AN ODE TO THE CITY OF PEARLS

I sit with a cup of tea and a mildly melancholic mood on the eve of my last day in this city. The bags are packed, the dues are settled and the taxi has been booked. I have been thinking of writing a post about my one year stay in Hyderabad for some time and I guess now would be a good time to finally complete it.

After almost 2 years in a village with a factory in Gujarat, I remember I was super excited to stay in a proper city for a while. I needed some time to get back into the studies groove after the RIL work life. I guess there is no place for an educational 'vann-vaas' like a metropolitan city with arguably the most nerdy crowd.

Every single person I've met in Hyderabad has asked me 'Why here?'. And I've told every one of them, I have no clue. I guess I just wanted to get to know a new city. Also the culinary greatness of Hyderabad was something which I've always kept hearing about. Hyderabad was the seat of power of the Qutub Shahi dynasty and later the Nizams, after a brief interlude of Mughal rule. This historic significance also piqued my interest. The city of Kohinoor, The city of Lions, The city of Biriyani. Toponyms which Hyderabad has have no end. It also helped that two of my closest friends stayed in Hyderabad. 

I have to confess that despite my interest in the history of the place, I rarely visited any of the old city areas, if you exempt the ceremonial visit which everyone makes to Charminar and Salar Jung museum. However this wasn't because I was lazy but because of the amazing gang I got here. The places which we visited never really mattered as long as the whole group was there. Of course we did hit up almost all joints in and around the Hitec city area but the excursions to the old city were rare. 

Oh and if you are reading this mom and dad, I studied a lot too. Me and Teena went to almost all of the early morning classes and faraway test-centers. The 1 km walk to SV college at 5:30 in the morning became a part of my daily routine.   

I am going to list out my top ten experiences in Hyderabad. I guess this is the best way to sum up my stay here. It is an effort to limit it to ten, but well, let me give it a shot.

1. Best Biriyani : This is usually the first question people ask me when they hear I am in Hyderabad now. Personally I am more a fan of the Malabar biriyani but if you are in Hyderabad, you cannot escape the lure of the local aroma. Now there are big names weighing for the best biriyani title here. I've tasted the biriyani from most of them. From Paradise to Bawarchi. From Shadab to RR. But the best Biriyani I've had is from a little known bar/hotel in 100 feet road, Madhapur. The 'Special Hyderabadi Biriyani' in Hotel M3- Bar-B-Que is my top choice for the best Hyderabadi biriyani. Too bad that they aren't a big chain with a lot of publicity. Oh and a word of advice, nothing else in this hotel is good. But somehow their Biriyani has been spot-on every time I've tried it. 

                        

2. Best Kebab : Siddique Kebab centre. Undoubtedly. This place believes in finding something they are good at and keep repeating it forever uniformly across all of their outlets. They don't give two shits about anything else. If you want ambience/service/ veg. dishes/non-kebab/non-chicken dishes, this is NOT the place for you. But if what you are looking for is the pure joy of biting into a chicken kebab spiced and cooked to gastronomic perfection this is the go-to place.

3. Most memorable Dinner : While I've never had a bad dinner (taste-wise) in Hyderabad , this is more about how the entire evening played out. Prashant booked us all in for an evening at Taj Falaknuma, Hyderabad. For those of you who haven't heard about it, this was the place which Salman Khan booked for his sister's wedding. The place demands a minimum bill of Rs. 2500 per head, to dine over here. This also includes a tour of the palace, a small slice of the royal life. We, of course, had no clue about this monetary criteria. 

In the end it took some unbelievable convincing and dignified begging to prevent them from kicking us out. That was the day I was sure Prashant is probably going to be the best Manager ever, after his B-school battles. As for the food, it wasn't bad. But the undeniable fact is that a Rs. 1200 Veg. Korma doesn't taste all that different from a Rs. 50 Veg. Korma. 

This evening-adventure would also go down in history as the only time Uber failed to get us out of a desolate locality. We waited in the surprisingly non-royal guard room while trying to cajole multiple taxi service firms to send us some means of transportation back to civilization. Classy.

4. Biggest WTF moment : Me and Teena went in for breakfast to a Dosa place after a morning class. I can't seem to recall the place's name now but it is somewhere along the Madhapur main road. Teena told me that she could finish a Family-sized Dosa alone and of course I didn't believe her. What followed was a war where Teena took on a dosa almost as tall as her. Like any classic battle between the predator and the prey, Teena massacred that 70-centimeter-dosa, all by herself. I've never looked at her the same way from then on.

5. Best Place To Shop : Now, there are many malls in Hyderabad which are identical to any other mall in any other city in any part of the globe. But Shilparamam is something unique to Hyderabad. A government owned piece of land right in the heart of Hitec city where artisans from faraway places can come and sell their goods directly to buyers. The lack of middlemen ensures that customers get a good deal and if you can haggle, you are in for a treat. 
Shilparamam has everything from textiles and jewelry to paintings and statues. The place also has an amphitheatre which has regular dance and music shows. My parents love this place so much that at times, I've seriously doubted whether they visited Hyderabad to see me or to visit Shilparamam

6. Best Sunday Brunch : Now the competition is only between Avasa's pool side brunch and Via Milano's karaoke Italian brunch. Both serve excellent food and drinks but on account of the fun we had I would say Via-Milano. The place has the right mix of rustic and modern ambience with brilliant music, mainly because we sang most of it. Neethu's stories were, of course, the highlight of the day. Neethu, I wish I could put up a video here, but I dont think the world is ready for it yet....

7. Best Cake : Hyderabad offers you a lot of amazing pastries. While I am not much of a sweet-tooth, I've still tasted some of the best. Insanity cake from Olive Bistro, Chocolate-excess from Chocolate room, NY Cheese cake with blue berry topping from Griffin, Tiramisu from Little-Italy. But the one cake which would have a special place in my heart is the Angry birds raspberry cake we got for Aswathy's Birthday!

8. Most memorable Lunch : Just a few days ago, we decided to cook for ourselves. I think I should speak about our culinary expertise first. Teena claims she makes a lot of dishes. So she had a point to prove when she went into the kitchen to make for us , 'The Best Prawns Fry ever'. Geena has been to all the restaurants in Hyderabad. Seriously. So we hoped that she would give our preparations, the restaurant-level fineness. I think the only thing Sanjay has ever cooked is cup-noodles, that too when the water was heated by someone else. I am an armchair-expert. I've seen all the seasons of Masterchef and Hell's Kitchen. So I was all set.
Four of us made 2 dishes in 3 hours for 8 people. I would say it was moment of pride when what we amateur chefs made, turned out to be really tasty. We made Teena's roomies eat it too just to be sure that we weren't merely delusional after the long hours we spent in the kitchen.
Also hats off to our moms who make double the number of dishes in half the time on a daily basis. How you people do it, I'll never know.

9. Best Means of Transportation : Aswathy's Scooty. I cannot even begin to count the number of times this Scooty has brought me home safe and sound. In addition to this, I owe a lot to Ola and the share-auto drivers of Hyderabad. It is amazing how well connected Hyderabad is through share-autos. Although this is something not mentioned in any of the write-ups about the city. You just have to live here to get to know how invaluable the share-autos are.

10. Greatest Let-down : Ramoji Rao Film city is one of the iconic tourist spots of Hyderabad. But sadly, I really did not like it. I felt it was a lot of effort put in from our side to see relics of a bygone-era. I am sure the older generation would find the place amazing, but personally, I did not.

So there you have it, my list of highlights of my Hyderabad life. I guess most of these are personal but as I've already mentioned, it was never about the place but about the people. I usually don't mention names on public posts but I guess I've crossed that line already.

Sanjay, Neethu, Geena, Teena, Prashant, Aswathy, Sruthi, Neenu, Hendry, Saran, Siri, Vinay, Divya. I came here with the aim of studies alone. I had never thought I would meet (or in some cases, re-acquaint) with so many people who I am really going to miss. Thanks to you guys, I leave here with memories. I am not saying anything more and making this emo. Cheers to all the good days and until next time....

Veedkolu Hyderabad!

THE MOTHER OF ALL BURQAS

(The title is borrowed from the last chapter of 'The God Delusion', although the contents of this article is something which Richard Dawkins may not agree with. Also, this piece is a result of conjectures and thinking-in-tangents fueled by my past few days of total joblessness. So it is nothing but a thought venture which explores a very remote possibility. I am not trying to downplay the need for rationality in life. 

The usage of science terms like bandwidth and spectra in certain contexts is NOT to give it a sound of false legitimacy, but a force of habit owing to my educational background.)

Let me try to interest you in a little line of thought. Colors. How do we see them? Most of us don't think beyond the model which involves our eyes. The truth is that our brain plays an equally important role in our chromatic perception. Eyes are simply sensors which inform the brain when a certain wavelength of radiation falls on it. Now our brain decides what shade that wavelength would correspond to and imply the corresponding color to the object. Now my doubt is how can we ever be sure that this interpretation of colors by the brain is the same for all of us. How do we conclude without doubt that for you and me a wavelength of 700nm corresponds to the color red. What if what I see as red is your blue?

Think about it. How was it that you color-mapped your world? Your mom pointed at an apple and told you, "This is an apple, apples are red". And from then, any shade which resembles the shade of an apple was called red by you. Our understanding of colors is always dependent on a reference palette which is in our brain from an early age. And I can't think of a way for us to prove that this basic palette is common for all of us. My red could easily be your blue and we would never know. Your yellow could be my brown and we would never know.

Imagine you like red and I like blue. If there was some way in which you could get inside my brain and see the world from my point of view, you may see that what I call blue was what you called red all  along. I am just saying that the sense of color is not as universal as we might expect. We just assume we are all on the same page but there is no easily verifiable way to ensure that we are.

The real question in front of us now is what other experiences of this physical world is relative. I could go on and talk about the other 4 senses, but that would be just a repetition of what I've said in the previous paragraphs. Let us think a bit broader. I am talking about things which we perceive beyond the 5 senses. Extra sensory powers if you may. Déjà-vu, Flash-forwards, Lucid dreams, Astral projections, Visions and other such things which rationalists scoff at, believers revere and 'in-betweeners' like me look on with interest.

People who know me well would now be thinking, "Here he goes again". But come on, humor me for a while. After all, most of what is accepted as basic science now was treated as supernatural phenomena if you look back long enough in time.

I am of the opinion that our brains are hardwired for something called the spiritual senses. I am calling it a sense because I don't know what else to call it. And much like a bandwidth over which we can decipher the common 5 senses, we all fall in a certain bandwidth of awareness spiritually as well. The paranormal experiences some people claim to have might just be an encounter with the fringe or dormant elements of this spiritual bandwidth. 

While a rationalist is self-assured that there is NO such thing, he/she is inadvertently blocking the part of his/her psyche which tries to interpret spiritual experiences. Similar to someone entering a concert hall wearing earplugs. The music never dies but you don't hear it because you chose not to. On the other hand,  A believer always seems to be having such experiences because he is always eager to feel it, sometimes a little too eager that they start seeing angels and demons at every turn of the road.

Many would say that our mind is an illusion which is the result of the chemical reactions in our brains. So my premise that mind is an entity with a sense for spirituality is inherently flawed. Maybe. Maybe not. But what knowledge we have of human conscience and the working of our mind is very limited. So I guess there is no harm in speculating. 

I believe every person belong to a spiritual spectra which he/she can sense. For most of us, this range is similar. But it is conceivable that for a few exceptional individuals, the spiritual bandwidth which they work on maybe different. Of course when such people come forward with their view of the world, we tend to either label them as god men or mad men depending on how they choose to reveal their insights.

We cannot see beyond a wavelength of 680nm. But that doesn't mean UV light do not exist. We cannot hear below 20 db. But that doesn't mean sub-sonic sounds do not exist. It is just that we are not evolutionarily built to perceive these range of senses. Richard Dawkins calls this sensory bandwidth which we can comprehend as the 'Mother of all Burqas', every human being is forced to wear. Our observable reality is limited by these narrow slits of bandwidths which we can perceive.  

With the help of science, we've been able to venture beyond this natural limitations and expand our vision of reality a little more. This is why I believe that the search of god and the pursuit of science are not at odds with each other. Any attempt to understand/please god or to find our purpose here is more likely to be triumphant by questioning, observing and experimenting than through praying and proselytizing.  

Moreover, rationalism shouldn't go so far as to turn into a mockery of things which we don't understand. I've heard rationalists say that our reality is only what we can perceive or alter. I completely agree. This is the exact reason why I am still living in a city trying to get a good degree and work and earn a lot of money. The only thing we can ever really do is try to live in the reality we are aware of. I accept this as a limitation of our physical self. But that doesn't mean our perception of reality is complete and absolute. Like the elephant whom the blind men tried to define by sensing only the trunk or the tail, we are quick to arrive at a model of reality by looking only through the narrow sensory openings in our Burqas.

This is nothing short of arrogance akin to the church putting earth at the centre of the universe in early centuries. Such blatant dismissal of anything that cannot be explained by our present scientific knowledge is unwise and is in fact, against the spirit of science. After all, historically, men only tried to understand things which amazed and confused them. By out rightly labeling extra sensory phenomena as hogwash, we stop our minds and science from further expanding its horizons.

So the next time you hear someone talk about a spiritual experience or an unnatural event, don't be quick to judge that person to be a fool or a phony. Consider the possibility that accepted sciences may be just a bit behind the curve. Consider the possibility that this might be something which is just outside the realm of your understanding. Consider the possibility that, just maybe, you do not know it all and in fact, you are NOT at the centre of the universe!

THE YOUNG MAN AND THE SEA

I looked on into the vastness as the gentle waves beat against my knees. Water and sand had mixed itself into an indistinguishable froth and swirled all around me. It was around 06:30 in the evening and the waves which had playfully battered me for the past couple of hours had grown increasingly less violent. Maybe this was the way it is. A moment of calm before the surge of high tide sets in. All around me people were fixated by the red sun slowly calling it a day and sinking into the water in the horizon. 

The beach front was lined with red flags to deter any new-comers from entering the water now. Life guards were slowly urging the water-dwellers to get back to the safety of the beach almost as if to remind them that the land was where they really belong. The sky was a crimson so majestic that it bathed any other color scheme around in a red hue. My ears had shut off every noise except for the calming swish of the ocean. The sounds of the occasional barking dog or the fellow human beings failed to register in my mind. I knew I was living a perfect moment which comes but rarely in life. I was under a spell, I was feeling at peace, I felt one with the vast grey ocean ahead of me and the endless crimson skies on top.

I was in Goa for a couple of days to celebrate my father's birthday in all its grandeur. My sis and me had gone the extra mile this time to ensure that the day would be something both our parents would remember for a long time. We had gone ahead and booked a killer resort on one of the best private beaches of the west coast. The fact that our close knit family was rarely together, all in one place, owing to the inconvenient truth of 'growing-up' had made this trip very special to all of us. Everything worked out perfectly and after 3 magical days I had came to say goodbye to the sea before calling it a day.

It is hard to explain the connection I feel with the oceans and the seas. It is a well known fact that almost all forms of life originated in the ocean. Life swam for centuries before it decided to gamble its prospects on land and learned to walk. When I hear the rumble of the sea and feel her salty breath on my face it is like something primal in me clicks. I forget the land dwelling tactics which generations of creatures before me perfected through endless cycles of evolution. When I run into the warm embrace of water, I feel like... I am home.

I am sure I am not the only one who feels this way. Love for the seas is an emotion which has found expression in all cultures and societies of the world. Our body is 70% water. Essentially, we are muscle bags filled with a lot of saline solution. Our brain is 85% water. It is amazing that when you think about it, even now, life essentially begins in water. Whether it is in a womb or an egg. Maybe the love for water and the oceans is an emotion which is genetically encoded in us. Maybe it is a part of our psyche to remind us, who we are and where we came from. Maybe this is why a visit to the beach offers a natural recharge to our souls. After the stressful city life, the seas somehow re-align us  to the rhythm of nature and fills us with the sense of being a part of something bigger.

Now that I think about it, I have lived all my life in close proximity to the ocean. I've spent all of my early childhood in Cochin, The queen of the Arabian sea (It wasn't called Kochi then). I left for Doha when I started with middle school. Interestingly the only familiar sign in Doha from my past life was the Corniche (Marine drive). I came to Trivandrum for my Entrance coaching, a city well known for the amazing beaches around it. I did my graduation in Kozhikode, the seat of power of the Zamorins, the Sagar Samrats. And after graduation I went to Jamnagar which was again a port city. I guess this one year in Hyderabad was the only long-stay where I was so far in-land since the day I was born. Maybe this was why I needed the Goa sojourn so badly.

All these thoughts were playing in my mind when a loud alarm shriek put a sudden end to my perfect moment. The life-guards who had failed to cajole us 'tourists' out of their waters had turned to more aggressive tactics to get the job done. I recalled my sister (who is lucky enough to live in Goa) telling me that the next step would be for the life guards to surf into the water and physically remove us. I wasn't really looking forward to that prospect.

I bowed down, dipped below the surface for one last time. I knew I had to get back to regular life soon and  I was trying to impress the calm, deep into my being. I rose up, looked at the sun and bringing my hands together in salutation, I recited the prayer my mom had taught me as a kid. This symbolic gesture marked the end of the day in a typical Hindu household. I was surprised that an agnostic like me had inadvertently gone back, if only for a moment , to being a believer.

Then I turned and walked back to land, lost in reverie of my perfect moment.