Saturday, February 11, 2012

The Rocks of Hyderabad

One thing all old timers in Hyderabad miss and reminisce fondly about is the rocks of Hyderabad. These were unique formations of rocks perched precariously, one on top of another, or blending into the crevices of one another, large boulders looking well-settled on a bunch of small rocks, almost always looking as if some giant hand had placed them in such a manner to amuse itself. All explanations defied this including the law of gravity - what is that large boulder doing up there on those small ones?

No one answered this question better than the erudite Thakur, our senior at Osmania College of Commerce and Business Management who needed hardly one good look at the small stones and the large stones on the Osmania campus. 'So the small stones don't fly away,' he said and to this day we have not found a better answer to the big rocks that threatened our lives if they rolled a bit. But they hadn't for centuries so they might not go for a stroll now.

Hyderabad was full of such rock formations. Intriguing, lovely to watch, a sense of adventure around them (we could imagine the Rampur of Gabbar's land in Sholay). Jubilee Hills, Banjara Hills, the secret lake at Madhapur, almost on all outskirts of Hyderabad we could find these lovely and rather unique formations of rocks placed in such fine designs by some giants who lived here probably in some eras gone by.

Of course now we have to go out of the city to see these rocks. At the Hayathnagar Hanuman temple today we saw some vestiges of these rock formations which brought some fine memories to the veterans. All the rocks in the city have been pounded to pulp by dynamite and thrown all over the place as we molested all nature around us to make way for the real estate boom, for progress. There was a society called 'Save the Rocks Society' but I suspect they did not have much success.

3 comments:

Dr. Seven said...

There was a beautiful pile of rocks in the HPS-R campus - between Osmania University and HPS-R. I spent many lazy Sundays walking near that place, climbing the rocks with my friends (we lived in the hostel). Hyderabad used to Rock! :)

Chitra said...

We lived in the 'wilds' of Banjara Hills when we were in Hyd, in the '70s; in fact, two compound walls in our place met at a huge rock! There was nothing but an endless stretch of rocks past Road 10 (we were on Road 8), and in what is now Jubilee Hills. I remember clambering down rocks with friends to visit two secret talaabs--Pattar Talaab and Singad Talaab...long gone, I suppose. I wouldn't even know where to look for them. Alas!

Harimohan said...

Yes Satish, Hyderabad used to rock. Now your school is very much part of the mainstream and I suspect all the rocks have long disappeared.

Chitra, the rocks and talaabs would now be part of or under some prime real estate. Anything for development you see. But I know the city you talk of.