Oh Yeah! I was so lucky last night.

8pm. Kukatpally, Hyderabad.
I was crossing a parallel road( the roads that go parallel to a bigger road or a highway). There was lot of traffic. I was keenly observing in the direction where the traffic is coming from and crossing the street carefully. Suddenly out of nowhere a car is coming in the opposite direction, I have no idea. He stops in front of me and starts honking.

If you have read some older posts in this blog or for that matter any Indian city blog, you would know that, Might is Right is the only rule that applies on roads here and Hyderabad is probably among the worst.

Firstly the car dude is violating traffic rules and its not like late night of low traffic hours, peak time friday night. I count myself really lucky. Usually I look at both sides of the road before crossing, as a general rule that will serve well for Indian roads. Somehow I didnt do that last night and almost paid the price for it.

I generally dont like to post about any issue multiple times but I had to get this out. Its just amazing.

And konw what is the worst part? If I tried to reason out to the driver of the car, he would have argued what was I doing in the middle of the for road? grrrr….(cross the road duh!!)

Grips the city of Hyderabad and the whole of India in general.

Especially last night when India was involved in a keen contest against West Indies. The game went to the wire and West Indies prevailed, barely. I was riding a taxi around 10pm last night and I could see people glued to the TV sets everywhere in the streets.
Most of the shopkeepers install atleast a small TV during the cricket season. The passerbys and the pedestrians and some folks even park their cars to catch a glimpse of the action.
There is a another big match for india on Sunday. India has to beat Australia to advance into the semi-finals. I am sure most of the Hyderabadis and Indians will be watching that game keenly and willing India to win. Australia is a very well drilled side and India has its task cut-out for the sunday.

To the metroblogging family as the 50th City.

This is what I know about Graz.

1. Beautiful City, seen pictures.
2. The speak German over there. I learnt this in my german class :) and the sublte nuances and differences in the accents of German spoken in Germany and Austria.
3. The ONE and ONLY *Arnold Schwarzenegger Stadium* in the world is in Graz. Its the ground where one of the cities local clubs play their T-Moblie Budesliga games :). There are two top-flight clubs, Strurm Graz and Graz AK.
3a. No prizes for guessing that the Governor of California hails from Graz.

Welcome Graz.

Id Mubarak to all of Hyderabad!

The two big festivals of two great religions being so close to each other is something to wonder about. May be things are not so different as they appear from outside. Add to that the fact that many non-muslims love eating ‘haleem’ the special preparation only available during the month of Ramzan and people light fire-crackers during Diwali time across faiths makes it even more amazing.

Historically thrrough its 400 year existence, Hyderabad has been an epitome of religious tolerance and secularism barring incidents every now and then, which are instigated by greedy politicians for their selfish means. But after every dark moment this city has come out ever stronger and better.

Wishing you all a happy Ramzan and please light any firecrackers/fireworks left-over from Diwali over the weekend.

Happy DIwali To everyone!

I wish you all a very happy and safe Diwali. Be careful with the fireworks.

The scene around here is that the decibel levels are already gone with the raining firecrackers everywhere in the vicinity. I can see a lot of rockets and other fireworks go up into the air and explode in the sky. As a kid Diwali used to be the most anticipated festival of all. Solely cos of the fireworks.

Ok time to go and light some crackers :).

Happy Diwali people!!!

Its that time of the year.
Fireworks
Crackers
Sparklers
Rockets etc etc.

The streets in residential areas are already littered with trash from these fireworks. But its all part of the fun. The one part that is not fun is the decibel levels of some of these fireworks that create thud of explosion. As we near the Diwali 21st, nights are gonna get progressively louder. I have started to observe this around my apartment. A few years back the Supreme court got involved in this and tried to curb it. Things seem to be status quo though.

I dont have any complaints against celebrations, I myself do celebrate but i can do with a little less noise :).

Happy Diwali Everybody!

CHeers

I was browsing at the Waldens bookstore,Somajiguda and happened into an aisle where two college going girls were looking through the fiction section. I overheard a bit of their conversation and it startled me so much that I pretended to be looking for something in the same aisle so I could eavesdrop:

GIRL1: I don’t think I’ve ever bought a book.
GIRL2: You’ve never bought a book in your whole life?
GIRL1: I don’t think so.
GIRL2: That’s a little weird.

I considered interrupting them at this point to tell the girl that it is perfectly okay – in fact advisable – to sever all ties with a person who has never purchased a book, but I dint make an attempt; perhaps she meant to honor the use of libraries?

GIRL1: That’s weird? I don’t know. I mean, why would anyone wanna buy a book that one’s never read?
GIRL2: Um, so they can read it?
GIRL1: (a little defensively) Why? Have you bought a lot of books?
GIRL2: Well, a lot? hmmmm.. but I’ve bought at least a couple.

And at that point I got a feeling that they’re going to suspect me that I was eavesdropping, so I rushed towards the adjacent fiction aisle and buried my face in a row of Dan Simmons novels to muffle my feelings.

Hmmm…I feel like….since buying a book is not the same thing as reading it; she could be getting everything from the library and returning them when she’s finished. There are people who love movies but can’t figure out why anyone would want to buy a DVD — how many times can you watch a movie?But there’s a trap in assuming that there are only two kinds of people in any situation, in
this case that there are people who live life and there are people who read about people living life. Not reading books (and let’s assume
that her reluctance to have ever bought a book means that she doesn’t read them at all by her own volition) does not automatically make her
a woman-of-action. I know a lot of people who don’t read who don’t do much else, either. I know people who read voraciously while leading full and fulfilling lives. You can’t always judge a book by…well, you know.

2 more weeks for Diwali the places are crowded. You get into any stores RS Brothers, Chandana Brothers, Hyderabad Central, Life Style, Shoppers Stop etc etc. you can see the energy in shopping for Diwali.
Some things changed between last year and this year in my experience. There is a lots of new fashion in the dress. I couldnt find discount on the price tag or gifts for the value you pruchase. They have introduced the concept of gift coupons in lucky draw for Maruthi car. Only 5 people get the car. Coz 5 first prize of Maruthi car. But for the rest they dont have any discount wihch is strange.

Saree. You name it you get it. There is a huge saree mela up and going in Shilparamam near Hi-Tech city. Key thing to do in the mela, bargain. I went there and got a silk saree(cotton silk saree) the price tag on the saree was Rs.1200 and he said Rs.950 and in the end I paid him Rs.750. So bargain. Its fun and the material is really good. you can trust on that.