Hyderabad Chronicles - Part 1

Six long years. The city that I entered as a nervous 21 year old. The city that has changed me from a nervous young student to a confident working woman. The city that has seen me in all my shades - sometimes haggling with a earring store keeper to reduce the price of a Rs 10/- earing to Rs 8/-, to sometimes splurging hundred times of that amount on a single set of earrings, - sometimes being so miserly to share the soup to 1/4th portion each and waiting for a month to indulge in the biriyani and sometimes eating at the best of the restaurants while spending out more that I could ever imagine for a single meal. Hyderabad has seen it all. 


So, it was a tough call when we decided to move out of Hyderabad. Yes, we did have strong reasons and we hope that the new move is a good one. I have very few days left in Hyderabad, the feeling is of immense gratitude - for taking care of me for 6 long years, for giving me my first job, for being the silent witness when I met S, for making me independent and for what not!


Yes, the summer is terrible, especially when you make the mistake that we did - taking the apartment on the top floor. There were power cuts - terrible ones, often 4 hours in a day. It was and still is to step out during the summer unless you are prepared for the sunstroke. Apart from these summer months, the rest of the year is pretty nice. 


Unknowingly, you fall in love with the Hyderabadi Hindi or the 'Dakhani' dialect. First, I thought it was indeed very cute and I would laugh when I hear someone saying 'Kya hona' for 'What do you want' or 'hallu chalo' for 'walk slowly'. Later, I found myself speaking in bits and pieces of this dialect especially with the autowalahs, the maid and the watchman. Of course, there is a particular indescribable charm in Hyderabadi hindi.


This is one city where I have seen equal enthusiasm in celebrating Eid as well as Ganesh Utsav. People, regardless of the religions throng the haleem outlets which spread across the city to savor the Ramzan delicacy and also dance to the tunes of the dhol during the Ganesh immersion. Yes, there have been riots, and communal clashes in the past, but after living there for so long, I could not escape but notice the underlying religious harmony. 


This is a city of extremes, on one hand you have very strong student movements like the movement in Osmania university for Telengana, on the other hand, you have a totally oblivious student category for which nothing else matters other than IIT or an MS admission in the US. On one hand, there is the flurry of activity in the streets of Charminar where the bling of the choodi baazar stand out, where as on the other, there are outlets like M&S, UCB and Promod which cater to a different segment of the population. I could just go on and on. 


Its tough to say bye when you fall in love with a city! Here is a snapshot of one of my favorite places in Hyderabad - Shilparamam (where I first discovered what bargaining is).