Livinghigh
Tuesday, March 02, 2004
Livinghigh was here at 4:14 PM /



Hyderabad Blues - predictable title

I'm back from a weekend sojourn in Hyderabad-Secunderabad. I had a pretty good time, actually, and that's what I'm here to record. The authentic Hyd biryani with dripping sauce was mouthwateringly tummy-filling (linguistic license ), and even though I didn't go the whole nine yards and search for the (in)famous Softy Den, my tummy was quite satisfied. I guess it's all in the attitude.

Talking about attitude, Sec was flashy like hell - it reminded me so much of Mumbai in that way. And expensive too - at least as far as IMAX tickets are concerned. (We saw the Tom Hank-starrer Apollo 13, which robbed us of a neat 180 bucks! ) And there was the Old City which was such a complete contrast in attitude and style to Sec. Here there were crammed streets, milling people, bustling traffic, potholes, crowded roadside markets - or if you want to look at it from another perspective like Soumik did (one of my travelmates), the place had soul... what was that about eyes and beholders?

One of the highlights of the entire trip was sitting back in a quiet corner of the imposing Mecca Masjid (just adjacent to the all-too-famous Char Minar) and watching a group of boys playing football. Well, technically, there were two groups - one playing cricket, and the other football - each of which had divided the precincts of the Masjid neatly between themselves so that there existed no room at all for any no-man's land. Unless of course, the three of us 'world-weary travelers' constituted that middle path, walking slowly as we did through the territories, pausing to experiment on different angles and shots with the digicam. At the end, we settled down finally on the steps, and sat watching the football match. I think we stayed there for at least an hour - just drinking in the game, the towers of the Masjid, the oncoming dusk.

The only trouble is, now that I'm back, I'm thirsting for some of that manna that the Hyderabadi Corner on College Street doles out.


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