Hyderabad by Walk - Abids

Mukhthyar and Tareekh-e-Deccan announced a walk in Abids on Sunday and I signed up for it with Vasu and his friend Srikanth from our college days. We met Mukhthyar and the others at the Nizam College gates which was the starting point. 

Nizam College

Gun Foundry

Now Nizam College, started in 1887 under the reign of Mahboob Ali Khan the 6th Nizam, is a place where we played many cricket matches in our college days and which was also the palace built by the nobleman Fakhrul-ul-Mulk and was called something like Asad Bagh or something. Mukhthyar reeled off some famous names from the college - Azharuddin, Balakrishna, ML Jaisimha, Rakesh Sharma, Kiran Kumar Reddy, Shyam Benegal and so on. Srikanth and I both realised we had taken admission here before getting our final admission in Engineering back in 1984. The first Principal of the college was Aghorenath Chattopadhyay, father of Sarojini Naidu.

Art Deco, Gun Foundry

We walked into the lane next to Lepakshi building (the same one me and Ram would take to go to school in the 1977-82 period - get off the bus at Nizam College and walk to All Saints High School past the Gun Foundry and get into the infamous tunnel that led to the St Joseph's Cathedral). But in all these years, despite knowing that the school area is called Gun Foundry I never had the curiosity to find out what this Gun Foundry was and where it was. It is a brick structure built in 1785 AD that one passes right behind Lepakshi and this was where they would make the many cannon and cannonballs for the Nizams (also called Top ka Sancha). The French were actively helping the Nizams in that period and Mukthyar said there was one General de Bussy who was quite scary - something like Gabbar Singh of Sholay and his name was used to terrorise people, mainly stubborn children. More interestingly it was Michel Raymond who set it up.

Wedding Cars

Mahboobia Girls School

Light House

We walked around and saw a couple of Art Deco buildings of the 1917 vintage and moved back to the main road. I could see one small shop with the name 'Light House' and was reminded of the infamous Lighthouse theatre of our school days, known for showing soft porn Malayalam films such as 'Wine and Women' all year long. Now Lighthouse is long gone and only this little shop reminds us of it. 

State Bank of Hyderabad

Erstwhile Bombay Cafe

On the right, in front of Mahboobia Girls School (1907) were parked an array of wedding cars, brightly painted luxury cars that one can hire for weddings - this has been going on since our school days. Then there were those Impalas and other such cars. Now a more modern fleet appears to have replaced them. One wonders how many weddings and couples and happy occasions these cars must have been part of - if only they could tell their stories.

St George's Church

William Palmer's tomb

We stopped for a moment at the majestic State Bank of Hyderabad building, established in 1941 by the 7th Nizams as the state's own bank when under their rule. Then it was nationalised and became State Bank of Hyderabad. Now it is a SBI office and they have hung many flexis all over advertising many boring schemes completely spoiling the appearance of the building. 

Islamia Jamatkhana, Chirag Ali Lane

Next to it is the Blue Sea Restaurant which was once called Bombay Cafe in our school times circa 1980-82. I remember we used to visit both the canteen in the SBH where we would get tiffins for as low as 15 paisa (dirt cheap even then) and tandoor mutton on Sunday afternoons at Bombay Cafe when we had school league matches. And of course our walk through Chapel Road to Nampally to catch a bus home after school past Sujatha School and Stanley School and the lovely chapel to the left.

Hindustani Church

Golden Threshold

Further down the Abids road we walked past John's Bakery where we ate many doughnuts during our school days and into St George's Church which is adjacent to St George's Grammar School. It's a 1834 structure and a beautiful one at that. Mukhthyar took us to a small cemetery by the side with the most fascinating pink flowers in the creepers or vines and told us the story of Mr William Palmer who is buried there along with some other important people. Palmer was a wealthy and smart banker who apparently lent money at high interest rates to the Nizams (who were not very rich at that times) to maintain the British battalions for their protection - part of the Subsidiary Alliance project of theirs. Interestingly, the inability to pay the interests and maintain the troops were what led to the Nizams having to cede much of their land to the British.

General Post Office

We stepped back on to the Abids road and drifted towards Chirag Ali lane, passing the Little Flower School (which also had the Junior college then but now it moved to Uppal). We passed by a couple of old structures now maintained by the government or have become offices. In Chirag Ali lane (Moulvi Chirag Ali (1844-95) a scholar and reformer). We passed the majestic Ismaili Jamathkhana building which is a Dawoodi Bohra centre i think - it is out of bounds and its entire demeanour says keep off. 

Palace Theatre Complex, where the Abids Departmental Store stood

Reddy Boys Hostel

Further down the road we stopped at an interesting church - St Luke's Hindustani Church where sermons are given in Urdu apparently. I did not pay much attention to this building though I passed it many times. We hit Nampally Road (reminded me of Meena Alexander and her book of the same name) and passed the iconic Golden Threshold which was the home of Sarojini Naidu . The building is named after a collection of her poems of the same name. She donated it to the Central University which operated here for a while before shifting to Gachibowli and its sprawling campus. Some good friends of mine have studied here.

Bachelor's Quarters

Onwards to GPO and Grand Hotel which is apparently the oldest Irani hotel in Hyderabad, where we had a cup of chai and decided against the biscuits. Then a few steps to the Reddy's Boys Hostel which is an old and impressive building and is from the same Reddy's Women's College fame - both being promoted by Raja Bahadur Venkata Rama Reddy, a high ranking police official and the first Kotwal of Hyderabad. This hostel is for the poor Reddy boys apparently and looks to be in great condition, well maintained. 

Moazzam Jahi Market

We went back past the GPO, stopped at the Palace theatre complex where Mukhthyar gave some idea on why it was called Abids - named after Mr Albert Abid - an Armenian valet of the 6th Nizam who had a departmental store at the same place where the Palace theatre complex stands (there's a picture of that store on Wikipedia, circa  1897). I remember there was once a Ajanta Cool Drinks shop in that complex. From there we walked past Ramakrishna theatre and stopped at the interesting 'Bachelors Quarters' building which apparently housed a lot of artists in those days. It is a quaint building and I never noticed it in my life. 

Across the road was the Moazzam Jahi Market, named after the second son of the 7th Nizam Mir Osman Ali Khan, which is iconic as the first mall - the shops have numbers - groceries, eateries, a gun smith. On the outside there were the famous ice cream shops with their wrought iron chairs and tables. 

Abids Second Hand Book Market

We saw many reel makers and wedding shoot people here, took our group picture and parted ways.

We walked back to the Abids, past the second hand book market which was just opening up and towards Taj Mahal Hotel where we had some breakfast. From there all the way back to Mahboobia Girls school where we parked. Mukhthyar came with us since he left some stuff in my car. And in a very thoughtful gesture he gifted me a lovely picture book of Hyderabad's iconic structure brought out by Express Publications along with a hand written note for me. 

Me and Mukhthyar and his thoughtful gift 

I was greatly touched by the gesture, thanked him, took a picture with him and we left after that.