Hyderabad by Walk - Gun Park

 Right opposite the Assembly is a park which is known as Gun Park. I never got a close look at it so we went across to it. There was a fence around it earlier but they have removed it. However there was a security guard who asked what I was looking for. I said I wanted to look around and he said I could.

Telangana Martyrs Memorial or the Gun Park Martyrs Stupa

We stepped in to see a few cannons placed on the lawns. Then there was the Telangana Martyrs Memorial - a Stupa called the Gun Park Martyrs Stupa built IN 1975 to commemorate the sacrifice of the 369 students who died in the agitation for a separate Telangana state in 1969 falling to bullet wounds. (Also there are cannons placed there so I am not sure about the real story.) 

Guns and the memorial

That's one of the reasons why they call it the Gun Park apparently because guns were used to kill the 369 students. I do not know if their names are written - it would have been nice if they were.

The structure was sculpted by former Professor at the JNTU Fine Arts College, A Yadagiri Rao and he explains that the black granite base is to depict mourning, the 9 holes meant to represent bullets, the sun arch from Sanchi stupa, plaques on four sides, 9 strips standing for 9 districts, the Dharma chakra standing for tolerance and truth, the red granite for sacrifice, the chakra for peace and love and white lilies for the freshness of youth and immortality.

Statue of Sardar Vallabh bhai Patel

One wonders how many such slices of history we miss in our daily grind. We stood there for a moment, for those 369 young souls and headed out.  

Across the road from the Assembly, on the other side of the Gun Park are the iconic All India Radio (AIR) building which broadcast Yuva Vani which introduced ABBA and company to me and the Nizam Club.

Hyderabad by Walk - Assembly Building

 We stepped out of the Public Gardens and veered to the left to peek at the magnificent Assembly Building. Apparently it was built in 1905 to commemorate the 40th birthday of the 6th Nizam Mir Mahboob Ali Khan. As is evident it was designed by specially commissioned architects.

The place was well guarded by fencing - electric and all so we just peered from the outside at the massive Gandhi statue. The words 'Mera Jeevan Hi Mera Sandesh Hai' are written.

A view of the fencing

   

Magnificent entrance

Very impressive. Never get to observe it when we are travelling on the road.

Hyderabad by Walk - Public Gardens

We have all passed by the Public Gardens from the outside - some of us have been on the inside. Decided to check it off the list (though I had been there last year with Vasu). So come morning and I went off with Sunnie early in the morning. I have some vague memory of people sitting in the lawns with their picnic baskets and stuff but its just too long ago. Anyway, we went in from the main entrance, parked to the left where there are some very old vehicles parked and also some school buses and other public transport which have been left by their owners.  

The main entrance - from the inside

I researched on the faithful Wikipedia as usual and got some facts (hopefully right). Was called the Bagh-e-Aam (Public Garden) or Bagham and was developed in 1846 over a 54 acre area with a 7 acre pond. It is one of the oldest parks in Hyderabad. 

The lawns - one of museums at the other end

The Horticulture department has taken up office here which is apt. Since it was early in the morning we found a lot of early morning regulars walking in with their Jai Jinendra or Jai Shri Ram and stuff. People were setting up their juice stalls and such and the morning activity had begun.To the left we passed the Telangana State Museum which has been on my list for a while and something which I will soon accomplish, the lake a little ahead which is almost dry now with its gazebo and island. To the right was a huge lawn with another beautiful gazebo where people were exercising and warming up. We wandered around until we hit the gate the opened to the Nampally Road, past the Lalitha Kala Thoranam, the nursery and then wandered back alongside the railway track.You enter and walk to the left and pass a lawn with a gazebo, to the left is a lake which was dry but which has some boating activity etc otherwise. Further down we see more lawns to the left, the Asif tennis club which has been around since we were kids. 

The Legislative Council Building?

We hit the path that leads to another majestic gate that leads in and out of Public Gardens on the Nampally Road side. To our left was the Jubilee Hall which is considered an architectural masterpiece but I guess one has no access to it. My one memory of the Jubilee Hall was being felicitated by the then Chief Minister Shri NT Rama Rao when the Hyderabad team won the Ranji Trophy (1987). Of course I had no idea of the importance of that building nor the occasion so we just went ahead and took our mementos and cheques for  Rs. 1101 and came back. Apparently it was used as the State Legislative Council premises until they built another building for that in the Public Gardens itself.

From what I gathered Jubilee Hall was constructed as a royal palace in 1913 for the seventh Nizam Mir Osman Ali Khan and is considered an architectural masterpiece - it is well hidden behind all sorts of foliage that you cannot get a glimpse of it. Designed by Zain Yar Jung whose name is associated with many architectural marvels of Hyderabad in an Indo Persian style, the Jubilee Hall was so named when it was used to commemorate the silver jubilee celebrations of the 7th Nizam in 1937. They put up a grand spectacle with about 10,000 troops on show and many guests. The Nizam sat on a specially made gold plated chair (which is preserved in the Nizam's museum) and received gifts and mementos from various state departments and state guests.

This is the gate that leads to Nampally Road

A little further up to the right comes the famous Jawahar Bal Bhavan which was a source of great entertainment to us as kids because we were allowed to tune in at an ungodly hour of 3 or 4 in the afternoon on Sundays and listen in. It was great fun. This Bal Bhavan also had many summer activities which children would participate in. I never did and was always in envy of those who did. A huge square lawn in front of the Bal Bhavan where to one side was a Health Museum and another Museum to the other sie. We walked along the periphery of the lawn, walked past some people who were chilling and just taking in the morning sun - another thing I envy is those who can just sit by themselves.

There are many walkers, all shapes and sizes, with no entry fee which is beautiful (not like the KBR Park which has become elitist with a high entry ticket). Apparently there was a large fountain of 1937 vintage which was demolished for celebrating the Telangana Foundation Day in 2019.

The gazebo

.

The Telangana State Museum

As we neared the gate we could see a lovely mosque to the left, a canteen for the State Legislative Assembly personnel perhaps.

Its a brilliant place to go for a leisurely morning walk simply because you see all kinds of people - many friends groups meet up, laughter clubs, father-son duos, serious exercisers. Something about it keeps you in touch with life around us as it is.        

Hyderabad by Walk - Yousufain Dargah, Khamosh dargah, Moazzam Jahi Market

Sunnie  and I walked past the Ek Minar and followed maps which led to some graveyard like place. While we stood there looking confused a young autowallah showed up and wanted to know if we wanted a ride to the dargah. When we told him we would rather walk he showed us the way from the main road which he said was better accessible. There was also a small gully from where we stood from where we could access it.  

Yousufain Dargah

Walked down and turned right into the famous Yousufain dargah famous of the tomb of the sufi saint Yousuf Baba Sharif. 

Its a huge complex and obviously quite popular as we saw many people there early in the morning. 

Yousufain dargah from the main entrance

We walked past a rather large graveyard - to the left and the right, a small, cramped road and we ended up at the side entrance to the dargah. A shopkeeper selling flowers asked us if we wanted to buy flowers. We did not. He told us to remove our shoes and go in. 

We entered the entrance and there were small shops to the right and left, all shut at the early hour, but selling all kinds of stuff for those who may have come from faraway to the dargah. Food stalls and stuff. Some devotees were sleeping. Some women were cleaning up the place. We walked in and spent some time at the tomb. Sunnie told me that he felt an incredible calm come over him when he meditated near the tomb. We walked out from the front side and walked back in and then went out the way we came in.

Heading out - people sleeping on the sides

Yousuf Baba Sharif  or Dargah Yousufain is the place where two Sufi saints  Syed Shah Yousufuddin and Syed Shah Sharfuddin are buried. Both saints, Yousuf from Egypt and Sharfuddin from Palestine,  were at the Haj, where they apparently met Sheikh Kaleem-ullah Jahanabadi, became his disciples and followed him to Delhi. Since most of his followers were in the army the two saints also joined the armed forces. After the Deccan conquest, the two saints left the army and stayed back in Hyderabad.

Old gateway

 

The dome of the dargah was constructed during the Nizam's times. The burial ground next to the dargah has tombs of notable people including that of Daagh Dehlvi, a famous Urdu poet and court musician.

Hazrat Shah Khamosh Dargah

We wore our shoes and were pottering about when we saw an old gateway leading into a small gated community - the old types. So private it looked that we asked a person standing near the gate if we could go in and access another beautiful dargah behind. He said we could and we walked past the old houses.

The door and gateway

Above the door

The dargah visible behind the gated community

At the other end we came upon a beautiful, peaceful dargah right behind the Yousufain dargah. Very quiet and very beautiful. This is the dargah of Hazrat Shah Khamosh, a Sufi saint from Bidar. In 1204 he went to Ajmer Sharif and became the disciple of the famous Sufi saint from Ajmer Moinuddin Chisti. The Bab was known to speak very little and hence the title, Khamosh Dargah. It is a quiet place with very few people.     

The Hazrat Shah Khamosh dargah

Another view 

Road to Begum Bazar  

I checked Google maps and it showed a path to Moazzam Jahi Market via Darussalam and Begum Bazaar. I never walked or drove through these streets much and any driving here when the city wake sup requires complete attention. So it was a pleasure to walk along and chance upon an old structure here and there, some old deodis, tombs and such.

An gate to the Hazrat Khamosh dargah

Caught a nice morning sun

Another impressive front - no clue what it is though

Another beautiful old structure

Back on the main road and we passed the Darussalam building.

Darussalam, AIMIM Head Quarters 

A well maintained facade and I wondered what it was and we realised it was Darusalam, the Head Quarters of the AIMIM. I stepped in and viewed the large grounds, some educational institutions to one side and another large building to the left. 

Inside Darussalam - from the gateway

Entrance to Darussalam - from the inside

Begum Bazar

Though I had no clue where we were by the end of the road i saw a couple of signs that said we were in Begum Bazar. I saw a beautiful Ram temple there on the way. Didn't explore much - some other day I guess.

Ram temple

Lovely place.

Further up we saw some more old structures and turned left on to Begum Bazar and then landed up near Moazzam Jahi market.

Moazzam Jahi Market 

We ended up near Moazzam Jahi market which is a beautiful sight to behold any day but I think we were too tired to walk around and poke and explore. We saw some wedding photo shoots happening and tried to keep ourselves out of their albums. 

The structure looked magnificent in the morning sun but since the traffic had picked up I could not get a good pic of it. Some other time.

Moazzam Jahi market

Moazzam Jahi market (1935) is a granite structure built by the City Improvement Board which was mooted by the 7th Nizam Mir Osman Ali Khan in 1912 to plan the city in a proper manner. The market was named after his elder son Prince Moazzam Jah. The architecture was kept secular and was drawn from Kakatiya, Qutb Shah, Mughal and Asaf Jah architectural styles.  

Photoshoots going on near Famous Ice Cream

We took some pics and then legged it all the way back to IDBI,  a good two hours on the road.     

Dvi Dance Festival - DVI II

 When I saw the invite from Gangadhar to the dance event I was very impressed - the entry pass was priced at 499/- I instantly decided to attend the dance program because there is so much apprehension about pricing dance programs - and we would discuss it in the Arts Management class on pricing strategies, marketing strategies for dance programs. I had to go and buy tickets if nothing else to encourage the idea. (And take another friend along so we could buy more tickets!)

Pritam Das performing 'Marga' 

Dvi is a dance festival conceived and arranged by Sravya, who was Gangadhar's batchmate at the Masters in Performing Arts course, Department of Dance, University of Hyderabad where I taught the Arts Management course. I have been to another of Sravya's events a year or two ago, a workshop by a famous artist and I know Sravya does this job of organising and pricing events well. 

Gangadhar performing 'Lahari'

The second version of Dvi Dance Festival (Dvi II) was on March 2, 2025 at the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan auditorium, Basheerbagh. I just about made it to the event, bought tickets and seated myself. The hall was pretty full which is a tribute to the marketing skills of the organiser. Sravya anchored the show very well, structured it well, kept it simple and kept the artistes and the audiences ahead. 

Two performers were on stage that evening - Pritam Das and Sai Venkata Gangadhar. 

Pritam and Gangadhar

Pritam Das is a Bharatanatyam exponent, an accomplished artist who has performed in various festivals such as Spirit of Youth Festival, HCL Concert Series, Mid Year Dance Festival etc. He is the recipient of awards such as Gutty Vasu Memorial Prize, MN Subramanian Memorial Prize among others. He trained under Smt Rama Vaidyanathan, is a Doordarshan Grade A artist and is empanelled in Spic Macay.

Sai Venkata Gangadhar trained for 16 years under his Guru Smt Sandhya Raju, performed in many dance festivals such as Nritya Pratibha Festival, Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre, in stages across Italy for Diwali last year etc. He has a Masters in Performing Arts degree from the University of Hyderabad. He is much accomplished artist and as Sravya said, one of the most promising artists we have today. His journey is that much more incredible as he overcame a serious illness and came back to give such a robust and rousing performance full of strength, power and grace.   

To begin with, Pritam performed an item called 'Marga' which was about the path to the ultimate, the individual seeking the ultimate truth. Gangadhar then performed an item called 'Lahari' the waves of Kuchipudi, and then they both performed a stunning jugalbandi which deservedly received a standing ovation. I thoroughly enjoyed the evening and am looking for many more such.

I met several of my students at the show - Siva, Seenaiah, Chetaniya, Radhika, Lakshmi, Anju and others. Meeting them was such a nice feeling. More importantly seeing the auditorium fill up with almost 200+ people was brilliant. 

Pritam, Sravya and Gangadhar

I am so happy for Sravya for creating these stages for artistes like her and Pritam and Gangadhar and pulling it off in style. Sravya herself is an accomplished Kuchipudi dancer who trained under Smt Sreelatha Prasad, a CCRT scholarship holder, gold medalist at NIFT, Hyderabad, where she studied design, winner of the Nataraja Ramakrishna gold medal at the Master in Performing Arts course and a double JRF scholarship holder among the many achievements of hers. 

I am thrilled to see artists like Sravya creating spaces which are bringing back audiences to watch classical dance and at the same time give artists stages to perform with the right audiences. Sravya managed to bring in a sponsor too and it is wonderful to see how corporate houses are also encouraging arts. Her event management skills are wonderful and she should take up more such events and market them - she is really good at this. Truth is that we do need more such who take it upon themselves to create these spaces instead of depending on others to provide. So big congratulations to you Sravya.     

Here's wishing Dvi Dance Festival many more wonderful programs to come in the future and wishing Sravya, her team, Pritam and Gangadhar all success in their future endeavours. One way to make me attend is to ticket it!   

Manzil - Movie

1979. Amitabh and Moushumi. Basu Chatterjee.

Made intermittently from 1972 to 79. Most popular for the song 'Rim Jhim gire saavan' especially the one shot in real rain with Amitabh and Moushumi, sung by Lata Mangeshkar. Interestingly it was loosely adapted from a 1965 Bengali movie Akash Kusum.

Ajay, a poor man wants to try his hand at business and becoming rich. He tries to project that he is a rich man to the girl he falls in love with and gets caught out. All ends well though. Cute film with a lot of Bombay in the 1970s. Irani cafes, buses, empty roads, stores etc.

Hyderabad by Walk - Raj Bhavan Road

 I waled down the road from the Errum Manzil palace and soon came upon the present Administrative Staff College of India which is a beautiful campus built in 1910 and named by its French Architect as Bella Vista (meaning beautiful sight..a term which can be used well). It was originally built on a 10 acre campus. It was constructed in 1905 by Muslehuddin Mohammed, the Chief Justice of the High Court of the Hyderabad State who passed away in 1914 to plague. In 1916 the family sold it to the Nizam of Hyderabad who bought it and thereafter it became the royal residence of his elder son Prince Azam Jah and his Turkish wife Durrusehvar, daughter of the last Caliph of Turkey. Azam Jah's younger brother Moazzam Jah married Princess Niloufer who was the daughter of the last Ottoman princess. The two Princesses were known for their philanthropic work and for encouraging women to come out and work and play sports etc. The palace was converted into the ASCI in 1956.

Raj Bhavan Road - pic does not do justice

The Bella Vista is beautiful inside and well maintained. I could not gain access thanks to the bull dog watchmen but I had been here to give an interview for the IIM 'B' which I thought went well until I saw the result. Another time I went to attend a talk by a British mountaineer who had climbed many peaks including the Everest. Bella Vista was modelled on something called Henley-on-Thames.

Some menhir like objects

More menhirs

Anyway I circled the ASCI and went walking up the Raj Bhavan road which is a scene out of some 1960s Hindi movie with its wide roads and the median with lovely Ashoka trees and well laid landscape on both sides of the road. Down the road I saw the College of Nursing which is a beautiful structure in itself and now a notified heritage structure (apparently our earlier CM KCR had plans to demolish this building also among the many others and build high rises) This structure was earlier the Hyderabad Civil Services House where it accommodated the top Civil servants of Hyderabad state during the time of the Nizam. In 1950 it was converted into the college of Nursing. My only connection with this was meeting one girl from Andaman who had come to meet Ali in our Engineering college days who studied here - and due to some circumstances it turned out into an evening of singing with both Ali and she singing pretty well and the rest of us applauding.

College of Nursing - now looks abandoned though in good maintenance

A beautiful courtyard

The building itself

Further down the road came Dilkusha Guest House which is also a notified heritage structure to protect it from governments bent on making use of real estate available to them. Before it became the state guest house, it was the official residence of the Prime Minister of Hyderabad state Sir Akbar Hydari.

The Dilkusha Guest House

Further down comes the Raj Bhavan which is the residence of the Governor of Telangana. It was constructed in 1936 apparently and was designed and constructed by Eric Marret and Zain Yar Jung on a 21,50 acre land. The land was acquired from Nawab Shazore Jung and Sayyad Akil Bilgrami and was initially occupied by the PM of the state Sir Akbar Hydari who later moved to Dilkusha. Subsequent PMs of the Nizam's state who lived in the Raj Bhavan were the Nawab of Chattari, Sir Mirza Ismarl, Mehdi Yar Jung and Mir Laik Ali. One building inside the Raj Bhavan called Shah Manzil is a pre-1914 building which is currently used as the Office of the Advisors to the Governor of Telangana. The one time I visited the Raj Bhavan was to launch the Indian version of 'Radical Forgiveness' and 'Radical Manifestation' published by Sailaja, by the Hon Governor of AP then, Shri ND Tiwari. I went there for a couple of visits and met a few stiff collars there.

I turned the corner and sat down at the bus stop and got myself a Uber auto and headed home. Long walk.