So, you get down from the plane, train or bus and this is your first day in our pearl city. What do you do? Here are ten things that you must do in Twin cities.

1. You would be dying of hunger and need that food for energy.so, there are 5 star hotels and small little ones too. However if you know a friend who lives here ask him to take you to Srinagar Colony. To the babai who serves Ghee idli.The idli melts in your mouth and the chutney takes you to heaven. There is no place to sit here, you stand take you plate ans finish the plate. Licking fingers after that is common around here! All for a mere sum of 10.

2. Now that you stomach is full and you would like to tour the city. Catch an auto, do not take a cab.Hyderabd can be enjoyed in an auto only. Ask him to take you to Charminar, climb up that minar, and see the gate on the right and the Jamal Masjid on the left and the four roads that lead to the old and new city. Relax click photos.

3. now, get down and take a left, you might be awestruck for say a min.the crowd will take you straight to the Laad Bazaar the Market for Bangles. You will find every variety of bangles here. Pick up a few pinks for Rs 10 or the Red’s for Rs 10000.They might ask you to pay Rs.100 for a bangel that costs Rs.10.The trick- Just stick to this. If they say it is Rs 30 as them for Rs 15.That is the bargain trend here in the Bazaar.

4. Ok we done with the Minar and the Bazaar. Now we hungry again! What do we do? We go to have biryani in any place. For example Bawarchi.Vegetarians beware you will se meat, meat and meat around.However, you do get veg biryani.Eat your heart out. Try the biryani with bagara baingan and mirchi ka salan.

5. Desert anyone, where do we go. We go to Famous ice cream to have home made ice creams. Famous ice cream is famous for fresh fruit icecream.They serve home made ice cream and that too for a price of Rs 10 not more than 20 for 2.They are open all round the year and you have to taste this one. Do not miss this ask a frnd to take you there and enjoy the crowd and the ice cream which is a crowd puller….

Will tell you bout your evenings later…..

The heat is on…

Summers in our city can really be messy, unless you have a personal AC following you! Here are rules to break even that hot summer morning, noon.

1. There are many hawkers who sell coconut water, like the ones near necklace road, secundrabd station and so on. Make sure you drink one glass everyday.

2. Avoid family outing to ramoji city, sanghi nagar, hi-tech, shilparamam in the morning or noon. These places are pleasant in the evening.so; head out for them at the right time

3. Go for a movie if you want to prasads, pvr or sensation. The cool ac and the Telugu movie can make u sleep for a while.

4. I ask the people of the city to have makeshifts and put an earthen pot of water. Be it outside your gate, office or even a busstop.people can quench their thirst here.

5. Last but not the least, avoid going out in May. If is the hottest month of summer and hyd temperatures will rise above the normal. So, sit at home and read the blog, savor a mango or take a dip in the pool.But, do not take a dip in the sweat, heat and sultry summer

Bio-Asia 2007, the fourth edition of Asia’s biotech event, is set to commence from February15-17, 2007 in Hyderabad. The three-day event is to be hosted by the Federation of Asian Biotech Association (FABA) and the Andhra Pradesh government with the University of Hyderabad (UoH) and supported by the European Federation of Biotechnology as partners.
Five entrepreneurs – Sugen Life Sciences, Sri Balaji Biopharma India Ltd, EPR Pharmaceuticals, Celestial Labs and Rational Labs – are expected to start their new companies in Andhra Pradesh.

Further, the event will see delegations from Switzerland, Finland, Holland for the first time in the event. Delegates are expected from 15 member countries of FABA such as Saudi Arabia, Iran, Pakistan, Singapore, Malaysia, China, Japan, South Korea and Thailand.

According to BS Bajaj, secretary-general, FABA, the event is expected to have more B2B meets during the business forum sessions. To recall, about 45 MoUs were signed during the previous editions of Bio Asia. More than 50% of these MoUs have been implemented and are active and most of the B2B interactive meet arranged earlier have resulted in major collaborations in countries like Pakistan, the US, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, etc. A CEO conclave is being scheduled which would be addressed by Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, CMD, Biocon.

I just noticed how maps/google has expanded to cover Indian cities, pretty neat, however doesn’t give the directions.
Catch a glimpse of hyderabad here:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=hyderabad,+India&ie=UTF8&om=1&z=11&ll=17.399787,78.480148&spn=0.48552,0.946198

In what will be the biggest Indo-Iranian collaboration so far, the two countries are all set to come together on a project to renovate Hyderabad’s 400-year-old Qutub Shahi tombs.

Once the pride of Hyderabad, a mirror of the architectural brilliance built during the Qutub Shahi dynasty, the tombs have now fallen prey to years of poor maintenance. In a bid to save the city’s most famous monuments after the Charminar, Iran has collaborated with India to help give these 400-year-old monuments a much-needed facelift.
Read more

An young man at a flower shop. He was searching for the perfect bunch of winter flowers. He was scratching his head and trying very hard to decide which bunch to pick.

A short while later the young man from the flower shop came into the restaurant with a bunch of flowers. He motioned to the waiter that he was expecting someone.

The young boy kept looking at his watch and glancing up at the door.

Most of the people in the restaurant finished their dinner and started to take coffee or ice creams.

The young man was twisting the edge of his paper menu. Rolling it back and forth, back and forth between his fingers. He continued glancing up at the door.

Almost an hour had been gone.

Suddenly his face break into a smile.

He shoved his chair back almost knocking it over and he rushed outside. There he was moving toward a beautiful girl in a pleasant attire.
They held each other for the longest time.

Their passionate embrace created embers inside the spectators all the way that might kept them warm all night.

And we dint know how much struggle she had faced to meet her lover on time, but we must be happy that his waiting came to an happy end!!

So I’m browsing in the bookstore when this guy comes up to me and says, “For a second there, I thought you were my friend’s brother.”

I look up at him and say, “What?”

“My friend’s brother. He’s got the spects and a jerkin like that.”

Dim memory beings to bubble up. I still remember my friends telling there’s a chap in Police department, who just looks like me.

“Oh,then your friend’s brother is an IPS officer?” I say.

“Nope,he works with HSBC…” he says.

“Oh..i see..” I say.Me thinking,”so there’s another look-alike!”

He continues to stand there. I look back at my book.

He says, “You look like him.”

I put the book down and say, “Nope. I’ve no brother or cousin in HSBC..Never even gone to that bank too.”

He looks at me.

“And in the near future i don’t wanna open an account there.”

He says, “Heeh.”

And continues to stand there.

It’s at this point that I notice he’s a bookstore employee.

He is waiting for a friend outside Amrutha Castle. Repeatedly glacing at his wrist watch,repeatedly saying “shit”,repeatedly walking from here to there,he mumbles,”he’s always like that…time-wasting moron…where the bloody hell is he?..actually fault is mine…..”

At this moment a bike stops in front of him.

“Hello?”,a voice comes from the helmet.

“Yes?”,the man in waiting questions.

“Where is the ICICI bank here?”,asks him without removing his helmet.

“No bank here,but ICICI ATM booth is there near AG office..”,raises his hand that way while he’s answering.

“No..I need the bank only..”,helmet man inquires further.

“Then you’ve to check in Khairtabad.that’s near here..”,waiting man says impatiently.

“No.. I want the bank exactly here that’s opposite to Secretariat..”

“Then i’ve to construct it and give…”,waiting man barks at him loosing his control.

At this juncture a third man enters the scene and says,”Hello. ICICI bank is here only..I’ll show you..Come with me..”

And they both have gone.

But the waiting man in the stand-still position forgets about waiting temporarily and is wondering now..

Could anybody guess what’s wrong with the waiting man who happened to be in the same city for the past couple of years?

“Hello? How far is Mall from here?”,me stopped my bike and asked these people on a national highway during my road journey to a remote town called Mall(nearly 80km from Hyderabad).The man in the pic said,”20miles…“,and they started to go away from me.And i don’t know why the idea of taking this pic happened..but me interrupted them and requested them to give me a pose for this pic.They obliged and so happened this pic!!

And then I asked them to give their postal address so that i could post the pic.(Mere innocence?)

“Errr..we’re moving out of this place tonight..probably to Nellore..And you know, we don’t have any permanent address..Where there’s a work,there’re we.. If you see us anywhere in the future, you can give the photo…no problem..“,he said with a thankful tone and moved away…

These people, for better or for worse, are making their livelihood with an incessant journey from the North to the South of the country?

Two people I know just made friends after almost two years of not speaking to each other. And now you can hardly keep these two apart.They are enjoying the most fulfilling and incredible friendship. They stopped speaking over the silliest miscommunication. An incident that was quite easily resolved when they bumped into each other after two years and both apologized for being wrong. What a waste of two years of good friendship.

Well,communication is one of the most powerful devices known to man, yet most of us don’t know how to make use of this incredible tool. Sometimes a few words is all it takes to fix a tough situation.

A great example of communications breakdown is the story of the man who was walking down the road when he noticed his neighbor struggling with a refrigerator in the doorway to his house.

The man rushed over and began helping his neighbor. They both shunted and grunted for a while and stopped without being able to budge the refrigerator.

“Well, I guess we’ll have to get a bunch of people to help us move this darn thing in,” said the man.

“In?” replied his neighbor. “I’m trying to move it out.”

A few words is all it would have taken to correct the breakdown in communication.If there are people I have not spoken to in quite a loong time because of petty unresolved arguments and if you by chance stumble across this blog entry, please accept my apology. Not for what I might have said or done, but for not valuing our relationship enough to make things right.

“yeah..okk..i’ll see..yup..fine..I see..nah,nah..“,continues the talking man(TM).
The other man(OM),who stands beside the TM,listens blankly and waiting for the TM’s convo on mobile phone to end.
“That’s fine..sure,we can..what else?..yeah yeah..what’s he doing now?..”
OM leans against a pillar with arms folded high across the chest.

“I dont’think it’ll be possible..and hey..you’re right..aha…tell me..okie..fine then…“

OM crosses legs lightly at the ankles,tilts his head slightly downwards and occasionally shuffles his shoes,checks over his clothes…….At this juncture,TM sees towards OM and shows his right hand thumb and ring finger joined..like a request for a minute..

OM smiles artificially and turns to look at people nearby and tries to read film posters on the road side hoardings…

“Oh..right..yeah..i forgot you’re working..Can’t you just,like,blow it off?…..“

OM looks tired,exhausted..shifts his standing position..

“yeah..okay..like,totally..ciao..bubye“.TM finishes the call and stretches his hands towards OM and says,”Well,buddy!It’s so long since we last met.Isn’t it?“

OM says with a bright face,”Ah..yea..” And during their hugging process,OM’s mobile rings.Then OM becomes TM and TM,the OM,now…

“yeah…okie…..it’s true..how’s she now?…..“

Well,in this course of talking journey OM can receive any call at any moment so that they both become TMs.Or there exists a TM and a OM scenario.Fine? Ultimately they both can say good bye to each other having felt like “wow..nice meet!”

Umm..friends!I suppose,you people have witnessed these kind of convos or may have indulged in..And I’m not one to defend the intrusion of cellphone use into daily life,nor am i inclined to criticise casual research because me using it too.I do want to point something out which may be helpful in providing a perspective on the annoying nature of cellphone use in public. And i wanna propose for people who tend to express their emotions while talking on their cellphone and also have a bluetooth set to wear a “i am not crazy” sign when they’re out in public sothat others will not think that they must not be crazy since they’re not talking to themselves-that drama is a response to the person they’re talking to on their cellphone.

Don’t think that i’m against these great technologies.Who am i to oppose? After all,they’re cultural amplifiers!

A barber is the only person whose conversation you can follow, even though he talks over your head.(Author unknown)

Yesterday I was on the way to get a hair cut.I don’t know why I hate going to the barber.Maybe I hate their gossip and the idea of having to listen to them talk as long as I’m sitting without having the least chance to respond.

Me entered the shop trying to find other reasons for why I hate this inevitable more or less monthly visit, and I found that 5 other guys were in row waiting ahead of me “this is another reason” I thought, now I will have to watch the barber cut the hair of 5 other guys before it’s my turn. But the barber surprised me and invited me to sit at the ‘operation chair’ bypassing all the others. I looked with visible confusion on my face which the barber noticed immediately and he explained “the brothers here are not for a hair cut, these are owners of neighbor shops and they’re here just to chat”.
Oh great! Now I had to listen to the six of them chatting instead of the barber alone but then I thought it was ok since I’ll be the first to get my hair cut.
And as the barber started his work,one of the five men asked,”what happened next?”
Barber flushed water on my hair and said,”Ah.What else happened? Goddess Kanakaduraga watched Rojulu Marayi(Times have changed) in a theatre at last and got down from rickshaw at the kamaan(entrance) of the temple..and She said to rickshawallah hey..it’s not that times have changed..it’s actually people have changed.. and disappeared..”
Another friend asked,”You believe it’s right?”
With scissors running on my head,barber said “Why not? it’s so true..Why times change? See..it’s morning now..night comes..and another morning comes.What’s day today? Thursday..Friday tomorrow..and so on..They never change..It’s only people change.Kanakadurga said it right..”

Me tight lipped and seeing at my lap with my head bent down.

Sadly that is true. And I lost my prized possession, a Mexican guitar.

There was burglary at home on thursday. It happened when I was at the office. It happened in strange circumstances and peculiar way. The investigation is going on. Some money and my mexican guitar have been stolen. It seems to be an inside job from one of the servants we employed to clean the place.

Casino Royale err in Telugu the local language of Hyderabad and the state of Andhra Pradesh!

Now that is funny :). Of course this is not new in India. The big ticket hollywood films have been dubbed into the 4-5 indian languages. But Casino Royale seems to be the biggest release as far as the # of prints and it is being released simultaneously in multiple languages coinciding with the world release.

I am not a fan of dubbed movies. But if you watch the original version in English you can be driven to insanity if you watch the dubbed version of the movie. Especially they way the translate swear words and double entendres. But you should never watch it before watching the original version.

I plan to watch the English version this week and then the telugu version in a local theater very near where I live in the coming weekend.

Hyderabad Weather update

It is getting colder gradually. The days are getting shorter.