And Then There Were None.: QUTUBS!! (India #10)

SATURDAY- 9-29-07- We went to QUTUB SHAHI tombs. 7 tombs of 7 kings in the QUTUB SHAHI DYNASTY. We had a few hours before our flight from Hyderabad to New Delhi, so we did some sight seeing. The driver dropped us off at the entrance. There was a huge wall with 'poor man's barbed wire'; broken glass cemented all along the top. There was a fee to get in, of course, and also a fee for taking a camera! Luckily 50 Rupees is only about $1.30.

As we come around a turn in the path I hear a multitude of birds, singing and fluttering. PARROTS. How cool.. Parrots in the wild.. They were flying to the tomb. It had a lot of good places for a bird to sit and rest, apparently.

As we were going up a little path to get a view of the tomb, peeking through the flowering trees, a man calls to us and says (in broken English) "No, not there. No. Come here. Don't go that way. Come this way. "

Fearing we were not allowed on that particular path, we go to where he is, close the the front of the first tomb. He has a key (or so it appears- who knows, it was probably already unlocked and he just 'had a key' for appearances). He 'let us in the door' and told us about the tomb and the king. The others nodded and asked questions or made remarks. I could not understand a SINGLE WORD that guy said! I wonder if they could or if they were just acting polite.

This tomb looked all alone, but done the bend and past another flock of parrots was TOMB CITY! The rest of the 7 tombs and a garden (not kept up totally well, but I hear that they are just starting to do a lot of work on a lot of their 'tourist sights')

I like to explore on my own. This man was follwing us, trying to lead us. I kinda went where I wanted. Jen and Michelle followed him and Brian did a bit of both. I found the man to be quite annoying; interrupting my quite walk of exploration and I could barely make out anything he was saying. It was easier to READ THE SIGNS.which were in 2 languages- that's fun.

About 3/4 the way through the place, this man asked for his $250 rupees. Payment for being a tour guide. I never hired him. I never wanted him telling me where to go or about this or that tomb. I couldn't even understand him. I didn't even talk to him about anything the entire time. So I left Jen and Michelle and Brian to deal with him. I learned early on to pretend I didn't even hear the people who begged me to buy their wares if I wasn't interested. And I am good at 'being in my own wold', so people leave me alone quickly.

Michelle offered the man $100 ruppees. He refused it! I guess he basically said "250 rupees or NOTHING." I am like "Cool. It's nothing." and would have gone on and ignored him. Michelle tried to talk him into taking the 100 Rs.

The man then tried to hit Brian up for the 250 Rs. He also offered 100 Rs , which was also refused. He sounded upset. Like we had stolen merchandise from his Jewelry store and he was gonna call the cops to make sure he got payment.

Then hits Jen for the 250 Rs. They were all holding 100Rs out to him and he kept saying no, they owed him 250. I told them put their money back in their pockets if he wasn't going to take it.

I think he ended-up taking 100 from Brian and 100 from either Jen or Michelle.

Here are some more pictures: