Hyderabad, and some previous stuff

Coming into the state of Andhra Pradesh we got the feeling that we are leaving the deep south and getting the whiff of north India again. The Muslim rule in this area lasted right up to 1948 when the people launched a movement to join the rest of the newly independent Indian union. The state capital Hyderabad teems with large and beautiful expressions of Muslim architecture. Many of the large public buildings like the High Court look like Muslim palaces. In the inner city area of Charminar the Muslim population is 70%. Taking a walk around there in the evening is like being in an Arab country -- wonderful bazaar ambiance! But one also remembers having read horrible descriptions of communal unrest that are not uncommon right here, and one shudders of what may be happening here again in a not too distant future if these difficulties are not sorted out permanently.

Erlend at Golconda fort, Hyderabad

Golconda fort is an enormous establishment within Hyderabad. It is now mostly a ruin. From the top, quite high!, one enjoys a spectacular view of Hyderabad city and its surrounding, which seemed to us mostly a pleasant green landscape. We also visited the Salar Jung museum where we saw astounding ivory works and wood carvings, amongst so many other items.

In this area too organisations are busy rendering relief work. Today we met with Gyandev who heads the AMURT work from here. He is doing heroic work, distributing whatever foods, drinking water, bathing soap, and other minimum necessities that he can get hold of. After the recent floods hundreds are dead, nearly a million have become homeless in this state of Tamil Nadu and in north Karnataka. It hadn't rained like this in a hundred years here. The rain seems to have stopped now. Before it rained the people only experienced drought. This year the monsoon was very minimal throughout India and there is food shortages with food prices skyrocketing everywhere.

At Vivekananda Rock, Kanyakumari

In India it is not always easy to get an Internet connection. So we're behind on giving you some more photos. When in Trivandrum we went down to Kanyakumari, which is the southernmost tip of India. Three oceans meet there: the Bay of Bengal, the Arab Sea, and the Indian Ocean. A few meters off shore we visited Vivekananda Rock where there is a temple and some other memorials of this national hero saint who visited the USA and did much work in India to generate national religious consciousness. Nowadays it is tourist place and we only spent a few hours there before returning to Trivandrum.

Outside the Vishnu temple in Thiruvanthapuram

Foreigners do not have access to many Vishnu-temples in India. Here Erlend stands outside the biggest Vishnu-temple in Thiruvananthapuram. But finally, in Mysore, we were allowed inside one and it was nice to see an ancient Vishnu-temple from inside there.

Us at the beginning of the journey, in Delhi on day 1, 22 Sept. 2009

Lastly, a picture taken by Trond (right) of us both, on our first day in India, in front of some old protected monument at Malviya Nagar, Delhi. This is more than three weeks ago. Since then Erlend the sweetmeat explorer has gained a couple of kilos -- but he is still underweight -- while Trond has shed about seven kilos and is approaching something that would be considered normal. We have decided to take a similar photo on that spot on our last day in India mid December for the sake of documentation. That's all for now, all the best to you wherever you are!