The Hectic Tech City - 2
Golconda fort was beautiful to say the least. The ruins stood majestically over the mountain and the sound of the parrots and other birds lent a peaceful atmosphere which helped in building up a picture of the times bygone. Our suspicious nature due to the morning’s episode did not desert us when we cautiously entered the magnificent doorways. So when some enthusiastic ‘guides’ advertised their knowledge of the place we refused to be tempted. We strolled casually inside and took our time admiring the different archways and passages. Our itinerary was rather straight forward. We wanted to see the sound and light show which was to be held at 6.30pm. Since we were at the fort by three thirty and since it was not a long climb and since there was not much to see, we took our time strolling in the gardens and watching people. Even then time seemed to crawl, so we slowly walked up the path leading to the fort. By the time we had climbed 20 huge boulders roughly cut into steps, I must say I realized that the painstaking hours we’d put in the gym was not really helping. At one point of our extended rest, we merely sat and watched the colourfully dressed couples with impossibly high heeled and impractical sandals to match, as they climbed their way up the rocky terrain. P and I walked to another level and realized that we had come to the peak! Just like that! We were too surprised to say the least. The whole climb had taken us no less than an hour. We enquired after the show and super slow we walked down to the ground level where a good number of chairs were being arranged. We didn’t think there’d be so many people to appreciate the show. But we were mistaken. A sizable number of foreigners came just for the show and the seats started getting filled up pretty quick. It was a pretty decent program with songs and poetry and good background sound. Still at some points truth be spoken I found myself dozing off. Perhaps the climb up and the still air had that effect on me. When the program ended, we were quite happy with the knowledge we gained from the show, and me with my forty winks.
Catching sight of the late hour we dashed out of the fort which was looking simply beautiful and iridescent in the dark night. The wedding invitation was for 8pm and it was already 7.45pm. Praying that God be merciful on us and give us an auto driver who will charge nominally, we sprinted out of the gate only to be hailed by a middle aged driver with a neat white beard. We walked up to him.
“Kidar jana hai” Where do u want to go?
“Abid’s jana hai. Kitna bhai ? ” To Abid’s, we said, How much brother?
“150rs”
“ Kya bhai aap? 120Rs lo” I bargained.
With a toothy grin, the driver responded, “Mai apko dekha jab khile ke andar gaye” I saw you when you went inside the fort.
To which we gave a very suspicious - ok? So?
“ Tho maine wait kiya na apke liye” so I waited no, for you two.
“ Lekhin bhai hamne wait karne nahi kaha na” But we didn’t ask u to did we?
“ Woh aap dono ladki log… raath ko auto kaise pakdenge? Isliye maine wait kiya” You are two girls, and I didn’t know if you’d get an auto in the night. So I waited.
Ah so we had our very own knight in shining armour! Pleased beyond doubt that we had such good people around, we climbed in and didn’t bother haggling him for the 120rs. He seemed to know quite a number of people around. And we pressed him on towards our hotel with offers to give him more money if he took us to the place of the wedding. He was more than willing to. Shouting greetings and admonishments, alike to fellow autos our little mode of transport happily tore away into the chill night. When we reached our hotel it was 8.30pm. Assuring him that we’d be down after changing our clothes, in ten minutes flat we hurried up, only just hearing our benevolent auto driver reassuring us that we could take our own time. Still we hurried about with our lipsticks and mascara and rushed back in the fastest “dress- up” time ever! The driver didn’t recognize us at first, but he snapped after a millisecond of confusion thinking that there was no way that the two scruffy looking girls who had walked in a few minutes ago could be replaced by this well dressed duo. We again took off towards Secunderabad where the marriage was taking place and for which we were horribly late. Thanking our lucky stars that we’d met my friend A in the morning itself and had given him the gift; we carried on and reached the venue after battling traffic and road diversions, at 9pm a good one hour after the marriage had commenced. We paid our knight and he promised us to stay and wait if we come out by 10 pm or so. Later than that, he said, we had to search our own transport. We agreed.
The women’s section, as we guessed was partitioned but we were struck by the grand open sprawling dais and venue. We were not recognized by anybody neither did anybody enquire after us. So we did the next best thing that came to mind…eat dinner. Just like that we walked to the place where food was served. Round tables, covered in white linen, loaded with biriyanis, kabab, gravy and rich milk sweets waited for our approval. P and I tucked in with gusto, pausing occasionally to smile at beautiful women who smiled and passed by our table. We were holding forte at the table for seven when two other young women joined us. Then a trio of children came up and made them selves comfortable at the table. One among them was a nanny (if she could be called that considering how young she was). Expertly she made the rich spoilt brats eat their dinner, hardly eating anything herself. After dinner we walked back to the lawn where the bride was sitting on the dais. We could hardly see her face which was covered with a heavy brocade dupatta. So we turned our attention to the other women in the gathering. We spent a hearty half hour checking out the clothes the other women were wearing. Since the crowd had any way dwindled and since no particular action was forthcoming, we left as casually as we came in. So if you need good sumptuous rich biriyani and fabulous sweets, you know what to do.
When we reached the road we didn’t find our knight but we found another one who merely flicked the meter on and we were on our way. By now we were wise enough to not haggle with a driver who put the meter on. And true to popular belief the rate was low! We carried our weary selves to our rooms with only enough energy to change and flop onto our beds.
Golconda fort was beautiful to say the least. The ruins stood majestically over the mountain and the sound of the parrots and other birds lent a peaceful atmosphere which helped in building up a picture of the times bygone. Our suspicious nature due to the morning’s episode did not desert us when we cautiously entered the magnificent doorways. So when some enthusiastic ‘guides’ advertised their knowledge of the place we refused to be tempted. We strolled casually inside and took our time admiring the different archways and passages. Our itinerary was rather straight forward. We wanted to see the sound and light show which was to be held at 6.30pm. Since we were at the fort by three thirty and since it was not a long climb and since there was not much to see, we took our time strolling in the gardens and watching people. Even then time seemed to crawl, so we slowly walked up the path leading to the fort. By the time we had climbed 20 huge boulders roughly cut into steps, I must say I realized that the painstaking hours we’d put in the gym was not really helping. At one point of our extended rest, we merely sat and watched the colourfully dressed couples with impossibly high heeled and impractical sandals to match, as they climbed their way up the rocky terrain. P and I walked to another level and realized that we had come to the peak! Just like that! We were too surprised to say the least. The whole climb had taken us no less than an hour. We enquired after the show and super slow we walked down to the ground level where a good number of chairs were being arranged. We didn’t think there’d be so many people to appreciate the show. But we were mistaken. A sizable number of foreigners came just for the show and the seats started getting filled up pretty quick. It was a pretty decent program with songs and poetry and good background sound. Still at some points truth be spoken I found myself dozing off. Perhaps the climb up and the still air had that effect on me. When the program ended, we were quite happy with the knowledge we gained from the show, and me with my forty winks.
Catching sight of the late hour we dashed out of the fort which was looking simply beautiful and iridescent in the dark night. The wedding invitation was for 8pm and it was already 7.45pm. Praying that God be merciful on us and give us an auto driver who will charge nominally, we sprinted out of the gate only to be hailed by a middle aged driver with a neat white beard. We walked up to him.
“Kidar jana hai” Where do u want to go?
“Abid’s jana hai. Kitna bhai ? ” To Abid’s, we said, How much brother?
“150rs”
“ Kya bhai aap? 120Rs lo” I bargained.
With a toothy grin, the driver responded, “Mai apko dekha jab khile ke andar gaye” I saw you when you went inside the fort.
To which we gave a very suspicious - ok? So?
“ Tho maine wait kiya na apke liye” so I waited no, for you two.
“ Lekhin bhai hamne wait karne nahi kaha na” But we didn’t ask u to did we?
“ Woh aap dono ladki log… raath ko auto kaise pakdenge? Isliye maine wait kiya” You are two girls, and I didn’t know if you’d get an auto in the night. So I waited.
Ah so we had our very own knight in shining armour! Pleased beyond doubt that we had such good people around, we climbed in and didn’t bother haggling him for the 120rs. He seemed to know quite a number of people around. And we pressed him on towards our hotel with offers to give him more money if he took us to the place of the wedding. He was more than willing to. Shouting greetings and admonishments, alike to fellow autos our little mode of transport happily tore away into the chill night. When we reached our hotel it was 8.30pm. Assuring him that we’d be down after changing our clothes, in ten minutes flat we hurried up, only just hearing our benevolent auto driver reassuring us that we could take our own time. Still we hurried about with our lipsticks and mascara and rushed back in the fastest “dress- up” time ever! The driver didn’t recognize us at first, but he snapped after a millisecond of confusion thinking that there was no way that the two scruffy looking girls who had walked in a few minutes ago could be replaced by this well dressed duo. We again took off towards Secunderabad where the marriage was taking place and for which we were horribly late. Thanking our lucky stars that we’d met my friend A in the morning itself and had given him the gift; we carried on and reached the venue after battling traffic and road diversions, at 9pm a good one hour after the marriage had commenced. We paid our knight and he promised us to stay and wait if we come out by 10 pm or so. Later than that, he said, we had to search our own transport. We agreed.
The women’s section, as we guessed was partitioned but we were struck by the grand open sprawling dais and venue. We were not recognized by anybody neither did anybody enquire after us. So we did the next best thing that came to mind…eat dinner. Just like that we walked to the place where food was served. Round tables, covered in white linen, loaded with biriyanis, kabab, gravy and rich milk sweets waited for our approval. P and I tucked in with gusto, pausing occasionally to smile at beautiful women who smiled and passed by our table. We were holding forte at the table for seven when two other young women joined us. Then a trio of children came up and made them selves comfortable at the table. One among them was a nanny (if she could be called that considering how young she was). Expertly she made the rich spoilt brats eat their dinner, hardly eating anything herself. After dinner we walked back to the lawn where the bride was sitting on the dais. We could hardly see her face which was covered with a heavy brocade dupatta. So we turned our attention to the other women in the gathering. We spent a hearty half hour checking out the clothes the other women were wearing. Since the crowd had any way dwindled and since no particular action was forthcoming, we left as casually as we came in. So if you need good sumptuous rich biriyani and fabulous sweets, you know what to do.
When we reached the road we didn’t find our knight but we found another one who merely flicked the meter on and we were on our way. By now we were wise enough to not haggle with a driver who put the meter on. And true to popular belief the rate was low! We carried our weary selves to our rooms with only enough energy to change and flop onto our beds.
Comments