A Stint in South India- Part I

As mentioned in my last post, after our bit in Bombay we headed to South India, for a few days in Hyderabad and Chennai. It was my first time in the south, and I was excited to see a new and unique part of the country. India is a huge place, which was only recently united into one national unit, so basically anywhere you go you will find major differences. Each city we visited had its own language, unique scenery, and traditional way of doing things. It made me realize how difficult it is to say that you have become familiar with "Indian" culture as a whole. So far, I been immersed in Maharashtrian culture, but that is barely grazing the surface of this wonderfully eclectic country.

The first city that we visited was Hyderabad, in the state of Andhra Pradesh. The official language is Telugu, so though it is the official language of India almost no one speaks Hindi. It also has a high Muslim population, so there are also a lot of Urdu speakers. Because of these language divides, English often becomes the lingua franca, as schools will teach the local language plus English. Though the language spoken is different, there is actually a long historical connection between Hyderabad and Mahrashtra, particularly the Jalna District. They were once a larger state, and at one point a Mughal emperor even moved the capital to Aurangabad. The connection continued through the Nizam period (1724-1948), when Hyderabad State was ruled by the Asaf Jahi dynasty. In fact, due to the Nizam's resistance, Jalna District was one of the last places to become a part of the nation of India, a full year after independence. Due to this close historical connection, there are actually a lot of shared traits between Jalna and Hyderabad. These range from small linguistic things like saying "Hao" for yes instead of the Hindi "Ha," to more prominent traits such as the general propensity towards being late.

Despite some similarities, right away I noticed a lot of major differences. For instance, the infrastructure in Hyderabad is far more developed than that of Maharashtra. I first noticed this in the roads, which all seemed relatively freshly paved, with multiple lanes. One of the major problems that cities like Aurangabad and Jalna face is the horrible state of their roads. Very little of the public money goes into road maintenance, so simply getting to school every morning becomes a struggle against an army of potholes. Then, as we were driving through the city, I noticed hospitals, pharmacies, and medical specialist centres everywhere. While not completely absent, these necessities are much less prevalent in places like Jalna, though admittedly it is a considerably smaller town. I asked Barkha (Ben and Brian's cousin) about why the infrastructure was so much more developed. Apparently this is commonplace throughout the south, where the political climate is much calmer than in Maharasthra. Corruption, a major problem in Indian government, while not entirely absent, is less oppressive than in Maharasthra. And fewer extreme religious groups make it easier for the government to make changes and get things done.

Char Minar, as seen from the bangle market.

Once the business part of the trip in Hyderabad was over, we went out to see a bit of the city. First we went to Char Minar, one of the most famous sites in Hyderabad. It is a mosque with four minarets, built to commemorate the end of a plague in the city. We went up to the first level of the towers, to look out over the bustling market area around the monument. Char Minar is located in a heavily Muslim populated area, so almost all of the signs were in Urdu, and most of the people in the streets were wearing traditional Muslim clothing. After our trip up the monument, we wandered through the bangle market just next to it. As we walked through the streets, men from the shops would shout to us to come look at things, and peddlers of other small trinkets crowded us from all sides. We eventually ended up in one of the shops, to get a better idea of the types of bangles that Hyderabad is evidently known for. The shop was lined wall to wall with bangles, necklaces, and earrings. The ceilings were covered in mirrors and dozens of light bulbs hung from wires to make all of the jewelry shine. I didn't buy anything, but we did use it as an opportunity to try our hand at bargaining. Needless to say, the two white people curiously looking on were not helping Barkha earn us the lowest price.

One of the bangle shops

After the market we visited Birla Temple, so that we could get a look at a Hindu temple as well. This one was much more modern, but still it was great to take a look at yet another display of religious grandeur. The entire building was made of white marble, though unfortunately cameras weren't allowed so I can't provide any proof. As we walked up the steps into the temple we passed statues and carvings set into the walls, depicting various gods and goddesses. The walk into the temple was designed to mirror a pilgrimage, so we were sent along a path all the way around the temple before we could enter.

We only spent two days in Hyderabad, but nonetheless it was a dense trip. From there we continued onto Chennai, and the topic of my next blog post.