The place remains chaotic, loud and as frenzied as ever. But there is a pleasant change now. You can breathe easily and appreciate your favourite monument without the fear of being knocked down. Tourists visiting Charminar are now whistling their relief. They can have a leisurely dekho of the historic edifice.
For years Hyderabad’s most popular icon was stuck in a time warp. Reaching it involved navigating obstacles and potential hazards from potholes to throngs of distracted pedestrians—not to mention automobile fumes and the swirling traffic. Every time I went there I had to literally fight for space. Not anymore. Now you can saunter around, popcorn in hand, and look at the architectural wonder raised to ward off recurring plague. Thank God the Charminar Pedestrianisation Project being implemented in fits and starts is at last showing results.
My friend from Chennai who recently visited Charminar couldn’t believe his eyes when he could move around the monument at an unhurried pace and take selfies without the fear of honking traffic. Driving through Charminar is still not easy. You have to pick your way past the street-level chaos peculiar to the old city of Hyderabad. If one can ride here, one can ride anywhere goes a popular saying.
But this doesn’t deter visitors. For tourists a visit to Hyderabad remains incomplete without a visit to Charminar. The same is the case with the locals. Come festivals or marriage season shopping around the monument is must. A bride’s trousseau is incomplete without a visit to Laad Bazar, the famed bangle street.
Politicians have their own reasons to root for Charminar. They find it the best place to stage protests and take out rallies. That’s not all. There are many myths associated with Charminar. For rumour mongers there is nothing like the ‘Charminar ki pudi’ to set afloat idle gossip. Sometime ago, archaeologists too fell prey to it and dug up a major portion of the road from the monument in the hope of uncovering a secret tunnel connecting it to the Golconda Fort. But in the end it turned out to be nothing more than a ‘Charminar ki pudi’.