Speaking Archaeologically™

Hyderabad surely is a city of many charms and not many people outside know about the rich heritage of this city has to offer. Beyond the scrumptious Dum Biryanis and kebabs , the historic Char Minar or the Golconda Fort , Hyderabad has a lot more to offer. For a person coming here for the first time, its streets and alleys present a unique medley of a past which is never too distant and a present which makes one feel nostalgic. Such is the heritage of this city where one can enjoy a plate of Biryani while sitting in a shop and wondering about its history and to some extent, even experiencing it.  In one such locality of the old town, amidst a maze of buildings and collapsing structures of a bygone time- but very much alive with the sounds of kids playing, goats bleating, chickens clucking, loud horns of bicycles and cars and people going about their businesses- rest the tombs of the Paigah nobles. Paigahs were one of the most powerful and influential families of the princely stat...

                    The Sevasi Vav, Vadodara           Click here for our Sevasi Vav Video In all of western India, you will be able to find stepwells, from the coasts of Karnataka, to the arid lands of Gujarat and Rajasthan. And then,  are  some in Delhi and Madhya Pradesh, too. They provided travellers with a place to rest, and prevailed as a place to socialize, as well as acted as a medium for storing drinking water (there is no reason to boast about the advent of social networking for you in the 21st century–the wise Yodas from the past did this). More than 200 stepwells are expected to be located in Gujarat alone today–making it very easy to picture their figures in the past. Their water storage effectiveness has helped local residents survive for hundreds of years, in the semi-arid  climate  and  seasonal fluctu...