Chennai Central - Hyderabad Local

Last month when I was in hyderabad..I had to slot my visit just to ensure that I have the authentic biryani at paradise..though I did have my lunch around 5:30 PM (and I guess we were served left overs) it wass sumptuous enough to satiate the craving for the next month..
The taste would linger in my mouth for a few days(read until I visit next time)..and would act as a fuel to rejuvenate my sagging taste for everything( my friends can interpret it perfectly what I mean and so there is no explicit mention about it...though you have the freedom to interpret what ever you want to..and I guess you would do so rightly if you are exactly on my wavelength...to much in the brackets eh...read on...)

No Killer title this is ..but an expression of shuttling between Chennai and Hyd at freq of once a month atleast to notice the seasonal, infrastructural( the roads seem to remain same everytime I visit although the traffic is routed through riduculous ways), entertainment( read new movies)....and the best of all ..my Mom's home made food (no offence on my Dad...although he is a great cookand most of the times better than mom..the recipe is pure mechanical, unlike my mom which has a wide frequency of taste absoultely dependant on her mood and time..and it is generally the best when I am at home).

The shuttle previously seems to have happened for wierd reasons which I used to tell in the office ranging from a visit to a local dentist(you must be thinking just because I dont trust any one here????) to visiting a barber( since I had found it hard to convince the barber(s) here to cut my hair the way i wanted to, and often ended upon with a clown's hair style(or lack of it) ) to pakka genuine ones such as festivals or visiting relatives or attending weddings and so on..

But what so ever the reasons or excuses made above I always had a reason to make a visit to Hyderabad now and then..(it could have been an impulsive decision to fly down or a thoroughly planned one to sacrifice a working day just to catch the train at the most inconvinient time the rail ways would think of...4:30 PM)..But this time though I have the luxury of a easy-going, good, cool boss( touch wood..i hope the adjectives refering to my boss remain the same althrough and not weather(read economy fluctuations) dependent)...I am searching for a reason to be home...(I mean an excuse that I need to give my boss so that he can give his boss to explain my absence)..

For a change...most of the festivals( including Gandhi Jayanthi for whch I am given a holiday...) have timed themselves this year to make it during the middle of the working day robbing an extended holiday that doubles up with the weekend..neither my cousins or friends are getting married this month (although tons have been planned ahead..and many more dummas and work-from-home's), or moving out of place or nothing out of box( which people often refer to as creative) happening in their life( mine too :) ), hence the delay to book the tickets...

And until the next time I would come up with a perfect reason to ignore work and go home...the famed trio (mom, food, entertainment) would remain elusive...!!!!


PS: The title for this piece was given by my cousin( in a conversation and un intentionally..in a different context) who had the blessing to go back to Hyd permanently....

Why Roaming Hyderabadi???

I actually thought of such a title owing to the scenario I am into.. or rather into the scenarios that I get into. Ever since I finished my engineering in Hyderabad..it was a kind of journey of sorts for me...moving to west, north, south of mother India(Not included East as I have not been to any eastern place yet)...however the eyes through which I view and observe things around are all in terms of a typical Hyderabadi... in pursuit of the local (read Hyd) peace outside Hyd..

Guess there are lot more people like me spread across the world, whom I think would long to have the relaxed, laid back way of life that they led in Hyd..
I never ever asked for big things..not because they we inaccessible to me or I never dreamt of having them, reason being it lacked the happiness that a cricket match in OU campus, a movie in any of the RTC X road theateres or a tea in any irani cafe...or a biryani in any of the 3 famous joints(Bawarchi, Cafe Bahar, Paradise) would give..the pleasure derived out of getting involved in those intangibilities were nothing but Sheer Beauty...

My colleague, a Mallu had the privilege (yes, since I am deprived of it ) of working in Hyd for 3 yrs...and probably he being an outsider gave me an impartial observation of Hyd..

In his own words " comparing with any city across India I feel Hyd is the best place to Live...I feel so not because of the cliched items that people(includes me too) list down..like Biryani or chai or bangles or pearls.., it is so because the early hours...5:00AM t0 7:00AM..the place is in full form of its beauty exposing its every bit of attractive features right from the old structures like the Osmania GH, OU, Golconda, clock towers..(Charminar..my inclusion), to the new buildings like the Central Mall, Hitec city towers, Big Bazaar, Streets of Koti, Abids..waiting to take on full capacity...is the best..even compared to Allepey(A green, watered district of Kerala)"..

With that kind of testimonials that I recieve on a day to day basis...my longing to go back to my place would just increase with every second...

I roam around the places I visit comparing each an every inch that my eye could capture with Hyd's famed old city Gullies(Lanes), the bumpy new city roads, the neck lace road(life line for entertainment in Hyd)..and few more places which I guess are name worthy but hardly recognizable....
I keep roaming around aspiring to come back to the place I lived once....with that hope I gulp down this F$%^ng Tomato Bath..also called as Biryani in local lingo...while I listen to rim jhim rim jhim hyd...a timeless song...