Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Husainsagar Lake - Hyderabad

This was a walk down the memory lane. I used to live in Hyderabad in the mid eighties and returned to this beautiful city after nearly a decade. I was attending a Business Conference and was staying at the Marriot Hotel located on the Secunderabad end of the Tank Bund. I decided to take a morning walk on this road and the experience was exhilirating & nostalgic and brought back a lot of old memories.
The tank bund road runs between Hyderabad & Secunderabad - the twin cities which are the capital cities of the State of Andhra Pradesh. The Tank Bund dams the Husainsagar Lake. This lake was built by Hazrat Husain Shah Wali  in 1562, during the rule of Ibrahim Quli Qutb Shah. It was a lake of 5.7 square kilometres built on a tributary of the River Musi  to meet the water and irrigation needs of the city. There is a large monolithic statue of the Gautam Buddha in the middle of the lake which was erected in 1992. The statue was chiselled out of a whitegranite rock, weighting 450 tons. It was carved by 200 sculptors for two years.At the end of the Hussain Sagar one can find the Masjid and Dargah of Sayedani Maa Tomb.  The Patton Tank was gifted to the city by the 54th Infantry Division after the 1971 Indo-Pak war. It is kept for display on center of Tank Bund and became an attraction for visitors to the Hussain Sagar.
 A quarter century ago, Industrialist Birla built a temple in Hyderabad entirely in marble brought from Rajasthan and dedicated it to Lord Venkateswara, known as Balaji in the north. The temple is built on a hillock called Kala Pahad.
The Tank Bund Road
Bench  for weary for travellers
A ornate palm
Beautiful Fountains now in state of disrepair & disuse
Reflections
A Hindu Temple abutting the Tank Bund
Masjid (Mosque)
The Tank Bund Police Outpost -houses the Lake Police
Manhattan ? No it is a view of Secunderabad Skyscrapers
Swami Vivekananda's Statue - Thank God they have provided a roof over his head
Temple of Lord Venkateswara (popularly referred to as Birla Mandir)
Statue of Buddha - Beautiful & Serene
Patton Tank on display - captured during Indo Pak war of 1971

40 comments:

  1. Swami Vivekanada was a great man. His presence in whatever medium, statue or a photo or voice, makes the surroundings very serene!

    Nice pics!

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  2. I had visited this place. Your post reminded that. Captured very nicely.

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  3. yet another beautiful post, nice clicks :)

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  4. beautiful collection of photos and great info

    thanks for sharing and visiting my blog

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  5. Nice Pic! I live close by for more than a month brought back all the memories

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  6. Beautiful post. Lovely lake.

    www.rajniranjandas.blogspot.com

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  7. Thanks for the tour of this beautiful place.

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  8. Extra claps for the reflections in the water.

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  9. good coverage of the city...wonderful snaps!

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  10. Fantastic shots! What a lovely post....

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  11. My friend Ram,
    I love the ornate palm. You are very talented my friend. Its very nice to see different parts of the world through your kindness.

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  12. I've seen that lake but wasn't able to go to the gigantic Buddha statue. Beautiful photos. It's such a scenic location. :)

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  13. I really love that statue of Buddha in the middle of the water. As you said, it looks very serene.

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  14. Have not been there now for years. Wonder if the waters of the lake are well kept.

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  15. Beautiful buildings and statues and that bench sure looks inviting!

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  16. Great post and beautiful photos.
    Thanks for sharing.

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  17. Wow, what a cool place. So beautiful and serene. And there since 1562! At that time in North America the only dams were beaver dams.

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  18. Very nice shots. The reflections are amazing.

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  19. Interesting that the beautiful statue of Buddha guards the harbor just as the Statue of Liberty stands at our harbor in New York. Great shots of the city.

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  20. A beautiful images, especially the Buddha.

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  21. @anilkurup: There is some amount of garbage(mainly plastic) thrown in by tourists/locals. With some efforts by the authorities the lake can be cleaned up.

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  22. thats lovely collection of captures..brings back my sweet memories, when v visited few months back..:)

    Tasty Appetite

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  23. Beautiful shots of the place. The reflection in water us very nice.

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  24. You have made the city look so beautiful!

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  25. Wonderful clicks.Recently my husband visited Hyderabad but I am not sure if he saw this place.

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  26. Hyderabd is my fav city and hussain sagar area is so beautiful and clean..

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  27. Magnificent photos!! Reminds me every time how badly I need to visit your country!!!

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  28. i love the reflections in several of these shots!

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  29. I never knew Hyderabad is so beautiful. Thanks for sharing these lovely clicks...

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  31. Dear Ram,
    You are invited to Blog Hop Saturday! this Saturday May 5th. Hope you can join the fun!

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  32. Great place to relax. I liked the bench shot.

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  33. i stayed in Hyd only for a year and still i have so many memories of Tank Bund. so can totally understand the nostalgia you have must felt
    the pics are very nicely captured

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  34. Great pictures. Tank Bund was not that much developed when I used to visit.

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  35. Never visited Hyderabad. But learnt a lot about this place through your writeups and pics!

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