Le Monde - A Poetic Travail » Hyderabad

Sorry, single woman not allowed !

Nisha — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 04:49:12 +0000

Have you heard of this phrase ?
I have. I have experienced it.

The Charminar (Mosque of the Four Minarets)….

I was traveling alone to Hyderabad… June 2009. I remember clearly; it was a Saturday, a public holiday when I had decided to see Charminar (Four towers) and it’s surroundings. After satisfying myself with Mecca mosque, I moved forward towards famous and charming Charminar.

There was utter chaos and rush everywhere; the roads were full of small vendors luring tourists to buy postcards and other stuff.

Queue to go up…

I could see a long serpentine queue to go up the Charminar. Another queue to buy tickets was also long and had spread onto the road. There was only one ticket counter but that was ok since the queue was moving fast. Lathi wielding staff was well experienced to manage the crowd well. So, I too joined.

Before my turn came, suddenly one of them realized I was alone ! He told me I was not allowed to go up.
Why?

‘For precautionary measures we don’t allow single woman’.
At first I thought he was kidding. But others in queue agreed with him. Now, this was ridiculous, an insult. No, I won’t budge. I firmly stood there. As the queue moved, I moved too.

Public is discouraged to go near the railings.

Two more persons came and requested me to come out of the queue. They were polite but firm. They didn’t have lady police and couldn’t have touched me.

I stood my ground, wanted to know a more authentic reason. I was not a terrorist, I wasn’t carrying any arms, I wasn’t a foreigner not understanding the local language and for God’s sake, I didn’t even have Swine Flu !

“Why don’t you understand? We want to save you.”
Save me? What from ?

Arguments and counter-arguments… moving ahead in the queue I expressed my wish to speak to someone higher who could at least listen to me. I reached ticket counter and bought a ticket. The gentleman at the window was too busy to even look up, let alone bothering about who the buyer was.

Yay !! I had a ticket.

Looking down…

Fortunately there were two independent sets of guards, one monitoring the ground level and the other set at upper level. Holding my precious ticket, I came out again on the road, wondering how to go up. I am not the one to accept this kind of indignity.

My good fortunes ! They say God helps those who help themselves.
I heard a conversation. There was an elderly couple from Amritsar on a business trip contemplating whether to go up Charminar or not. Husband was keen but the wife didn’t want to stand in that long queue.
Ah ! there I could see my chance. I politely introduced myself and convinced them to go up. A trip to Hyderabad is incomplete without seeing Charminar. I offered to wait there with the lady till the gentleman brought two tickets.
In the meanwhile I told them my problem as well. They were also as surprised as I was and asked me to be with them.

Nonetheless, now we were three and nobody could stop us me. On the upper floor, there were more guards and more vigilant constantly asking people not to stand in one place for long and dutifully checking for any mishaps.

Ladies should always be in a company.

Apparently we spoke to few locals & came to know there have been too many suicide cases and stopping single women from going up was the easiest step they could think of.

Points to ponder :-
1. Why only women, a man can also commit suicide?
2. Why this restriction on a public holiday when the place is fully packed?
3. Why there was no lady police/ staff/ guard ? Not a single one. Suicide again?
4. Instead of having 20-25 lathi wielding yelling guards in that small place, wouldn’t it be better to have some raised railings?
5. For same reason, why only suicide? A murder can also take place.
6. Why were they worried about only one death ? There was no security check for bombs etc, no deposit of bags. Anyone could carry explosives up there.
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Wandering Wednesday – Let me fly, without boundaries

Nisha — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 15:51:03 +0000

Mecca Masjid, Hyderabad.

Pigeons enjoying feast at Mecca Masjid ..

and then off to reach the sky …

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My little adventures

Nisha — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 19:45:59 +0000

I was traveling alone to Hyderabad. While I flew back from there; my journey to the city of Nawabs & Biryanis was booked by train. The train was from VT station at night around 10:30 if I remember correctly. Now I am not a very brave woman to venture out alone at night but I don’t let others know about it.

I travel light so had just a rucksack and my handbag. I could have taken a cab directly for the station which would have costed me a few hundred rupees and a few hours in Mumbai traffic.
But anywhere in the world I prefer to travel in local transport compared to comforts of cabs unless situation demands otherwise. Also as all women do, I tried to save some and took the other route. .. a local train till Churchgate & then a cab to VT. Total cost from my home came around just Rs 60/-. I patted myself.

It wasn’t that easy though since after Mumbai Central the local was totally empty. Ladies compartment, 9:30 PM and opposite direction of traffic ….. I was sitting alert & erect and was all set to jump off in case of any emergency. Let me confess here, at heart I am a chicken. I was actually relieved when the train reached Churchgate.

The empty ladies compartment.

At Churchgate I felt everybody was watching me. All were going home and I was walking in the opposite direction ! I crossed the subway and to taxi stand. Took a cab for VT. Just while I was getting in with the rucksack still on my back, my umbrella popped out of it and got stuck in the door. My sign of nervousness or idiocy or both, I don’t know.

Now who the hell carries an umbrella to Hyderabad during summer ? Me !!

“Arre madam, aap pehle apna bag to utaro”. Cabbie uttered after patiently waiting for 2-3 minutes seeing me struggling to get in. Believe me, it was not more than that. Anyways, I was in after a little stupid juggle.

V always laughs at my sense of direction and gets worried when I travel alone. I can never remember a route even if I have gone there hundred times in broad daylight unless I see it on a map. I read somewhere, it’s an inbuilt manufacturing problem with our gender. So, I am excused.

Night time, after a turn I thought the cab was going in a direction which was just the opposite. I found myself again sitting erect holding the door handle, craning my neck, trying to locate some familiar buildings.
Damn ! Why don’t I visit these places more frequently? Shall I sms V who was 1000s of miles away ? How was he going to help me was not my concern. I cursed myself for not starting a little more earlier; I could have afforded to take a bus instead, which was much safer.

Then I suspiciously looked at the cabbie. He didn’t look like a kidnapper. Kudos to me, I sat patiently. I thought of waiting for some more time since I knew it shouldn’t take more than 15 minutes to reach the station.

“Where do you want me to stop? Here or at the other end?” he asked.

Have we reached ? In front of me was the famous Victoria Terminus glowing softly in the night.
But where do I get down ? I knew there were two gates, ends or stations… whatever you call them… one for local trains and other for long distances. Knew nothing more than that. I told him to stop from where I could take a long distance train.

“Then this is it.” he said.
He stopped, I paid and he zoomed off saying, “You’ll get all trains for Karjat, Kanjur marg, Kalyan from here.”. These are local stations at the far end of Mumbai.

I immediately knew I wanted to kill him. His idea of long distance was way too short of mine. Nonetheless, I went inside, through the security and onto the station. I looked at digital board hoping for the best. No. I went to the sole open counter.

“Where to?” He thought I was buying a ticket.

“I don’t want to buy a ticket. I want to go to the part from where I can get long distance trains.”

“For that you’ll have to go out and go round and enter another gate”, he gestured.

Time was running out. I didn’t want to come out of the station fearing my knowledge about the area, odd-time & sense of direction. In India, if you are a female, alone with a rucksack and directionless, it always feels as if the whole world is staring at you and eager to help. Instead, I went to a policeman.

He asked whether I had a ticket to travel and then pointed towards a far off place where an opening was connecting to the other part of VT station. I was home.

Train was at the platform and the reservation chart was yet to be pasted. I proceeded towards my coach. (un)fortunately it had the population of just one attendant besides me. I went up & down twice from one end to another to check if other people are boarding it.
No. I got down, there was no chart on the coach also. I checked the train no. & name again. It was correct. I bought a bottle of mineral water and a sandwich for my dinner and waited for some more time.
No luck. Anxiously then I asked the attendant whether it is going to Hyderabad or coming from there ! I was assured that I was in the right coach and this was an additional coach due to summer rush.

Additional coach ? For me ? I was bemused.
When the train left, the coach had just 20% of occupation. I was alone in my cabin of 8 berths. After a while a newly married lady came and asked if she could join me as she was also alone in her cabin and was scared. Apparently her husband had guided her to be with me.

I am a brave woman, you see.

Beautiful henna design on her hands.

Some more tit-bits on Hyderabad later.

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The year that was.. 2009

Nisha — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 10:04:11 +0000

The year 2009 is gone. It was satisfying as far as travel is concerned. Except for one or two, all places were new to me. Not many to count but observed and learnt a lot during the course.
And all these trips were personal trips, not work related.

It was Ratnagiri and Ganapatipule to begin with. Temples, forts and beaches greeted us with stories of their own.

Then it was Bangaluru. solo trip. Somehow I felt more uncomfortable in going around in Bangaluru than any other south Indian cities.

Glass house… next time I’ll go during flower show

Chennai happened after that. Chennai has a special place. Also, local food and shopping for silk sarees never ceases there.

With Chennai, it was Puducherry, the French town.

Then in summers it was again a solo 3 day trip to Hyderabad, my first to the city. I stayed in a hotel opposite railway station and had glorious time walking along the lake, negotiating with the autowalas and arguing with saviours of women.

In the end, last week there was a whirlwind trip to Delhi. Hopes for some more places could not materialize for various reasons.

Red Fort with tricolor at the top..

Besides these Indian places, two more countries were added. Mauritius and Malaysia.

Spending 5 days in Mauritius was awesome. If you go by time difference then it’s only 1:30 hours away from India but it took more than 18 hours to reach !

The flight was via Dubai with a long waiting period. Having already seen beautiful Dubai city, there was no charm in staying inside the airport this time.

Mauritius…..

In October it was Malaysia for a 12 day trip. I coaxed and sometimes forced V to do some unusual things, one example… staying in a dorm.
Otherwise we both like trying local cuisines and transports and exploring places on foot.

Famous Petronas

I wish our new year 2010 is filled with more travel.
So, that was my travel story. What was yours ?

P.S.- I think I am forgetting some more places. I’ll add them as & when I remember.