The Hyderabadi Experience (15 Dec 2010)

In December 2010, I got this opportunity of traveling to Hyderabad for an official cause. I had recently watched the movie 'Angrez' and had been totally fascinated with Hyderabad's old city culture. So, I grabbed this opportunity with both hands.

It was a short trip and I didn't have much time to roam around the city. We flew to Hyderabad the day before the work day and settled into a guest house in the IT area by 6 PM. We were to fly out immediately after work the next day. So, I only had that evening to experience the city.

Fortunately, I had the services of a local guide, my friend Siddharth.

We shot into the old city area an auto and went straight to charminar. Let me tell you one thing - a simple auto ride can be pretty entertaining in Hyderabad.


The charminar area and the adjoining Chudi bazaar are almost exactly as they were potrayed in the movie Angrez. An interesting thing that I noticed at charminar was that there is a Bhagyalakshmi temple at the base of charminar.


From there, we headed to the Gokul chats. What amazed me here was the scale of preparation of chats (see pic below)


We then went on to Nilofer cafe, an Irani Chai shop. I an a tea addict and it was a great experience to sit there with a cup (or maybe 2) of Irani Chai and a plate of biscuits.


On the way, I bought biscuits from the Karachi bakery to bring back home. These are delicious. Don't miss them whenever you go to Hyderabad.

We rounded of the hectic evening by going to necklace road and then watching Harry Potter in 3D at Prasad's IMAX. That was my first IMAX experience.