Re-visiting Hyderabad amidst its warm and grand Hospitality!

Re-visiting Hyderabad amidst its warm and grand Hospitality!

(01/05/2015 to 04/05/2015)

“No matter what you plan for or make up your mind for, you will land up to wherever you are destined to.” I know I never do pre-planning, which sometimes leads me to take instant decisions. In such cases I always feel that I never have to decide on my own, as most of the things get done on its own, and whatever happens I know happens for the good. Such a good thing happened last weekend, when I had a long weekend of 4 days continuous holidays at my disposal and I had yet not planned for it. Rishika, my friend cum Roomie, invited me to her home at Hyderabad to spend the weekend. As I had been to Hyderabad earlier also, I was quite reluctant to her offer, but her continuous insistence out of her genuine love won my little heart and I said,” OK, I'll come.” :-)

 

Touchdown; to the green!

We left on 30^th evening after Office hour and reached her home by 10:00 pm at night. To tell you guys the truth, I was a little uneasy at first, for I am not as extrovert as I seem to be, and it takes me time to mingle with new people. But the kind of love and affection her parents showed, the jokes her husband cracked made me feel at home soon. And there I was, smiling, chatting and laughing amidst the Telugu language speaking people and their pure Hyderabadi hospitality. You won't believe what our routine for those 4 days were; wake up late, eat, drink, sleep, get ready when the weather cools down a little, watch movies and sleep again. In just 4 days I could feel my body putting on some extra weight. :-P

Aunty allowed me to make tea for myself in the kitchen on the very first day, as none in the family drink tea. She admired the nice aroma arising out of the tea (thanks to tata naturals) and expressed her wish to have it when I make it next, which came the next day. Lol My laziness chases me everywhere, especially when at home. The delicious homemade dosa for breakfast and yummy Biryani for lunch, with Aunty ji's love and in between sleep-wake situation; oh yeah! We were on a full-fledged vacation.

As the days were quite sunny and super hot, we kept ourselves to home most of the times, just to get ready in the evening and strike the road. On the very first day only, it was one of Rishika's friend's birthday and she insisted me to join as well, which I did, though reluctantly, as you know I am way too shy to be an uninvited guest too. Hmm But all ok! Rishika was so happy to be with her childhood gang, and for me it was fun to see and observe new people, friends meeting friends, all too excited and happy, pulling each other’s legs, amidst of the other crowd at coco's with background live music, which I guess very few were listening to and admiring, and yes of course, I was one of them. Lol

"Abhi to party shuru hui hai!" '-)

On day second, as promised 'yeah I made tea for Aunty too. Though she admired, but only I know the real thing. Hehe Nevaa mind, my taste bud dosen't work, and I just assume that I make a nice aromatic tea. Supa_delicious! And after repeating the same routine for the day, in the evening we (Tarun-Rishika's Husband, Tarun's sister, Vicky-Rsihika's brother, Rishika and I) went out to Prasad's Mall where is India's biggest iMAX 3D Theatre and enjoyed 'Avengers”! Before Movie we had some fun and scary stuffs like Mirror maze and visit to the scary house. It was our lungs full of laugh day. LOL And no stopping, as after Movie we went to NTR Garden and had some lively moments. And for dinner, Rishika took us to Hebanaro, the pure Mexican Restaurant and relished Mexican delicacies. Oh forgot to tell you, she is a Big-big foodie, and she knows all about what to eat, what not to eat and about all the ifs and buts of each and every restaurant and keeps herself updated of any new opening of her favourite eateries. : P

"Fun-time!"

"Some lively moments!"

We were so much on the roads that by day 3^rd I was almost feeling like a local, I mean a Hyderabadi, Rishika showing me the wonders of the city, like diamond shaped house, castle type hotel, state assemblies and courts like palaces. And to add to all these, as I was surrounded so much by Telugu speaking people that by then I felt that I could understand Telugu as well. Thanks to Rishika and Tarun for helping me over explore the City. :-) Yeah on day 3^rd, we were on road by 10:30 am to visit the famous Salar Jung Museum, which I couldn't go last time. To my utter surprise, it was even Tarun's first ever visit to the Museum, and when I asked,” Why didn’t you visit it till now?”, humorously he replied, “I knew that one day Nawang will come and we will go to the Museum together.” LOL Funny man!

"Nawabon ki shan; Shan-e-hindustan"

"The 7 dwarfs, bagpiper, soldiers and many more!

"Oh that crowd is assembled, just to have a glimpse of talking clock"

Well, wonder not, these are the walking sticks of our Nawabs!"

On a sunny day like that we expected very lesser crowd, but to our utter amazement, it was fully packed. We had to wait for a good half an hour for a place to park the car. Then pushing through the crowds, we went from one hall to another and enjoyed and admired the wonders of the Museum. It was quite big and took us long to explore the first floor only. We were so tired later that when we went to second floor, all three of us looked at each other and agreed in unison that we should go home now. Tarun again joked, “We will keep the second floor for your next visit to Hyderabad.” haha 

"Rest time bole toh Selfie time! Tired han!"

"Happy Nawi"

After the tiredness, we ate like hungry beggars when we reached home, followed by a pig's sleep. And at around 4:00 pm Rishika woke me up, saying the weather is so nice and we should leave for Birla Mandir, which also I skipped on my previous visit. Vicky also accompanied us. The weather was so much in our favour that we were just delighted when we drove. And on reaching Birla Mandir, I couldn't contain my happiness, when I saw the Mandir and its location on a raised hill top amidst big rocks in the middle of the city, I was overjoyed. It was purely made up of Marble, with engravings of some scenes from the Mahabharta and Ramayan like samudar manthan, Sita Ram Laxman, Brahma ji etc and the main deity to which the Mandir is dedicated is 'Lord Vishnu'. There also as the crowd was so big, we had to line up and wait for our turn to come. The view of Hyderabad city with Hussain Sagar Lake in the middle was mesmerising from the temple. The wind blew so lovingly and gently, making everything look beautiful. It is said that a visit to Hyderabad is incomplete without visiting Birla Mandir, and true it was. And then I realised that my second visit to the city had to do something with this saying as I skipped visiting Birla Mandir on my last visit. Well, that was the highlight of the trip. :-)

"The blessed souls!"

After seeking the darshan and enjoying the view for a while, we drove back and went to Hussain Sagar lake, and sat at eat street, facing the lake, which though looked beautiful but had bad odour due to too much of pollutants inside. No wonder just in the morning I read in the newspaper that some Austrian Company will be helping out to clean up the lake. Good han! Hmm

Oh well, coming back, I was surrounded now by 3 foodies at one time; Rishika, Tarun and Vicky, chips, frnakie, momos, pizzas, garlic breads etc.  And reaching home, they didn't have delicious homemade food, for which I kept some space and relished the food Aunty offered. After all the real satisfaction I get is by eating homemade food only. (wink wink)

"Aunty ji's pure affection!"

Oh, soon it was the 4^th day, and we didn't realise how these days had passed in a wink. We had our flight in the evening, so Tarun requested for a morning shift at work so that we could drop us and see us off. So cute of him! So early, but not so early morning at around 7:30 am Rishika took me to KBR National Park, the lungs of the city. It was our last spot for chilling, and beautiful it was with its beautiful possessions in the form of many birds of which the Peacock population dominated. It was for the first time in my life that I got the chance to see so many Peacocks from so close, playing around, jumping, hiding, fluttering their feathers and dancing with their best moves. We spotted more than 50-60 of peacocks on our way while taking the round of the park. It was real amazing! It was sunny though, but that had little effect given to the beauty around to view. We sat there for some while looking at the Peacock dance, running squirrels, singing birds and relishing the peace around to the core.

"Ah, these beauties!"

Rishika's hospitality didn't end here. She drove me to 'Chutneys' one of the famous Restaurants to make me taste the real South Indian delicacies. Idli, Dosa, Varities of chutneys, Juices etc etc, and we relished them to our stomachs' fill. Overeating it had been, for when it was lunch time, we both were like,”No space abhi, let's have it in the evening before leaving.”

 

"Yummy; South Indian delight!"

And in the evening around 4:00 pm after getting ready we again sat around the dining table. I had to say later,”Khila khila ke maar daloge kya?” Lol Vicky had his own point,”Quantity defines happiness!” Lol so, next time when you have some Hyderabadi guest at your home, don't forget to pour your love through food, and make them happy by reaching deep down to their belly. (wink wink)

"Lemme take along Aunty ji's love and blessings!" 

 

Tada Hyderabad: Thank you for everything

 So, with tummies full of memories to cherish, we boarded our flight back to Mumbai in the evening. And overall experience of this trip was “A-Awesome & Super yummy!”” (smiling)