Unique Hyderabad - Part II

It’s been a year since we moved to Hyderabad now. And no, this is not a consolation post to my earlier post titled, "Unique Hyderabad - Part I". All the things mentioned in there still hold good and might hold good for the years to come. However, I guess we have adjusted ourselves (gave in) to the way this city operates and started liking it as well…J

They say, “Every city has its own character”. This city has a very unique character which is a bit tough for an outsider (non-hyderabadi) and it takes time for one to adjust to it..So did we. But soon we realized that it’s the fun of that character that makes the city and a better option for a better living would be to mould ourselves into that character. No we haven’t turned into the “Nawabs” attitude which almost everyone walks with over here but we have certainly grown smarter as to handle that attitude now! E.g. we have booked our cylinder a week back…it hasn’t been delivered yet…So what? . . . .aa jaayega saab!

But it’s not only this trait of hyderabadis that define them. People here are crazy!!! They celebrate each and every festival, may it be Eid, Ganesh Utsav, or Christmas with the same level of jing bang and enthusiasm..Where else will you find such secularism? I love that about this place. The whole city drowns itself in celebrations during this period. There are night food stalls during the holy month of Ramadan, the vibrant atmosphere filled with chants during Ganesh Utsav or the innumerable discounts and offers during Christmas just never lets you feel left out. It’s the “all-are-welcome” attitude of Hyderabad that draws the connect. It’s not as indifferent as other metros nor is it too intrusive like other Tier-II cities.

People here are great foodies just like me and that probably is yet another reason why I’ve started liking this place. There are uncountable options when it comes to eating out in Hyderabad! The city offers you options right from its world famous Hyderabadi Biryani to world cuisine. Specialities like haleem (available during Ramadan), gongura chicken curry, and baghara baingan, kubani ka meetha, double ka meetha (just to name a few) are some of the must try when you are here! The point that they have their own delicacies goes to prove how food crazy the people here would be.

I love the way people speak Hindi here. It is a special branch of the language in itself which is called Hyderabadi hindi…J…I knew that there was this special way in which people talk in Hyderabad (thanks to the movie “The Angrez”) but had never witnessed it. I got that opportunity last year and believe me I picked it up in no time..Lol…the hindi is a mix of Urdu and colloquial words which a non-hyderabadi will never use. Moreover, they play around with the plurals in an awesome way…kaam (work) becomes kaama (lot of work..lol), cheez (thing) becomes cheeza (things), baat (talk) becomes baata (talks) , so on and so forth…Then ofcourse, there are cute frustration words that they use, e.g. baigan mein mila diya ijjat (let me down in front of..) or swear words that are not used anywhere else in the country (not worth mentioning here :P ). Whatever it is, I find it very fascinating (my wife really gets irritated with the hyderabadi accent though).

Last but not the least, the city has given us an amazing set of colleagues and friends (some of them are pakka hyderabadi) with similar wave-lengths, likes and dislikes. I am sure we will carry the friendship throughout our lives and cherish it all through. More on these CRAZY friends in the coming days but for the moment…Lite le…J