For an Andhraite like me, after my home town of Vishakapatnam, Hyderabad is what I call as second home. I spent around 3 years of my life here, both as a student, and while working too. I have many relatives, cousins, friends staying here. This review is based on some of my observations of Hyderabadi life . “Nakko bhai, tension kai ku leta re”. That sums up the life of an average Hyderabadi in a nutshell.
Hi, I am a citizen of Hyderabad or what we call as a Hyderabadi. Like many other Hyderabadi’s, I work as a software engineer in one of the numerous companies dotting the Cyber Paradise of Madhepura. Does it really matter in which company I work for? Most of the work we do here is what we call as grunt work, that is in simple terms, writing a wrapper class around a third party wrapper class, which is again a wrapper around another technology. Forget it anyway, I myself am not aware of what I do for a living at times, and I don’t want to confuse you further about it. When I was a bachelor, I would start off my day with a tea at an Irani tea stall. Well more than Hi tech City or Charminar, we Hyderabadi’s love to spend our time at these Irani stalls, which are an institution by themselves. These outlets are famed for their piping hot, tasty chai which you get at a rock bottom price. Yes they might not be snazzy like Café Coffee Days or the Barrista’s but we Hyderabadi’s would never give up on them. Some of these are very large, some are very small, along with the chai, you also get to taste some wonderful pastries, samosas and pakoras. It’s the best retreat for a rainy day. And the best thing is you can spend hours just chit chatting here, without the owner asking you to leave. We cracked many hard technical problems, chatting over a cup of chai in these Irani cafes.
Anyway I stopped depending on the city’s notoriously fickle public transport, and use my own vehicle to commute to work. Now whats that , the traffic has been stopped, and there is a big procession going on. Oh its one of those jatras which are as much part of the city. Primarily meant to propitiate village deities , they go by various names like Maisamma, Mahankali, Pedamma, Yellamma, Bathukamma . The temples dedicated to these village deities or Amma’s ( equivalent to Amman deities in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka), are quite a landmark by themselves. Mind you however those jatras or festivals are not meant for the faint hearted. Noisy, robust and boisterous, these jatras also see goats, chicken and even buffalos being slaughtered in hundreds and thousands. Many Hyderabadi’s visit these temples for anything from keeping a vow to asking for a wish. That reminds me, considering the love, an average Hyderabadi has for Uncle Sam, we have a Venkateswara temple in Chilukur , on the outskirts of Hyderabad, where the deity has a power it seems to grant visas.
So if you are desperately seeking that H1/B1/L1/F1 which would enhance your social status and maybe also your marital prospects, make a beeline to this temple. All you need to do is, do the 108 rounds around the temple and submit your wish. Due to some visa seekers being successful, the deity has been nicknamed as Visa Venkateswara. Well anyway the procession is over and I am now buzzing my way through the posh localities of Banjara and Jubilee Hills, where you find the rich and famous of Hyderabad staying. Movie actors, politicians, industrialists, businessmen, Page 3 socialities, you will find them all here. And if by misfortune your colleague happens to live here, be privy to some gossip about their private lives or perpetual bragging of his list of contacts among these big shots. At work, the talk invariably centers around the latest Holly/Tolly/Bollywood blockbuster or the latest Dan Brown bestseller.
If you happen to be a movie lover or bibiliophile or even both, then Hyderabad is a paradise for you. An average Hyderabadi is crazy about movies, and this is one place, where you can watch a good movie in a comfortable theater, without having to pay a fortune. If you are a Hollywood fan, there is Sangeet, Skyline, Sterling, if its apna Bollywood, you have Santosh, Sapna, Maheshwari, Parameshwari, Ramakrishna etc. And for all desi Tollywood fans, go to RTC X Roads, where you have around 20-30 theaters in a radius of 10 km, and you can find all the latest Tollywood blockbuster of your choice. Not only that Hyderabad, has a thriving film appreciation society, which arranges special screenings of golden oldies and classic movies. And yes after hearing about the latest Dan Brown bestseller, I hot foot it to one of my favorite spots to get a hold of it. Nah this is not one of those posh book shops nor the upmarket Landmark or Shoppers Stop. This is one of those umpteen pavement book shops which contain every type of book from Sidney Sheldon to Sherlock Holmes, from Alistair Maclean to AynRand. And you buy it without having to empty your pocket.
When I was a student, for me, the favorite haunt was the book bazaar at Koti’s. Engineering, Medicine, Management, Law, Science every course has the text books you are looking for. If you are not able to afford the cost, you can borrow the book here for a certain deposit of money, which gets refunded after you return the book. And yes, if you are having some old books, which you want to get rid of, you can sell it to these guys, but be careful, they are very smart negotiators. The city also has the famous City Central Library in Chikadapally, which has a vast variety of books on all topics. Apart from this you have the British Library at Tank Bund, but most of the books there are too British centric. If you are single, footloose and fancy a drink, you have some good pubs too like No 10 Downing Street, where you can indulge in a few pints of booze. And if you enjoy eating out, well Hyderabad caters to all palates, Deccani, Mughlai, South Indian, North India, Chinese, Continental etc.
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