One of the things I miss most about New York (besides my amazing friends and family!) is living just a couple of blocks from Central Park -- a complete oasis in the middle of the city. Considering that, it's pretty funny it's taken me over two years to explore KBR Park -- only 10 minutes away from my apartment here in Hyderabad! (that's not completely true... Tyler and I went to KBR Park for our first date but got kicked out by the police because it was past sunset, so that doesn't really count...)
Finally truly explored KBR Park earlier this month with Deepna and Tracy. The grounds were a bit more "brown" and drab that I expected, but I was just thrilled you couldn't hear the cars and two-wheelers honking from inside. And I shouldn't be too critical -- there were trees everywhere, walking trails were great -- and even lined with quotes about preserving nature. The best part? Peacocks seemed to greet us at every turn!
Turns out the park was once the Nizam's hunting grounds... but I can only imagine what animals were being hunted in Hyderabad?! The history of the Nizams here in Hyderabad is fascinating: as I surprisingly learned from Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers, the Nizam of Hyderabad, Osman Ali Khan Asaf Jah VII, is the 5th richest person in the history of mankind, with a net worth equivalent of $210.8 billion! (Cleopatra is 21; Bill Gates is 37... #1 and #2 are John D. Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie)
This last Nizam ruled Hyderabad between 1911 and 1948 until it was made a part of India (interestingly, Hyderabad - a Hindu-majority state with Muslim leaders and the largest princely state in India, remained independent for over a year after Indian independence, before the Army came and Hyderabad joined the rest of the country).
The components of the Nizam's fortune are mind-boggling: apparently his collection of pearls could fill an Olympic size swimming pool. He owned a 400 carat diamond (the Jacob Diamond) - the world's fifth largest, which is now owned by the Government of India and stored at the Reserve Bank of India in Bombay. The last Nizam apparently fathered more than 100 illegitimate children... I can only imagine what claims to his vast fortune are like! My favorite anecdote of his wealth: he apparently found the duck-egg-sized diamond hidden in his father's slippers and used it as a paperweight! Ah, to be rich...
Just saw this! Yay KBR! It would have been interesting to see it in its heyday.
ReplyDeleteThat's an intimidating set of statistics on the Nizam. An Olympic-sized swimming pool?? Yeesh!
P.S. This is Tracy, and the pic is my parents' adorable dog, Choco