Monday, March 24, 2014

A Visit to Nizam's palace

For a long time, I was planning to visit the Nizam's palaces in Hyderabad (India) and finally my friend Pavan and I decided to visit the Chowmahalla Palace.

We reached Charminar first, as always the streets were full of people and the shopping spree is an unending sequence here. But anytime Charminar looks as pleasant as anything can.
Charminar with bustling crowd
After asking for directions from few people, we managed to find the entrance of Chowmahalla Palace. From outside it hardly looks like a palace, but believe me this place will not disappoint you.
The clock tower entrance (closed now) is a grand structure standing tall.
Then we went to the main palace building, which (it was written there) is said be a replica of Shah's palace in Iran.
It looked pretty average from outside but we were surprised by the beauty of the palace once we went inside and walked the place viewing everything in awe.
Some of the wonderful things are captured (not so wonderfully) as below.

The main hall with number of chandeliers


Intricate designs on ceiling and side walls
Another building behind the main palace, with a well maintained fountains in the front yard, this place also boasts of lush greenery and a lot of pigeons do visit  here.

Pavan infront of a large window with intricate carvings
Another attraction was the long hallway with multiple doors in a straight line, don't know why so many rooms were built with connecting doors.
Door after Door
The palace has collection of several vintage cars, including Rolls Royce, Buick etc., and surprisingly all cars are well as well maintained as the rest of the palace structures.
If you are interested in visiting historical places, good palaces of Indian kings, this place is a must visit in Hyderebad, so this time you visit Charminar, take another couple of hours to visit palace which is very near to Charminar, and I assure you will not regret you decision.

Details of Palace:
Timings : 10am -5pm (Closed on Fridays and National Holidays) 
Tickets   : Indian Visitor - Rs. 40 
                 International Visitor - Rs. 150 (Approx. $3)




Friday, March 21, 2014

[Arts] Birdman Of India

This time I tried to draw a portrait again, and I chose an interesting man – Dr.Salim Ali, famous Ornithologist and naturalist, popularly known as “Birdman of India”.
I hope you all like it.
Time taken  : 3 hours
Material Used  : HB, 10B and  2H Pencils on A4 paper.

[Arts] Misty Morning

A natural scenery but unlike usual mornings of rising sun, I tried to depict the misty morning at dawn. It was very tough to get the misty look, not completely satisfied with the output I got here.
Time taken  : 3 hours
Material Used  : HB, 10B, 2H Pencils and a cotton cloth (for shading) on A4 paper
 I hope you all like it. Please let me know your feedback.