Cheppandis (pronounce andis not undies) or Curd Rice: These words have been used as synonyms of Hyderabadis. I moved to Hyderabad to get an additional salary of Rs 5000, in hand. I took a Volvo from Pune on 7th Nov 2005, evening 7:25 and by next evening 7:25, I was tired of Hyderabad. From that day till today it’s been 5 yrs 2 months.
All these years I’ve been cribbing about this place but couldn’t go out of it. This was the first impression that I had, but there are definitely other good things about this place...Hyderabad…read it to know it. Keep this in mind while you read, Good and bad are two subjective words. This 5 page criticism (dictionary meaning of criticism includes both positive appraisal and negative comments) is a result of two months notice period that I had to serve in my last job, in which I had nothing to do but to recollect the days I have spent in this place.
People: If I consider all South Indian states, Hyderabad is probably the most secular state (Chennai being the most racist). The credit does not go to the people following Telegu as their main language; this place is secular because of the Urdu speaking population (The Muslims). Everyone gets along with any new culture creeping in this City.
Actually it does not have a culture of its own, borrowing good things from lovely places like Vizag, Rajamundry etc and mixing it with westernization from North (also influenced by bunch of US / UK / Dubai return Cheppandis. Its just like the Bongs, who in early 70s used to go abroad and once they were back they used to modify their sir name to show that are ‘Phoreign’ return, Satyajit Ray instead of Satyajit Roy). You will find lot of Cheppandis who have heavy US / UK accent but would not have travelled beyond Guntur district (I know the sentence is a bad conversion of a Bengali phrase). There has been lot of changes in their behavior and approach towards a ‘Non-South Indian’ over last 5 years. Late 2005: People used to be helpful (although just like any other place there were a cluster of people who used to hate people from other states) and the City used to have a character of its own. No thugs, cheats and greedy people.
Now 2010: You can smell greed and cheats flowing throughout the City, much more than the ‘Manjeera’ water available to the public in general. Madhapur and Kukatpally is the hub of these people (I will have to write another full page review on why I consider people from these two areas the worst.....shall write only if you insist). It’s no less than Delhi, where you need to bother every second that you might be cheated. Hatred towards people from other states is on the rise. The reason being most of the good jobs (positions) in multinationals and Indian bigies are held by non Cheppandis. People from Delhi are the most targeted as they come with good communication skills and less cost (Typically Cheppandis have a problem with their communication, not English but overall communication, also salary in Hyderabad is 15-20% more compared to Delhi, hence you find a lot of Delhi crowd). ‘panch minute mein ata’, (I will be there in 5 mins)…..’Lite tisko’ (Light le lo or take it easy). Take my words he/she won’t turn up in another hour. They are the most laid back people I’ve ever come across. They would never commit on their word. I used to carry a perception that no one can beat Kolkata in terms of laid back people, but Cheppandis proved me wrong. I always used to be very punctual before I came to Hyderabad. Now I’m exactly the opposite. Thanks to Hyderabad. You cannot maintain punctuality while the rest of Hyderabad is running at its own pace.
Girls: An awesome dusky Andhra chick in my Office cafeteria (close to Nandita Das looks, only guys would appreciate what I mean) approached another girl and as soon as she uttered the first word…I was blank. “Kaisa batan karte ji, tumhareko Khalid bai (‘bhai’ refer language section) se pyar ho gaya” in a shrill ‘rassam type’ sound. I don’t need to elaborate anything I guess. Married women are quite dominating. Their husbands would take approval from them, before they rent out a place, decide on a job change and may even approve when the husband can pee.
Language: Their syllable is so odd. Listen to a Telegu song and you would realize. As if the words have been forced into the tune...no rhyme in any form. Where they run out of words, Hindi words help them to complete the song. Some of the lyrics for your entertainment: “hu tu tu hu tu tu hu tu tu, to rut to rut to rut tut tto ttoooo”, “Ho excuse me Mrs Subhalakshmi, you activities are top lakshmi, hot aah, cold aah..da da dada da da” I can go on and on and on…… Apudo: Aaj (today), Epudo: Kal (tomorrow), Opudo: Future….na na nanna ne…….CONTINUED IN THE COMMENTS SECTION