Better than the Taj Mahal!

FUJIFILM X-Pro2 (14mm, f/8, 1/750 sec, ISO200)

If you travel a lot you have the chance to see great places. Most of them are well known but sometimes you find something special.

Everybody knows the Taj Mahal. It’s iconic. Even if you never had the chance to see it in real life you know exactly how it looks. And here lies the problem. It’s next to impossible to take an image go the Taj Mahal that has not been taken many, many times before. It’s also India’s number 1 tourist attraction and that’s why it is always extremely crowded.

And while the Taj Mahal sees around 2.5 million visitors per year this place currently has more restoration workers than visitors.

FUJIFILM X-Pro2 (14mm, f/4, 1/60 sec, ISO1600)
FUJIFILM X-Pro2 (14mm, f/8, 1/800 sec, ISO200)
FUJIFILM X-Pro2 (23mm, f/9, 1/420 sec, ISO200)

Entry ticket is 10 Rp and another 20 Rp for your camera so I paid about 50 Cent in total to visit a place that is even older than the Taj Mahal and just as magical though in a different way.

The Qutb Shahi tombs in Hyderabad aren’t made of white marble and you can see that the centuries left their marks on the constructions. That’s why the government and Tata (one of the biggest companies India) started the renovation. As much as I appreciate that those buildings will be preserved to protect them from decay I’m afraid that they will never look the same after the work is finished. Those buildings need patina like the faces of old people need wrinkles. Without those they don’t look real.

FUJIFILM X-Pro2 (23mm, f/8, 1/450 sec, ISO200)
FUJIFILM X-Pro2 (14mm, f/8, 1/640 sec, ISO200)
FUJIFILM X-Pro2 (23mm, f/5.6, 1/1100 sec, ISO200)
FUJIFILM X-Pro2 (23mm, f/9, 1/350 sec, ISO200)
FUJIFILM X-Pro2 (14mm, f/8, 1/160 sec, ISO200)
FUJIFILM X-Pro2 (23mm, f/9, 1/500 sec, ISO200)
FUJIFILM X-Pro2 (35mm, f/2.8, 1/2700 sec, ISO200)

I feel lucky that I saw the place before. Without all the tourists I almost felt like a discover. Privileged like the first white man who sees the wonders of India. I have been in Hyderabad a couple of times before but never visited this place. But in this trip I visited it twice within a couple of days.

I guess I wanted to see it again before the place will be transformed. When small souvenir shops will replace the site fences and green grass the naked soil.

FUJIFILM X-Pro2 (23mm, f/10, 1/420 sec, ISO200)
FUJIFILM X-Pro2 (35mm, f/8, 1/550 sec, ISO200)
FUJIFILM X-Pro2 (23mm, f/8, 1/550 sec, ISO200)
FUJIFILM X-Pro2 (35mm, f/9, 1/180 sec, ISO200)
FUJIFILM X-Pro2 (14mm, f/8, 1/220 sec, ISO200)

This is India and despite all the construction work there is a laid back atmosphere you don’t find in many places nowadays. I just returned from Tokyo and even in the parks and gardens I could not forget about the pace of this town. Here in between the tombs the world outside seems as far away as another planet. The women with their brooms slowly sweeping the leaves or the men with the old freight bicycle with the wooden wheels and rubber tyres. It looks like a scene from a hundred years ago.

That’s the magic of this place today. That’s why I stated that it’s better than the Taj Mahal. Of course that’s not true. The Taj Mahal is the more important and impressive building but this place has much more charm. One day the ladies with the colourful dresses and their brooms will be replaced by sweaty tourists with selfie sticks and this place will be nothing more than just another tourist spot. So if you want to experience something truly special you better be quick.

FUJIFILM X-Pro2 (35mm, f/5.6, 1/420 sec, ISO200)
FUJIFILM X-Pro2 (23mm, f/8, 1/640 sec, ISO200)
FUJIFILM X-Pro2 (14mm, f/8, 1/500 sec, ISO200)
FUJIFILM X-Pro2 (35mm, f/8, 1/680 sec, ISO200)
FUJIFILM X-Pro2 (14mm, f/8, 1/750 sec, ISO200)
FUJIFILM X-Pro2 (14mm, f/8, 1/680 sec, ISO200)
FUJIFILM X-Pro2 (14mm, f/5.6, 1/105 sec, ISO200)

Of course I had to peak behind the site fence and I entered through an open gate into a restricted area. I was not aware of that initially. I only found out when the old, toothless guard blew his whistle. The very same guy who washed away the dust from a stone engraving for me three days ago now escorted me out of the restricted area. We took a different way out so I had the chance to take one more look “behind the curtain”.

FUJIFILM X-Pro2 (23mm, f/8, 1/450 sec, ISO200)
FUJIFILM X-Pro2 (23mm, f/5.6, 1/250 sec, ISO200)
FUJIFILM X-Pro2 (23mm, f/9, 1/200 sec, ISO200)

What a place! I have to come back some day. I have to see it again. Just like the Taj Mahal. It’s something that you have to visit at least once in your life but when you finally do you know that you have to come back to see it again.

This place will look very different soon. No ladies with brooms, no toothless guards, no lazy dogs sleeping in the shade of the trees.

I guess that’s why I took so many pictures, why we all take so many pictures. “Um festzuhalten was nicht festzuhalten ist”.

FUJIFILM X-Pro2 (23mm, f/8, 1/160 sec, ISO200)