Having caught up on sleep we were ready to take Hyderabad by storm, unless of course that involved a temple which we were drawing the line at for a few days.
Woolly says – My plan involved a museum with a difference and having shown a nearby driver the name of the place we crawled into the heavy traffic and sat inhaling exhaust fumes for the next half an hour. As we pulled into a tree lined road which had been swept and had no piles of rubbish, very pleasant indeed compared to a lot of the city, I scrambled out of my seat and waited for the women to join me, there appeared to be a slight problem. As I looked across the road and read the large silver sign on the gates, I digested the name of the museum and read it once more to be sure, kicking the side of the rickshaw as the girls climbed out made me feel a little better but didn’t help with the fact that we were at the wrong place.
The driver kept pointing at the sign and we kept telling him that it was the wrong, museum, but he wasn’t having it, having handed over some rupees we admitted defeat.
Woolly says – Unwilling to pay the absurd amount for entry to this place I suggested a stroll down the road, breakfast and then to try again with another driver. No one protested, so having found a handy eatery we tucked into some piping hot puri’s and tea that was thick enough to tarmac the road. Having attempted to wipe the grease off my fur, we headed outside and flagged down a passing vehicle and asked for the museum, he looked bemused and asked if we meant Chowmahalla Palace, which even in my mind sounds nothing like Car Museum. I sighed, at this rate we wouldn’t get anywhere today, making a snap decision and therefore changing our plan for tomorrow I leapt in and told him to head to the palace.
It didn’t really matter where we went, and we could always try for the car museum later or for the next day.
Woolly says – We pulled up in front of a large wooden door, having handed over the money I led the way into the Palace gardens. Chowmahalla Palace was the palace of the Nizams of Hyderabad state when they formally ruled and is still owned by the family. Construction started in 1750 and it was completed in 1857 mainly due to each new ruler adding further buildings to the complex. A very large pool was the first thing to see, behind which sat a beautifully elegant yellow and white building, the walls that surrounded the palace were a series of domed archways with lovely shady areas to walk along, I raced across the grass and into the Khilwat Mubarak which is the formal hall used for functions, receptions and the coronations of all of the Nizams. As we walked in our breath was literally taken away, the ceilings were of white and gold with huge chandeliers suspended, the glass from them had come from Belgium and as the light caught them rainbows filled the room, incredible. The next room continued with the white and gold colouring and gave us lots of information about the Nizam family as well as photographs from the Palace archives, just enough to realise that the family had done so much good for the area including housing a lot of the cities inhabitants following a flood in the 1970’s.
Although crowded it was a peaceful place to be and having followed the small one up a flight of stairs we found ourselves in a room filled with furniture that had once adorned the palace rooms.
Woolly says – The long gallery had walls covered with portraits of the Kings, the sixth King had been handed the throne at the tender age of six and his portraits at that time made him look very grumpy, things had obviously improved as he got older as the later ones of his life showed him smiling happily. Another lovely room awaited us, this one filled with crockery that the household had used over the years, Jo and I spotted many plates and cups from Stoke on Trent in the Midlands and not far from our home town. Downstairs showed us hundreds of swords, daggers and firearms that had been collected over the decades, including the biggest Swiss Army knife I have ever seen, not sure it would fit into our backpacks let alone a pocket! Having completed this part of the tour we wandered through the lovely grounds and into another area known as the Aftab Mahal that displayed a large array of costumes and clothing worn by the kings and their wives, very fine and so much detailing on the cloth, even more stunning were the light fittings hanging over our heads using green glass on some and opaque glass with green embellishments on others.
Another short walk past a second huge pool took us into the Afza Mahal where we could only peep through the windows at the settees and chairs that had ben used by the royals over the years.
Woolly says – Far better than the furniture was the apricot and golden ceiling, incredible details and certainly something that I would like in my palace. Having completed the grounds and all the buildings and sat for a while with cold drinks enjoying the subdued quietness of the setting we finally went back into the busy and noisy streets, finding a driver who seemed to know where the car museum was we set off in the fumes and dust. I’m starting to understand why so many people wear scarves over their noses here and hastily wrapped my bandana over my trunk. Pulling up a the Sudha Car Museum we jumped out and headed into what must be one of the most unusual museums we have ever been to. The museum is the first and only handmade Wacky Car museum in the World. It was the brainchild of Mr. K. Sudhakar, a Guinness World Record Holder for making the Largest Tricycle in the World, started when he was fourteen and first designed a bicycle before going onto building his first ever motorbike, he has not stopped building since. Our first treat was a ball shaped VW camper van which can go at a top speed of 40 kpm, inside the workshops it just got weirder and weirder with the smallest double decker bus and cycle, a car that looked like a cricket bat, not to mention footballs, golf balls, a cricket ball and every other type of ball, all of them cars!
It got stranger and stranger as we looked over a snooker table car, a computer terminal car and a hundred more of different and even more extreme roadworthy vehicles.
Woolly says – I loved it and could happily have driven away in twenty or so of them, even better than the cars though were the bright colourful toilets that appeared at random points for visitors to use, well it would be rude not to!
As a crowd started to appear, the demon mammoth sat proudly on his throne, I gave him the look that I keep for very special occasions, the one that means get here now, he took the hint and climbed down before security could ask us to leave, the shame of it.
Woolly says – I do hate to be interrupted in mid flow but realising that Jo wasn’t happy I plaited my legs and followed them out of the museum and into the road to hail another steed for our journey back, not as good as driving off in a suitcase but at least it will get us there.