For the last many years, I have been spending a part of wintertime at Hyderabad, the capital of Telangana with my daughter and son_in_law who live there. Hyderabad’s winter with a salubrious climate, unlike the harsh chilly winter of the north, is a source of attraction. The twin cities Hyderabad & Sikanderabad have a population of about 1.5crore and are important because of their historical significance, sites of tourist attraction, technological advancement, good municipal administration & peaceful law and order situation.
To my surprise, the Hyderabad of yester_years has been transformed to a neat and clean city with wide roads with a network of fly_overs & metro rail, an internationally acclaimed Airport, intensive plantation along both sides of roads and under fly_overs, grooves of forest patches brimming with flora and fauna, a wide circular road have added glamour to the city-Its high _tech city with high_rise buildings housing offices and residences of national and multinational companies, big malls &restaurants are worth visiting. Historical sites of Golkunda fort & Char Minar, religious places like Birla Mandir, Surenderpyear Macca Masjid, and a host of other temples attract thousands of visitors every year. Recently Hyderabad has been acclaimed with the distinction of being called a ‘Tree city’ among a few cities of the world.
After seeing the ruins of Nalanda University in Bihar, Martand Sun Temple in Kashmir, and other heritage sites, deep in my mind was the grudge against the policymakers of democratic India who neglected our rich heritage & instead glorified the rules of foreign invaders who ruled this country for six hundred years in the books prescribed for schools and colleges.
My belief in our rich cultural heritage got more strengthened when I visited the southern states. The breath_taking architecture and mind-blowing stone carvings and paintings in Meenakshi temple at Madurai, Brihadeshwar temple at Thanjavur, Rama Swamy temple of Rameshwaram, and many others built by Pallava and Chole kings, declared as ‘World Heritage sites by UNESCO left me wonderstruck. The rock structures off the coast of Mamallapuram, the Ajanta and Ellora caves of Aurangabad, and the Vivekananda Rock Memorial at Kanya Kumari are pieces of matchless architecture. Kailasa temple in Ellora cave No.16 is the only single-rock temple in the world. It is an unparalleled architectural marvel. It is said that four lac tons of cut rock was removed from the site and its construction took eighteen years.
If the world recognizes and respects India today, it is not because of Bollywood or Movies but because of its rich cultural knowledge and contribution to the world in the field of Science, Literature, Astrology, Astronomy, Mathematics, Medicine, and Architecture. It is hoped that our educationists will lay thrust on our rich cultural heritage while devising syllabi for school and college students in the New Education Policy.
My thanks are due to our family members and especially those living in Hyderabad who have been facilitating our trips to various cities and places of importance of this great vast country and especially our pilgrimage to the places of spiritual peace like Lord Venkareshwar temple at Tirupati, Sai Baba temple at Shirdi, Shani Shingnapur, Shri Vinayak temple in Mumbai, Shri Lakshmi Narayani Golden temple at Vellore, Meenakshi temple at Madurai, Vivekananda Rock Memorial at Kanyakumari and Jyotirlingas namely Malikarjun at Srisailam, Trayambkeshwar at Nasik and Rameshwaram in Tamil Nadu. We feel blessed after visiting these places. No doubt when we say, ‘MERA BHARAT MAHAN’
By: Som Nath Sharma
The writer is a very well-known personality of Kishtwar, Retired Principal a well-known Historian, Educationist, and Author.
