My first Trip to Hyderabad

Ok. Don’t even ask me why I went to Hyderabad all of a sudden coz I anyway wont tell. For all the people who already asked me, the reason (just a bahana) I gave, “I want to see which is better. Hyderabad or Vizag!!!” And by the way, this is the first time Hyderabad got lucky to have me as its visitor.
“To hell with this traffic” we thought and we got out of the auto in the middle of the rush hour Mumbai traffic and started walking (Chandana was literally running) to the bus stop. After a 2 hours wait at the bus stop, we finally boarded the bus and started our 12 hour long journey. I don’t even want to tell how much torture I went through in the bus thanks to the TV screen right in my face, playing “Namo Venkatesa”. Somehow managed to sleep and next day morning, voila!!! We reached Hyderabad, that too right on time.
Frankly speaking, the first 2 hours of my stay in Hyderabad were the most boring hours and after that, I didn’t get enough free time to be bored. Oh sorry!!! Forgot about the torturous 2 hours I spent watching Aisha (felt like ages inside the theatre), and another 1 or 2 hours at chocolate room. But more of all these later. Just felt like sharing my experiences in Hyderabad. So, here I go…

Traveling:
Before going to Hyderabad, I used to think that driving in Mumbai is a challenging task. Now, after coming back, I feel like I am riding in heaven. Such was the impact Hyderabad traffic had on me. At least for the 1st timers, Hyderabad traffic is a nightmare.
"Is it a city or a long stretch of a single main road of 30 or 40 Km with buildings and all on either side of the road?” this was my first feeling. Where ever you want to go, get on that infinitely straight road and just ride. If you are lucky enough, you wont get hit by an auto and you might even reach your destination. Come on!!! We started 40 min before the movie time and still ended up being late by around 20 min (but later I hoped we had reached another half an hour or 1 hour late). But still, I enjoyed the bike rides a lot :)

Food:
“The best biriyani one can eat. Perfect mix of spice and exquisite taste. You can get this best variation of biriyani only in Hyderabad” my friends said. And we all went to Paradise, which has won “best biriyani in Hyderabad” award for n number of years. But after eating, I felt that even I can make a biriyani far better than this. In the 3 days on my stay, best food I had was at vasavya’s place, when I was coming back. First time, I liked vegetarian more than non vegetarian.

The place where I stayed (ICRISAT):
This is the best part of my whole trip. We got to stay at ICRISAT in Patancheru. Mallika has arranged for passes and dorms for me and Harmo to stay in ICRISAT. Inside of the campus was a complete different place as compared to rest of the Hyderabad. It’s calm, beautiful and full of greenery. There are lakes, never ending lush green fields, sunset points, and ya… I heard that even some Telugu movies have been shot inside the campus. Ahh…. Seriously, in a city like Hyderabad, it’s the best place to enjoy natural beauty.

Movies:
The less I talk about this, the better. 1st day 1st thing we did was go to the movie Aisha. And even before the start of the movie, Mallika started saying “No one will sleep tonight. We will watch movies all night”. “Did I come all the way from Mumbai to Hyderabad to watch movies?” I thought. Anyway, Aisha…. Never ending movie. If only the IMDB servers can accept negative ratings, I bet this movie would have got a perfect -10/10. The other movie we watched, “once upon a time in Mumbai” was far better. I went all the way from Mumbai to Hyderabad to see a movie about Mumbai :) And then there was "paranormal Activity". Seriously, lets keep the horror part aside. Is that even a movie? Saw the movie in laptop and I slept a dozen times in between. Everytime i sleep, Mallika used to hit me on the head and ask me to wake up. But come on, there should be atleast one interesting aspect in the movie to stay awake right?

Places I visited:
Places? What places? Seriously, are there any places to see in Hyderabad? I doubt it. I did see places like Hi-tech city, gachibowli and all, though. Oh sorry!! Forgot to mention the visit to Tank bandi for sunrise breakfast (really nice place to go early in the morning). And to everyone’s surprise, the laziest person in our group was the first to get up and wake up all others...ya you guessed it right. Its Mallika. And what’s even more shocking is, she was the 1st to get ready (Its like a wonder isn't it???). Of course, then there is ICRISAT. But too bad I couldn’t enjoy the beauty of ICRISAT as much as I would have liked. Next time I go to Hyderabad, I will definitely cover the whole 3600 odd acres of ICRISAT. Oh sorry… I already committed myself that I will go to Hyderabad only to see 4-minar (yes I know. Levels of PJ… credit goes to Mallika)… So ICRISAT would have to wait for another time.

I will end with a short note about the people I met in Hyderabad. I met a few of Chandana and Mallika’s friends, Vasavya, Chaitanya, Venky, Babu etc... and all of them (well, almost!!!) were very nice. Had lots of fun with everyone. And if you have good company, it doesn’t matter if it is Hyderabad or Vizag or Mumbai. You will end up having fun anyways :) So even after some negatives in the trip, if I am asked whether I will go to Hyderabad again if I get a chance, I will say “Hell yeah!!!”…