So my wild and wonderful Saturday started out pretty early. I was up at the usual time, having crashed earlier than usual (I think) on Friday evening. I made it downstairs to the breakfast club and quaffed the usual fare. The buffet is boring, not because of the food, but pretty much the same thing day in and day out. I came downstairs not long before 9am to meet the driver and Aditya. They showed up at about the same time, closer to 9:30 but I knew they would be late.
Stop #1 was a Hindu temple. We were allowed to drive close and then had to park the car and walk the rest of the way. We dropped our shoes and socks at the "shoe keeping centre" then ascended the first in a long series of marble staircases. We passed Hindu priests camped out along the way, and were often asked to cup our hands together to receive a morsel of coconut milk to drink. The throngs were mostly native, with few foreigners and a lot of muslims, characterized by the garb within which their women were clad. There were pictures and copious statues to the Hindu deities, especially Shiva for some reason. Many of the reliefs and sculptures had two sets of arms, something I would find quite useful if I were to be so lucky. We toured the gift shoppe quickly, retrieved our foot apparel, and piled back into the car - Aditya, his wife, and yours truly. We spent about 45 minutes at the temple and a few times when close to the top, were treated to a lovely view of the city.
We winded our way down some fairly narrow roadways, hardly big enough for passing one another. The little stalls are abundant by the roadside, coconut milk being the most popular fare amongst the vendors. There was a plethora of onyx elephants available in the shoppes as well, having gathered there is some religious significance to this beast. I noticed artistes hard at work making designs and lettering greetings on the pavement in celebration of Pongal this weekend, celebrated in central and southern India. These intricate creations start with chalk drawings, then filling of the lines by hand with an assortment of coloured chalk dust. The lobby and the front drive of the Katriya were adorned with such work. The technique used by the painters was intriguing and I have never seen someone create letters with such straight lines without the aid of any tools.
Stop #2 was the Salar Jung museum, a bit of a drive from the temple. There are two floors to the displays, and each room is dedicated to an art type of the country as well as a handful of other southeast Asian locations, including Japan. One of the most interesting rooms contained an assortment of porcelain and clay toys. The detail on the pieces was outstanding, especially the way the folds in people's garments were depicted. There were animals as well as humans, some of them caught up in fairly intricate states of movement as the carvings were completed. There was at least one item where the person was carrying a bowl of fruit or playing a musical instrument. Some rooms were dedicated to other countries, especially China. There were despriptions accompanying each display written in English, Telugu, Hindi, and Urdu. The letters in Urdu in particuar were a work of art. Much attention was paid to the founder of the museum and his predecessors and successors.
Each room had a security guard, and in one we noticed he was sleeping! He was sitting in a comfortable chair. It reminds me of the security guard in a clothing store who was given a rocking chair then slept during a robbery. The guard's name apparently was Ross or George. We let a gaggle of young school children pass as they were coming out of one of the rooms. They were probably 6-11 or so years old and so striking. The little girls were all dolled up in very colourful native dress and as cute as buttons; same for the boys. There was an assortment of dots and meticulously-placed series of dots not only on the women's foreheads, but some on the men too. I saw as many as three dots on one woman. I have asked Chandra or Aditya if one of them would be willing to teach me about these dots which, upon first glance, I thought signified a woman was married. That is so not the case and I have been told the doctrine leading to the placement of and number of dots is complicated. Bring it on ... I need to know. That adds one to the list of things I want to learn in India, the first being the laws of cricket. If one ever discusses cricket with experts or ones familiar with the sport, you had better not call it the "rules" of cricket or one will snap that they are not "rules" but "laws", thank-you very much.
In one of the rooms. I passed something called the "double statue", sauntered right by, and was pulled back by Aditya to take another look. The statue was in front of a mirror. Forward-facing was Mestophales and in the rear was Margaret. It was neat the way one could see both by the carefully placed mirror. Thanks Aditya! We stopped at the canteen at the museum for a quick snack, and one could acquire a samosa for 7 rupee, a pop for 20, or some spicy peanuts for 15. That's 14, 40, and 30 cents, a paltry sum to us but a much more difficult amount to come across for many others. I found a quick way to convert rupee to dollars ... double the amount then drop the last two digits. Hence, 1,450 becomes $29 or 12,000 becomes $240. After all, I am the system guy when it comes to numbers. My method for tennis is also brilliant, if I do say so myself. If the score difference between the players is an odd number, one serves from the ad (left) court otherwise from the deuce (right) court. Hmmm ... it's 40-15, the difference being 2 (an even number), hence one serves from the deuce court. If it's 40-love, the difference is an odd number, so service is performed from the ad court.
Stop #3 was a mosque called Mecca Masjid, perched in a very famous part of the city ... Charminar. It gets its name from a structure with four minarets, a holy place for the muslim faith. Charminar means "four towers" in English. Next to the edifice is the mosque with more pigeons than people all over the building. We dropped our footwear at the entrance then there was a bit of a discussion between Aditya and one of the keepers of the mosque ... oops, I am in shorts and cannot enter the holy area. They gave me a wrap to tuck in at the front to cover my legs and we saw the entrance way to the mosque as well as its courtyard. We were allowed to take pictures where we were, the shutter just closing and the suggestion of money for the activity just completed given by our guide. We obliged happily. After the mosque we stopped in the bangles area of the market and we got some bracelets for Aditya's wife and the two main ladies in mine. We called for the driver and were whisked down a side street away from Charminar which, as a matter of fact, was quite charming. Charminar is charmin'ing :). While we walked through the market on the way to the mosque, Aditya had suggested I do a better job of hiding my wallet; hence the inside pockets on my cotton vest.
Further musings and important observations from a fun-filled Saturday to follow ...
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