Its 3:00 am and you can still hear the thunder of fireworks in Hyderabad. Its Diwali. Lately I have quite fallen for this city. More than two years now, it has become just like a second home for me or third or fourth, well that's another story. But yes lately I have started feeling that it will be difficult for me to leave Hyderabad. What has become home for me now was an alien land for me about two years back. The roads and places have become so obvious as the count of fingers in my hand.
Like any other Indian Metropolis one can see the footprints of development all over the city, though in a very Indianly manner. You can see the long running fly-overs through the city surrounded by the advertisements, of gated communities, apartments, villas and so on, providing everything on earth that one wants to see in and around their homes; of restaurants that promise you the tastes of heaven and hell; of jewellers that swear by the authenticity of pearl and purity of gold; of shopping malls that are eager to offer a discount of 70% + 30%!; of the rock-nirvana-moksha-salvation-and-what-not band that will be performing on weekend at the nearest Night Club; of springboards that overseas education consultant would give for your career; of the school that would carve a leader out of your child; of latest Telugu Blockbuster that recently completed 100 days in theaters.
But the city has its own flavor, different from any other big Indian city. The unique local urdu dialect is one thing that can identify a Hyderabadi. I still remember the cab driver trying to woo me to check in into a hotel of his choice on my first day in Hyderabad saying ,'baki hotelaan to bhar ge saab'. The literacy rate is better. If Telugu, which I still dont understand much is the first language of this city, you can conveniently take English for the second language. City boasts of some of the very good colleges, universities and independent institutes that include Indian School of Business, Hyderabad University, Osmania University, Jawaharlal Nehru Technical University, IFLU, ICFAI and many more.
If history sings odes to the hospitality of Nizams so do the Tajs - Banjara and Krishna, Novotel, Mariott, ITC Kakatiya, Novotel, Ista and others of contemporary Hyderabad. Culinary delights and the famous tastes are well preserved to savour upon in the present day kitchens of Hyderabad House, Paradise, Bawarchi and their likes where you can get some of the best Haleems and Biryanis of the world. I wrote Biryani after Haleem because I am quite a conneissur when it comes to food, though self proclaimed, but those of you who have had a chance to have Biryani at Old Delhi or Nai Ki Mandi in Agra or Karnail Ganj in Kanpur would agree with me. If you are a foodaholic and like trying new places there is no stopping in the twin city starting from Haridwar at Sindhi Colony, Sree Dhaba at Paradise Circle, Tandoor, Haveli, Bombay Vihar all three at Life Style; Ohri Jeeva at Somajiguda; Sahib Singh Sultan at City Center Mall;Angeethi(I loved the New Year Buffet there), Punjabi by Nature, Zafraan Exotica(Roof-Top) in Banjara. At this point I think I will write a separate post about food joints in Hyderabad, so lets leave it here for food. Difficult for me yet necessity.
Hyderabad has numerous tourist attractions, of which Husain Sagar Lake has gained much importance personally for me serving as place to reflect, rejuvinate and relax. Small parks on its periphery are nice place to spend quality time in solitude, though you will find that Hyderabadis are addicted to outings, specially the couples, but who says that solitude cant be enjoyed in the crowd. I love sitting there alone. The other place that I like in Hyderabad are some of the dargahs in old city like Dar'ul-shifa,Badi Bargah and also the Maula Ali atop a hill near Secunderabad. I have developed a bond with them.
Markets in Hyderabad are no different than any other metropolitan city. Crowded and Busy. If you need books go to Kothi. If you need pearls go to old city. Looking for IT coachings, go to Ameerpet. Need some apparels just walk into any one of the numerous malls. Just like any other Indian city.
Festivals have their own charm. The mosaic like cultural fabric of Hyderabad has its own way of celebrating festivals. Ganesh Chaturthi and Visarjan(Immersion of Idols of Lord Ganesha in water) is something which we dont see much in North India, the city celebrates it with elegance. Visarjan takes place in the Husain Sagar Lake . Birla Temple stands on a hill overlooking the Lake from a distance. Dussehra does not have much of Ram Leela and burning effigies of Ravan and his henchmen as in North India, but is mostly observed with the quite Durga Puja. Diwali is observed with fireworks thorughout the day and night. Ramazan is marked by the numerous Haleem joints that open up from iftar till saher for complete month of fasting. Moharram is observed with grief and sorrow. The traditional Bibi-Ka-Alam procession on a caparisoned elephant to mourn the martyrdom of Imam Hussain, grandson of the Prophet, in the battle of Karbala during 7th century AD is carried out from Alawa-e-Bibi situated at Dabeer pura, a place near Charminar on the tenth day of Moharram.
Work takes one to unseen lands and if you are in IT industry you are in for a change now and then, but I am sure that there would be a very lesser number places where you will feel home away from home. That's what Hyderabad is, Home away from Home.
Ammar Husain Zaidi
Like any other Indian Metropolis one can see the footprints of development all over the city, though in a very Indianly manner. You can see the long running fly-overs through the city surrounded by the advertisements, of gated communities, apartments, villas and so on, providing everything on earth that one wants to see in and around their homes; of restaurants that promise you the tastes of heaven and hell; of jewellers that swear by the authenticity of pearl and purity of gold; of shopping malls that are eager to offer a discount of 70% + 30%!; of the rock-nirvana-moksha-salvation-and-what-not band that will be performing on weekend at the nearest Night Club; of springboards that overseas education consultant would give for your career; of the school that would carve a leader out of your child; of latest Telugu Blockbuster that recently completed 100 days in theaters.
But the city has its own flavor, different from any other big Indian city. The unique local urdu dialect is one thing that can identify a Hyderabadi. I still remember the cab driver trying to woo me to check in into a hotel of his choice on my first day in Hyderabad saying ,'baki hotelaan to bhar ge saab'. The literacy rate is better. If Telugu, which I still dont understand much is the first language of this city, you can conveniently take English for the second language. City boasts of some of the very good colleges, universities and independent institutes that include Indian School of Business, Hyderabad University, Osmania University, Jawaharlal Nehru Technical University, IFLU, ICFAI and many more.
If history sings odes to the hospitality of Nizams so do the Tajs - Banjara and Krishna, Novotel, Mariott, ITC Kakatiya, Novotel, Ista and others of contemporary Hyderabad. Culinary delights and the famous tastes are well preserved to savour upon in the present day kitchens of Hyderabad House, Paradise, Bawarchi and their likes where you can get some of the best Haleems and Biryanis of the world. I wrote Biryani after Haleem because I am quite a conneissur when it comes to food, though self proclaimed, but those of you who have had a chance to have Biryani at Old Delhi or Nai Ki Mandi in Agra or Karnail Ganj in Kanpur would agree with me. If you are a foodaholic and like trying new places there is no stopping in the twin city starting from Haridwar at Sindhi Colony, Sree Dhaba at Paradise Circle, Tandoor, Haveli, Bombay Vihar all three at Life Style; Ohri Jeeva at Somajiguda; Sahib Singh Sultan at City Center Mall;Angeethi(I loved the New Year Buffet there), Punjabi by Nature, Zafraan Exotica(Roof-Top) in Banjara. At this point I think I will write a separate post about food joints in Hyderabad, so lets leave it here for food. Difficult for me yet necessity.
Hyderabad has numerous tourist attractions, of which Husain Sagar Lake has gained much importance personally for me serving as place to reflect, rejuvinate and relax. Small parks on its periphery are nice place to spend quality time in solitude, though you will find that Hyderabadis are addicted to outings, specially the couples, but who says that solitude cant be enjoyed in the crowd. I love sitting there alone. The other place that I like in Hyderabad are some of the dargahs in old city like Dar'ul-shifa,Badi Bargah and also the Maula Ali atop a hill near Secunderabad. I have developed a bond with them.
Markets in Hyderabad are no different than any other metropolitan city. Crowded and Busy. If you need books go to Kothi. If you need pearls go to old city. Looking for IT coachings, go to Ameerpet. Need some apparels just walk into any one of the numerous malls. Just like any other Indian city.
Festivals have their own charm. The mosaic like cultural fabric of Hyderabad has its own way of celebrating festivals. Ganesh Chaturthi and Visarjan(Immersion of Idols of Lord Ganesha in water) is something which we dont see much in North India, the city celebrates it with elegance. Visarjan takes place in the Husain Sagar Lake . Birla Temple stands on a hill overlooking the Lake from a distance. Dussehra does not have much of Ram Leela and burning effigies of Ravan and his henchmen as in North India, but is mostly observed with the quite Durga Puja. Diwali is observed with fireworks thorughout the day and night. Ramazan is marked by the numerous Haleem joints that open up from iftar till saher for complete month of fasting. Moharram is observed with grief and sorrow. The traditional Bibi-Ka-Alam procession on a caparisoned elephant to mourn the martyrdom of Imam Hussain, grandson of the Prophet, in the battle of Karbala during 7th century AD is carried out from Alawa-e-Bibi situated at Dabeer pura, a place near Charminar on the tenth day of Moharram.
Work takes one to unseen lands and if you are in IT industry you are in for a change now and then, but I am sure that there would be a very lesser number places where you will feel home away from home. That's what Hyderabad is, Home away from Home.
Ammar Husain Zaidi
