Hyderabad, known for its fabulous pearls and diamond markets and delectable cuisine is the fifth largest city in India with an ancient civilisation and culture. Hyderabad and Secunderbad are twin cities, separated by the Husain Sagar lake. Hyderabad occupies a unique position on the map of India. With its confluence of cultures and traditions, the city is often described as a link between the north and the south, and a meeting place of the east and the west. The city is nearly 400 years old and is noted for its natural beauty, mosques and minarets, bazaars and bridges, hills and lakes.

History
Often described as a link between north and south, Hyderabad occupies a unique position on the map of India. The city had its humble beginning in a mud fortress built by Kakatiyas of Warangal in the 11th centuary AD on a hill called Golconda. In the 14th century, Golconda went to Bahamani kings. From 1518 to 1687 Qutub Shahi kings ruled Golconda. Muhammed Quli Qutub Shah was the founder of the present day Hyderabad. Golconda's overcrowding and water shortage forced the king to lay the foundations of a new city that he named Bhagyanagar after his Hindu courtesan Bhagmati. The name was changed to Hyderabad when she became his wife and changed her name to Haider Mahal. When Aurangazeb invaded Golconda, Hyderabad was blossoming with palaces and gardens of the Qutub Shahis. With the arrivals of Mughals, Asaf Jahis became the rulers of Golconda and developed the city by adding palaces, gardens, educational and social institutions, public buildings etc. In 1798 Nizam II, the second Asaf Jahi ruler, signed a treaty with the British East India Company that resulted in stationing British troops nearby. The British chose a place near Hussain Sagar and became instrumental in building Secundarabad, the twin city of Hyderabad. After independence, Hyderabad State was brought into the Indian Union. In 1956 Hyderabad became the capital of Andra Pradesh. It is India's sixth largest city and a major industrial and educational center. While Telugu is the official and native language, a dialect Urdu called 'Deccan' is widely spoken. Usage of Marati, Kannada, Tamil and English has given the city a multilingual character.

Nagarjuna Sagar Dam
Located at a distance of 150 kms from Hyderabad, Nagarjunasagar is an important irrigation dam on river Krishna. This is the tallest and biggest masonry dam in the world and is about 150 Km away from the metropolitan city of Hyderabad. It creates the third largest man-made lake in the world. Apart from this, some remains of the Buddhist civilization dating back to the 3rd century A.D, are seen on an island called Nagarjunakonda located in a man-made lake on the other side of the river Krishna. These relics of Buddhist civlization found during excavation unveiled the traces of Mahachaitya, the most sacred of the stupas. An inscription in Brahmi characters states that the sacred relics of Lord Buddha lie within the Mahachaitya. Similar excavations of the surroundings have brought to light the remains of a university, vihara and monasteries. This University was flourished under Acharya Nagarjuna, the great Buddhist saint, scholar and philosopher who migrated to Nagarjunakonda from Amaravati to spread the message of the Buddha. An "Ashwamedha" sacrifice, altar of tools from Paleolithic and Neolithic times were also found here. The remains of a Buddhist University were found during an excavation while constructing the Nagarjuna Sagar dam.  Interestingly excavations conducted here have also revealed Brahmanical temples, which reveal the friendship that existed here centuries ago between the two faiths. Now though the actual site of the excavations have been flooded with the waters of the mighty river, the relics of the ruins have been reconstructed and kept in an island museum, the largest of its kind in the world and are in an excellent state of preservation-thanks to the efforts of the Archaelogical Survey of India. Today Nagarjunakonda along with Nagarjunasagar attracts many tourists from South East Asian Countries and also from all over India Foundation stone of the Dam was laid by the late Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India on 10-12-1955.

Sri Sailyam
Sri sailyam, is 232 kms. From Hyderabad and is a unique combination of forest sanctuary and pilgrimage town, makes a refreshing weekend break from Hyderabad. The River Krishna carves a deep gorge through the woods of the Nallamalai Hills, and leaves in its wake a lush forest that is home to India's largest tiger reserve. The reserve is huge - 3568 sq km - spread over five districts in Andhra Pradesh. It shelters blackbuck, panthers, chinkara, spotted deer, nilgai, pangolins, leopards, soft-shelled turtles, porcupines, crocodiles and a variety of other animals, birds and snakes, in addition to the tiger. There is a successful crocodile reintroduction programme in Ethipothala, a cataract close to Srisailam. Nearby, the 512 m long Srisailam Dam on the River Krishna is set amidst beautiful natural scenery - ghats, cliffs, craggy ridges, plateaus and dense forests.

The forests have attracted human visitors for centuries, not only because of the ecological systems that it supports, but also as a pilgrimage centre. Pilgrims bathe in the Pathalaganga - the local name for the River Krishna - before visiting the sacred shrines of Brahmaramba, Mallikarjunaswamy, Uma-Maheshwara and Saraswati. Shiva's sacred bull Vrishabha is said to have performed penance at the Mahakali temple till Shiva and Parvati appeared before him as Mallikarjuna and Brahmaramba. The temple is one of the 12 hallowed jyotirlingas; Lord Rama himself installed the Sahasralinga, while the Pandavas lodged the Panchapandava lingas in the temple courtyard. Heroic legends from the Mahabharata and Ramayana are sculpted in stone on the temple walls and the Mahabharata epic refers to Srisailam as Sri Parvata - the blessed hill. You can hear the buzzing of a bee through a tiny hole in the Brahmaramba temple, where Parvati, in the form of a bee, slew the demon Mahisasura. One of the nicest aspects of these temples is that everyone is allowed to pray here and touch the Lord's feet, unlike some other ancient temples. So come to Srisailam for that interesting holiday you've always wanted - it's a different world altogether.

Ramoji Film City- A man made wonder
Media mughal Ramoji Rao is making a full-fledged Hollywood film, "Quick Sand", not in Los Angeles but in Ramoji Film City in Hyderabad. He has recreated the Arizona army base, the barracks, the vehicles, and US military uniforms for the army personnel, and above all, the virtual reality of American landscape. All this in his world-famous Film City. History knows Quli Qutub Shah as the founder of Hyderabad City and posterity will know Ramoji Rao as the architect of the Film City known to everyone who is familiar with the world of films and entertainment. Rao's alchemy factory has produced so far durables like the Margadarsi chit funds, Priya pickles, Ushodaya films and the Eenadu print and TV empires.

The Film City, spread over 2,000 acres of land studded with hills, vales and lakes, has few parallels as both a tourist attraction and major film-making facility. The city looks like the result of a collaboration between P.C. Sorkar and Vishwakarma and is anytime a match to Universal Studios in Hollywood, brick to brick, gizmo to gizmo. It is a place where reality acquires all the attributes of magic and incredibility. Today, it is the filmmakers' first choice as it is a single-window, press-button facility that opens up an unlimited arena of creativity for every major and minor aspect of film production. To quote some directors and producers, the Film City has "all facilities at one place with latest technology and advanced equipment." Its brochure highlights its motto as 'make the magic happen.' However, magic happens spontaneously without human intervention as though it is the main ingredient of the entire project. Yet, everything is real, from the 50 studio floors, the support systems, outdoor locations to the high-tech laboratories, the wealth of technology, the greenery, and the hillscape.

Every need of the filmmaker, imaginary and real, has gone into the planning and execution of this mega project costing hundreds of crores of rupees. Everything that goes into making a film, from raw film to cameras, to processing labs to editing consoles, stage properties, studio floors and even travel arrangements to recreation and past-time is available at the mere mention of it. All this to suit a variety of budgets, whether it is a shoestring art film or a giant formula film. Ramoji Film City is an all-in-one boundless complex offering not just film-making facilities but also customer services, technical expertise, production support personnel and comprehensive technical infrastructures attracting the attention of top film-makers, production houses and leading multinational advertising agencies. A rapid tour of the Film City complex vindicates the claim it makes in its campaign that "Ramoji Film City is geared to service several film and television productions simultaneously. It is one place in the world where you can walk in with a script and walk out, leaving despatch instructions for release of prints or television broadcast masters." The Film City, in company with the Cybercity, has put Hyderabad on the map of the world. In short, it is a film-maker's dream and a tourist's idea of a paradise.