Day 2: Phase I accomplished and a rendezvous with Charminar.
Date: Jan 30th,2009
Early morning the next day we got ready and went to the
station…had our breakfast on the run. At the tourism office we enquired and
purchased for all the maps and city guides we needed. Then we hired an auto to
take us to Ameerpet where I would be staying and doing my project. It was all
accomplished pretty soon…thanks to my batchie Mahendra. He was there by my good
fortune and guided us everywhere…else we would have been wandering here and
there for dunno how many hours.In the CMC office, they have a poster of Changi
Airport, boasting about some AirTraffic
Lightening Control System developed by CMC and successfully implemented
at Changi Airport,Singapore…rings a bell. Someone there…nice beach…he’s cool
too…but I dunno hw to pronounce his name…any ways I won’t be…how is he doing??
I wonder. Must be chilling off fosure!...I missed him a lot these few
days..why? coz I didn’t get online perhaps that’s why…had he noticed my disappearance?
Kya pata..and its none of my business either so better curb your sentiments and
focus on your work…okay…pata nahi kya baat hai dil me…na jane kaisi kashmakash
hai ye…callate! Just stop thinking and focus..don’t let your mind wander off
any where....
Around 2 o’clock we
were all through with our preliminary tasks. Oye! It’s Friday! And we missed
our namaaz! Well we’d pray Qaza if possible. Now what? To charminar! Well my
Dad wanted to go over there…dunno why…but so I complied with him. We took an auto
for that. I am so infatuated with this place…it has a striking similarity with
my love Bhopal…(so I feel). This place just reminds me of Bhopal….the bottom
line: am gonna enjoy my stay over here. There are so many structures that
resemble the old architecture. The tombs, minarets,etc. The perfection, the
alignment, the finish, the strength to stand so many centuries and see so many
changes…it was all mesmerizing. As the Char Minar area approached, it reminded
me of the Chowk bazaar of Bhopal. There in the heart of the city was a proud
structure…boasting of its good luck and good fortune, standing tall and strong
against the winds and seasons of change. It was breathetaking beautiful ( it
is.) We purchased the tickets and went inside. I could hardly wait to touch and
feel the cold stones in my hand. The whole architecture is so simple yet so
sophistically designed. The big tomb is balanced on the four minarets. We
entered the minaret the one on the left hand corner in front. The staircases
were compact and spiral and huge…reminded me of my birthplace home at
Andherdeo. Ofcourse it was a good muscular exercise for our thighs as well. We
finally reached the top…and guess what! I NEVER FELT SO MUCH AT HOME AS I FELT
NOW. I am so glad and proud that I am a born Muslim and an Indian…I mean that I
am an Indian muslim…I can boast of so great things of my country. It just fills
my heart with pride to see all these. I am happy that I can feel it all, see it
all. Thanks God. (Shukra – alhamd-illah). Mecca masjid looks so beautiful from
here. I just wish I had him with me so that he could enjoy it all with me. I
wish I had my Mom n Bro as well so that they could enjoy these as well. Kaash
ke we sab yahan hote.
Sab itna khoobsurat hone ke bawajood bhi kitna soona sa lagta
hai.Sach hum jinhe chahte hain wo saath hon to berang si jagah bhi haseen lagti
hai aur agar aap akele hon to kitni hi khoobsurat jagah kyon na ho wo bhi
berang si lagti hai.
Mujhe lag raha tha ki kaash mere paas cam hota…par fir camfone
se hi I tried taking some pics..par hamesha ki tarah it was a disaster! All I
could manage to take up was abstract
form of such a beautiful place.Every thing divided into straight lines,
parallels, co-ordinates…etc…see for yourself….
I took this one standing at the ticket counter.
While entering…I wish ki mere bhai ne mera Cybershot ko
dubaya na hota…
Arch ke just upar jo structure hai usme kuch Arabic me likha
tha…I wanted to capture it so that I could decipher it but couldn’t.
Another unsuccessful attempt of mine…actually I wanted to
capture the arches in an alignment without any one in the way. I got the way
cleared but at the end-moment these two guys just jumped in. Hope I get a good
sketch of it.
Just liked it and shot it.
Sorry…I can’t even hold d device
stready in my hands!
The place above is for hanging
fanoosh( chandelier).
Oh yeah that’s me…Miss Mismatch!
The beautiful Mecca Masjid and the
hustle and bustle of Charminar….so many centuries and still things haven’t
changed a bit.
Am so enthralled with
the perfection of the carvings.
Here I go abstract again! Give me
A beautiful Charminar…and I would give you a straight line, a few alignments
compressed in first and fourth co-ordinates. Just give me a life and I would
turn it all logics…all 0s and 1s.
Khooburat to hai ye sama bas
intezar hai to unka…Sitting on the gallery(on the verge of falling down!)
thinking of him. I just don’t get it why does Cupid has to aim at me only and
that too without any other person in the vicinity.Certainly…the Cupid’s bow
struck me yet again!
This historical piece would have
been a bell during that time…ab to iski taraf koi dekta bhi nahi hai…but it
caught my attention.
Dukh hai….is baat ka ki hamare
desh ki itni khoobsoorat dharohar ki qadra hamare desh ke bashinde hi nahi
karte….Ibadat ki jagah par apne naam likh rakhe hain. Yes the historian say
that charminar had place to offer namaaz.But most of the door were locked so
could not understand where and what.
Ye fawwara us zamane me wazu karne
ki(banane ki) jagah hua karti thi.
What confuses me is that in Islam
any kind of figure or sculpture is a taboo but here we have a beautiful carving
of some birds on the fountain.I found it ironic…Is the new age Islam just a
mumbo jumbo of all those clerics with
rules tailor made to suit them? Makes sense?
The top… from the bottom.
Oh my dear sun don’t play games
with me..or else I’d have mirages of my mo cuishler.
Where am I? Who am I? I am so lost
in the co-ordinates of time and space….Don’t stop me…don’t wake me if it’s a
dream…just let me be where I am…just let the time freeze.
Let me be a part of history…let me
be a part of it. Don’t wake me…don’t shake me. Don’t even touch me. Just ignore
me…let me be the invisible...invincible. Let me stand here for the ages and be
the Zahir.
Hope you enjoyed the show!
After we were done checking out
Charminar my Dad wanted to go for some pearl shopping. Co-incidently my Mom
called my Dad and reminded about the pearls for Dadi and Batru Khala. We
wandered and wandered with no where to go…actually there are many pearl shops
in the charminar area and you just don’t know where to start from. I enquired a
couple of ladies walking around. One of them told me about some Liluram. We
tried searching for him but couldn’t find so ended up at some other shop.
Nothing appealed us much so we bought two pairs of pearl earrings for the sake
of buying. The salesman was boasting a lot about the originality of the pearls
but I was more interested in my most desired Black Pearl. I told him that I am
looking for an authentic pearl, no so called originals. He said all are
original. Then I explained him that these pearls are culture bred pearls…what I
want is a black colored original pearl the kind that has spirals on it.He
understood what I was looking for, then told me that its very very rare to
find. And it is more expensive as well…a normal white authentic pearl is priced
around 30grands so black one would touch 50grands easily. He added that that
kind of pearls were available only in Basra,Iraq but now a days they are
drilling that place over for oil and not for pearls. We did our shopping and
move on. On our way we saw Liluram. I thought of enquiring about the
pearls…particularly the rice pearl that my Mom had told me to look for. We
checked various pearls at Liluram…these
were of better quality than what we had looked before and seemed far more
genuine. He showed us many beads of various sizes in the rice pearl. I liked
the smallest ones…they had a touch of delicateness in them. I desiged a jewelry
instantly with the beads…it was a different pattern and real good but it needed
10-12 beads …one bead costed 350..so that makes it 3500 for the 10 beads set
that I designed. Phew! No chance that I get it now on plain demand. Somehow I
dropped the idea and focused on the gift items for my Dadi and Khala. We
settled for two medium sized pearl beads for both Dadi and Khala.Then again I
presented the desire to look at black pearl….the shopkeeper showed many…this
time the gleam of black pearl caught my Dad’s attention. Moreover 2nd
Feb is my Mom’s birthday so he wanted to purchase something special for her…and
this was it. The black pearls would look so beautiful on my Mom, she being of
fair complexion. So we made a set of plain black pearl beads and tops. It was
awesome. My Dad was so excited…it reflected in his eyes…I told the Shopkeeper
to put the silver hook on it.When the shopkeeper left us,my Dad asked me would
my Mom be glad to receive the gift? I said yes of course she would…its so
awesome…why won’t she be? But then looking at my Dad another thought crept in
my mind…would there be someone for me as well who would be so excited to gift
me pearls and diamonds? Anyone? I don’t want pearls or diamonds from him…all I
want is the excitement…the care…the love…the compassion. Would I get it? Would
I get someone to care for me as my Papa cares for Mommy? Or would I be all
alone? Hell! God please help me…Uff what am I thinking? Kahin nazar na lag
jaye….Tauba….Oh God please keep my Parents happy and safe as always…May they
celebrate their 50th anniversary too as they celebrated their 25th
last year…May their love get strong and stronger like the roots of Oak trees….May
they be happy forever….Amen.
We paid and made for our hotel.
Took an auto…the auto driver started the radio…it sounded like a known song yet
it seemed distant…perhaps my heart was hearing “menda yaar mila de saiyaan”….I
don’t know when we came out of the busy and crowed streets of Char minar and
entered into the Necklace road that perimeters around the Hussain Sagar Lake. I
took a look at the lake… I wish I had him with me…I just wish he was here with
me. Am I too romantic? Too impractical or just plain stupid with nothing to do
apart from wasting my time brooding on these things? But I wish he was here.
Kaash ke wo is pal mere saath hote…shayad hum haath me haath dale Hussain Sagar
Jheel ke kinare tehlte…ya fir wahin kisi bench pe baithte…baat karte hue...Wo
mere sabse kareeb dost bhi hote aur mere humdum bhi. Jinko mai yeh keh pati..”
Jaane kyun dil janta hai..tu hai to I’ll be all right.” Jaane kyun dil chahta
hai ki wo mujhe milen jaldi…shayad mai shaadi ke pehle unhe achche se samjhna
chahti hun jo ki itni jaldi mumkin to nahi hai par fir bhi kafi hadd tak hum
samajh hi jaenge…apne bare me batana chahti hun…ummeed hai ki wo samjhenge…aur
unhe aitraaz na hoga. Pata nahi mai kyun aise khayalon me khoi rahti hun
aksar…It is really dangerous for me…I need to stop it, but can’t. But one
things sure…there is something in the air of this place…it seduces me with all
sorts of romantic feelings. Yahan ki aab-o-hawa kuch khaas hai…najane mann kyun
itna roomani ho jata hai ki rooh bhi kabhi-kabhi kaap uthti hai.
The auto stopped. We had reached
our hotel.
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