People and Places

If you have lived all your life in your hometown most likely you would hesitate to move anywhere else even for your work and more so if your company has branches in the city .But not me . I was indeed very happy and excited when i started working after college and even more so when i had to move to Hyderabad for the same. I was spoilt like many when it came to comfort which I laugh at looking back . To be very frank I was genetically accustomed to home food. A couch potato of sorts having never bothered to try cooking or cleaning or for that matter anything which does not involve eating and entertainment I had doubts whether I would enjoy living outside Chennai even though I was excited. But it couldn’t have been better.

Right from the first day there was a sense of bonhomie instead of the expected nostalgia. Everything was new , the office , the people , the language and the food .But I liked them all . I decided to stay with some hyderabadis from my batch instead of Tams to explore the city more . Getting to have some nice hyderabadi biryani and see a telugu movie……I repeat a telugu movie on the very second day in Hyderabad was a good or more correctly a different experience. And it was no stopping from then on till I left Hyderabad 2 months ago having stayed with so many people , having tried almost all restaurants in Hyderabad and having met some of the coolest people you can be friends with .

I would have enjoyed as much in any city if I had the same people but Hyderabad was definitely better . The city was known for nothing except biryani and pearls but it had its own uniqueness . Infact it was a very moderate city .Nothing was extreme about it like traffic in Bangalore or congestion in mumbai . To describe Hyderabad in a sentence it is city full of movie lovers , so much that many times you cant get a movie ticket even on weekdays . A place with some of the best restaurants which caters to people from all over India . Surprisingly the only South Indian city where people use more Hindi on the roads than the regional language . I have met many many north Indians who felt it would be better to settle in Hyderabad than even their home towns and many alike south Indians too .The sad part though is it is getting bangalored now but it is coping up well . It has far better infrastructure then any other city and everyone awes at the kinda roads u have in Hyderabad.

It is good to have friends who speak your language but it is great to have friends who don’t . If I take a count I have more non-tam friends than tam friends . With each one of them it is a different experience . Have kannadigas , andhrites,mallus , biharis ,marathis,bengalis ,goans and Kashmir pandits as your friends and you will know what I mean .They all fell into three categories - people u like , people who like you and the managers(*wink*) . Honestly before i went to hyderabad i undeniably had some apprehensions about the "Gulutis"(as i know them then) I am going to meet. But it all changed in the training we had before we went to hyderabad where I met some of the nicest guys you can meet . At the end of the training I found them to be more friendly and more jovial than the Tamils even and I still stand by it even to this day. This was one of the reasons which convinced me in to thinking that staying with them in hyderabad wouldn’t be a bad idea .

If it sounds like I am saying Hyderabad is the best place you can be in and andhrites are the best people you can meet, it is an emphatic “NO” . The point is each place is unique and every culture is different and that’s what makes it interesting . Not only are cities in US , UK and Singapore places but every city in India also is . But I am not the foolishly patriotic Indian who says everything and anything about india is the best . Liking or disliking your country has got nothing to do with this. It is about the different experiences you can have . Having lived in Uk for a year and also having been to Paris there is no doubt that they are among the best .But for me Chennai , Trivandrum , Bangalore , Mumbai , Hyderabad ,London ,Paris and all the places I have lived in or been to are the same, each unique and enjoyable in its own way.I switched jobs recently and had a option of Chennai or Bangalore . Though Bangalore is not that far from Chennai I chose Bangalore just for a different experience. I already like Bangalore though people keep here keep cribbing about traffic and congestion .I hope I like it all through.

So if variety is the spice of your life and you see the good side of every thing and luckily get a chance to work or study in some other city grab it , meet different people , eat different food and learn different languages. Factors like being Single or married , vegetarian or non-vegetarian and language matter only a little and there is something for everybody in everyplace . I know orthodox Brahmins who cry about eating in daabas and messes and others who cry about not knowing the language but happily go to Japan and china for onsite just because they get extra pelf. We have this mind set of always wanting to work in our home towns or else go to a foreign country. If you can enjoy being in a totally alien place , eat ridiculously bland food and enjoy being with people who look down on you and treat you condescendingly believe me you can have a blast in any of the Indian cities if you have the right attitude and passion.