Hyderabad by Walk - The Hussain Sagar 10 K Chakkar

 While walking around in bits and pieces around the Hussain Sagar lake we got ambitious and decided to walk the 10 kms around the lake (or pretty much 10 k). I remember it from the marathon runs they would organise and the 10 k was around the lake. So Sunnie, Kiri and I decided to catch up at 530 am at the Eat Street and walk around the lake at our own leisurely pace. 

The Tank Bund across the Hussain Sagar lake

The Secretariat

We started the walk towards Prasad's Multiplex and turned along the Hussain Sagar promenade at the Indira Gandhi junction where we also have statues of PV Narasimha Rao and not forgetting the most imposing statue of BR Ambedkar. There's a small temple to the left as well. 

Another view of the Secretariat - BR Ambedkar statue to the right

Kiri and Sunnie at the road ahead

The Park

Now Hussain Sagar, the world's largest heart shaped lake and a protected heritage site, was built by Sultan Ibrahim Quli Qutb Shah in 1562. It's an artificial lake spread across 5.7 sq km and has a maximum depth of 32 feet. The lake is fed by the Musi river and its canals and was the source of drinking water for the twin cities until the Osman Sahar lake and Himayat Sagar lake came up on the outskirts  of the city. The lake however is named after Hussain Shah Wali a Sufi saint who came to Golconda and was quickly absorbed and given high positions - including that of the Master Architect of the Kingdom (he also was made the Sultan's son-in-law according to one account). The lake holds water perennially fed by the Musi's canals. 

The 18 metre high Buddha statue on the Gibraltar Rock

The stupa

We walked past the BR Ambedkar statue, along the pavement, tripping over some contraptions which are probably used to hold the cranes during Ganesh immersion. The sun was not yet out but the early colours of dawn were visible. To the right we passed the NTR Gardens (in the place where it stands now was the Hussain Sagar Thermal Power Station which was constructed in 1920 and was supposedly the first thermal power station in India. It supplied power to the twin cities from 1920-1983 and then it was demolished and made into the gardens.

Youngsters doing some reels under the Ramadasu statue

A poem by Sarojini Naidu nee Chattopadhyay

Further up we passed the majestic, spanking new Secretariat to the right. To the left were the remnants of the Lumbini Park which was very popular in its time but I do not even know if its exists anymore. And then the Telangana Amara Jyothi which is a Telangana martyr memorial constructed in 2023, a seamless stainless memorial which is also the largest stainless steel memorial apparently. 

An attempt at educating the public about the history of Hussain Sagar

Past the little garden to the left which I never noticed, the lane which leads to the Boats Club and we were on the Tank Bund. We walked on the side closer to the lake, reminiscing the many times we sat in the 1980s when the city was less crowded and we could easily park by the side and sit for hours on the benches. The bronze statues started on the right and I clicked pics of as many as I could in the dark. They are really beautiful.

In order from the Secretariat side
1) Gautamiputra Satakarni
2) Nannaya
3) Tikkanna
4) Yerrapragada
5) Annamacharya
6) Potana
7) Yogi Vemana
8) Siddhendra Yogi
9) Tana Shah
10) Molla

The Police Station on Tank Bund

Cute arches

How it looks from the front

11) Brahma Naidu
12) Potuluri Virabrahmendra Swamy
13) Kshetrayya
14) Sri Krishna Devaraya
15) Ramadasu
16) Thaygaraja
17) Raghupathi Venkataratnam Naidu
18) Sri Sri
19) Mutnuri Krishna Rao
20) Gurram Jashuva

A mosque

Saidani Ma tomb

21) Suravaram Pratap Reddy
22) Makhdoom Mohiuddin
23) Kandukuri Veeresalimgam
24) Pingali Venkayya
25) Tripuraneni Ramaswamy Chowdary
26) Sir Arthur Cotton
27) Alluri Sita Rama Raju
28) Ballari Raghava
29) Gurajada Appa Rao
30) CR Reddy
31) Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan
32) Mahboob Ali Khan Asaf Jah VI
33) Rudrama Devi
34) Komaram Bheem

A lovely temple

Herbal and Spices garden

Beautiful walk

The place was littered with cake and such birthday party celebration left overs in several places so we figure this must be the new way to celebrate birthdays - get cake and cut and make a mess and leave. The poor sweepers were at it. A  statue of Swami Vivekananda at the end and one of Basava. The park which used to have the huge aquarium and the Patton Tank which was won at the Battle of Basantar in the 1971 war against Pakistan. The old police station, the dargah next to it and then we passed the Sailing Club to the left and got off the road to get on to the road along the lake.

Park - don't park

And beware of pickpockets

There's a place which served tiffins early called Nani's but we were more keen on completing the walk than in eating so we chugged along. the walk was pleasant and while I brought up the rear, Sunnie and Kiri were happily chatting away ahead. We passed the Sanjeevaiah park to the left, named after the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh Damodaram Sanjeevaiah. Its a beautiful park. Passed a Herbs garden to the right, the MMTS station, the PV Narasimha Rao memorial, the Jaipal Reddy memorial, some theme park. Jal Vayu vihar, the Lake Front park and then slowly back to the Eat Street - in about to hours or so.

The long and winding road

Time well spent.

We headed off to Minerva and had a nice breakfast and coffee and split.



    

In 1992 an 18 meter high Buddha statue was installed on the Gibraltar Rock which is in the middle of Hussain Sagar. Carved out of a single granite rock weighing 450 tons, 200 sculptors working on it for two years, the statue sunk when it was first attempted to be installed in 1988- and the finally it was installed in 1992.

The Tank Bund which is a bund that connects Hyderabad and Secunderabad and also holds the lake water was widened in 1946 by the then Prime Minister Sir Mirza Ismail and then again in 1987 when it was widened and beautified with bronze statues of well known personalities from the land during the NTR reign.