It started as a normal Sunday would for us Infoscions, surfin the net at around 8, and then off to the laundry, no breakfast, no food in between, just waiting for lunch. Laundry’s done at 10.30, and were not stumped of what to do, with my notebook at hand, I ended up spending the next 3 hours playing goldminer, just because the damned thing cant be saved and im getting better highscores each time. Cum 2 o’clock, instead of beriyani for lunch, I just waited at the room wth some friend cabbage with eggs eaten with roti to stuff me up. While Liew (my roommate), is enjoying his afternoon with a ping pong bat although I was supposed to join them :p malas la kehkeh.
The adventure started at 3, and shafiq had his own adventure dead in his bed, so the adventure started again 15 mins later, with us this time. The target: Golconda fort near Towlichowki, a place where we only talked about going for two months, we’d thought it would’nt be that great of a place. But how wrong we are, how wrong we have been.
As usual, any journey would start with a bit of a fight with the auto guys, relentless we were to be fared fairly. A little haggling, and after 5 autos we said bye-bye to, we are on our way, on our journey for one of the most amazing evenings of our lives. (plus.. I think we saw a dead guy on the road along the way)
30 mins, and 100 Rs later, we were there, Poovan, our link to getting a cheaper ticket there, came in first, we cant resist using him or loose another 100 Rs off our pockets, they charge locals 5Rs to enter, and 100Rs 
for foreigners, how s#1tty is that? We came in, and we saw.. my first thought.. “Nah, this place ain’t so great, its just a big fort!” But my friend, I was soo naïve, foolish of the realities of the world before me, too foolish to realize that all of that was a ruse, a simple diversion of the gem inside.
Muhammad Wajud, the voluntary tour guide’s name was. As the like the other locals here, he quickly saw the opportunity when he saw the 5 of us, Me, Ina, Poovan, Liew and Syafiq wondering around not knowing 
why we’re here. But he did his magic, and he began the story with the 7 kings , 7 Shah’s of the Deccan sultanate empire, 7 centuries ago (1364 – 1512) which ruled Andhra Pradesh, up to Maharashtra and even on to parts of Karnataka (my old place in Mysore). & kings that build 7 tombs (or Kutub Shahid) which graced all around the area with 7 magnificent domes visible from afar. He told the story of how the kings lived, and son after son created something new with the fort, which took root on a big hill, named Gola Konda, or Sheppard’s Hill, named by the Hindus that ruled the place before whom were miners of glorious diamonds famous at the time. Gola Konda became Golconda, after the Persian rulers came in, which means Round Hill.
He took us properly, and even helped us bribe the guard at the main gate which refused (without some incentives) to let us in, due to our ill gotten tickets :p . After some “illegal” swapping of Rupees done, by our trusty Poovan of course, (sorry man). We were flabbergasted, Lo! Such grandeur, such beauty s the place that I only witnessed in Movies, and the trusty National Geographic. What I saw, was breathtaking, outside, it looked so plain, but as Wajud 
explained, there built that way to deter invaders, hiding the world from the majesty inside. He then gave another reason for us to actually hire him, (he didn’t say at first, but we learned long enough to know that in India, nothing is free).
He pointed to an area which is part of the main gate, inside this roofed chamber he guided us to the middle, then, he clapped.. well it was ok I guess, I meant he clapped good, and that place seemed 
to echo very well, good acoustics. But that’s not it, he clapped again, well basically I’m waiting if by magic some kind of door should open or something, then he asked us to step a little bit further from the center, and he clapped again… Weird, this time, its not so good, the sound was dead, I still heard the clap, but it feels dead. Then we knew the truth, as Wajud patiently explained, how that amazing acoustics engineering is a form of mobile telecommunication those days. Within the 7 ft radius of the center of the fort gate, using a clapping or drumming signal not unlike Morse Code, soldiers from the gate can send messages up to DoMinar, the tallest peak of the hill, where the King sat and the Queen dance to the rhythm of music, 3 Kms away (I’ll tell you later about this). We came, we saw, but no that’s not enough, looking at that hill, I knew I wouldn’t go there if it wasn’t for Wajud, but what the hey, we agreed that we need to see this place with the story intertwined, and what better way to experience this than with this short, but amazingly agile man to guide us filling our minds with stories, probably told by his forefathers, or the great father of knowledge.. Wikipedia. I want to see more of this, and I want to see the promise this guy made us to demonstrate this ancient technology, he said we’d have to go up all the way there ( I’m guessing its around 100m or so from the bottom to the top), but to see something like this, I’d do it, even though I knew halfway, I might going to regret with the wheezing and puffing the dusty Indian air.
After showing us around the frontal area of the fort, the administrative office with 8 foot shelves, the armory, diamond market and the army training center with 200kg dumbbells lying around (they don’t look like dumbbells though, more like on of those cartoon weights you can see in a Looney Tunes show), we were on our way, up to countless stairs which reminded me of my dreadful climb at Kerala. In our path, we stopped, and looked at the view, Hyderabad looked amazing from above, and the more we climbed, the better it gets,. Now by this time, Wajud showed us the multi-tier reservoir with plumbing systems akin to our modern pipes, carrying water from the secret lakes of the king, via Persian wheels from beyond Banjara Hills, the place of the Gypsies of the past.
We climbed, and climbed and climbed some more. With the thinning air affecting me, I was wondering when this will end, it was ok so far since we were given details of the multi-tier reservoirs on our left, but my lungs are killing me, silently I muttered “This thing better be worth t or I’ll throw his sorry little a$$ off the hill”. The, the perfect position, he stood on a ledge, facing downwards overseeing the main gate. And I just couldn’t think of a better place to kick that tiny little butt… suddenly, a familiar gesture, he waved his hands like those runway lollipop guys at the airport guiding planes on the landing strip. And then, he clapped with a rhythm, like he was 
sending a code… a few moments later, we heard, A REPLY, there.. from the main gate, he pointed to a guy wearing white, answering his call, with a similar note to his claps.. He said, “This is how the ancient people does it, without telephones, they can tell the people above of what’s happening. Warning the King in advance off any danger”. We came, we saw, and we can’t believe our eyes. Its one thing to be in this amazing place, but to actually experience it.. its just awesome, no better way to put it.
After a few more snaps, we came in to the palace, passing a Hindu temple, which the Persian kings left for their Hindu ministers. We came to Dominar, the highest point of the fort, surrounding ourselves with a feature presentation courtesy of Hyderabad. A grand view of the city, which bit by bit, Wajud showed us the key places of this magnificent empire. With the cannons, outer wall, lakes, and a stage, located 3 kms away, playing music for the Queen to enjoy just like a radio broadcast. Although no demos this time, we believed it, with what happened earlier, we come to 
appreciate this awe inspiring heritage. But our journey didn’t stop there, We began our descent, through a series of stairs called the King’s path. The Kings didn’t walk of course, he had some guy carry him like Sultans would. It was steep, and slippery, an English guy gave a demo by dropping his camera a few steps down.. Ouch! We went down and down, by which Wajud already came to the bottom in like 5 minutes, we were just casually enjoying the view, which turned out to be better than ever, the climb was worth every sweat, and every calorie burnt.
As we descent, I remembered what Wajud said earlier about an escape tunnel of 8 kms, which lead to Charminar, major landmark of Hyderabad, this tunnel would bring the King from DoMinar (two towers) to CharMinar (four towers) at the middle of the city. I wondered what is it like, and just how amazing to see such great architecture. But what to do, the tunnel was closed, the trip is not ended yet, so I’d enjoy it as much as I can. After all that thinking went away, again I felt an awesome wonder that I just cant describe with any medium. We came to the grand palace, although now in ruins, its just like you’re in a movie… with pillars standing, and some building still standing, not weakened by time,. First we went to the Queen’s chambers, and man.. what a big make up room she had!!, no wonder women nowadays can carry a whole styling studio in one make up box!!. It was BIG, and her dressing chambers was even bigger!!
As we go further, we saw the traces of ancient plumbing lining the inner wall. Superb, absolutely superb. But Golconda fort would leave us with another trick up its sleeve. Wajud guided us to the King’s chamber, and tested this astounding architectural technology by the Persians. We went to a room adjacent to the King’s chamber, which turned out to be some meeting place for ministers, there he asked us to put our face on the four corners of the chamber. Then he asked us to whisper.. Me and Liew was on opposite pillars, while Poovan and Syafiq was on another. I began with my magic message to the world… “The Airtel customer is not available, Please try 
later…” haahaa. But what followed was a testament to the ingenious engineering capabilities of the Persians. Liew heard what I whispered and I heard his reply! Amazingly, this architectural magnificence, allowed anyone to hear conversations from anywhere in the palace, if they knew where to listen, especially the King, which depended this on his life.
Then Wajud lead us to another chamber, the judgement chamber where the King passes his judgement on criminals, but during the time, Islamic Law was highly ordained (eventhough the King had 356 concubines). The judge (King) shouldn’t see the criminal to prevent improper judgment. Thus, using the same acoustic technology, the King was placed on pedestal, in the opposite chamber, which allowed him to hear anything happening within the 7ft radius of the middle of the judgment hall. This is ancient ICT at its best, wireless teleconferencing. Now this final leg of our tour would not be complete without a demo. Again, flawlessly Wajud took the edge of his shirt and started to “jentik” his shirt, now that sound wouldn’t be that loud, You might think, but I have the video to prove you otherwise. This was amazing.. But alas, our legs were hurt, and we need food :p
On the way down, we paid Wajud a bit extra for his efforts, but not without some unsangkarable meet with Mohan’s parents, the Malaysian manager at Awana restaurant serving Malaysian food right at Banjara Hills. After a moderately quick chat about his bladder and Nasi lemak, we said goodbye and Lo, wajud was waiting for one more surprise… the armory, and this time, we get to see the Big guns of the city. Cannonballs as twice as big as bowling balls, and an actual Senapang Gajah to boot, I cant help imagining how big those people were, I, telling you, if your Gun is like 8 foot tall, how tall would you be? But that question shall remain unanswered, unless of course I’d have doc brown lend me his DeLorean… sigh
Thus, we bid adieu to Golkonda, and this awesome fort, not 
regretting one bit that we went all up the hill, with hurting backs and legs crippling our bodies off any activities for the next 5 days. Off to eat Kababs we go…
p/s: If you guys happen to be here, take the tour guided ones, they are cheap (if you go by group) and make sure you’d have an Indian friend to buy you the tickets, you can bribe the guard later. But just to save a few bucks and not taking the guided tours, you’re just wasting your time there. And be courteous to the guides, in my case, if it wouldn’t for the guide, I would just be looking at some stone wall in ruins. But because of Wajud, I filled my mind putting together the puzzle pieces that is Golkonda by the stories he told. And that, you just cant describe, no matter how eloquent you are with words.
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