Hyderabad, the city of biryani, bangles, pearls, silk saris, and infotech is a colourful. vibrant city with a sharp contrast of old and new, minarets and high-rise buildings, traditional chowk bazaars and fashionable malls. It is filled with monuments, mosques, minarets, mansions, mandarins and memories. If Shahjahan built the Taj Mahal for his Mumtaz Mahal, then Muhammad Quli was no less — he named a city after her. Hyderabad was named because of his love for Rani Bhagmati, later called Begum Haidar Mahal.

And what a love story it was, the son of a Muslim king in love with a Hindu village dancer. Enticed by these stories of love, valour and history, the moment we reached the city, we made our way to the 16th century Golconda Fort The intricacies of the construction of the fort were explained to us by our guide, who also showed us how a clap at one end of the giant fort was heard at the top of the hill by the king's sentries; how the king could unobtrusively watch court proceedings without anyone being aware of his presence; the days of a glorious empire and how it all ended.