Hyderabad blog

Yesterday we stopped at the Asia's biggest and filthiest sewer in Chikadpally trying to get the shoes repaired by a roadside cobbler. The smell was overpowering and trying to move away we walked backwards for some time .There was no consolation .A few yards away we found our own driver blissfully easing himself on the parapet wall .There was no option other than to stand near the Marathi cobbler boy who was doing our repair.

A very interesting news snippet these days is the breast massaging swami who has been promising pregnancy to childless women if they allow him to fondle their breasts. The chap has of course been copped on complaints by some social workers. The funny thing is women objected to his arrest because they believed that he would be getting them children .It is another thing that he could not make his own wife fertile .Obviously he could not employ the same technique in his own case.

The day starts for us at 5a.m. with birds of several hues chirping on the trees in the neighbourhood.A gentle breeze blows in our direction over the Banjara rockscape. As the day wore on the sky became sharper and more luminiscent against tiny specks of eagles in flight. The neem tree has already shed its floral fragrance and assumed the heaviness of tiny succulent
sweet-bitter fruits. The deep green of the tamarind in the neighbpourhood comforted the computer-weary eyes .

There was a surprising change in the weather .Rains in April? There were not only rains but wind and gale followed by hail .On our balcony there were tiny translucent pieces of ice edged towards the parapet wall .Calamity befell several ancient trees in banjara hills and the lights went off as the fallen trees disrupted the wires.Heavy showers travelled in undulating waves carrying broken twigs and severed branches. We had scooped up pieces of the hailstones and put them on our parched tongues.

I have often wondered why such a vast body of water as the Hussain Sagar is not put to use to quench the thirsts of the Hyderabad citizens.Water shortages are endemic here.The city's population has grown to around 6 million and the drinking water available is just not adequate .It seems that a lot of private tanker owners make a quick buck by supplying bore water at exorbitant rates and depleting the subterranean water resources.

Unlike in Gujarat cities the houses here have a fine finish ,especially the exteriors. In Gujarat there is emphasis on functionality rather than on beauty of form .The houses tend to look drab especially on the outside .Even within the houses the furnishing is very sparse with hardly much storing space except possibly on the lofts. The standard two-bedroom affair is so drab and uninspiring .Of course the Gujaratis spend less on achieving a good finish .

Very close to Hyderabad is the God of Visas at Chilukur where Balaji blesses people with fulfilment of many wishes.Five hundred years ago Lord Venkateswara appeared at Chilukur in order that his dearest devotee Madhava Reddy need not have to perform the arduous journey to Tirupati. One has to perform eleven pradakshinas(circumambulations around the temple) and pray for the fulfilment of a wish . When the wish is fulfilled one has to come back and perform 108 circumambulations in gratitude.
Over the last few years the temple has been attracting a large number of visa-seekers .It has been a matter of faith that whoever has been finding it difficult to get the American visa can hope to get it if he prays at the temple.

What explains the absence of ancient Hindu temples in Hyderabad? There are several mosques and minarets built by the Moslem rulers but there are practically very few ancient temples. A lot has been talked about the tolerance of the Hyderabad rulers and if this is indeed so where are the temples such as you find in Rayalaseema ? A similar observation can be made about Ahmedabad too.

Every city has its unique character. If you want to see Hyderabad's unique character you must pass through the numerous lanes and by-lanes of the old city .Deep within Hyderabad feels so much like Ahmedabad . Leave aside the glitz of recently added commercial districts . Hyderabad reminds you of Ahmedabad. with its nagarwadis and poles which bear a close resemblance to Hyderabad's own inner residential areas.
One thing that puzzles me is how the moslems of Hyderabad have retained Urdu as their mothertongue despite being surrounded by Telugu-speaking areas .In this respect it would appear that people of this area have been maintaining their connections with the Moslems of North India .This linguistic and cultural insulation may have been achieved due to the dominance of Moslems as rulers .

There is one thing about Hyderabad which puzzles me. It has some of the finest houses in the country.Where does the money come from? The prosperity that one would find in Banjara hills and Jubilee hills is entrely inexplicable. There is hardly the commercial and industrial activity of the scale that you would find in Mumbai or New Delhi .Are the Telugu geeks in the U.S. that are behind all these luxurious houses?But then all this dollar wealth is a relatively recent phenomenon .The houses appear to be at least 10-years old. Obviously the massive houses were built out of some other sources .
Whatever may be the origin of the funds the houses are pretty and exremely well-designed. Some houses display a rare sense of form not commonly found in other cities.