Blogs from the field
Hyderabad, India
17th-22nd September 2007
By David Gundry, Projects Manager
I arrived at 2am in Hyderabad on the morning of the 18th after thirteen hours in an economy seat. I managed to position myself in a row of three with no neighbours which I felt extremely pleased about thinking I would get loads of sleep but whoever designed the McDonnell Douglas MD-11 Jumbo was working extra hard to make sure no one got too relaxed.
It is Ramadan this month so the streets of Hyderabad come alive after dark with Muslims breaking their fasts and eating delicacies. One is called ‘Haleem’ which is made by cooking highly spiced chickens in clay pots for a whole day, and meeting and chatting to friends in street-side cafes. It’s also a Hindu festival this month, called ‘Ganesh Chathurti’, when devotees, the rest of the city as far as I can tell, worship statues of Ganesh which at the end of the month must be immersed in water. I’m told it is simply a period of prayer but it means that the city is full of a multitude of BIG statues of Ganesh. The bigger the better, and there were a number of cranes lined up beside the central tank or city reservoir ready to dunk the biggest into the water at the appointed time. I’m told the biggest in the city is approximately sixty foot tall but I wasn't able to see it yesterday evening due to the rains.
The rainy season, I gather, will end on exactly 30th September. Until then Hyderabadi’s wrestle with daily rainstorms that leave the roads clogged and potholed and the air heavy with humidity. The traffic in the roads creep along at five miles an hour, or less, with the constant discord of the car and truck horn being used not to warn of emergency but to remind people that you are there!
It is a real pleasure then to arrive at our project, The Osmania Women's College, formerly the British Residency, in Koti, central Hyderabad. Pulling off the noisy, exhaust-choked streets you enter into a quiet, calm and incredibly green now faded formal garden. I arrived with the project architect, Mr Sarath Chandra, to look around the site and to talk about progress since my last visit in February 2007. Since 2004 WMF have been supporting a scheme to produce a detailed management plan that will guide the University in its development of the site. This will ensure it can continue to be used by over two thousand women from all walks of life.
We spent the day looking at how the building was doing in the current rainy season and talking about progress on the management plan which is due for publication at the end of the year. Once we have agreed the strategy, the University, with WMF support, hope to begin the construction phase to transform the site into a centre of excellence and home to a new interpretive centre for Hyderabadi history. It’s a huge job as the building is massive with two flanking wings, a ceremonial gateway, a Zeanna and British cemetery. However, much progress has been made on the plan since my last visit in February.
It is now 7.15pm I'm back in my hotel after a day meeting with the University Vice-Chancellor and the Management Committee to review progress and agree a timetable for the completion of this phase. This was followed by supper in a restaurant called ‘Paradise’ where we had the local specialty - chicken Biriyani.
Tomorrow I fly to Mumbai for another meeting and then back to London in time for the weekend.