YK Antiques Home Museum

Visiting YK Antiques Home Museum and meeting and interacting with Sri. Yenugu Krishnamurthy the owner of the museum was a great and unforgettable experience. You can see Sri. Yenugu Krishnamurthy (standing) in the topmost photograph.

I have attached many photographs of this museum to this article. I am sure you would enjoy seeing this antique décor and collection, look closely and try to recollect your memories of at least a few of them!

The lovely museum is his residence with over 900 antiques with a few very ancient. Some antiques are from his household collected and preserved over the years and the rest is his collection of antiques from various places in India and from foreign countries that he has visited. Most of the items on display are popular household items from the past, mostly of brass and copper and some are rare and exotic and of course many other equally interesting items. As all items are his hand-picked collection, he has many interesting details to tell us as we enquire or point out the items that interest us. His young associate Sri Bala Gopal was also very helpful in explaining the antiques.

We could relate to a large number of the items, as such items were a part of our family too for many years. However, with the advent and popularity of Stainless Steel utensils and many modern kitchen appliances, our family had to discard the older items to accommodate the newer ones. One of the many items we could relate to is a large copper water boiler, coal-fired, which served our hot water bathing requirement many decades ago until we got electrical geysers. It was very interesting to witness such a large collection, very exciting indeed!

The YK Antiques Home Museum is located at Saraswati Nagar Colony, Lothukunta, Secunderabad.  

In conclusion here is an excerpt from an article by Sri. Yenugu Krishnamurthy:

I have always had a special interest towards collecting antiques. Having travelled extensively both in India and abroad, I have collected antiques from different places over the years. They now are my prized possessions which are proudly displayed in my house.  Each and every item that I have in my collection has a special significance and a story behind it. Most of the items were very much a part of daily life a decade back. But gradually they have faded into oblivion and have been replaced by the modern marvels. It is my dream to showcase the cultural antiques I have collected and share their stories with anyone who may have an interest in knowing more. This blog is a realization of my dream to create an online viewing of my collection and to reach out to a wider audience.

I have tried to give as much information as possible about each antique piece and will be happy if readers can add any further information to it. These cultural antiques are the living legends of the times gone by. I have collected these antiques with an eye for beauty and antiquity. Behind every antique piece there was an artist whose signature workmanship and mark is revealed with the design and function. I hope you enjoy viewing my blog as much as I do in presenting this to you. Happy viewing experience!

- YK Murthy

For more  exhaustive information you may visit his website:

http://ykantiques.com/

Happy Sri Rama Navami!

 

Today is the festival of Sri Rama Navami. On this happy and auspicious day of Chaitra Shukla Navami; the Birthday and Wedding day of Sri Sita Ramachandra Swamy, I wish you all a Very Happy Sri Rama Navami Festival. And I wish and pray for the blessings of Sri Sita Ramachandraswamy; to be upon us all, always. I am an ardent devotee of Sri Rama; I have a special affinity for him as I am named after him and his dynasty (Raghu Vamsha), and as we lived at his footsteps close to his abode ‘Bhadrachalam’ for almost 30 years.

I have posted a few photos and video articles earlier on Sri Rama Navami and Bhadrachalam. You may see these colourful articles by clicking on the following Titles:

All about Sri Rama Navami

Parnashala

Anxious to visit Bhadrachalam!

Portrayal of Lord Sri Rama by Narada Maharishi

Our family’s humble offering to Lord Sree Sita Ramachandra Swamy Temple in Bhadrachalam

Happy Sri Rama Navami to all!

Cruise on Godavari River at Bhadrachalam/Papikondalu

The recitation of Rama Nama is pure song and music, relished by Sages!

On and along our favourite river, Godavari!

Children love boats and boating!

The ancient and most beautiful Stepwell of Bansilalpet!

AN EXHAUSTIVE STEPWELL VIDEO:

We visited the recently renovated Stepwell of Bansilalpet on 21st March 2023. The renovation has turned it into a beautiful tourist spot in Secunderabad city. Ever since its inauguration on 5th December 2022, it is attracting not just our city dwellers but many visitors from outside. The attached photographs and the video will surely give you an impression of its beauty. 

This six-layer Stepwell was built in the 17th century and bears the footprints of the Kakatiya dynasty as well as traces of the Nizam and the British Empire. It could hold nearly 22 lakh litres of water. 

It has been lying neglected for decades and was left in disrepair. And since 1980, there was no more trace of water in it as it had become a dumping place for garbage. Gradually it got filled with 2,000 tonnes of debris.

The Rainwater Project, which has revitalised several Stepwells throughout the City and the State, collaborated with urban planners and architects to conceptualise and execute the Stepwell and the precinct development. The Stepwell restoration cost Rupees 2.6 crores, this included cleaning, dewatering, and de-silting the well, as well as structural strengthening of retaining walls, rebuilding, and finishing works.

The Stepwell now has an annual rainwater harvesting capacity of up to 35 lakh litres. The rejuvenated Stepwell has an interpretation centre, a tourism plaza, an amphitheatre, and a café.

A plaque at the Stepwell reads as follows:     

NAGANNA KUNTA

BANSILALPET STEPWELL

Naganna Kunta, a 6 levelled stepwell in Bansilalpet, is part of an important historic layer displaying the development of water-centric human settlements of Telangana.

Reflecting the similarity in plan with the Wells of the Kakatiyan period, the freshwater stepwell can be dated around the 17-18th century. The 1854 Pharaoh map categorises Naganna Kunta as a Well with a garden of Tamarind and Palmyra trees planted around it. During the British administration’s work in Secunderabad, the brick boundary wall with arches was built around the Well periphery. In 1933, the British Resident T.H. Keyes developed a well-planned model village around the stepwell, funded by Seth Bansilal.

The restoration of Naganna Kunta and the precinct around the stepwell is an initiative to reclaim the traditional knowledge of water systems and foster water sustainability.

The restoration was undertaken in 2021-2022.

Musical Floating Fountains at Hussain Sagar, Hyderabad

The recently commissioned musical floating fountain assembly at Hussain Sagar, Hyderabad, is the largest in India. It was inaugurated on 9th February 2023. It is 180 meters in length and 10 meters wide, and it has 800 high-powered nozzles and 880 underwater LED lights. All the nozzles and the jets of the fountains are programmed through DMX controller and synchronized with music. The spray height of the chasing nozzles varies from 12m to 45m whereas the central jet is the tallest jet with a spray height of 90 meters. It has several exceptional features, including three laser sets, and mist fairy fog to create a cloud effect. On weekdays there are three shows every night of about 30 minutes duration, starting from 7 pm and on weekends there are four shows between 7 pm and 10 pm.

A VIDEO:

Caution: Do not watch it from very close; the fountain spray carried by the breeze would drench you with the stinking water of Hussain Sagar. The road opposite the fountains and in front of NTR Gardens is always wet with this water during the shows. 

We gave a name to this Train!

As the first instalment of summer vacation has started for my grandchildren and all the students of CBSE, I am reminded of my school vacations during which we children named a Train and had lots of fun travelling in it. This Train was named by us ‘The Lambadi Express’!

In the 1960s most students studying at St. Mary’s High School, Kothagudem, in English medium, had to shift to other schools as the school did not offer middle school education. Higher education was possible at St. Mary’s only in Telugu medium. So, most of the English medium students shifted to outstation residential schools, the boys to St. Gabriel’s High School, Kazipet, and the girls to St. Fatima Girls High School, Kazipet. And some of us shifted to the Twin Cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad like some of our seniors. Here in the Twin Cities, we were no longer in Missionary/Convent schools but in popular private schools, and our tri-annual vacations matched.

Those days the best way of travelling to Kothagudem from the Twin Cities was by train from Secunderabad Railway Station. The name of the train was Secunderabad-Puri Passenger. Only two compartments of this train were assigned to go to Bhadrachalam Road Railway Station which is Kothagudem. One compartment had half of it as First Class accommodation and the rest of it for unreserved Ladies and the other compartment was for the unreserved general public. It used to start at 8.30 pm.

As our holidays commenced at the same time, all of us from different schools known to one another and travelling to Kothagudem were happy to meet on the platform at Secunderabad Station and travel together. We addressed the seniors by their names affixed with the title like akkaiah (sister) and annaiah (brother), like Madhu akkaiah, Mani akkaiah, Chandu akkaiah and so on. And the others by their names. We all got comfortably accommodated in these unreserved seats and berths as there never used to be a heavy rush to Kothagudem in those days. After the initial pleasantries and chit-chatting we all rested. It was a very slow passenger Train with about 30 stops between Secunderabad and Kothagudem. At about 2:30 am the train used to reach Dornakal Junction and the (our) two compartments destined for Bhadrachalam Road were detached there. These two compartments used to be left aside with no power up to about 5:00 am. And the rest of the train used to proceed to Puri in Odisha. And from about 5:00 am after a lot of shunting and changing of tracks our compartments were attached to a Train from Dornakal/Vijayawada to Bhadrachalam Road and brought to a platform from where it used to leave for Bhadrachalam Road at 6:00 am.

Fresh at dawn, after last night’s rest and happy to be soon with our siblings, parents and childhood friends and all the entertainment that we missed, we all used to be in high spirits, enjoying ourselves. This stretch of the journey was of 2 hours and most enjoyed by us. Everyone was looking out of the windows enjoying the cool early morning weather and the beautiful landscape and looking forward to the five in-between Railway Stations, Pocharam, Karepalli, Chimalpahad, Tadakalpudi and Bethampudi. At all these Railway Stations the train just stopped for about five minutes and there used to be hectic activity. At these Stations there used to be a small crowd with pots and buckets at the Steam Locomotive to collect the hot water let out from the boiler, courtesy of the Loco Pilot.  And the passengers, 90 per cent of them were Lambada ladies in their colourful attire and ornaments trying to board the train with their merchandise like firewood, broomsticks, Muggu, fruits like Woodapples, Custard apples and so on to be sold at Kothagudem. As most of them were ticketless travellers they used to tie their merchandise to the outer side of the Train windows and loiter within the train to escape being caught by the Ticket Examiner. And the naughty amongst us were not allowing these passengers to get into our compartment by telling them that it is a reserved compartment.

And as this train used to get filled up with mostly Lambadas in these intermittent Stations we called it the Lambadi Express. This name became popular and continued amongst us until we all finished school.

In the early 70s too, while at College I travelled by this train. From Mangalore, via Madras, I used to reach Dornakal Junction by 2:00 am. Get down from this Hyderabad-bound train and then board the Lambadi Express to reach Kothagudem. And the environment along this route remained the same, the only difference was that I was travelling alone, but I still enjoyed the journey.

The return journey from home, back to School and College was not exciting even though it was in the Lambadi Express.