Hyderabad Blues!

Well, it was one of those days when lafooting could’ve gotten us into some real trouble. The idea was to spend some time with the lafoots, lafooting around Hyderabad. The plan was to go to the old city and get a ‘taste’ of it.

We chalked out a plan to meet at 4′o clock at Falaknuma palace and check out the ‘old’ city till we drop tired. I reached Ringo’s place at about 3 and UC got into an MMTS at Hi-tech city station at about the same time and called us. We went to the Vidyanagar station and got into the same train after about half-an-hour of waiting. By the way, it costs just 5 bucks from Hi-tech city to Falaknuma (from one end of the city to another!)

We got down at Falaknuma, and decided to trek to the top and click a few pics, get down and then move towards Charminar. UC the great didn’t have proper batteries for his cam and we had to find a couple of Duracells somewhere. We asked in a couple of shops, but obviously they didn’t have them. We were a bit thirsty, and UC was damn thirsty. So we bought a water bottle, only to find (on opening the bottle) that, it was ant infested. There were about a couple of dozen dead ants in the threadings of the cap. We returned the bottle to the shop owner, in the hope of getting a replacement. But all he did was wash away the ants, with some water from a Drum! After some shouting, that was in vain, we moved on to find a place that would be a good place to start. Unfortunately, we discovered that the hill was fenced all around. We walked on, around the hill, to find an opening at one place. Excited but uncertain and doubtful, we started the short climb, hoping once in a while to get a view of the Charminar. After getting to a reasonable height, we found some chicken going around and a few steps further some huts. We moved around on top, looking for Charminar and after some search, we found it! Actually, I’d already read that entry into the palace was banned. So, we had no real intentions of getting in and we were only thinking of Charminar, though just for a few moments, I was tempted to go in. The Taj group has taken the palace on lease (?) and is developing it into a 5(?) star hotel. We knew there would be some “road” to the entrance and we found it from the top. Without much thought, we planned to get onto it and then move towards the Charminar.

We got down, only to find some guards waiting there! Me and Ringo got down first and reached the guards and the first question he asks us is, “Camera kahan hai?”. Shocked! We tell him that the camera isn’t working and we didn’t click any pics. Then he asks us to hand it over to him and says “Agar ek bhi photo mila tho, camera seal kar doonga”. We obviously ask him to do as he likes. He tries to turn on the cam and to our shock it turns on! Luckily for us, it didn’t turn on before and he doesn’t find any pics. (Bloody, he acts hypocritic there and says, “Koi personal photo math dikhaiye..”) We were almost preparing to leave and he says, give us your names and numbers and then leave. Oh damn! We try pleading him into not taking them. Ringo tries hard, I and UC don’t say much. We try explaining that we were just ‘lafooting’, but alas, that’s a very special term, only few can understand. They asked some stupid questions like, “City mein kya situation hai tum jaante nahi kya?”, “Tum ne kya kaam kiya, jaante ho?”, etc etc. We are done with giving all the details, and are about to leave and he says, “Jab bhi call aaye, immediately PS ko aajana”. Partly tensed, partly entertained, we leave.

The rest of the journey was a walk through the heart of ‘Hyderabad’. Charminar, Mecca Masjid, Laad Bazaar etc… Hope UC will upload some pics, soon. Of course, the famous dialogue – ‘mana life lo thinadam okkate goal kada’ – also had some probability of being repeated. Ringo and I, enjoyed pani-puri standing right next to the Charminar and then found another ‘better-looking-place’ next to the Charminar Bus stand and enjoyed more pani-puri there. It was really better than the previous dose. Our UC was bent upon trying out a Faluda and ordered one ‘special’ faluda for himself. That was passed on to me after just having one-tenth of it. I had to finish that too, after my normal faluda! Buuuuuuurrrp!

Well, I don’t know how much the others, enjoyed it, but, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Outings have, more or less, become looong walks for me. I don’t mind having Charminar or the Mecca in the backdrop.