Tag Archives: Golconda

No guide, no happy

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Partvif Golconda Fort

THE GOLCONDA FORT near Hyderabad was constructed between the eleventh and sixteenth centuries. It fell into disuse and ruin in 1687. This extensive ruin is very impressive. On arrival, and even after entering the protected archaelogical compound, men offer their services as guides. Employing one of these is unnecessary because the different parts of the fort each have their own information panels with English translations.

When we were approached by one of the guides, we declined his services, and he told my wife (in Hindi):
“Take guide, please your husband.”

On hearing our refusal, another man offering to be our guide said (in English):
“No guide, no happy.”

Letters on a cannon

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Not long ago I spotted the old cannon shown in the picture at Golconda Fort. It bears the markings ‘A’ and ‘VOC’. The letters VOC are the abbreviation used by the Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie, the former Dutch East India Company, which functioned between 1602 and 1799. The ‘A’ stands for one of the several distinct groups of Dutch investors, who together comprised the VOC.

Incidentally, I have seen another example of this Dutch cannon marking on an artillery piece on the island of Diu, which is close to the southern coast of the Saurashtra region of Gujarat. The example in Diu can be found in the garden commemorating the Indian soldiers who captured Diu from the Portuguese in 1961.