After my Faluknuma escapades, I decided to take a cheap accommodation near the centre of the town close to Charminar. I hired a local auto for Rs 1,000 a day and asked the cameraman to be my guide around the many bylanes of the city. The Charminar area reminded me of Chandni Chowk and Jama Masjid areas of Delhi. I stood below the lights of the Charminar and captured its beauty at night panning through its streets and biryani shops most selling beef biryani and chicken shawarma. A shop called Roshan became my favourite as I munched on a shawarma and a biryani. Then it was off to the sugarcane shop to have some juice. Finally, I traded off to the Munna Pan shop to enjoy the pan. All the while, I had my autowala as my guide and he held the camera bag most of the time. The whole night I meandered through Hyderabad but the glee and dazzle of Charminar stayed with me through the night. It was time to enjoy some local mutton with naan back in my hotel room that I had taken for a mere Rs 2500 through OYO rooms.
I had to book a flight to Tirupati to visit the Balaji Shrine and MakeMyTrip was the best place to do that. At around Rs 2800, one can get a direct flight to Tirupati and it takes only one hour to get to the city of Balaji. They say it is the richest temple in the world. The inner sanctum is made of gold. One has to take a ticket before one is allowed to see the shrine and the tickets are available from the local bus stop only after 12 pm at night. You should make sure you carry your Aadhaar card otherwise, the ticket will not be given to you. On the ticket is given the timing of the Dharshan and mine was in the afternoon. There was still time as I trudged back to my hotel room for a nap.
