Travel Blog

Me just back from Hyderabad, after a week long vacation. Feel so good and rejuvenated after such a long break. Not that I was too busy over here but it always feels good to get out of the grind.

I needed a change of location from a long time and when I got the opportunity to go to Hyderabad to my grandparent’s house I took it. It happened so quick that I didn’t get a chance to post it on my blog also. The main purpose of the visit was to deliver a package received from my aunt from states and install it over there so booked the bus tickets immediately and took off that evening itself. And I specially booked the tickets of a VOLVO cuz I never been in one before, And yeah they were mighty comfortable with all the leather cushioned seats and all.

I remember when I was small, we used to go my native place every summer. And I used to get so bored up that I hated it cuz there used to be no TV, no electricity, and no friends so I stopped going with my mom every year after my 10th.

My grandparents used to just pamper me like anything and even this time they were so happy to see their eldest grandson after about four years. And you know there is distinct smell and feel to every house. That feeling suddenly came back to me as soon as I entered the house. The sweet old smell of the lemon tree, the pickles, the sand dust and even the water has a distinct taste over there. Over there we mostly get bore water(natural water reservoir used by digging deep in the ground). And of course, the Hyderabadi Biryani.

So much has changed in this past few years, (here I go comparing it to Bombay again), the Public transportation has improved than before, but its pathetic compared to Bombay. At peak hours you should see people hanging on the busses, similar to how people hang on the local trains. And there is boom of Malls everywhere u can see. The one thing that starkly stands out is that there is a aggregation of everything, meaning, all the things of one type are neatly arranged through out the city. For an eg. If u want to go to a barber, there is a gully where there are only saloons and nothing else, and for electronic items there is Gujrati gully, for sanitary there is another lane, for vegetables and all there is yet another market. I found this really cool as well as strange.

The first two days I didn’t go anywhere out, just lazed around in the house. The third day was a Sunday and when I told my grandpa that m getting bored n I wanna read some books now, he said,”ur lucky today is Sunday, all the shops are closed and the entire Koti streets becomes one huge library”. So we went out in the morning n I was amazed at the rows n rows of book dwellers, much similar like Flora Fountain in Bombay. I bought two books, The Broker by John grisham and Angels and Demons by Dan Brown for 60 bucks each. Yeah that’s right 60 Rs, not second hand or anything. Now I feel I should have bought two or three more, lol.

The Next two days my grandpa took me out for a tour of the city, all the markets and all. There is one market in Hyderabad which looks like a fort or a Royal Palace, in which all the rooms have been converted into shops. There are around 200 shops in there, where u get everything, much like a pre historic shopping mall. Then my aunt took me to this mega exhibition that happens once in a year and there are dealers from all over the country. It was humongous, I cant describe in words the length and breadth of it. It is so huge that a mini train is there which circles around the whole ground, picking and dropping of passengers. There were a minimum of 100 shops of ladies cloths alone, then there were other apparels, electronics and the food court was so huge that it could give the new age malls a run for their money.

Man the entire trip was a walk down the memory lane, simple love south India, there is a different feel and taste to it. Uncles doing there chores in lungi’s folded up, the coffee, the women dressed completely with gajra’s, kajal n big bindi’s, the idli n dosa n coconut chatni, the hyderabadi hindi, the crazy yellow rickshaw drivers and the “deccan chronicle” a local daily which I fell in love with the unique style of the paper.

The most emotional point of my journey was when I was leaving, and we were going to book the return ticket and we just stepped down from the building and a black cat cut our path. My grandpa was petrified and he really got scared thinking something may happen to me in the journey and he said you can’t go tomorrow at any cost and he gave me a hug. My eyes were moist and I was fighting back the tears and I assured him that I will go the day after, only that calmed him down and we went for yet another tour of the city :).