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Not home in Bangalore but in Hyd for the week. One of my baby cousins (well, once a baby, not anymore!) is getting married! So we got here a week ahead to increase the tempo of the festivities ;) Or so we like to think ;)

Somehow coming to Hyd is always special. The first day especially, the landing, the settling in with the kids etc, and then the surge of 21 years of memories. The familiar lanes, the familiar stations, the people, the language, the AP number plates, everything. It always makes me feel fresh as if I was just born and living the first 21 years of my life all over again. Places, faces, memories have so much power! You just need to be able to let it sink in and experience it, it is really incredible!

School friends and all

As if to prove this post wrong - a chance meeting with a couple of school friends happened just a few days later!

These gals and I met after 15 and 17 years each. It took probably a half an hour to warm up but once we got started, there was no looking back. We chatted on and on about current day events, back to school events, again back to present events and back to school gossip, kids, husbands, schools, etc etc seamlessly and it all came gushing back.

When I was in school, one of these girls was with me from LKG all the way till +2 in Francis'. I was very conscious of how my language changed between Telangana Telugu and proper Andhra speak at school and at home. And like magic, after I was talking to this girl for half an hour, I found myself talking in the same Telangana style Telugu. Some things do not change at all, do they?

We met again the next day at the second friend's place (I only discovered she also lives in Bangalore that weekend, thanks to the other friend) and it was very close to our home too! Again chatted away, met her son, talked about how all of us will be in Hyd soon, thought about catching up with the bigger gang and parted ways.

All thanks to Orkut/Facebook I must say - else I have no idea how I would have connected with all these gals!

Back!

From a whirlwind Hyderabad trip. For the first time, we left home with parents and aunt (mom's youngest sister) staying here and us traveling to Hyderabad. It was a new experience ;) My parents managed the house very well while we were out I think.

Trip was fun, just enough agenda packed in so as to fill the days well but not tire us out too much. It looked like the son was on the verge of a diarrhea spree before we left but luckily it was not very bad and we all came back safe and healthy.

We went by train and for the first time the son was able to catch some glimpses of life outside a train's window in the little daylight that was left. He enjoyed it I think. Also the first time after he is fully potty trained, so a new experience there as well.

Since my parents were here while we traveled and since my father in law is in the US, we stayed with my mother in law's sister. It was lovely. She kept cooking and feeding us. And their place is so much in the heart of things, that it is simply awesome. We were also visited by Subhash's uncle and his whole family thanks to his kids who were also visiting Hyd that weekend. And ohh, that paan!

We also caught up with friends - another long pending agenda item.

And most importantly, we met my sister's newborn! This was a long overdue trip made exclusively to meet the little brother. They have decided to name him Sohan, and the two cousins are namesakes but for one letter ;) Of course, in his usual style, the son did not pay much attention (he normally ignores kids younger than him) - he was rather amused to see such a small baby I think.

We also managed to find one half an hour in between to take a walk with the son on Tank Bund. And I also got to eat corn on the cob! How better can it get :)
 

The week that was

This past week was very eventful. My parents visited for a week along with my cousin from Hyderabad. Then, my father in law left Hyderabad and arrived in the US safe and sound.  So it was a bustling week.

Now it is back to an empty house with just the three of us..

One thing to check off as a highlight, at least from my vantage point, was that I was finally able to cut my mom a break in 30 odd years from doing any housework. Although I could not completely keep her out of the kitchen (which resulted in my favourite akki roti and heerekai tovve being made, so I am not complaining), I still managed to cook and go about pretty much the usual routine like when no one is around. She did complain about getting bored, but I think she richly deserves a break after so many years of working so hard - she still doesn't keep any household help to-date and does all chores herself. I hope she went back happy :) She inspires me as a person - so much enterprise in one human being - if I am 1/10th as bold and enterprising as her, I think I can do a lot of things ;)

My cousin was very visibly perturbed about leaving. She was feeling awfully sorry to go - and it was flattering in some sense - but I did feel sorry for her. She is at a stage in life when every decision is painful since you do not know the long-term consequences of it. And every choice seems right and wrong at the same time. I hope she finds happiness in whatever she does, she really is a very sweet girl.

It is always nice when people come a-visiting and say they do not want to go back, makes you feel like you have created a home where not just you but other people also want to live in :)

My father-in-law is slowly getting adjusted to a new life in the US. Tomorrow is my mother-in-law's monthly ceremony and it will be the first one without him and Subhash and I are a tad bit nervous about shopping etc - he used to shop for the vegetables and everything else needed for that day when he was here. Hopefully it goes well without a hitch!

Of affiliations and keeping them that way

Not sure how everyone's sentiments go on this but I went to a campus college of engineering. Which was a big deal back then. So we said "we went to JNTU" and now I notice almost everyone says "we went to JNTU". Only when you probe deeper, you figure that they actually went to some XYZABC private college almost outside of Hyderabad. If you put it that way in resumes, it is OK, I think everyone needs a little fib to push themselves up in life, but I did catch some people saying something along "we used to do this when we were in JNTU" and I went "What, you went to JNTU? Which batch? What a small world, how odd that I missed seeing you on campus ever" And then they'd go "Ohh no, we actually went to XYZABC, but it is too long (and maybe too embarassing) to pronounce, so we just say JNTU".

I completely "opposite of heart" this.

Exams Done!

It is that time of year again. Heat beats down on you. Children start having morning schools and eventually summer vacation.

Our colony kids are finishing exams one after the other. One of the last ones gets done tomorrow. Every time I see kids wishing each other Happy Holidays, my heart does a jig! I am truly happy for them. Summer vacation is the best time of year! And when it is June and they slowly start to go to school one after the other I feel really sorry that summer is over.

It all starts with morning schools. Damn the heat in which you have to get home. All I can remember is that the school days were short. You go at 8, come back by 12. Every day is a half day for a full two weeks at least. Can anything get better than that? Yes. The raw mangoes sold on the bandi outside school. I used to love those days when  could buy a raw mango with salt and chilli powder mix sprinkled in it and eat it in the school bus after spending just four hours in school. Of course, no lunch box, you get home and eat. I used to listen to my favourite songs of the time and day and finish homework soon and it would still be only 3 :D Time for Swabhimaan during some of my adolescent years. Of course it all meant only one thing, that exams were just around the corner, but who cares about those.

Unluckily for me, I was born in April and somehow or the other, it would always be Maths exam on that day and inadvertently I'd do bad and get scolded by my Dad. Then mom would say since it is my birthday he shouldn't scold me. So after a couple years, I figured it was best if I had Maths on my birthday. Of course this also meant I never got to distribute chocolates and enjoy wearing a civil dress for one whole school day. Ever in my life.

Summer vacation. What can I say? Mangoes, Heat, Rasna, Ice and water. Heat, ability to sleep on the bare floor with no need for anything like sheets and rugs. Turn on the cooler. Sleep right in front of it on the floor in the afternoons after just hogging on a couple of rasalu mangoes. Shower at 11 AM or even later if the fancy caught, with cold water!

We also used to stay over at grand mom's place or aunt's place. My aunt used to live in LIC quarters and we used to religiously go up, me, my sis and my cousins, to the terrace, pour a bucket of water on designated sleeping spot, come down and have dinner (which would invariably be mixed and served in morsels direct to the mouth :D), and go back up with bedding, by this time, the hot terrace would have cooled down because of the water and be all set for us to lie down. Talk till we fell asleep looking at the sky.

Pure bliss!

Meru cabs vs EZ Cabs

I must say I was always an EZCabs person. Their cars were good. Their number easier (43434343) and in general whenever I call the response was always prompt.

Meru on the other hand would place me on hold forever. Number was a little too easy to confuse. (44224422)

But in the past 15 days I've done a U-turn. EZCabs ditched me 3 times in a row and they give up on you in the last minute. Half an hour before your booked time, they call and say that they cannot send a cab and no one takes a reservation within half an hour.

So I shifted gears to Meru and they haven't disappointed. Their call centre has improved by leaps and bounds and service is prompt. Another useful thing is that all their cabs to the airport are now hatchback. Although I dislike hatchbacks normally, they are good to carry luggage especially when traveling with an infant (his pram etc)

So all in all, EZCabs is surely on the decline and Meru is ruling the roost, both in Hyd and Blr from the looks of it.

The brand new airport

I saw it. That brand new Hyderabad airport. As we drove closer and closer, I realized I was actually excited to see what its like on the inside.

The first thing that strikes you as you exit the road and drive towards the airport is that there is no sight of it ;) You have to drive a good 6 KMS after taking the exit to reach the airport. So much to the inside. Hmm..things look good already.

I had to collect my new ticket (as I had postponed my trip back to Bangalore twice) from the Air India counter. Everything was shiny new. Of course it will wear. And I pray hard that they maintain this place well. I would hate to see it covered with pan stains a year from now. I say, they should execute whoever spits on this building, it was really that shiny.

Surprisingly no lines anywhere. Even Air India/Indian Airlines counters were well staffed and quite efficient. I went to this glass paneled counter, and noticed there was no opening for me to speak to the person on the other side. I was wondering how she would hear me, and then I saw it. A neat black round thing which sat quietly outside the glass and said "microphone" on it. I was impressed. I don't think I've seen such counters in any government run facility earlier.

I took my ticket and went in. The carts for the luggage were also brand new and I really had to hold the handle down to prevent it from braking ;) I went to the check-in counters and was generally looking around trying to take the sights in. Hmm..every counter equipped with an LCD monitor, attendants checking people in, airline staff giving directions. Seemed pretty normal. So what is the big deal. Why did they make such a noise about this airport? WAIT...this is not Singapore. This is not Kuala Lumpur. This is Hyderabad!!!!!! This is not NORMAL for Hyderabad. Yes, then I remembered that old Begumpet airport. Although it was one of the better Indian airports I have seen, it was a FAR CRY from what was in front of me. It was as if someone transported one of those world famous airports right into the city. When you have consistently seen good, great, amazing airports for over 5 years, you begin to undervalue it when you see an equally good one. So yes, this airport was amazing that way.

Added to the splendor of the airport itself, there is the Indian convenience. As soon as I got off the cab, someone came by asking if I had any luggage and needed any help. I saw a lot of people, some coming, some going, and in general everyone making noise. Every thing was written in English, followed by Hindi, followed by Telugu. Now I'd give a hand and tooth any day to see those two languages at a world-class airport :D

I went in to clear security after check-in and guess what, I was directed to the "last counter", I was wondering what it was all about. Yeah, if you already guessed, full points to your spontaneity. Of course, it was the "ladies" security post. Just for us gals ladies! Imagine that. Of course I never beep through the detector at any airport and I have been through quite a few over Europe, South East Asia and the US. But, I beeped at the Hyderabad airport. Better security detectors? Any one's guess. The lady checked me and sent me off on my way. Wow!

Then I went to the gate. I was a full two hours ahead of time so was looking forward to getting bored. The lounges are world-class too. I mean the ones at the gate. Very spacious, very well lit. 15 ft between any row's last chair and the nearest wall/glass/partition. Yeah, that spacious. I sat down for a bit, called a lot of people, then reverted back to watching the airport and the buzz.

I decided to grab something to eat. Just for the heck of "eating at the airport", before I left for the airport, I had curd rice you see;) So I went to the nearest "Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf". Yeah, there is more US in India than I would like to see :( I don't want to see the US here at all. I wanted to go away from it. Why don't we open our own brands and not just have Subways and other things like that! Well, I guess US is still the rage here. Or maybe its just the Subways and the KFCs getting really entrepreneurial and tapping the potential of the Indian food space. Whatever it is, I don't particularly like it.

I ordered a Veggie Pie (yeah, the brands are American but the food they sell is totally desi, if you eat a Veggie Delite from an Indian SUBWAY, you will know exactly what I mean;) Its way superior to the Veggie Delite you get in the US). The Veggie Pie costs INR 120!! Man, I don't think I will ever eat at the airport again. What it costs virtually gave me a stomach ache;)

I checked out the shops and the HUGE screen showing Indian ads and cricket news and a bunch of other potpourri. Cool! Then while I was coming back to the gate I realized that the glass between the lounge and the inside of the gates actually had things etched in it. Like a picture of Birla Mandir which said "Birla Mandir | Hyderabad", a picture of Vidhan Soudha which said "Vidhan Soudha | Bangalore", other ones like "Hussain Sagar | Hyderabad", "High Court | Bangalore" etc. But the best I saw was some letters etched in the glass which said "Tamil Script". This is something I haven't seen in any airports. Of course, they do have some shady pictures of the famous symbols in that city/country etc. But etched into glass with such precision, well, as far as I remember, I haven't seen it anywhere. Hurray!!

I was so engrossed in observing everything and just lazing around that I didn't realize the time till Subhash called and said it was 9.30. And my flight was at 9.40!! And the gate I was sitting at still showed the earlier flight and which still said delayed. I hurried out of my slumbered-daze and went to the nearest LCD monitor to check my gate. I heard an announcement for our flight just then and waited to confirm that this was the right gate and hurried down to that gate. Got into an Indian Airlines bus, got off at the plane and got into it. I was reading the AI magazine, I think it was called "Namaskar" and an article in it about our seasons, I found fascinating. Greeshma, Varsha, Sharad, Hemant, Shishir and Vasant all our seasons and festivals, fruits and activities associated with each of these seasons. The pictures were bright and colourful :) The air hostesses brought out Veggie brunches and man, was it amazing. Sandwiches, Veggie Spring Rolls, something that resembled a cutlet and a Veggie filled bun. Pineapple juice and water to go with it. Did I ever mention in my blog how I fly Air India where and when I can? I simple love their food. I hear a lot of grumpy people complain about it but excepting old aircraft and hostesses (both of which I don't particularly care about), I haven't had problems with their in-flight amenities. Always good food, timely luggage delivery and on-time flights. I am not so sure I care about the rest;) Personal TV screens they do have on some of their Boeing fleet, but hey, I sleep for as much time as I can on the flight so what do I care about that. In fact 80% of the time, I've flown Air India, and when I haven't, unless its Singapore airlines, I have almost ALWAYS had a problem with misplaced luggage.

I got off at Bangalore, took a pre-paid Karnataka Government taxi and went straight to Cisco. Feeling content and happy to be back home, to be back in India. To be surrounded by its sights and sounds and smells wherever I go. Not wanting to leave it again anytime soon:)

A shiny new city

For those of you Hyderabadis, "old city" is a very familiar term. But today I witnessed the "new city" side to Hyderabad for the first time.

My dad was feeling much better and they said he could go home yesterday so I booked myself on a flight this morning. But unfortunately, they didn't let him go home last evening. I really wanted to come back only after my Dad was safe at home:( D proposes, hospital rejects. Damn! But my mom is around so I was a little less worried in coming back.

I called the cab at 6 AM although the flight was at 9.40 AM just to be safe. In case the cabbie is late etc. He arrived promptly at 5.45 AM. And I was the one that was late according to him now;) Left around 6.40 AM as per the plan and turned that left at JNTU.

This place has transformed. Completely. No, and I am not talking about JNTU, that the university transformed, I bore witness to in 2004 itself. I am talking about that back-road by the side of JNTU. Its now the new "path" to Hi-Tech city and the sole reason why Kukatpally's real estate has gone through the roof.

I saw them. Those hitherto unseen apartment multiplexes. People jogging. Newspaper boys delivering. Milk vans coming and going. Life. There is life in parts of Hyderabad now, that were not even Hyderabad once (BHEL guys used to actually say they were "going to the city" when they went to Kothi, to think that BHEL is well within the city limits now is simply unbelievable).

The traffic was a dream and so was the road. I keep telling people, if anything, in the last 7 years, Hyd's roads have improved overall. Of course there are bad roads, there are good roads, there are worse roads and there are just potholes disguising themselves as roads. But I am talking overall picture here. Its improved. Definitely. Way better.

It took me 50 mins to reach the airport and I was almost 2 hours ahead of time :( We took Kukatpally-JNTU-Hitec-City-Gachi Bowli-Mehdipatnam-NH7 to the airport. 40 KMs. 50 mins. I say, not bad at all. The infrastructure is at least good enough to allow faster vehicles to go faster. Of course the perils when there is traffic is a different story altogether but purely from an infrastructure point of view, this city has developed leaps and bounds and I am proud of it.

When you discover a new city, you don't expect anything ahead of time from it. You haven't seen it before, everything is new and there is something to learn in every corner. But when you have to re-discover your home, your city, it often comes with awe, wonder, surprise, shock and definitely a tinge of sadness. After all, change is hard to digest. And you have to first unlearn before you learn. You have to first let go before you embrace. Will I be able to do that with Hyderabad? Maybe yes, maybe no. But I love that city too much to give up without trying :) And thankfully, at least the areas of the city I associated with haven''t changed dramatically, I've seen the most dramatic changes happen in front of my eyes, the fly-overs. Excepting that, not that much has changed.

And that makes it easier to adapt back to it :)

Hyderabad and the babus

I refrained from writing anything about the bomb blasts in Hyderabad a couple weeks back. I didn't think I would do it any justice. It was a terrible thing for us looking at our city being ripped like that. I hope whoever did it burns in hell.

Today was a fly-over collapse. Almost the same number of people dead. And this fly-over is not even built yet! Some of the gang were over at our place and we were discussing it. One of them was wondering how a yet-to-be-built bridge can collapse. The answer to me, is simple. A thing like that is a very obvious manifestation of corruption. I try not to get too political on my blog, but I will make this one exception. This was a terrible completely avoidable mishap. If only people acted a little more responsibly. But I guess money is heady and people are ready to do or forsake anything for it. Reminds me of a Telugu movie called Tagore, where they show how the lead actor turns against corruption because his family is killed when his apartment building collapses.

I hope this is the worst my city will ever see..

Ann's and the great tragedy..

I spent a good chunk of my life in Ann's. 12 years, from 1983 to 1995. St. Ann's Girls High School on SD Road in Secunderabad. That was the place to be:)

Last year MCH (Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad) said that the school buildings on SD Road were causing a lot of traffic problems (Yeah right! Like this was the only thing that was causing that:( ) and that they were going to demolish the buildings and give us some land outside the city (Yuck!). And the only buildings they were going to ditch were SSC ones:(( Waaaaaaaaaa!! (Ann's has both state and ICSE syllabus instructions in the same campus) We spent all our major time from V std to X std in this part of school:(

So anyway, Vandana and I decided to catch up on school before they fell it completely and gather whatever was left of memories. Thanks to Orkut, I was wired to Kavitha too and so our plan was made. For the evening of 3 July. We met up in school camera in hand. My sis accompanied me, she was three years my junior in Ann's and so did my cousin, who just joined Ann's the year that I graduated, in 1995. (Its been two years since she left school too, time just flies! tch..tch..tch..)

We met at 5 pm, so there were just a couple students waiting for someone to pick them up (I guessed) and Miss Mable. She is still there and still the same. She said something about digging up the field (we used to call our playground, the "field".) Vandana and Kavitha had not yet arrived so me and my sisters walked towards the field. Only to see this:(

Where is that magnificent sports field? :((










So now the SSC and ICSE buildings will sit bang next to each other. Wonder where they will hold the assembly now.