for Golconda around 12 a.m. We decided to take an auto. Hyderabad and auto drivers!! Anybody can write a war book on it. But I am skipping that for now.
After 40-45 minutes we reached there to be greeted by 3-4 guides. Our deshi guides..so cunning..so smart..so leechours..I admire this group for their skill. They can challenge even Steve Job in sales!
"Aaiye sir..idhar aaiye.."
"No bhaaiya, we don't need your service". Uday declined.
"No problem sir. I will show the fort map and explain it. You don't need to pay." the guide moved on. Now that's a cunning move, isn't ? I guessed the outcome :)
So standing next to the map of the entire Golconda fort area, he briefed what is where. Finally he concluded how he would guide us through every path outlined in the map for a paltry rs. 350.
Who said we need you for that! We can have the map! We took a photograph of the map.


Bechara got entrapped! So, he drastically reduced the amount to rs. 175. Finally we agreed upon 150.
From now let the pictures speak.
At the beginning. BTW, can you identify me?



At the barrack.

The garden. I wondered, did the Sultan and his begums spend time amidst flowers one day?

Way up to the Sultan's darvaar.


View of the lower section from the top section.



Section of a boundary wall..beyond that, Hyderabad.

On the roof top of Sultan's darvaar. Below it, an air-conditioned chamber was there. When we stood in front of the air tunnel mouth, a cool breeze whipped our faces. Narendra concluded his awe factor with a big "F**K" exclamation. Uday shouted back, "common, it was not for that purpose." lol.



The Sultan and begum's private path. At one point, the guide said, female servants( daasi) used to welcome the king there. Narendra wondered what they wore. Deep answered, definitely not bikini!!

The king's way...

A view of the darvaar from below.

The chambers with excellent acoustic technology..a very low intensity's sound is reverberated with an amplified volume. Deewaron ke bhi kaan hote hain (even a wall can hear too)! The guide explained this was how the king managed to hear all the bitchy rebukes or conspiracy hatching. I concluded, "what the heck, ek hi gaali ko baar baar suno ( the king had to listen the same scold again and again ).


Ok, now this is MEEEEEEEE with my lunch :) I couldn't have even all of it. Uday gave such a monkey jump to my neck for posing for a picture that my corentto cone fell off :(

With dashing Uday..just after his famous monkey jump. On the backdrop, the garden named after Sultan's personal dancer Premavati or Kalavati ( I forgot the name). We wondered did she perform pole dance too?


Finally it was time to leave the Sultan's world. With gentle breezes and tiny rain drops still tapping our back we headed towards Eat Street ..famished..somewhat exhausted..and all marveled.
After having our lunch( or supper ), we set out for our second voyage..this time on speed boat to the enchanted giant Buddha's statue in the middle of Hussein Sagar lake.


The day was ending. It is sad when you have to leave so many beautiful faces around you..wished so many times our auto had a reverse gear ! :D We winded up the day with a little joke.
On the way back, Uday had to sit on the iron bar of a side door of the auto as the backseat couldn't accommodate four persons. The bar perhaps drew a line across his butt. After a few minutes, he ached out..slightly moved his position. Narendra suggested, "Uday, why don't you draw an Ashok Chakra at your a** ? You just need to sit at different positions!!" Deep counted, Ashok Chakra has 26 spokes..so, 13 positions in total. I corrected , no, it has got 24 spokes. So, 12 positions.
Uday unleashed his devilish laughs.."No, you are all wrong. I need to sit at 11 positions only."
11 positions!!! How come?
"Aare, I have already had one line since my birth!!!!"
Lol..how could we forget the long line we all carry on our back starting from the neck and bisecting our butts!!!