More Hyderabad

I caught a bus to Charminar, a huge fortress with domes on top, an austere, forbidding landmark in the middle of a Muslim area of a city with a very large Muslim population. At half past nine the Chowmahalla Palace was not yet open and nor were any of the shops. A retired policeman invited me to sit on a plastic chair outside his house, to wait for the palace to open. A couple of cocks were fighting. They had already pecked out all the feathers from each others necks. Flocks of black-robed college girls walked by.

The Chowmanahalla Palace

Right in the middle of this traffic-infested city the Chowmanahalla Palace is an oasis of calm. As you walk through the entrance you find yourself in a large square garden, with a pool of water with fountains in the middle and the palace in front of you. All round the gardens are a kind of Islamic cloisters with mysterious doorways and sculpted archways. The entrance hall of the palace is filled with a sea of crystal chandeliers and white marble pillars.

Archways take you to other rooms full of photos, many of which show the city as it was before the advent of the internal combustion engine: a beautiful city of wide streets and few people.