Hyderabad Trips: Chowmahalla Palace

                It has been 6 Sundays since we are in Hyderabad and more than that since I wrote last time. In the weekends so far, We visited  some tourist attractions in Hyderabad like Salar Zang  Musuem , Char Minar, Mecca Masjid, Lumbini Park, NTR Garden , Golkonda Fort,Durgam Charu,  Birla Mandir and Chowmahalla Palace… Thought of writing was suppressed by many reasons somehow  till now. But after yesterday’s trip I couldn’t resist myself from writing.   So jolting down again in the weekend free time :-)

 Yesterday we had been to Chowmahalla palace in Hyderabad. It is built by Asaf Jah Dynasty and renovated recently in  2005. It is having 4 palaces namely Taniyat mahal, Aftab Mahal, Afzal Mahal, Mehtab Mahal. It is near to charminar and mecca maszid. It is walkable distance of 10 mins from there.  You can also get there by bus num 65, 66 (the same buses which go to charminar).  The Entry fee there is 30 Rs per head for adult Indian citizens and 150 for Foreigners. 50 Rs  extra for camera irrespective of whether it is mobile camera or digital camera J J. The happy thing is you can take photo anywhere you want in this palace (the first time I am seeing this in any palace  I visited so far) except a place which I will mention as we proceed.

First you get canteen. We thought to visit there @the end . A cool water fountain welcomed us to the Chowmahalla palace along with greenery of plants of lawn. 4 olden day missiles at four sides of the fountain were joining the party :-) we took photo infront of a Mahal and Clock tower. The big clock was showing the exact time !! and more the astonishment of all of us we came to know that the clock is showing the exact time from more than 100 years..


    
      Later I recalled the some wonderful  timeclocks  we saw in jantar mantar(New Delhi) and other temples although they are solar colcks and felt proud to be Indian again :-) After that we entered Darbar Hall. In the right side you have zenana photo exhibition. We visited that. It is having 2 chariot like vehilcles which were used by royal family. I think I need not mention that we took photo infront of this and all the beautiful things in the palaces throught wherever photography is not banned :-) :-) 

Royal vehicles

Darbar Hall

 
Then we came back to Darbar hall. It is having the throne of the king where he used to sit for darbar.It is having numerous chandeliers hanging from the artistically crafted and painted roof.  After seeing the darbar hall we went to see Hall of heritage Crafts, then to Hall of Heritage Crafts and then to hall of heritage crackery. Many girls from a highschool of hyderabad were also there with us along with us and many other touristsJ don’t  take it in other ways:-) :-) I mentioned this because they were making note of each and everything they saw in those museum.

I felt sad for sometime that had I been like them even I could have made note of those things and describe them in detail for you J But later I thought, even if I describe you won’t get the the same delight as visting and seeing them with your eyes. And there is one more chance of making you sleep if I start describing all the things I saw. So , am moving to next section that is Armory :-)

 Armory section is having all types of swords. (I remember 9 types) used by the dynasty.   There were various draggers like peshkabz, bichwa, jambia, chilanum, katar, afghan chura and many more along the description of those. There were other guns and barrels and plent y of other weapons used by the dynasty.

After that we visited Taniyat mahal.It is having tiger model and throne of king and mirrors and other things. Along with those things, it is having a unique clock named British Time Break Clock.

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England Time Break Clock

     It is having a king with hucka in hand, 2 people who swing chamara(air fans) for the king and 3 musicians and many wonders. (see the picture).

• 2 people make action for every second.
• King rotates his head every minute.
•  For every 15 minutes background screen will go up and people behind it will appear . A man will come and chimes the bell. After that screen comes down. . If you want to see that again, wait for another 15 minutes :-) :-)
• At 8, 16, 24, 32^nd minute you can listen to the chime sound .
•  For each hour, background screen goes up. People behind it will appear and do some action rythemic with chime sound which appear simultaneously. In built piano sound will also be ther. After that  a man will appear and drums . Screen comes down after  that.

After that  we visited Aftab Mahal. It is about lifestyle of ladies. It is having the photos of royal family, especially the ladies of royal family. Photography is prohibited here.  After that we went to another hall having the dresses of royal family, sarees and other things. But couldn’t take any photos ther e properly there because of  glare of lighting. If you want to see the sarees, dresses and other things of royal families of those days, you can also visit Salar Zung Musuem nearby. There you can find whole collection of things like this :-)

Royal Dresses

After that we visited A collection of Vintage cars. We saw cars like 3 Fiats, Packard and many other cars. Then we saw Rolls Royce Pavillion.
 

Rolls Royce Pavillion

After that we went to see the Afzal mahal where crown of palace is located. But that was under renovation when we went there. So could only peek  from the windows to get some magnificent glimpses .You may be fortunate enough to see it if u plan to visit it next time . There are some old vehicles used by royal families parked in the shade of buildings here and there. 

We could take the photo of  statue of 2 men fighting there only. The last  palace, i.e Mehtab mahal is under archives dept and closed for public. Even the entrance of palaces are good. And lawns separating the way from a palace to next. So you could see people resting under the shade of trees or children playing in the lawns on the way. We enjoyed cool drinks and ice cream in the canteen mentioned earlier. With the eye full of magnificent views and mind full of happiness  we left from Chowmahal to our next destination of the trip. 

Note: Special thanks to my Friends Santhosh and Sivaraj for encouraging me to write this  and also thanks to friends Madhav, Surya,Mohan , Goutham, Anil  for the wonderful memories of the trip.