FULL ON HYDERABAD
大嚼海得拉巴CATHY ADAMS finds a feast for the senses – and, well, feasts – in India’s historical southern capital
Let’s start where most stories about India should begin – with food. During my first visit to India five years ago, my in-laws cheerfully fed me chicken curry mopped up with rotis and parathas in the coastal town where they live, north of Mumbai. After the third, fourth, fifth plate I was so full that I lay on the floor, watching the ceiling fan drowsily beat round and round.
This turned into a rather too predictable pattern. ( Too much gulab jamun in Delhi, too much chickpea curry in the Himalayas, too many happy hour drinks in Goa…)
Now I’m in Hyderabad, in India’s southern Telangana state, and I’m still eating. In fact, the only note I’ve written about breakfast at the richly decorated Celeste restaurant, in the 19th century Taj Falaknuma Palace, is ‘feeders’ – underlined twice. (My masala omelette is chased with a breakfast dosa – the chef’s suggestion – smeared thickly with coconut paste, tamarind and a puddle of ghee.)
This excessive breakfast isn’t out of character. The mere act of checking in at Falaknuma involves a horse-drawn carriage, a set of red velvet steps to climb up to it and a slow march to the palace while being doused in rose petals from overhead.
I’m told guests at Falaknuma are ‘treated like the Nizam’ when they check in.
Who is this Nizam?
關於印度故的 事，不少都從食物開始，不如我從們也 這裡說起吧。五年前我次首 踏足，印度前往孟買北部一個海邊小鎮，探訪居住在那裡的老爺和奶奶。他們非常高興，煮了咖哩雞，配上roti薄餅和paratha酥油抓餅，頻頻勸我吃。我吃了三、、四 五碟後，肚皮撐得只能躺在地上，看著天花板的吊扇緩緩地旋，轉 令人昏昏欲。睡
多年下來，在印度大吃大喝已成慣例，毫無驚喜；我曾在德里不停地吃gulab jamun甜湯丸，在喜馬雅區嚼拉 山 大 鷹嘴豆咖哩；在果阿邦酒吧的歡樂時光時段，更不知牛飲了多少杯……
現在我來到印度南部泰倫加納邦的海得拉巴，依然還是在吃。我在由19世紀歷史建築改建的Taj Falaknuma Palace酒店內富麗堂皇的Celeste餐廳吃早餐，先來一客馬莎拉香料奄列，然後在廚師的建議下，追加了一份早餐dosa脆薄餅，裡面塗滿椰子醬和羅望，子醬 還有酥一汪；油 吃完後我在筆記簿上只寫下了「肥死了」三個字，下面再劃上兩道橫線，就將早餐的體驗總了結 。
這份超級豐盛的早餐與酒店的奢華堂皇格調如出一轍。單是辦理登記入住酒店的手續，就括了乘坐馬車，再踏上鋪了紅色天鵝絨地氈的階梯，然後再以緩慢的速
We’ll get to that. Hyderabadi history begins with Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah, who founded the city in 1591 and built the Charminar, the four-minaret monument that, after Mumbai’s Gateway to India and the Taj Mahal, is the next favourite to appear on Indian postcards. Today, the Charminar is an ornate gyratory, with scooters, autorickshaws and cart-pushing locals flogging strips of gum, cheap colourful bangles and pomegranates wheeling around it.
This Qutb Shah dynasty was usurped by the Mughal empire, which descended on Hyderabad from Central Asia via northern India. This kicked off the Nizam dynasty, ruling the ‘princely state’ of Hyderabad that was once India’s largest and richest. Their wealth built forts, palaces, thrones; and amassed jewels and some rather lovely chandeliers from Bohemia hanging in the Chowmahalla Palace.
More than two centuries later in 1947, as the British Raj fell and modern India rose, only the Nizam of Hyderabad wanted to remain independent. He ruled over the annexed city for the next 13 months before Hyderabad was – forcibly – absorbed into the new Indian state.
The reign of the Nizams also left another important imprint: Islam. Today, official figures state that 30 per cent of Hyderabad is Muslim, a far higher proportion than in all of India’s other big cities.
度走向王宮，沿途還有將瑰人 玫 花瓣從你的頭頂灑。下來
聽，說客人在登記入住時都會「被奉為尼扎姆般侍候」。
這個尼扎姆到底是何方神聖？這一點暫且按下不表。海得拉巴的歷史始於邦王Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah於1591年創建得海 拉巴城，他還建造了查爾米納四柱塔；這座古蹟是度印 明信片最常見的古蹟之一，歡受 迎程度僅次於孟買的印度門與泰姬陵。今天查爾米納四柱塔更像一個華麗的少旋，處 除了摩托車和篤篤車圍繞這座古蹟呼嘯而過之外，還有當地人推著兜售口香糖、廉價的七彩鐲手 和石榴的手推車在它旁邊匆匆走。過
Qutb Shah王朝後來被蒙兀兒帝國篡奪，軍隊從中亞經北印度南下，攻入海得拉巴。尼扎姆王朝從此展開，令海得拉巴一度為度成 印面積而最廣 且最富庶的土邦。王朝利用豐厚的財富興建了多座堡壘、王宮和寶座之餘，同時又聚斂了無數珠寶，以及懸掛在Chowmahalla王宮裡的別致波希米亞水晶吊燈。
兩個多世紀之後，英屬度印於1947年倒台，現代印度誕生，只有得海 拉巴的尼扎姆希望維持獨立。這位統治者繼續佔據並統治海得拉巴13個月，當地才被強行併入新成立的印度自治領。
In the old city, that figure feels much higher – nearly all the women shopping at the Laad Bazaar, known for its brightly coloured bangles, are dressed in the niqab; and the air sings with the calls to prayer.
The city has also taken a high-speed line to industrialisation. After Bengaluru, Hyderabad’s Hitec City is India’s secondlargest tech office cluster, hosting the offices of Microsoft, Amazon and Facebook, giving rise to the terrible portmanteau Cyberabad. And like Bengaluru, like Hauz Khas in Delhi and like Colaba in Mumbai, Hyderabad has its share of microbreweries and trendy coffee shops. The difference is that you don’t come here to see any of it.
A recent act passed in parliament promised to protect Telangana’s heritage structures and sites, and private groups like Taj Hotels are restoring centuries-old palaces like Falaknuma. Hyderabad is trying to hold onto its story.
I ask my guide John, a proud Hyderabadi, why Hongkongers should choose this city over Delhi or Mumbai. He says: ‘ There’s so much more to see here. There’s so much more history.’
And for a first time, or even fifth or 17th-time visitor to India, Hyderabad is an easy city: more compact than Delhi, less chaotic than Mumbai but with more heritage sights than both. Add to that an incredibly welcoming population, always ready to push boxes of Osmania biscuits/
尼扎姆王朝也留下了另一個重要印記伊： 斯蘭教。時至今日，根據官方人口普查字數 顯，示 海得拉巴有三成人口為穆斯林，遠比例 超印度其他大城市。在舊城區，伊斯蘭教色彩更加烈強 ：在以賣售 色彩繽紛鮮艷的手鐲而聞名的Laad Bazaar市集裡，前來購物的女性幾乎人人都身穿從頭到腳將身體遮蓋起來的niqab罩袍；而醒提穆斯林禱告的鐘聲，則在空氣中迴蕩。
當地歷也 經了高速工業化的過程。海得拉巴的科園技 Hitec City，名稱雖然平平無奇，卻是印度第二大的科技工業樞紐，規模僅次於班加羅爾；這個科園技 不但有Microsoft、Amazon和Facebook等進日其中，更催生出惡俗的混合詞Cyberabad。跟班加羅爾、德里的Hauz Khas區和孟買的Colaba區一樣，海得拉巴也擁有不少小型釀酒廠和供應迷你意式泡沬咖啡的咖啡店；唯一不同的是，你並非為了要到這些地而方專誠來到海得拉巴。
印度國會最近通過一項法案，承諾保護泰倫加納邦的歷史建築和古蹟，而Taj Hotels等私人集團亦致力復修多如座Falaknuma等擁有數百年歷史的王宮，見可海得拉巴正盡力守護自己的歷史傳。承
我問導遊John，香人港 為何要前來這 dosas/directions into your hands. Have I mentioned that the food’s great, too?
Here are eight things not to miss in Hyderabad.
THE VIEW: FROM 1 FALAKNUMA PALACE
Falaknuma Palace, at 600 metres above sea level the second-highest point of the city after the hilltop Golconda Fort, is translated as ‘just like the sky’. It’s why this palace – a 19th century Nizam’s residence, now a turbo-luxe heritage hotel – is painted duck-egg blue.
Its tiled balcony offers the best view of Hyderabad: stretching past the palace’s mown lawns, over its trotting peacocks and tamarind trees, past the old city with its minaret tips and the Golconda hills to the towers of Hitec City. Faluknuma’s interiors are just as impressive: Nizam-era furniture; paintings of East India Company heavyweights lined up the staircase; and 5,970 books that belonged to the Nizams, including one written by a Titanic survivor.
THE TASTE: BIRYANI AT 2 SHADAB
The lunchtime scene at Shadab: waiters bumping down bowls of biryani onto blue-and-white-checked tablecloths in a dim dining room, complete with majestic grandfather clock.
Hyderabad’s signature dish migrated
裡而非德里或孟買旅遊？這位自豪的海得拉巴人說：「這裡有更多好去處，更有 豐富的史歷」。
無論你是首次前來印度，還是已經一再地舊 重遊，海得拉巴都是一個讓人可以方便而輕鬆地遊覽的城市。她比德里緊湊，又不如買般孟 那 混亂，但卻比這兩處擁有更多歷史名勝。，此外 當地是人更 十分熱情好客，隨時都會往你手裡塞一盒Osmania餅，乾 幾片dosa薄餅，甚至路線指南。還有，我在前文提過這裡的食物也十分美，味記得嗎？
以下是種得八 海 拉巴不容錯過的事物。
風景：從Falaknuma Palace王宮遠眺1
Falaknuma Palace王宮位處海平面600米之上，是全市第二高點，僅次於踞高 青翠山頂上的Golconda Fort堡壘。Falaknuma的意思為「如天空一樣」，，因此 這座前身為19世紀尼扎姆王宮、現為超級奢華文物酒店的建築，牆外 全髹上鴨蛋殼般的青藍色。
站在滿磚酒陽鋪 瓷 的 店 台上，海得拉巴最佳的景致一覽無遺：穿過修剪整齊的王宮草坪，見可以 到昂首闊步孔的 雀和羅望子樹，再越過舊城區的尖塔頂端以及Golconda的翠綠山丘，一直伸至展 Hitec City科園技 的 south with the Mughals and was cooked in Nizam palace kitchens. You’ll find biryani all over town, but Shadab, near the Charminar, is an especially friendly haunt: lively atmosphere, faintly art deco exterior and giant brass bowls of trademark dum biryani – where the meat (typically chicken or mutton) is steamed together with the rice.
THE SIP: IRANI CHAI 3
Daily from 4am to midnight, Hyderabadis fill the plastic tables at Nimrah Bakery in front of the Mecca Masjid. They’re here to dip hot-fromthe-oven racks of Osmania biscuits into puckered cups of Irani chai: another Hyderabadi speciality.
THE COLOUR: THE YELLOW 4 OF CHOWMAHALLA PALACE
In Hyderabad, everything comes with a story. As the legend goes, the first Nizam bunked with some Sufi saints en route to taking up the city’s throne. On leaving, a saint thrust some bread wrapped in yellow fabric into his hands (can you see a thread here?).
It’s why the durbar hall, now dusty but impressively chandeliered, is painted a pale yellow. Elsewhere this palace, the official Nizam residence that took 119 years to build, is a blend of Persian, European and Rajasthani arches, coconut palms and intricate fountains that once sprayed rosewater.
高樓大廈。Falaknuma Palace王宮的內部裝潢也同樣令人歎為觀止：到處擺設了尼扎姆時代的家具，東印度公司要員的畫像掛於樓梯，旁 還收藏了5,970本尼扎姆的藏書，當中有一本更是鐵由 達尼號生還者寫的。
滋味： Shadab餐廳的印度香飯2
午時餐 間，在光線幽暗的Shadab餐廳裡，應侍 把一碗一碗biryani印度香飯隨便地摔在鋪上藍白格子紋桌布的餐桌上，不遠處還有座巨型的古老大鐘陪你吃飯。
蒙兀兒人南下時將款這 傳統食物帶到海得拉巴，本來是尼扎姆王宮的宮廷美食，傳後來 到民間城。 中到處都可以吃到biryani印度香飯，但是位於查爾米納四柱塔附近的Shadab餐廳令人感到特別親切：氣氛熱鬧帶藝，略 裝飾 術風格的外觀，加上一大碗以黃銅碗盛載的招牌雞肉或羊肉蒸飯dum biryani，令人再回三 味。
淺呷： Irani Chai香料奶茶3
每天清晨4時至午夜，清麥加 真寺前的Nimrah Bakery糕餅店內，塑膠餐桌都坐滿海得拉巴的市民。他們都會點一杯海得拉巴另一知名特產Irani Chai香料奶茶，然後以新鮮出爐的Osmania餅蘸乾 著奶茶吃。
THE SOUND: 5 THE CALL TO PRAYER FROM THE MECCA MASJID
Hyderabad is a study in sound: Asian quails whooping, the throat of a scooter revving, the jangle of bangle sellers through Charminar – and the daily calls to prayer, most reverentially from the slategrey Mecca Masjid, so-named because soil was brought from Mecca to make the bricks. This mosque, which dates to 1693, is where Hyderabad’s Nizams are buried.
THE BAR HOP: JUBILEE HILLS 6
The Banjara Hills-Jubilee Hills conurbation has become the social sponge for the Hitec City after-work overspill. Start with a Moscow mule with homemade tamarind syrup at the Park Hyatt Hyderabad’s Italian restaurant Tre-Forni, before following the coders and programmers to bar-slash-‘space’ Fat Pigeon, with roof terrace and graphic art. Onto Free Flow Traffic Bar (which glows red and green) or the Moonshine Project, which comes with the ultimate hipster accoutrement: an Airstream trailer.
THE SHAPE: THE ARCHES OF 7 QUTB SHAHI TOMBS
These weathered off-white domed crypts house the kings and Sufi saints of the Qutb Shahi dynasty. From a distance they look like chess pieces. Up close, this tranquil spot has beautifully ornate Islamic arches, floral medallions and archways.
THE MOVEMENT: ART IN 8 BANJARA HILLS
Fast- gentrifying, leafy Banjara Hills is where you’ll find one of Hyderabad’s new-school pursuits: art. Check out cosy Kalakriti, a spacious art gallery- cum- café decorated with interactive exhibitions, installations and lively watercolour paintings; or nearby Lamakaan, a cultural space with a shaded amphitheatre. Stop by Almari, a breezeblocked fashion shop, which does modern interpretations of classic Indian clothing: beaded clutch bags, gilded pendants and silk dresses.
色彩： Chowmahalla王宮的黃色4
在海得拉巴，每件事物背後都有一個故事。根據傳說，首位尼扎姆在前往奪取海得拉巴城的寶座時，途中曾與數位伊斯蘭教蘇菲派的聖徒同寢。臨別時，一位聖徒把一些以黃色布料包裹的麵包塞進他的手裡（你看出當中的關聯嗎？）。這就是王宮的Durbar大殿髹上淺黃色的原因了。大殿現已無復昔日的輝煌，但華麗的吊燈依然令人歎為觀止。這座尼扎姆王居費時119年建成，糅合了波斯與歐洲的建築風格，並飾有拉賈斯坦式拱門、椰子樹和昔日會噴出玫瑰花水的精緻噴泉。
聲音：麥加清真寺召喚信徒祈禱的鐘聲5
海得拉巴是體驗各種聲音的好地方：亞洲鵪鶉的鳴叫、摩托車的隆隆引擎、沿查爾米納四柱塔兜售的小販拿著的手鐲叮咚作響，還有每天召喚穆斯林祈禱的鐘聲；當中最能令信眾心生恭敬的，就是麥加清真寺的鐘聲。這座石灰色的清真寺建於1693年，因建寺的磚塊混入了來自聖城麥加的土壤而得名，寺內埋葬了海得拉巴歷代的尼扎姆君主。
暢飲： Jubilee Hills區6
Banjara Hills和Jubilee Hills這兩區已成為Hitec City科技園上班族公餘暢飲和社交的熱點。首先前往海得拉巴柏悅酒店的意大利餐廳Tre- Forni，品嚐摻入自家製羅望子糖漿的Moscow mule雞尾酒。然後隨著編碼員和程式員前往酒吧/「空間」Fat Pigeon，那裡有天台，還有可觀的平面藝術品。接著前往發出紅、綠兩色光芒的 酒吧，或是到擁有 露營車的潮人聖地
酒吧去，同樣精采。 Free Flow Traffic Bar Airstream Moonshine Project
形狀： Qutb Shahi陵墓的拱門7
這些飽經風霜的米白色圓拱頂墓室，是Qutb Shahi王朝的君主和多位蘇菲派聖徒的安息之地。從遠處觀望，陵墓的外貌有如西洋棋的棋子；走近仔細再看，就可以見到寧謐陵園裡精巧華麗的伊斯蘭式拱門、花卉浮雕和拱廊。
潮流： Banjara Hills區的藝術8
正急速中產化的Banjara Hills區綠意盎然，在這裡你可以體驗海得拉巴新興的藝術熱潮。不妨到舒適的Kalakriti閒逛，這間藝廊兼咖啡室頗為寬敞，裡面有互動展覽、裝置藝術和生動的水彩畫供人欣賞。毗鄰的Lamakaan則是個文化空間，設有有蓋圓形劇場。再到Almari時裝店去，選購以現代手法演繹的傳統印度服飾，例如釘珠手提包、鍍金吊墜及絲綢衣服等。