Hello People, It gives me an
immense pleasure in welcoming you all to my first post of 2015.
A New Year and a new
beginning, and I wish all my readers’ very happy and prosperous new years
ahead. Maturity is when we understand that a New Year has got nothing to do
with the change of fortunes but the attitude with which we approach the newer
years and I am not an exception; I fall among the many others who
superstitiously believe every New Year shall bring in the much needed change of
fortunes way better than the previous years.
I always wanted to visit the city
of Hyderabad, not because of its historical importance, not just because my
history teacher or the history books had a lot of story to tell about it, not
because it is a metropolitan city, not because it is the fourth most populous
city in India, not because Hyderabad is the sixth
most populous urban agglomeration in India, not because my
favorite commentator whom I try to emulate or follow the most Mr. Harsha Bhogle
was born there and not because it’s the place that gave us the Cricketing
legend Very Very Special (VVS) Laxman. The above reasons and the statistics
apart, I wanted to visit to the city only because I have some awesome friends
who hail from the “Hyder’s Abode”/Hyderabad.
23rd January,
2015 (Friday):
After a not so great lunch at the
destination, I was in a hurry and utmost excitement to leave the office just
like how a school going kid would be longing for the last period bell to ring,
like how the Indian tail Enders and Shikhar Dhawan will be in a hurry to get
back to the pavilion in no time. I was eagerly waiting for the clock to tick 4
so as to move out of office and start to Hyderabad. Thanks to my friend Shubham
Bhardwaj who took care of my pending and impending works for the whole weekend.
At least I would say I was freaking excited if not for Kavita, Uday, Praneeth
or Roshini because it was my first ever trip to Hyderabad.
Uday reached the office bang on
time, sharp at 4 to pick us up and was waiting for us at the upper basement
with a brand new Maruti Suzuki Wagon-R. It didn’t take much of time for
Praneeth and I to reach the basement followed by Roshini from her office nearby
and at last Kavita came who was held up for a while.
With the big bazaar signal giving
us a green signal and with the seat belts on, the 5 of us (Kavita, Roshini,
Praneeth, Uday and I)left the office campus say at 4.45 in the evening. The
sound system’s first song was “Chinni Chinni Aasalu” from the blockbuster movie
Manam which Roshini felt was the talisman or the lucky charm for any successful
long trip. Within some few minutes of the travel we had to cross the Kadugodi
ground where in we played some good amount of Cricket together and then the
Delhi Mahal which was almost the favorite Friday lunch destination for all the
friends of mine (Priya, Sunil, Paul and Vineeth are not to be spared here), it
evoked a tinge of nostalgia in me for all the good times we, as a team and
friends spent together.
A journey of “n”
number of miles begins with the first toll plaza in India, and there came in
the first toll plaza of the trip, it was just the beginning for the “n” number
of toll gates that had to follow. There was no looking back for the
next one hour until we spotted a tender coconut vendor. Probably it was one of the
tasteless tender coconut we would have ever imagined to have. We resumed the
journey with some Tamil numbers on the sound system this time. After Roshini’s
call, there came in the Magic of the Mozart of Madras to sweep us off our feet,
“Ennodu Nee Irundhal” from the Shankar’s magnum opus “I”. Trust me when I
say this, AR Rahman had Indeed ripped it off from the God’s own IPOD, such a
divine and a soul stirring composition. Probably the music system would have
lost the count of the number of times “Ennodu Nee Irundhal” was played.
I am eternally
grateful to Music, as it has always been there for me whenever I felt low or
lonely.
Drenched in some divine music it
took a while for us for the next tea and snack break. There was no looking back
then, Uday mutated himself into a F1 Racer there was no slow down or
deceleration. 120 kmph was the average speed; we were covering a good 80-90 kms
an hour easily. The much needed next tea break was at Anantapur. With Hyderabad
nearly around 180 kms, we halted for the supper at a Dhaba.
The most beautiful
and important things in life are the easiest to obtain: Great friends and Good
food. Some great friends were already there along with me, it was time to
get some good food and the food over there was indeed sumptuous.
“Music is to the
Soul as food is to the body”.
With some heavy dinner and a light
heart we started marching towards Hyderabad. Shiva Reddy and Sunil were
fervently waiting for us to arrive more than anybody, it was evident from the
way they kept calling us every now and then as to ask where we had reached thus
far. The girls in the car were fast asleep.
 |
| Selfie is the Order of these days |
24th January, 2015
(Saturday):
It was around 12 am when we reached
Jadcherla, and found that the car ran out of fuel. After having filled the
petrol, we reached the outskirts of the Hyderabad in no time. One hour later,
Hyderabad it was, the beautiful 11 kms long flyover from the outer ring road
was a testament to that lovely metropolitan city. Friends around me started
show casing their immense patriotism for their home soil, they were explaining
about the buildings and areas from there on. The Fish like construction was
indeed eye catchy. 11 kms in fewer than 7 minutes, as we came to the end of the
Flyover, the five happy faces inside the car beamed with joy looking at 3 more
happy faces that were waiting for us at around 2 am.
“I’ve learned that
waiting is the most difficult bit in our lives, but not when you wait for your
friends to come”
Sunil, Rohit and Shiva were damn
too happy to have been waiting for us; it was evident from their innocent
smiles that welcomed us to the city. Thanks to Uday for we all had a comfy
drive more than what an Airavat could have given us. We boarded a fancy numbered
Innova of Shiva Reddy; Rohit’s place at Miyapur was the first destination.
After having dropped Roshini and Kavita at Roshini’s place, Uday and Sunil were
back in no time to the bountiful Janapriya Apartments where Rohit stayed all
alone. Rohit’s apartment was more like a labyrinth maze. Uday and Sunil had
already got lost once.
 |
| Sunset from Rohit's Balcony |
We reached Rohit’s alluring 2 BHK;
it never looked like a bachelor’s stay at all. Rohit had indeed kept the home
too clean and beautiful. With some regards having exchanged amidst us all
started feeling hungry as it was already 3.30 in the morning. It was time for
Shiva Reddy to unleash his culinary skills and he did that to perfection, he
made me delicious veg pasta for I was the only vegetarian there and some
mouthwatering egg burji for the others. It didn’t satiate our hunger, On
Sunil’s call; we were later taken to the famous “Shree Purna
Tiffin Centre” at Yousufguda. I was told by Sunil that the drivers of
celebrities would flurry in to this particular hotel to get their owners the
utterly butterly delicious breakfast from there. It was just 5.45 am in the
morning, and there were already people inside an Audi and a BMW that were
waiting for the hotel to open. The food indeed swept us off the feat, the Ghee
idly with the podi and the chutney was just out of the world, it was heaven
early in the morning, thank you Sunil and Shiva for having taken us to such an
awesome breakfast, the travel of some 15-20 kms for that Particular food was
indeed worth the brag.
 |
| Shree Purna Tiffin Centre- Yousufguda |
We came back home around 7 am only
to find that our body badly needed some rest. The eyes were drooping on its
own; it was already 2 pm when Sunil and I woke up to delectable strong tea of
Rohit. Sunil and I rode Rohit’s Royal Enfield for “Café Baahar” for getting us some
lunch. The short waiting time for the parcels to come took us to the olden days
in Capgemini where life was nothing short of bliss with the set of friends we
had amidst the politically and partially biased people who were there around us.
“Don’t we get way
too much happiness from good food?” I got that
for all the two days that I stayed at Hyderabad. SVM sports inn was the next
destination. Shiva Reddy took us to the SVM sports inn that was there at the
Jubilee hills. We were probably the first set of people to reach there. It all
started with some veg starters, non-veg starters and a mock tail and went on
and on and on. With some karaoke on the background, Roshini broke everyone’s
Ice and indolence by giving her stellar performance by singing “the
Cranberries- Zombie” to mere perfection. It was 11 pm when Uday and Kavita
tendered the bill for such an awesome party they threw for us. It was a night
out from there on, the next halt was Roshini’s call; it was “Creamstones
Concepts” at Kukatpally.
“We can’t buy
happiness but then we can buy ice creams and that’s the kind of same thing”
Thanks to Roshini for those
palatable Ice Creams that were as big as a full meal for everybody. Rajiv
Gandhi International Airport Hyderabad and the freaking crazy go carting out
there was the next halt. 2.30 am and when the stomach started whining for food,
Uday was yet again generous enough to have taken us to the MCDonald’s out there
at the Airport. Uday and Kavita were at their unstinting best those two days.
 |
| That's a 2 am Snack at McDonalds and Uday is Protecting himself from the H1N1 Scare |
It would not be fair if I don’t
mention about Shiva Reddy here, having sacrificed his complete sleep the
previous night, he did that again the very next day for his friends. Sunil, you
are indeed gifted to have got such good friends, as Mark Twain quoted “Good
friends, good books, and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life.”
We were back home at 3.45 am only
to hit the sack as we all were deadly tired like someone who just completed his
marathon running and it was indeed a marathon day.
25th January, 2015
(Sunday):
When the clock ticked 5.45am
Kavita, Uday and I were all set to visit the Visa granting Balaji as he had
already granted them their US Visas hands down, while others were just about to
enter the second stage of their subconscious mind we had already left the house.
 |
| "Visa Balaji"'s Residence - Chilkur |
A visit to this temple reminded me
that USA is still a land of dreams for many of us here in India. Praneeth also
accompanied us as he had to get down at the nearest railway station to board
his train to Warangal on our way to Visa Balaji’s visit. Kavita and Uday had to
complete their remaining 54 Pradakshina’s as they had already completed their
first 54 out of the vowed total of 108 pradakshinas. I accompanied them with
many others in the crowded but a very small temple, 54 pradakshinas almost took
us some 105 minutes. The Priest over there was very jovial and fun loving much
to everyone’s excitement; he made the Pradakshinas to look less tiresome with
his hilarious but thought provoking words.
An hour later I reached my College
Friend’s place at Gachibowli. It was around 12 when my friend Navaneetha
Krishnan picked me up from Gachibowli flyover to his place. After a short nap,
we both had a sumptuous lunch at the Banana Leaf restaurant that was nearby. It
was around 5 pm when I had to board my bus back to home. Navanee accompanied me
so as to send me off. There ends my 2 exhilarating days of happiness at
Hyderabad.
Any journey in life is best
measured in friends, rather than miles. I had some beautiful friends who made
the 2 beautiful days at Hyderabad an eternally indelible and immortal one.
It doesn’t matter
where you are going; it’s who you have along with you. Without
any second thoughts, Hyderabad was beautiful but it looked even more beautiful
probably because of my friends who accompanied me.
And to my friends out there,I
always wanted to watch a Tamil movie with you all, in particular a Vijay Movie.
I wish we had relished the magic of the five letter spell "Vijay" and his all new Tamil Blockbuster of 2014 “Kaththi” together, but
nevertheless there is always a next Vijay Movie .
Probably the next trip of ours
shall be to the Athens of the east (Madurai) may be after Paul and Vineeth gets
back to India. I will be more than happy to have you all out there.
Post
Scriptum:
Dear Kavita and Uday,
Thanks a lot for those two beautiful
days of awesomeness that I had at Hyderabad; I would have never ever visited
Hyderabad had you people not forced me to come.
Thank you Praneeth, Roshini, Sunil,
Rohit and Shiva for the beautiful company that you people gave me.
Colleagues as
friends in an irksome office form the strongest friendships they may ever know
with each other.Thanking you people for enriching my life in ways you people will never know,
if at all happiness could be measured it shall be measured with the number of
friends like you.True friends are
bound to be friends forever immaterial of the distance, language and what so
ever it may be.
You guys were indeed so very nice
to me and I felt very special after a long time and I believe that I won’t be
spared or left behind for any of the future trips that shall be on your cards
even after I quit CG.
Trust me Paul, Swati, Vineeth and
Priya you all were truly, badly and dearly missed.
