Golconda Fort

Term 1 at ISB is finished and the (far) out of towners are stuck on campus with either the conference to volunteer for or LDP on the weekend.

Manish, Raj and I headed off to Golconda Fort after several rounds of discussions between ourselves and MANY others regarding schedules and inclinations. We wanted to see the sunset over Hyderabad from the ramparts of the Golconda Fort.

A brisk auto ride brought us to the outer walls of the fortified city and immediately a feeling of

 history came upon us. This was the very marketplace, village and warground that the Kakatiyas, Tughlaks and Mughals passed through.

The fact that the Kohinoor and Hope Diamonds had emerged from this very soil was in the back of my mind.

Along the entrance we hired on a guide boy who would have beaten the best of ISB’s CP/ACP’ers. He started us off at the 15 foot entrance dome where a single clap reverberates 5-6 times. The inner dome has a series of cleaves designed to echo and project the sound of a clap to the top of the 120 meter high fort. A watchman at the top of the fort would be able to signal for the gateman below to close the gates and vice versa.

7 Tombs: 

On the way to the Fort, we had seen several “Gumbaz” which reminded me of the Lodhi area of Delhi. The guide told us that those were the resting spots for 6 Qutub Shahis. A royal dead body was not allowed to pass through the gates of Golconda so they built underground tunnels to each gumbaz and those routes are now closed for safety.

The seventh Gumbaz does not have a dome. Each Shahi, by custom started construction of his resting spot during his reign and when he did eventually die, the final dome was put into place. The last Qutub Shahi was apparently deposed from Golconda before his death and the seventh tomb remains incomplete.

While huffing and puffing through the 350 or so steps to the top of the fort, we caught some good glimpses of Hyderabad and the following Fort landmarks.

Durbar: In the durbar of the common people, the king used to have a vantage point which was in a blind spot of the public below. He could see everyone and pass judgement but it was apparently very hard to see the king.

The domed ceiling of the durbar hall is designed to echo and magnify the sound of a knife being unsheathed so as to give advance warning to the king’s guards. The guide started flapping his shirt fabric and the reverberations in the dome were like that of a drum.

Whispering walls:

There is a corridor in the fort where secret messages can be passed. In every chamber, there are 4 corners, and a message whispered in one corner can be heard as clear as a bell in the diagonal corner 20 feet away.

Sound and light show

The show starts off with the booming voice of Amitabh Bacchan welcoming us to the fort and a ghazal by Jagjit Singh. Invariably there is always a small kid in every show to spoil the best parts. Somehow we managed to get him to shut his trap and enjoyed most of the show. It ran through the whole history of the fort and ended off with another lovely ghazal by Jagjit…yeh kila usi shaan ki nishani hai….

Puerto Princesa Day 1

In 1994, the judges of the Miss Universe competition in Manila asked this of Miss Philippines in the final round: How many islands are there in your country?

Charlene Gonzales had replied: 7107 islands during high tide, 7108 during low tide

A budding Mother Teresa won the contest that year....

Philippine Airlines flight PR 591 flew us over several islands that looked like island #7,108 to Puerto Princesa Airport on the island of Palawan.

This island is the only segment of the Philippines which is part of the Chinese tectonic plate and it is believed to have been connected to Borneo and Malaysia by ancient overland routes. This is also the only island in the country without a single volcano!

Around 11am we reached our first hotel, the D'Lucky Garden Inn And Apartelle but we didnt find the view too good so we decided to move to the Hotel Fleuris which was more centrally located and had a view of the mountains and the sea from the room.

The primary mode of private transport here is the tricycle which consists of a tri seater canopy attached to a standard motorcycle. Mayor Edward Hagedorn's face is plastered on all the business licenses of Puerto Princesa and he is credited to have driven the effort to make Puerto Princesa the "Cleanest City in the Philippines". We were already beginning to believe the reason for this accolade.

A very eager tricycle driver called "Jun" took us to a mangrove area to the BadJao Seafood Restaurant. This is a large bamboo hut built on stilts right in the middle of a mangrove and a view of the open ocean sweeps across three sides of the restaurant.

We feasted on Calamares, Blue Marlin Steak and Lemon Chicken and headed back to our hotel for the customary afternoon nap.

In the evening, we headed to the Seawalk..the name for the local boardwalk by the bay. Seems like the whole city gathers there in the evenings and theres lots of food and drink stalls apart from the bi-cycle rentals.

Closer to sunset the sun dissappears behind the mountain range flanking the bay and the bright lights come on. 2009 is the official year of Astronomy on the island of Palawan and we saw Mayor Hagedorn inaugurate the event with a little reception and a video of the wonders of universe.

Puerto Princesa Day 2

Today we had planned to visit the Subterranean River and ride into the underground caves by boat. This national park is the Philippines official entry to the voting for the new 7 Natural Wonders of the World.

We had to wake up at 5:30 am for our tour van pick up and we wer the first to be picked up. The other party in our van was a couple from the USA and the basketball player gentleman was probably the biggest human the islanders had ever seen.

The 2 hour drive to the ferry spot was a mix between riding full speed on a lame horse and free back massage. There was more waiting at the ferry spot before we loaded up on a Bangka boat for the half hour ride to the island which housed the St Paul Limestone Mountains and the caves underneath those.

At the island there was a pleasant surprise...a pair of monitor lizards were searching for food near the vacationers. We mistook them for Komodo Dragons initially....

The underground river is around 8 km long and houses a variety of bat habitats.

We get on to our 8 seater boat with another overeager tour guide/boatman and I am in charge of running the battery powered search light to guide our way and to highlight interesting formations along our way.

The entrance to the cave is eerily dark and we slowly row our way into virtually, the belly of the beast. Around us

we start seeing bats nesting and veins of different ores in the walls of the cave.

Claustrophobics..please avoid this particular location.

Further in the cave, the guide points out some rock formations that resemble: The Man on the Mountain, Nativity/Pieta, The Shroud of Turin and Sharon "Stone" (a likeness of a womans posterior lovingly referred to as Sharon Stone, a.k.a. our boatmans girlfriend).

Midway into the trip, our searchlight battery died and I must say, its a superb feeling to be left lightless in a bat infested cave, with a mountain above you and razor sharp stalactites flanking you on all sides. Soon, another boat comes along and we follow it all the way watching more cave formations toPublish Post the furthest possible point allowed for tourists.