Hyderabad | The Alien World

Jan 03

Three years back I have registered for Hyderabad 10K run, but was not able to go as I have to go to take interviews for my company the very same day. This year I had no plans, but few of friends asked if I was interested to join them for the run, more over my company was sponsoring the first 100 participant. I had never thought that I will run 10 km anytime in my life, but my Sikkim trek in October changed my view and perception of being fit. After coming back from the trek I made a habit of going for a jog at least 4 times a week.

Previous night of 10K I had a party at a friend’s place where (believe me) I didn’t took any drinks. Though there was lot of temptation, but I did not give up. Slept late that night but was still able to wake up on time (5 am). We reached the venue (start point) at around 6 am. There were thousands of people; I was surprised to see such a huge crowd. All companies has there booths, thought it was hard to find booth of my company. Found couple of colleagues who were also looking for our company’s booth. Anyway after looking around for 15 minutes we finally found it in one corner closer to the stage.

Many Tollywood stars came, I only knew of Venkatesh out of all of them as he had in past acted in few Hindi movies. Milind Soman flew from Mumbai to participate in the run. He was running for the cause and support of multi sclerosis.

The race started at around 7:05 am. I ran for first 3.5 kms, after which I walked for half a km and then again ran for next 3 kms. In between I met Milind, took a picture, and continued running. On almost every major crossing local bands were playing and encouraging the runners. The last 2 kms were the real measure of strength (for me ofcourse), as by that time I was dead tired.

I surprised myself with completing the race in record 1 hour 20 minutes. It was a new world record for me…

Jun 17

My experience with truth

Posted in: My Life

Few of my recent experiences:

General population thinks that people in IT industry earn unnecessary money, and they should pay to anyone who ask for money even without a cause
If you have a car, then you have too much money, which you don’t need
Helping others in need, doesn’t necessarily means you can avoid trouble from distant relatives of the victim, who are more interested in your money
Police will try to make money, even if you are not guilty
Judicial courts is not really a good place to spend an evening
In front of law, everyone is equal – both criminals & innocents are treated same way. If you are an innocent, be prepared to be treated like a seasoned criminal.
Your friends are the only one on whom you can rely in tough times

Last week I was waiting on a traffic signal, where people usually don’t stop even if the light is red. An old man crossed in front of my car and stood beside. When the light turned green, I started moving at the same time an auto-rickshaw cut too close to the old man which resulted in the guy falling in front of my car. Luckily I was moving too slow. When they old man did not stood up for a minute, I got down from my car, only to find out that he had broken his leg. So as a responsible citizen & looking at his age, I took this guy to hospital, got him first aid and then took him home. His son requested me to drop him to a nearby hospital, for which I agreed. All health care and medical facilities were free for this guy there, as the hospital and his employer has the tie-up.

On reaching the hospital, there were his distant relatives waiting, not for the injured old man but for me. They wanted money. This pissed me off… Why should I pay the money, was my question. But who cares… you works in IT, drive a car, seems to be an outsider, then surely must be having trunks of money is the general belief.

I refused to pay the money, and approached the police. Spent whole evening at police station (PS), troubled many of my friends, and ruined mine & their day. An FIR was registered against me for negligence driving, under section 338 IPC. What a day!

If that was not enough, I had to get a bail next day from court, which was an experience in itself. The judge (magistrate) is treated like a God, of course he is, since my life at that moment depended on his decision to grant me bail or not… So the second day was ruined, too!!

Advocate charges fee for each time I meet him. Police asks for money for doing their job, and I get sleepless nights…

At the end, I only realized that even if I would have hit and ran that day, I could have avoided all this trouble. I m guilty of being a responsible citizen!

Dec 08

Jethro Tull & Anoushka Shankar Concert in Hyderabad – 3rd Dec

Posted in: Reviews

Well I have not heard Jethro Tull before, and this was the first time. I went there more because of Anouska Shankar.

The show started with performance of Anoushka and her group which also had Tanmay Bose on tabla. She performed for around 40 minutes based on two ragas one from south & another from north India. Her music was too enchanting and relaxing.

Second performance was by Jethro Tull classical rock band, which was mind blowing -Ian Anderson, the lead singer and flute player is truly a Piper. It was amazing to see his energy levels even at the age of 62. He is multi-instrumentalist and can play guitar, harmonica, & saxophone.

The third part was the fusion of both Anoushka & JT. This was the best part… I thoroughly enjoyed the show. Total paisa vasool!!!

I recorded few last minutes of jugalbandi, which is not of good quality… but below are few videos from their Banaglore concert which are of fairly decent quality.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTxXBNe70dw]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llvKJGkPtCw]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rm0FTzFu4U]

Dec 05

Great Kabab Factory

Posted in: Reviews

When I moved to Hyderabad 5 years back, there were few things that I missed more than others and one of them was Great Kabab Factory.

GKF recently opened here and when I got there message I was more than happy to go.

Some things never change. Food and price is still the same. What has changed though is the color of the waiter’s dress – earlier it used to be orange and now it’s blue.

There biriyani & galouti kababs are too good. The only thing which is not so good about this place is the restriction to stick with your choice of food – veg or non-veg. Both cost the same (600/-) and you can eat unlimited but you can not mix and match.

Never mind. I can go again there to try veg soon.

Aug 28

Bad roads and bad traffic is killing our economy

Posted in: Random Thoughts, Society, Traffic

I have been a strong advocate of following traffic rules. Indians have the best of brains in the world and I recently got a mail which tried to prove so by giving the statistics of number of Indian doctors in US, number of scientist of Indian Origin, or number of people who get H1B visa from India. And I don’t deny the fact that we Indians are sharp and are good learners.

That was the rosy side, but let’s faces this – other side of the story is not as beautiful. Rather I will say that it is too ugly to be shown to anyone. And we all should be ashamed of that.

Now, since I have given some vent to my anger and frustration, let’s talk about the actual subject. Over the last couple of months I have been observing a sharp increase in the traffic situation in Hyderabad. The city is close on its heels to becoming another disaster like Bangalore – Bad to worst roads and never improving traffic sense of hyderabadi drivers. The result is long traffic jams, rise in number of impatient people and above all loss of money.

Below are some key observations:
-   2 months back it took me 20-25 minutes to drive from my home to office, around 14 kms.
o   Today, the time has increased to 45 minutes
o   Even if I start as early as 8:30 AM, it takes 30 minutes
-   2 months back my car gave an average of 17 kmpl
o   Today it gives around 12 kmpl

Based on this if I calculate the loss of time than that comes to 40 to 60 minutes a day, which amount to roughly 20 hours a month.

Let’s see about the fuel – I am spending roughly around .5 liters extra everyday, which results in consuming an extra 10 liters a month. This doesn’t end here. Consuming more fuel also means that our contribution to global warming has also increased. This is the story of just me, imagine now for all the vehicles on the road.

So who is the culprit right now? Bad city planning, bad roads and worst drivers. Combine all three and you will find our new Hyderabad. All drains have been closed in the name of road expansion. Uneven roads with no proper slopes and water exits lead to water clogging. Potholes at some places are 1ft deep. After every rain, you may find a new pothole on the road.

And what are out local civic bodies doing? I guess enjoying mansoon and having samosa, mirchi bhaaji & tea.

According to one story, the world has roughly only enough fossil fuel to sustain for next 40 years. That study was done 5 years back. So what are we doing now? We are increasing the rate of consumption, why wait for another 40 years, lets finish it fast is the new mantra!!! Imagine a world without OIL in your lifetime. Life will be so calm, no traffic, no pollution. Back to stone age!

Mar 13

Cavemen in Hyderabad

Posted in: Traffic

Every time I get on Hyderabad roads, I see cavemen all around… Now you must be wondering why do I hallucinate, and let me tell you I am not on drugs either. But before I tell you more about cavemen, let me first tell you about the movie ‘Idiocracy’ I saw yesterday. It was the dumbest movie ever seen. The story goes like this… a man and women as a part of an experiment are put to sleep in 2005 to woke up a year later, but instead they woke up 500 years later in 2505, just to find that the humans have become dumbass, with no IQ… so the movie was about the rise and fall of human intelligence

Ok now let’s come back to our very own Hyderabad. Just imagine about a person who slept 30000 years ago and woke up one fine day and finds himself in 21st century’s Hyderabad, where everyone follows traffic rules, drive in lane, do not break traffic lights, and do not honk. I know it is hard to imagine, but for fun sake just imagine. What will happen if you give a crash course in driving to this caveman? When he will come on the road, he will be so confused, will not have an idea what to do, where to go, he will come into wrong direction (poor guy, he does not know traffic rules), he will blow horn – again and again because he is enjoying the sound, he will break the light, imagine what all he will do.

Now imagine everyone on the road like him! This is what the real situation is on Hyderabad’s roads. Everyone behaves like this caveman, without any civic sense of driving… and what are our good traffic policecops doing…?Nothing! They are too polite and humble to do anything.

Humans have evolved from apes and even after thousands of years of evolution there is still an ape in everyone. Most of the time that ape lyes dormant but thats not true in Hyderabad, and this is not just limited to a rickshaw or auto wala, or a taxi driver. This also included the likes of highly educated engineers, managers driving big cars and bikes, working in big MNCs. I have observed people who are well behaved in office (most of the time), as soon as they step out in open the ape inside them takes over. They looses all their civic sense and gets in to road rage…

Human Evolution

To a great extent our very own police is responsible for this. Law runs on fear – no fear, no law. Traffic police here is too lazy and soft to infuse any kind of fear in the people. Everyday, I see people breaking the law in front of a police guy, because that person knows that first the policewala will not see him, even if he see him he will not catch him.

I wonder how long I will crib about this… I can go on and on and on… and I dont see any reprise from this, at least in near future…. We have become so insensitive, overtaking someone seems more important than driving in lane or follow traffic rules.

Aug 31

A dog’s life

Posted in: Human Effect, Humor

Every night when I go back home, I always find a dog sleeping in the middle of the road. He changes his color. Some night he is black and other nights he is white. No no… Don’t get surprised, it’s not a magical dog that can change its color. If India Today or AajTak news channel came to know about it, they will make it a breaking news or headline. The truth is that there are two dogs, who take turns to sleep in middle of the road.

They are not afraid to sleep there. If you honk, they will just ignore you. They will raise their head slightly, look from the corner of one eye and then will just ignore and go back to sleep. I guess they must be thinking who the hell is he, honking in the middle of the night disturbing their sleep. Well they also know by now that I will not run over them and they think it’s my responsibility to by-pass them on the way even if I have to get down the road on the ‘kacha rasta’.

Well, I guess they are right to a great extent. Dog is the closest animal to humans and it is natural that their behavior will get influenced by humans. No matter how small the dog’s brain* is, it still got some and uses it. Dog is not the only animal humans have influenced – other then dogs you can see buffaloes & cows with similar traits.

* The brain of a 20 kg (45 lb) dog would weight about 80 to 100 grams or about 3 to 3 1/2 oz. In contrast a human’s brain weighs about 1500 gram or 3 pounds.

Feb 14

God! help hyderabadi drivers

Posted in: Random Thoughts, Traffic

The title of this blog entry is out of sheer frustration. Yesterday was a long day in office for me. Have to wake up early to attend a meeting with my stakeholders in US and then had again meeting in evening with my other stake holders in US. By the time all things finished, it was close to 10:30 PM. My home is very closed by to my office. The reason I took my home close to office was that I did not want to spend more time on roads.

Yesterday when I started from office, I was very tired and hungry after spending 15 hours in office, with marathon meetings. To sum up I was completely drained. It is really frustrating to see traffic jams at odd hours. Even more frustrating is when people keep on honking and doesn’t follow any traffic rules.

Please God, give some civic & traffic sense to the drivers on road… specifically to cab/taxi drivers!!

(Picture from my Nokia N70)

My dear countrymen! Please follow traffic rules, have some traffic & civic sense, then only we can really become a developed country.

Jan 22

Amazing India

Posted in: Traffic

I usually drive office late to avoid traffic chaos & congestions. This morning while going to office I have to pick up a teammate on the way. These pic was taken from my Nokia N70 while driving, from within the car. I wonder how this guy is driving the bike with such a huge stock on the back… Truly my countrymen never fail to amaze me of their capabilities!