An old, crowd-puller of a fort – and you’re welcome!
There are always the must-sees in every city. Hyderabad has its Golconda Fort – the ancient royal crowd-puller. It caught the fancy of the Qutubuddins of the yesteryears, then came Alexander the great, and now throngs of tourists visiting or residing in the city. Sometimes you wonder what is it that really drives people to ruins. A sense of curiosity, a peek into the past? A historian or geologist might be a rare specimen, but you’d mostly find curious tourists like you and me, climbing up the fort, clicking every corner, soaking in every view possible.
Touristy and avoidable weekend experience
I’m not a huge fan of crowds and I like having places to myself. Especially the impossible public ones, like restaurants and monuments. The fort, right at the outskirts of Hyderabad, is accessible in an easy drive of about thirty to forty five minutes. And unless you’re suffering from demophilia (a fondness for crowds), you’d rather enjoy the magnificence of such a place in more or less, your own company. Yet, since Golconda finds its way on every visitor’s Things-to-do-in-Hyderabad list, I’m just going to have to learn to share my space.
The entrée is similar to any other monument in India – long (but fast moving) queues, families in hordes excited about their outing irrespective of the place; also telling you that the big old Indian family is hale and hearty. Then of course we have the guides, desperate to be picked and last but not the least, the hawkers – selling you postcards even before you get in. Basically, the works.
The story-telling light show
We were to assemble ourselves in an open amphitheatre arrangement on our way down, when our guide insisted on us walking to a tomb and made two of us face the wall corners in opposite directions. Then he asked one of us to whisper – literally whisper. The other one on the opposite side could actually hear what was being said – which was something as inane and obvious as “Hey, can you hear me?!” This had to be one of the most exciting moments of my visit to the fort, where our decibels went lower but the sheer excitement, much higher.
As it turned dark, the storytelling session began as a recorded narrative, lighting up spots & avenues that came across as a part of the story. The first change that I recommend here would be finding your place in some corner of the amphitheatre or some rock seating for the show rather than a chair arrangement – it would go a long way to make the audience an integral part of the place and the story. And the second one would be editing the tale itself! It’s long enough to put you to sleep – especially after the mildly tiresome excursion.
What I quite like about this fort is that it’s really been large-hearted to have retained the sentiments of another’s era and culture. The Golconda is a unique example of Hindu-Muslim architectural planning and influences. It retained the Mahakaali temple, called its jail the Ramdas Jail and also played home to some of the most powerful Muslim sultanates in the region. This piece-de-magnificence is characteristic of the engineering marvel, architectural precision and spellbinding craftsmanship over the centuries, which is evident through its ventilation, acoustics, water systems, secret escapes and enchanting entrances & domes.
I must admit, delighted I was to have done the much heard of Golconda fort, in spite of the lurking crowds and the heat. History sure knows how to command attention anywhere in the world. It may just be another old crumbling fort, but it has its enchanting moments for you. Go ahead, cut your ticket for a Golconda experience.
