Hyderabad Blues - Part1

Hyderabad Blues - Part1

Hyderabad has undergone a sea change from when I had last visited it; back in the early 90s. Now its huge malls, world class pubs/discotheques putHyderabad on the 'must-see' map of India. If you think I am trying sound like a feature writer you're wrong. I really am not able to find the words to describe the city. This piece is an attempt to freeze my rollercoaster diwali weekend in Hyderabad.

Pune to Hyderabad

The bus started from Pune (I live in Pune now if you don't know it already) at 20:00 hours on Thursday night. There was a forgettable Hindi movie playing on the video in the bus and I slept for the remainder of the journey. Hindi movies are fantastic! I mean I normally struggle to sleep. I woke up around 6:30 a.m. to find the green-brown landscape of the Medak district passing by. The signs in Telugu made me nostalgic. I learnt that it'd be another hour before my journey would end. Thanks to the Afro-Asian games happening in the city, the roads were clean; the traffic islands were green; and the traffic wasn't as chaotic as I had thought it would be. I got down in Banjara hills circle and rendezvoused with Kicha - my good friend and my guitar god. On our way home we stopped for chai; it was heavenly. If you're from Chennai you'll know what I mean.

Friday Frolic

Kicha parked the car with alarming dexterity and we hit the lift. The apartment wore an 'I was young once but the rain and sun screwed me' look. That was from the outside. Inside Kicha's apartment it was a completely different story. It was a two-bed duplex apartment. The bedroom upstairs opened up to a spacious balcony that allows you to drink in the breath-taking view of the city below. The Golconda fort stood like an experienced bouncer in a bar; unobtrusive, fearsome and stoic in its silence. Aunty - Kicha�s mom - shook me away from my reverie and hinted that I needed a bath. I badly needed one! By the time she left for work, Kicha was fast asleep; poor bastard was doing a night I guess (god knows where, now that's a different tale). I attacked the idlies that aunty had prepared for us and indulged in some TV.
When I woke up Kicha it was almost 1600 hours. I was excited about the Friday night; it is not often that I get to spend a weekend with my best friend you know? After a late lunch Kicha and I got out in his car. I booked my return tickets; the guy at the counter said 'no seats, do you want to sit next to the driver in the cabin?' I said 'yes'. I had little choice. Kicha had some work at the Viceroy; we finished that and we headed to Sparks - a happening pub. We hadn't even finished half of the pitcher when Kicha's friend Madhu called. She invited us over for a get-together. After a few drinks (read: Bacardi white, Old monk, and beer) the girls (he he I forgot telling you about them!) and the boy wanted music. So off we went to Avik's place to get the guitar. At Avik's place I defied gravity and made a sailor look normal with my gait. To top it all, I emptied my guts by puking in the parking lot. The worst was over; well, for the day. We got back to Madhu's and Kicha and Avik started jamming. We (er I did some back-up singing ;-) ) did Extreme, Eric Clapton, Whitney Houston, Euphoria (Indian band), and some Cranberries. It was magic. Kicha's guitaring was incendiary, even on an acoustic with the missing G-string. :-D Avik amazed me with his range and power singing (ok Avik relax). By the time we decided to go home it was 5a.m.
We sneaked into Kicha's room at 5:30 a.m. I was guilty that we had to wake aunty up. I hit the bed thinking 'how is the Saturday gonna be? More on that later people. Here's a piece of advice. Don't eat masala peanuts in Sparks. It is disgusting. I blame them for my puking.

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