Hyderabad-Day 3

Walking is fascinating, but not all of Hyderabad can be seen quickly this way. So we got a car (with AC) and driver (you would definitely not want to drive here—the traffic is intense) –8 hours for $25—and drove to the outskirts—the amazingly expansive Golconda Fort and Qutb Shahi Tombs in the morning. The afternoon was an especially adventurous find—as Norbert knew about the possibility of finding the 18th-century British Residency that is now Ossmania Women’s College. The picture in his guidebook got us past the guards and our driver was even excited to explore something off the beaten track. We wandered around until we found a building that look freakishly like one you might find in Washington DC—big white columns, an imposing (read British) presence. The best find though was a model of this residency—the size of a large doll house—which we discovered in the back corner of a field. It was built by the 18c British Resident (sort of like the city Ambassador) for his Indian wife, who was in purdah (segregation of the sexes practiced by both Hindus and Muslims in India) and thus she could never leave the residency to see its magnificence from the outside.