Charminar

One Wednesday, supposed P-Day, we went to Charminar, an old Muslim structure that supposedly is connected by an underground tunnel to Golconda Fort which is quite a few miles away so it's hard to believe. Of all things, I didn't take a picture of Charminar from the outside. We had just been to LVPEI for eye checkups and our eyes were dilated and it was so hot and sunny that my eyes were continually filled with water and sweat and I wasn't thinking very straight. The structure to the right is not unlike Charminar except that Charminar can't be driven through but it is empty in the middle. Don't know what sense that makes.

Since we have been back, we been told by numerous people that we shouldn't have gone because it's an unsafe Muslim area. We didn't feel safe while there and were happy to leave but only after we had done a little shopping on the streets much to Bill's disdain. He finally escaped to the cab and waited to avoid all the beggars.

Here maybe you can tell that it is a round structure with no middle. We had to climb narrow, winding, uneven stairs to get up to this area which is the only part with interesting design.

I decided to post our Charminar experience because it was just recently in the news. A young woman plunged to her non-immediate death a couple days ago. Reports were varied, including suicide. But the final story is that her boyfriend was angry with her for her inability to continue to pay excessive interest on a loan of money he had made to her, so he took her up on top of Charminar and pushed her off. She survived a while, even talked on the way to the hospital. The doctor there said she had lost a lot of blood so we figure that was the reason for her death. Other than that, she had only some broken bones in her limbs. They don't have much blood here for transfusions. We felt so bad for her. She was a beautiful and sweet-looking female with a maniacal boyfriend. Charminar has apparently been a spot for other suicides. We will not be returning even for a picture of the outside.