Nice to see the celebrations underway. The whole city is filled with the posters and mini-billboards about the 200 year celebrations. Parade grounds in Secunderabad will host some pretty good shows including one by Remo. Looks interesting. But one point getting notice is the rumblings that Secunderabad always gets a secondary treatment when compared to Hyderabad. Though there is only one city administration- Municipal Corp of Hyderabad. Come to think of it, thought at times I feel good that there are other parts of the city that get spruced up (like few years back I was on the Vijaywada road, heading out of city, and was impressed, The road was as good as the airport road. nearly). But then, one has to go to old city and parts of Secunderabad, and the bubble gets burst. Granted.. lot of “new” economic activity happens in the hitech and Madhapur side of city, but this is still only a very small part of the city. Prob no more than 5%! Guess even people that work in the HiTech industry, do live mostly in the remaining 95% of the city!

Hope the city administration does something about developing the city moer equitably. That said.. Hyderabad is anyday better than Bangalore or Chennai. The pace of work is much faster here. There is a proactive city and state administration. Politicians are generally development savvy.. and proactive themselves. Just look at the pace of work on the three new flyovers in Begumpet, Somajiguda, Panjagutta stretch. Or, even the ORR road. Inspite of all the political noise around it, it is a massive project. And is just 2-3 years since the whole idea was mooted. And all along the completion date was 2007-08. And we are still on track towards that.

For now.. guess we shoul dfeel proud that Secunderabad is 200 years old! And it does have a distinct attitude, even today, when compared to it’s bigger sibling city of Hyderabad.

Yesterday I visited Minerva Coffee Shop at Somajiguda Circle (near Babu Khan Mall), to get an evening bite. Later thought of sharing my experience with you and grade their service, food, ambience on a scale of 1 to 5.

I always prefer sweet as a starter because Ayurveda suggests that one should start one’s food with sweet, follow it with sour and salty and finish it with bitter taste. Finishing with bitter stuff is a tough ask but I do not mind starting with sweet. Off late I have started liking this pattern of eating.

I ordered Gulab Jamun* (at rupees 26) first. After a bit of wait it arrived on the table. I expected that it will be served warm but it was served at room temperature. The quality and taste was good. It would have made for a perfect start if it was heated a bit. (Points: 2)

I ordered Butter Masala Dosa** (at rupees 43) next. It was served hot but I felt that they had used more than optimum amount of salt. (Points: 2)

Finished it off with a Masala Tea*** (at rupees 22). Now that is what I call perfect. (Points: 5)

Verdict: Food -3

Overall it is a clean looking and appropriately lighted place. Only till I looked closer at the sofa I was sitting on. It carried memories of people (in form of food-stains) who sat there before. Supposedly, it was not thoroughly cleaned for days. Better if they could put a cover over sofas and clean it daily. I looked for manager to communicate the same but he was not around.
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