I hope you can identify me with ease :) Thats a snap when I visited "Char-Minar" at Hyderabad with one of my friend.
Behind this architecture there is a real big mosque with a "vazu" at a (not-so) corner and a huge huge space for daily prayers! It was a new experience to see it with an eagle's eye from the top of "Char-Minar" (till the place you are allowed to climb) because I never visited a mosque before. And a too much crowded place all around it. Another thing that struck me was that even today many of the nearby houses are marked with green and orange flags to identify them with religion. That sent me shivers, screaming the sensitivity of the area, which otherwise is not at all reflected in the polite mannerism of Hyder-abadis !! I hope its just that people have forgot or not cared to remove them or, perhaps, they just don't care. But I think its being too optimistic in India :(
One worthwhile thing to mention about this structure is that chinese labours, or perhaps labours under chinese influence, also participated into the construction as you can easily notice the big dragons in the hand-craft design made inside. All and all a nice trip! The only low is that besides "Char-Minar", "Hussain Sagar" lake and the "Golconda Fort", I am not aware of other such historically relevant places in Hyderabad; which seems a less for somebody who hails from Delhi !!
