For the longest time I’ve been wanting to start a photo series on the blog that combined places, people & fashion and sort of create a delightful mashup of all the three elements. The purpose of the resultant mashup was to capture the beauty of a place, the simplicity of an outfit and present a photo-diary or a photo-walk that would transport you to that place and time, for that one moment. Each element needs to stand out, as much as they all need to blend together. Trying to tell a visual story that can encompass all these aspects is no easy task.
Hyderabad has always been a charming and laid back city. The one place that I can always call Home. As a kid one of the most frequented places in the evenings was Tank Bund. We lived nearby and walking to Tank Bund in the evenings to enjoy the breeze, the view of the lake and maybe buy a balloon or two for my 4 year old self was a ritual that my parents had. As I grew up it became more about visiting the nearby parks like the Sanjeeviah Park, Lumbini Park and snow world. Soon it was school picnics that brought us to the same place. College life saw us bunking classes to catch a movie at IMax, or spend the weekends at Eat Street and Necklace Road.
After a while the visits stopped, as malls started opening and more restaurants popped up in other areas of the city. But since it is such an iconic part of Hyderabad (and my memories), I couldn’t think of a better place to start the series with, to depict how a typical evening is at Tank Bund. Since the past few years they have done tremendous changes and improvement to the place. The greenery, the conscious effort to plant different kinds of flowers, maintenance of the area, and even the pollution and stink of the lake which has drastically reduced.
It’s the perfect mix of a busy road connecting all the important places of the city, connecting the twin cities Secunderabad and Hyderabad. With a lake on one side, in which stands the calm and serene 58 feet Buddha monolith, and loads of greenery on the other side, pretty benches to rest your feet, road side vendors selling bhel puri and sugar cane juice, and all the statues of greatest and best talent of the state. While necklace road offers a much more modern view of the lake with tons of lake view and roof top restaurants/cafes lined along the road, I still prefer this side, where you can sit on the statue steps to catch the sunset and see the last remaining boat rides getting completed and turning back to the dock. Wanting to capture that old world charm of the place, I kept my dressing as simple as possible. A powder blue cotton churidar with a bright red cotton dupatta, offering respite from the heat and the simplicity and elegance to blend with the place, as we strolled along.
The only thing missing was the balloon man. We didn’t find him that day, but I guess some memories are meant to be captured in your heart and not in photographs, and remain just that. Memories.
p.s – to view all the photos keep following on instagram (@thegirlatfirstavenue) as I keep posting the pics
Concept & Styling: Chandana Munipalle
Photography: Divya Medikonda
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