Hyderabad Hues XXIII: Fox Sagar Lake

This is one of those discoveries that you make by chance and then you go out and try to find out more information about it, only to find that there is hardly anything about it in public domain, though it is pretty popular with the photographers. I must thank Google maps for showing a water body not too far from our home and one day we landed there with our cameras in hope of finding some birds. We found much more than birds.

Fox Sagar Lake is a relatively large lake and an active hub for fishing. A make shift shop here has brisk end-to-end fishing business. A couple of boys go out in the lake and fish and a small shop by the lake sells the fish. The colorful plastic roof of this shop provides the vibrancy to the blue and green landscape. There were many birds in the lake but most of them were way beyond my camera lens.

This lake must have been much bigger originally, and like most urban lakes a lot of its space has been taken by recent construction. A domed structure stands out on the raised side of the lake. I naturally gravitated towards this structure. I had no idea what this structure could be, my best guess was a watchtower, as there seemed just enough space for that and I could see some people standing around it. I went around and reached the structure to discover that it is a pump house.  More interesting part was the date ascribed on it 1897 CE and the name Fox Sagar. This structure is approached through an iron bridge. Against the sunset with a backdrop of lake, the structure looks beautiful.

I tried to find out more about this structure and lake but all I could find was pictures. Being more than 100 years old, this should be a heritage structure, deserving some conservation efforts and some documentation. I am curious how the name Fox Sagar came about. Was it some British officer by this name or was this area inhabited by the foxes back then. I hope this post reaches the relevant authorities and they act on it. Meanwhile, enjoy photography here.

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