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Salar Jung Museum

Some roads you choose and some roads choose you. On a rainy Saturday afternoon the road led me to Salar Jung museum, the crown jewel of Hyderabad's vintage glory.

The monument (Credits: Wikipedia)

I had visited Salar Jung musuem before but I couldn't pass up on the chance to revel in history and marvel at the collection of one Mir Yousuf Ali Khan, Salar Jung III.
The Man

As soon as I entered the main block (the museum has 3 separate blocks) a sense of familiarity guided me through the maze of rooms and I was immediately lost in the lap of history. The only thing missing was a Salar Jung museum app(most museums in the west already have apps) which I could have easily downloaded from the Play Store. The app in turn would have laid out the map of the museum before me, guided me through various rooms and would have also given me an audio commentary for some important exhibits. The technology constraint notwithstanding I spent more than half a day at the museum and thoroughly enjoyed myself. Here are the top 6 things which caught my attention in no particular order:
  1. The Jade Gallery: Seen to believed, you will be amazed at the variety of precious embellishments that can be created with Jade stone.
  2. Veiled Rebecca: When piousness meets beauty you get the Veiled Rebecca.
  3. Arms and Armor: Right from the sword of Tipu Sultan to the armor of Aurangazeb (pun intended) you name a medieval weapon you will find it here.
  4. The 100 Year Clock: This all time favorite makes you look at your watches every one hour as long as you are there in the museum (A museum app would have allowed me to set a reminder). Miss the experience of the 100 Year Clock striking the gong only at your expense.
  5. The Double Statue: Sometimes the reality is found in the reflection and The Double Statue illustrates this truth in the finest way possible.
  6. The Founder's gallery: The man behind the museum is probably more unique than the museum itself. Mir Yousuf Ali Khan Salar Jung III  was elevated to the title of Salar Jung at a very young age and left that position after being in service for only two years. After going through a bout of depression the young Salar decided to take up a constructive hobby to improve the quality of his life. And that Hobby! Ladies and Gentlemen, gave us this wonderful museum (Courtesy: Hyderabad a Biography by Narendra Luther). If everyone of us can turn around every pitfall we face in life into a blessing (as the Salar did), this world would be a much better place to live. 
The Salar's glory.

I salute you Mir Yousuf Ali Khan for leading a quality life and for giving us a story which we all can get inspired from. Now, I could have posted images and Virtual Tour links for all of the things listed above but doing that wouldn't do justice to the beauty and grandeur of Salar Jung. One of these days throw all your plans away and just let the road lead you, who knows Salar Jung museum might just be your next destination. As I said in my previous blog a leisure trip could just become a memory for a lifetime.

Until Next Time,
J.J. Chaitanya

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