The Rocky Road to Saving Hyderabad’s Stunning Geology

As the city expands into a global IT hub, a small but dedicated group fights to protect its ancient landscape.


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makes their way across a sprawling university campus, first on paved roads lined with colorful bougainvillea and then through $#@!ly shrubs. Their destination: pathar dil, or heart of stone, a natural formation of four boulders that stands as tall as a two-story building. Upon reaching it, the hikers rush to take pictures and try to squeeze through the gaps in the boulders, “slicing through the heart,” one of them jokes.


One of the oldest members on the excursion is 80-year-old Frauke Quader who has, you might say, a heart for stone. About five decades ago, the German national fell in love with a man from Hyderabad, and later with the rocks in his city.


“When you come into Hyderabad by train, there were just these unimaginably interesting rocks, huge big fields of them. It was so beautiful,” she says. Boulders of all shapes and sizes are scattered throughout the region. They’re found in unexpected places: on sidewalks, in front of luxury hotels, and even inside people’s homes. Hyderabad’s traditional art, poetry, and folk songs are full of rocky references, and the boulders play a role in the preparation of one of its most famous dishes. But now, as the city expands, the rocks are being destroyed—something Quader and a small group of like-minded activists are fighting to stop


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https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/hyderabad-rocks