She has just returned from a mini-holiday from Hyderabad, India, where she squeezed in some official meetings as well. She shares her experience below:

“It was a fabulous mini-holiday to Hyderabad, which is in India’s newest state of Telangana. It’s rich in history and is a melting pot of languages, cultural influences and cuisines. We wandered around the Chowmahall Palace, which was constructed in the 18th/19th century, and was where the Nizams of Hyderabad stayed when they ruled.

We also did a two-and-a-half hour walking tour of the old city, which was fabulous. We learnt heaps about the history of the city and the different influences. We walked up the Charminar (a very narrow, windy staircase with stone steps that are worn in places from use), drank chai (tea) at a no-frills tea shop that smelt like home baking and ended up at a dusty old bookshop filled with old, rare books (loved it!).

Also squeezed in two meetings that I really enjoyed with state’s IT Minister, and Agriculture Minister Niranjan Reddy. We discussed areas of shared interest including innovation, agri-tech and crop/grain storage, and planted a sapling as part of the #greenchallengeindia. These meetings went really well. They were organized for me by members of our Telengana community in Auckland, and gave me first-hand experience of the power of personal connections when it comes to stepping up our engagement with India. It’s an important point to note considering our government is focusing on strengthening New Zealand’s relationship with India.

Finally, we had high tea, and did a tour of Falaknuma Palace that belonged to the Prime Minister of Hyderabad who later gifted it to the 6th Nizam.”

– Priyanca Radhakrishanan