Hyderabad : Fragment of my memory

Hyderabad: Fragment of my memory
Hyderabad: Fragment of my memory

“Hyderabad : Fragment of My memory” is a multimedia travel story of my first visit as an adult to the Southern Indian city of Hyderabad during the year 2011. I have been to Hyderabad several times after that, but this experience formulated some of my early views of this city.

As travelers or as tourists, most of us often take the recommended or popular advice when visiting new destinations. The recommendations or popular accounts guide us in choosing what we do there. Today, in the era of online social networks, the recommendations take a whole new meaning in travel. Based on popular websites or apps, the recommendations not only apply to places  we visit, but also to where we stay, where we dine out, and on what we order from the menu. This in many ways is good as it relies on trusted endorsements and social networks of friends. But, it can also take away elements of serendipity and discovery. At times, isn’t it beautiful to stumble upon something new or experience a lesser known side of a place. I crave for such experiences.

This multimedia moves away from the usual tourist spots and popular visuals of Hyderabad. It captures my serendipitous encounters with new places, conversations with new friends, a Hindu festive season, exposure to new genre of music, and a lot more, that happened organically rather than any plan.

I was visiting Hyderabad in September 2011 to present my work ‘Fistful of Dreams’ at Open Show Hyderabad. The event was held at Lamakaan , a cultural space promoting arts and open dialogue. I wasn’t staying at any hotel then. I was hosted by my friend. I was given a room which opened into a High-walled red balcony (a beautiful sight every-time I woke up in the morning).

Incidentally, it was the Ganesha Chaturthi festival then. I witnessed the chaos and Euphoria of the festival across the city and the Visarjan(immersion of idols) ceremony that took place near the landmark Hussain Sagar lake. Most of the popular visuals of this festival in mass media are from the city of Mumbai. I never knew that this festival was held in this city in scale that was comparable to celebrations in Mumbai.

This multimedia is in no way a definitive guide to the city of Hyderabad. But a perspective of a traveler visiting Hyderabad and witnessing a lesser known facet of the Historic city and its people. A city has many more stories to tell than the popular tales from a tourist guide-book. I am traveler who likes to venture into the lesser known paths.

Note: The photography , sound-recording and editing in this project, have been done by me. The Visuals were made using Canon EOS 5D Mark II camera. The sounds used in this multimedia are all ambient sounds captured and recorded using a Zoom H1 Handy recorder. The post production of this multimedia is done on Pinnacle Studio 16 video editing suite.

Nishant Ratnakar
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By Nishant Ratnakar

Nishant is a Bangalore, India based Wedding, Portrait & Editorial Photographer. He is available for assignments across India. He also conducts photography workshops and offers personal photography mentorship.

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Aarti
Aarti
10 years ago

Beautifully evocative pictures Nishant! Specially like the boy dressed up as Gandhi and eating an ice-cream 🙂

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