Lad Bazaar: extravagance galore.

Although Hyderabad is my home town, but after moving to Mumbai, whenever I visit Hyderabad, I make it a point to wander around the old city as it’s the most charming and active part and certainly make me feel at home.

This time around I just happen to be there with a female friend who wanted to shop and I was not very certain of taking pictures, as I have adequate pictures already in my bank. But the bustle around the bazaar got me going.

While sitting in one of the numerous bangle stores of Lad Bazaar, I just realize how fortunate it is to be a woman. Lad means indulgence, and surely this is the place in Hyderabad for a lady to indulge herself.

I just loved the mirror image in this shop which imprisons the true spirit of any typical Hyderabadi. Irrespective of religion, caste, festival and any reason, this place if full of shoppers (mostly ladies) looking for exclusive bangles to adorn their hands. And am glad I clicked some good frames.

The shining and lively Bazaar lies in the heart of this nawabi city, next to the glorious Charminar. Although the place is a mecca for shoppers looking for anything from bridal wear to cosmetic to kitchenware to books to sandals to jewellery. But the real draw is the superb range of Lac and Glass bangles that’s dazzling and too much to handle by your delicate eyes.

Kati Patang!

The kite festival, organized by GB, at the Juhu beach was bursting with rainbow colors up in the sky in spite of it being an obvious day, figuratively!

The event kicked off on-time with community people walking in ‘beyond expectations’ clearly making the presence felt. This time the numbers were many to celebrate the festival on the sunday-packed Juhu beach in Mumbai. More so since there were two events happening at the same time, at two different locations on the beach side.

In addition to the kite festival, another organization called QAM Mumbai organized a fun-sports-game-alike corner for one and all, consisting competition such as, Spoon-lemon, running and so on. There were goodies being given to the winners at the end.

Wish we have more such fun ‘open’ events.

Charming Orchha.

Tucked away in the cloudy hill, 20 minutes away from Jhansi, is the heritage village of MP, called Orchha.

With a populace of just 15 thousand plus, this place is a pandora box for people who care for history. Situated by the Betwa River, this village is surrounded by the battlemented walls and approached by a causeway over a fine bridge of fourteen arches.

Orchha consists of a huge palace fort mainly the work of Maharaja Bir Singh Dev. It consists of several connected buildings like Raj Mandir, Jahangir Mahal, Rai Parveen Mahal, constructed at different times.

Don’t miss Ram Raja Temple in the main village market. Built on a square base and has an almost entirely plain exterior, relieved by projecting windows and a line of delicate domes along the summit.Hated the hideous color that’s painted on this monument!

NOT TO MISS the Numerous cenotaphs or chatris dot the vicinity of the fort and the Betwa River.

The Pink Magic.

Bhopal consists of countless stunning masjid’s across the city. It also proud of the fact that along with this biggest masjid, it also houses the smallest and initially the oldest masjid called ; Dhai Seedi Ki Masjid ("The Mosque of Two and a Half Steps"), built as a makeshift mosque during the construction of the Fatehgarh fort.

While I did not get time to visit this small masjid but was privileged enough to walk around Taj-ul-Masajid.

The glorious pink (looks lovely in real) façade Taj-ul-Masjid, is topped by two 18 storey soaring octagonal minarets with three huge bulbous marble domes, is one of the biggest Muslim mosques in Asia.

The masjid has a huge courtyard with a wazuh (ablution) khana in the centre and small tank in one of the corners to wash clothes for people who stay-put there for short-time during their madrassa course.

On each side are the classes of the madrassa where students (mainly males) are taught Q’uran.

The best thing about this structure is, although it being in the heart of the city (read in a chaotic busy bazaar); the half kilometer walkway to reach the main monument makes it the most calm and serene place at any given point.

Not to miss while exploring Bhopal.

Inspiring Islamnagar

A 40 minutes part-bumpy part-smooth drive to see the petite-looking Rani Mahal and splendid Chaman Mahal tucked away in the peaceful village of Islam Nagar built by the Afghan, Dost Mohammad Khan who ruled over Bhopal between 1708 and 1726, is great to spend half a day away from the maddening Bhopal city.

Between the two palaces Chaman Mahal is a luxurious one with lovely gardens surround the pavilion nearby. It is a mixture of both Hindu and Islamic art and has columns richly decorated with floral motifs.

Shades of the Rajput, Mughal and the Malwa styles of architecture are evident here.

Don’t forget to park yourself in the lawns of Chaman Mahal overlooking the stunning construction of the central palace. On the left is the hammam (traditional bath room) consist of five rooms with unambiguously well turned-out structure to get the sunlight into the rooms, through the round opening in the ceiling. Watch out for harmless bats here!

After you are done with the palaces, take a stroll towards the village that’s divided by a river and grab a cup of masala chai. Settle down!

Ask any autowala in Bhopal city to take you there.

Bargain a great deal to Rs 350/- to 450/- two way.

Vintage Colaba

One of the seven islands of Mumbai, the old town hasalways fascinated me for its sheer European style architecture. Surprisingly itwas also known as Candil or Colio till late 17^th-18^thcentury.

Not anymore, but it used to have horse-drawn-tram-carsintroduced in 1873. How exciting!!!

It’s so much entertaining to visit this part of Mumbai onany day, but I like it better on Sundays as its less packed and dirt free.

The Gateway OfIndia, the art deco style Regal theatre (I make it a point to watch a Bollywoodfilm in dress circle), the cafes (Mondegar, Royal and Leopold, Olympia (do notmiss caramel custard at this Irani café), and then of course TheTaj Mahal Hotel, all add to the charisma and makes it your favorite place to hang out.

And then you have Colaba Causeway or just Causeway as it is known, a place that has best buys in everything; from bracelets to perfumes; clothes to watches;clocks, DVDs and CDs. You name it, you get it.

It has an old English charm and a very modern feel as well. Colaba is also the artcentre of Mumbai, with all the major galleries and museums located in and around this area.

Here’s presenting South Mumbai in my Indo-European style, which I wanted to do for so long.

Photograph-Style: Myself

Models: Inderjit Nagi and Aditi Bhagwat.