When lands tell tales – Secunderabad

“Why is it that it is always me who has to go and set things right?” I mused with a lot of frustration. Right now, I was just planning to go all night to dance in the Dandiya and at the eleventh hour my boss tells me to go to Secunderabad. An important deal is not getting clinched so he called me over.

Much against my wishes, I flew from Ahmadabad to Secunderabad. All the same, I reached the hotel and my boss as usual was mulling over his laptop.

“You have to take Sandra around this city.” He said. As I was wondering who this was, there stepped in our executive representative from London, Sandra the head of our department. Fine! I just told myself I think I don’t mind missing the Dandiya fun!

So the next morning found Sandra and me going around the city of Secunderabad. For the first time in my life I thanked my boss for calling me over on a holiday weekend for work! For Sandra was fun and as I explained to her that this city of SEcunderabad was actually the twin city of the other erstwhile city of Hyderabad, and is located in the state of Andhra Pradesh. I was glad I had done some research work the previous night on this city!

Historically and culturally both the cities differ yet they are spoken about together normally. This city was developed during the time of the British and Hyderabad was the Nizam’s capital state. The Hussain Sagar separates these two cities. Today Secunderabad is as much a part of the city of Hyderabad. Both of them actually form the sixth largest city in the Indian subcontinent. Secunderabad has a large cantonment and thus has great army and air force population here.

I told Sandra that the city was named after a Muslim ruler Sikandar Jha. As we went around I showed the Spanish mosque which was a construction of the Paigah Nawabs and was built in the year 1906.

“The city is indeed beautiful.” Said Sandra and took a lot of photographs to take back home. Besides being the corporate manager of the Asian division of our company, Sandra took a keen interest in photography too. Her SLR camera was really of good quality and I was quite keen to take a few tips on Photography from her.

We then went around the temples and other places of worship here. Secunderabad is a city which has places of worship of all religions in plenty. So the mosques, churches, temples and the Parsi temple were very significantly a part of our city tour.

We went to the St. John the Baptist church and had a good look at the architecture of those days. The lovely ceilings and the huge windows in the St.Mary’s church completely enthralled Sandra and I too took a couple of photos here. Then we went to the All Saints Church.

The church tour over, it gave us a lot of interest to scout around the area more. We had lunch at a local hotel and Sandra loved the Biryani that was served here. Yes Hyderabad is famous for Biryani and Secunderabad was no less good in giving the most delicious of them all.

Then we went to the Gurudwara at Trimulgherry. The serene ambience of the Gurudwara and the absolutely tranquil surroundings calmed our tired nerves. I asked Sandra to put a kerchief on her head as is customary in all Gurudwaras. Sandra picked up a salwar kameez and wore that and entered the Gurudwara. Secunderabad does change people doesn’t it?

Then there was a mosque we entered and then we went to the Mahankali temple. As we proceeded in the car that we had hired to go round the city, we reached Begumpet and here we saw the Spanish mosque as I mentioned earlier. Then here was the Sayedani Maa tomb and Mosque on M.G .Road. Every city in India is sure to have an M.G.Road! That surprised Sandra to a great extent. Then we went to the Jama Masjid at Ranigunj.

Now it was the turn of the temples. There was the Sri Ujjaini Mahankali temple, then the Sri Ganesh temple near the station and then the Sree Ayappa temple at Bolarum, after which we shopped through the King’s way and saw the beautiful fashion boutiques on the Park Lane. Then some trade shops in James Street and then we reached the General Bazaar.

There were many more places that we saw, some malls, some supermarkets and Sandra was quite tired but satisfied with her tour of Secunderabad.

As I bid adieu to my boss and Sandra I wished my boss called me again for one such tour!