Charminar

Bangle Shop, this picture just doesn't do justice.

The man who took this picture charged us 5 Rs and he knew the exact spot where you could get a full view of the Charminar. He had to step out into the traffic to take this picture, not something I would do.

View from Charminar

Rushil was being ever so cooperative :-) Sindhu decided the trip to Charminar wasn't worth her time and stayed back at Prasad's aunt's place, she regretted the decision later.

We arrived by train on Friday morning, freshened up, had breakfast at Prasad's aunt's place, lunch at Prasad's uncle's place and then headed out to Charminar in the late afternoon. The last time I was in Charminar, it was maybe 20 years ago. We climbed to the top of Charminar and had an excellent view of the old parts of the city of Hyderabad and many examples of fine Islamic architecture, the key ones being Mecca Masjid andUnani hospital. Behind Charminar, they have a long street of bangle shops and I don't think I have ever seen such an impressive collection before, some of the wedding sets are simply stunning! The routine is that I pick out the bangles and Prasad and his cousin sweep in to do the bargaining. Prasad is tough and walks out if he doesn't get his price. His cousin, Kishore who was visiting from Dallas was more lax and Prasad joked how the US had softened him up. I picked up a few sets of lovely glittery bangles in different colours. The Charminar area is also famous for its pearl shops, Kishore had a family friend who owned a wholesale pearl store and I picked up a couple of string of pearls. What a fun day, we headed back home and got dressed up for the first of the wedding festivities, the Ladies Sangeet.