Hyderabad by Walk - British Residency

 I did visit British Residency twice before last year - once in one of my tanhai walks and once with Tanya - but this one was different. It was by Deccan Archives and I quickly checked if Vasu was game and he was. So a quick breakfast at Poorna Tiffins and we joined Safwan and gang for a dekko at the British Residency. Dheeraj led the walk in the absence of Sibgat and Wahaj. There were some 15 participants which included Ajay and Mukhtiar.

The British Residency from the back (or front)

Empress Gate

Empress Gate

Off we went to the Empress Gate which was the gate that was the main entrance - huge to let elephant's pass. Anyway it faces the Musi and the old city which is where the Nizam's lived. 

A High Flood Level mark indicates the height to which the flood rose. Then to the cannon presented by Mahbub Ali Khan to the Resident. Through the Lansdowne gate to the Rang Mahal garden where the renovated British Residency model stands. 

Stepwell

Cannon presented by the VIth Nizam to the British Resident

Going right through the middle of all this are excavators, trucks and stuff which are engaged in constructing a new sports field in the place where the kitchen once stood. Anyway I walked through the small cemetery where several Britishers are laid to rest. 

Model of the Residency

Cemetery

Darbar Hall

Then to the British Residency itself where there is now a few of 100/150 bucks to enter and another 100 or so to take pics inside. We saw the lions outside (earlier sphinxes), the columns, the pediment, the capitals, the coat of arms. Then the darbar hall, its magnificent ceiling fully restored, the climb down to the dungeons, the climb up to the Oval office. Dheeraj said this design may have influenced the design of the White House.

Oval Office

Some advice to the girls

Many pics and such. This one written on the wall - A girl should be like  a butterfly, pretty to see, hard to catch! 

Vasu, Mukhtiar and me walked out, had a chai and then I got dropped off at Jubilee Hills to go to the Hyderabad Literary Festival where Vinod was waiting to have lunch.