Hyderabad (Day 80 Project 366)

This post was written on the 22nd of March when I was on my way to Bombay (in the train). Could not post it at the time due to connectivity issues. I am already back to Hyd now :D

It has been a while since I last wrote. I don’t even know whether I should be calling this Project 366 anymore. But I’m not yet ready to call it off. Still trying to post as and when I get to. Sometimes, I do have the time but my eyes get too tired of the computer. Or I am too sleepy to even press a key. Other times, I feel like cuddling up with a good book atleast for 10 minutes before I can sleep. Or watch an episode of “2 Broke Girls” to laugh a little. I want to be dedicated to the project but making it an everyday activity can sometimes turn it into a ‘task’. On days that you are tired that is. I am still writing though- for different things.

Life in Hyderabad hasn’t been all that good. But I do have some interesting experiences to share!

I moved into a hostel on the 12^th of March. The hostel food sucks, I am paying more than what the services are worth for, and no one except the warden can speak Hindi (broken, but comprehensive). On the other hand, my room-mate is friendly and the room is quite spacious. You cannot have everything you want, can you? I am still on the lookout for good places to stay that are closer to where I work and are spacious. But now that I have bonded with my room-mate fairly well, it might make the moving harder. I might try to get her to move in with me too.  Let’s see.

Shopping is so much fun when you are alone. Never knew shopping for bedsheets would be as exciting as shopping for clothes is. I ended up spending too much on them and then felt guilty about it later. I took pictures of one of them so just tell me how beautiful you think it is (even if you don’t think so). That will rid me of the guilt :P

I will upload pictures (or a video) of the room later (when it’s cleaner :P). We have roaches in our room and are going to call the pest control people next week. One more reason why I’m still looking for better places!!

As I said before, I am not too happy with the food here. Nowhere do they serve chapaati the way we make it. I always thought “rotis” or “chapaatis” were made of wheat. You rarely get a roti that’s made of wheat here and I long for it. They use “maida” everywhere. Probably because it’s cheap. Little do they understand that it’s bad for your body and doesn’t digest easily. Or maybe they do understand but couldn’t care less to do anything about it. We aren’t allowed to cook in the hostel, and the ‘rotis’ you get outside at local curry points are all made of “maida” too. That leaves you just with one option – rice. And given the fact that I am putting on weight, having two rice meals in a day isn’t helping at all. Also, the subzi (vegetable) is too spicy.

The trouble with finding good food led Nissim and I to try cooking. Nissim is the friend I was staying with before I could move in here. He has a proper house with a well setup kitchen. So this one time, when I was at his place for dinner, we decided to cook some rice and dal ourselves. We called up his mother for help with cooking the rice and dal. And when it was time to give some ‘tadka’ to the dal, I tried calling my mom up. She wouldn’t answer the phone and eventually, I called my friend Aditi. Her mom answered and helped me with it. Somehow, even with her clear instructions, I managed to burn the curry leaves & cumin seeds. The dal was still edible though. Actually, more than just edible. It was tasty! The papad was prepared in the microwave, and we had some pickle at home.

I also stayed over once and there was nothing for breakfast so I tried boiling eggs with the help of JD & my friend Chinky's mom over the phone. And they turned out pretty well :)

The next time I go to his place for dinner, I am going to try “chapaatis”. I can make a lot of them twice every week and take them to the hostel. :D

I found a nice place (Chowpatti – Platters) that served good North Indian, West Indian and East Indian food at City Centre. It’s a mall there. The first time I went there, I was so happy and hungry that I gobbled up everything. Only halfway through the meal, I realised I could’ve taken a picture. I did anyway:

The next time I went there, I made sure I took a good shot before I could start eating:

Delicious, no?

There are a lot of malls around here- GVK One being the grandest of them all. But somehow, I like City Centre better. It isn’t so posh looking as GVK One but it has everything you need. The food, wide variety of body products (love 'em!), good stationery at Crossword (awesome craft products at Crossword of all places!! I knew they stocked stationery, but craft???), good shops that don’t burn a hole in your pocket.

Almost everything is too expensive in Hyderabad. The auto drivers refuse to go by the meter (except for the occasional honest ones) and charge you any price they think they’d get. Eating is expensive too. The Frankie you get in Bombay starts at Rs. 12 while the one here starts at Rs. 35 ATLEAST. I don’t have many options to eat around my workplace. There is a Frankie place called “Roll Call” and a Subway. Not being particularly fond of Subway, I eat at the Roll place sometimes. One veg roll costs you Rs. 45 and it’s not even that tasty. It’s so spicy that you get full just by drinking water. So I either have to pack my hostel food for lunch or get something from the local curry point which again is either “maida roti” or “rice”.

Parlours are expensive too. I wouldn’t get into the details of it but I was shocked at how steep the rates were- more than double of what they are in Bombay!!

You would think Bombay is more expensive- it being the city of "dreams" and all.. but trust me, other than land & rent, everything is dirt cheap in Bombay – unless you’re the kinds who prefers living life in total luxury.

One thing I found cheap was Naariyal Paani (Coconut Water). I had one for ten rupees the other day and told my room-mate about it. I told her I was happy and didn’t mind having one everyday. She said ten rupees for a coconut is expensive. People bargain for five to six rupees it seems. That is way too cheap. You get one for 22-25 INR here (Bombay).

One good thing is they don’t give you plastic cups at tea stalls here. They serve tea in recyclable paper cups but they are way too tiny!! :( They don’t serve tea in glasses strangely but I think that just makes it more hygienic. I have an emotional thing with having tea in chai glasses though.

Also, tea is consumed a lot more than coffee. You would think since it's the South of India, filter coffee is easily available. But strangely, it isn't. Even most tea points don't make coffee like they do in Bombay.

Coming back to malls, GVK-One has Hard Rock Cafe – one good place I enjoyed at last weekend. I have never been to the HRC in Bombay yet, strangely. I thought the place would be a little too loud for me. But I loved the music AND the company. Remember the nice people I had mentioned last time- one of whose birthday it was and I had gone to their place for dinner? I went out with them, the girl’s dad, Nissim and one more person. I enjoyed myself thoroughly. It’s too bad that it was their second last day in Hyderabad. Why do things end when they are just starting to get better?

Anyway, so HRC was fun. Amongst all the madness, the DJ played the song I requested for and he was especially happy when I went over to thank him personally. The atmosphere was joyous. The “Saturday night” effect perhaps.

So my last weekend (18th-19th) was quite eventful. Was working on Saturday and then went to HRC. On Sunday, I went for a movie “Kahaani” with an old friend and later during the day, caught up with some Twitterers at a Bombay tweetup I had organised :D The movie was good even though I had accidentally read the climax somewhere.

So, by now, I think I have summed up what I feel about the place. Work keeps me occupied. The rest of it isn’t very enjoyable but I am somehow pulling myself along. Let’s see how it goes.

Right now, I am on my way to Bombay- for three whole days!! :) Okay, almost three. Train journeys are fun. Waiting to catch up with my friends again.

Happy Holi! :) (Day 68 - Project 366)

I can't believe I am so busy all of a sudden!!! Excuse me if this post sounds disoriented. My thoughts don't really have a proper flow today.

So, I have been busy. Though I have plenty of time on my hands after I come back from work, I am too tired to do anything..

The whole week was spent in doing work. Though I get tired, I am sort-of liking it now.   Actually, I don't know whether I am liking it or getting used to it but trying not to worry about that too much.

Bangalore was both good and bad. I'm still pretty shaken..and cannot think clearly at all.

I finally found a Lush lip scrub there:

Was looking for a lip scrub for a long time.. I had heard of Lush's Bubblegum lip scrub but didn't know they had it in Mint Julep and Chocolate too. Needless to mention, I bought Chocolate. These scrubs are edible and tasty.. I have never been to any of the Lush stores in Bombay. For a long time, I was under the impression that they don't sell in India. I was very happy at finding it at a mall in Bangalore. The product is not AS GOOD as I expected it to be. :S I don't like the fact that it's sticky, and it doesn't do the job of removing the dead skin too well. I want to try other Lush products but their prices are pretty steep. This small lip scrub cost me 640INR!

My journey back to Hyderabad was real good. I was amazed by looking at the bus interiors. I had never seen a bus like that before!

I had booked it on redBus and the bus was "Dhanunjaya Travels". The interior of the bus was completely like a Two Tier AC train coach! This was the corridor:

The left side was the single sleeper side, meaning, it had two beds each- above and below. The right side, however, was a double sleeper, meaning it had four beds- two above & two below facing each other. The bus was clean & fully air conditioned, every "compartment" had a movie screen, curtains, pillows, blankets, personal plug points for charging your laptop or phone. Except for the fact that it didn't have a restroom and that the roads were still bumpy (they are roads after all), it was even better than a train!! It was the first time I saw something like that..

 Isn't this ladder much more convenient to climb on than the side ladder in the trains? Mine was the upper berth! :)

A couple of days back, Nissim- the friend I am staying with currently, introduced me to his friend and the friend's wife. It was her birthday and we had gone to their place to have dinner twice - on the day of her birthday and a day before that.

I had a real nice time chatting with them. Laughed quite a bit after a long time. Too bad they are leaving this place soon. I told them about the "train" bus too. They thought me to be silly though. They had been on such buses before and it was nothing new for them at all. :-| Guess I was the only one :P

Today was Holi and it didn't feel like Holi at all since I had to go to work. And in any case, the festivals here are not as grandly celebrated as they are in Bombay! Nissim's mother had sent some puran polis along with him when he went to Bombay last weekend. For those who don't know, it's a dish prepared especially during Holi. It's like chapati with some sweet stuffing in it. We had totally forgotten about them and ate them just today for dinner.. and suddenly, Holi felt like Holi again :)

Perfect timing! :)

Traff*cked :D (Day 62 - Project 366)

I officially hate Bangalore traffic. Was at the airport a little before 7pm last evening to attend a reception of a close family friend at this place called Jayanagar. I was all dressed up for the occasion but it took me 3 hours to get to the place and by then I was too embarrassed to enter the hall, so spent the night at a friend's place!!

The wedding, however, took place today and I donned a saree for the occasion :) It was a peaceful wedding and I made friends with this girl called Mahati. I had known her before, but we were very little then. I think I was about eight or nine when I had met her :D None of us could remember how the other looked like, and we had to be introduced again. We connected immediately and I spent the next two hours in conversation with her!

The rest of the day was pretty good too.. I am experiencing a lot of emotions at the same time. Need to breathe.

House hunting (Day 60 - Project 366)

I don't know if I've started liking the new city yet. I haven't yet got the time to really see around. The last couple of days were just spent in looking for a decent place to stay. While looking around for a good hostel/PG, we (mom and I) did a lot of walking around and the weather here didn't help at all. It is extremely hot here.. hotter than Bombay and though Bombay is hot, you atleast tend to sweat it all out. That isn't the case here. The heat gets to you. Besides headache, your eyes start to burn, water and feel heavy. You feel totally drained out. I'd strongly suggest anyone planning to walk during the daytime here, to carry an umbrella and wear something that covers your face, neck and arms. The sun will kill your skin too. Also, carry a bottle of water with you ALWAYS.

Mom left to go back to Bombay just today. We came across a lot of different places. Some were real nice & clean and some looked impossible to live in. There was one PG where mom got freaked out just by looking at a girl's makeup :D It looked to her more like a brothel house than a PG! There is one hostel that is very close to my workplace, it is very affordable, clean, provides meals and the street is full of food stalls and chai joints. The only bad thing is- they have five beds in a room- each bed the size of a mini sofa and all stuck to each other! I don't mind sharing the room with a couple of people but something like this would suffocate me greatly.

There was a really nice PG with girls from different places- mostly from the North and one Marathi speaking girl from Nagpur too! But the commute would be a problem there as the place was really far! There was one more hostel that I really liked, and the room that would be assigned to me apparently had a girl from Bombay staying there. So I'd be sharing the room with her. I had gone to that hostel again today hoping to meet her as she works late. I waited for her for somewhere over 30 minutes but she still hadn't returned from work so I left my number for her to call me. She then called me up saying she was from Calcutta and not Bombay :-| Anyway, I like the  room so will probably move there. It's slightly far from my workplace but I guess I'll manage.

I always thought living somewhere independently would be fun but this is getting really difficult and tiring :( Let's see what more is in store for me..

New city! (Day 58 - Project 366)

So finally I have done it.. taken my foot forward and here I am in this new city! The morning started with jogging with Alisha for the last time and the rest of the time was spent in bidding goodbyes to my friends & neighbours. I did feel a bit jittery while boarding the flight to Hyderabad with mom (she's spending a couple of days here) but I managed to hold myself together and ignored the feeling as much as I could.

I don't think it's going to be so bad. Yes, I am going to miss  my city. Yes, I am going to miss my dear ones. But this is also giving me a chance to explore myself .. and to see if I can really live alone ;)

As I write this, I am half trying to convince myself why I am here!

This might take time..but I am going to be stronggg!!! :)

P.S: I personally don't like posting too many posts at one go.. but I just couldn't help it this time. There was a whole lot of packing to do and I was pressed for time! :(

Last day at the Bay! (Day 57 - Project 366)

All my bags are packed I'm ready to go..

I am moving out of the city tomorrow and fortunately I am not feeling AS BAD as I did about it .. yay!! So I guess someone's virtual hug really helped me the other day! Thank you, whoever it was! ;)

Caught up with my friends Aditi & Reeti for a few hours before I could start packing my bags..

And then Alisha came to spend the night with me. She made me the cutest card (and an envelope too) and a pot to drink tea in everyday :) The pot has my short name on it too and it was painted all by herself!! :)

Thanks so much Alisha!! :)

I am going to miss my friends!!! :'(

New Laptop! (Day 56 - Project 366)

Finally got a new laptop today after a lot of hunting around..

Dell Inspiron N5050
HDD: 320GB
RAM: 6GB DDR3
Processor: B960 2nd generation 2.2 Ghz
Graphic: 1GB Intel HD

The screen is 15.6 inches diagonally but this looks smaller than 15.6 somehow - but it's just like I wanted it to be! I didn't want a very big screen or even a tiny one :)

It does not have a numeric keypad but that's okay, right?

So what do you think? ;)

Fun! (Day 55 - Project 366)

Remember a contest I had conducted on my art blog? I finally met the winner today as I had gone to give him his prize! :) I had forgotten to carry my camera along :( We had a really nice and long conversation but not enough time. I have noticed he is one more person I can talk to and tend to run short of time while doing so. Such meets are always pleasant :) My friends joined us too in a while as we had to go to a restaurant/pub from there.

Had fun at Volare. It's a pub in Colaba. The food was good, the alcohol rates were a little on the heavier side but it was Ladies night and most of us were girls :) So we just had to pay a small fee and could avail  unlimited number of drinks from the four cocktails that they had specified. I was not very satisfied with Sangria. It is a drink that is made up of wine, small fruit pieces, sweetener etc. The drink I had didn't taste like wine at all. It didn't have any fruit pieces either and was more on the bitter side than sweet! The mojitos were pretty decent. I liked the pastas & pizzas.

The place didn't have much of a crowd for a Friday night strangely. It added to our advantage, as we got the dance floor to ourselves! :D

It was great fun swinging to techno as well as Bollywood numbers like "Chikni Chameli" and "Ooh La La" :P

Three of my friends came to spend the night at home.. and we were up till 4:30 a.m. drinking tea, playing UNO and having a superrrrrrrr time! :)

Thoughts ~ (Day 54 - Project 366)

I've listed a few things to do before I move out of the city (yes, I am moving out on Monday) :( and these days, I follow this list and I plan my days as per when I'll do what.

So today, I went to get my laptop fixed at mom's office. She works in a school and the computer lab engineer had offered to help. After a lot of trying to get the laptop work and taking pictures of the school with Chinky (it was my school till 4th grade while she spent her entire school life there), we met our old teachers, laughed and smiled at the kids, had lunch in the canteen and came back home. I might just buy a new laptop :P

I had a hair appointment in the afternoon. How I love to get myself pampered at the parlour! It was 2 hours of pure bliss.

I went to meet a friend from my old workplace post that. Had a really nice time talking to him. Also had kulfi after very long :P

Next I went to my cousin's place who stays in the same area. Spoke to my aunt for quite sometime over tea. My journey back home was amazing. It was around 10:30pm when I got into the train and there was just one other lady in the compartment. She too got down at Santacruz and I had the entire compartment to myself! :D

This is how I sat all the while :D

I've been reading this book called "Love in a headscarf":

I love the cover. It's one of the reasons I decided to read the book :P It even shines when you hold it at a certain angle. So, anyway, this book is about a Muslim girl brought up in London, in search of "The One". I haven't finished reading the book yet but so far, she has narrated her experience of the whole process. She decides to go ahead with finding her man the "arranged marriage" way and is constantly in search of "the feeling" in each one of her meets. No one really understands her except her mom and people keep telling her to be flexible about her demands saying she'll end up alone otherwise.

It's funny how I've started reading this book at the right time.. Just two days ago, someone from the extended family asked me if I was ready for marriage or to start looking for suitors. After I said "no", she went on to say that this process usually takes a lot of time. "Even if we start looking now, it will take another 2-3 years. You can start by just looking at profiles.", she said. I didn't know how to react to that. Right from the time I was seven, I dreamt of a relationship- holding hands, picnic baskets, handmade cards & gifts, once-in-a-while date in a restaurant with slow music, open air star gazing etc. Cute and perfect. This concept of an arranged marriage never appealed to me. I wanted things to be magical. I wanted my boyfriend to magically appear in front of me. "Things are not always like they are in the books or movies", people say. But for me, the "click" or "the perfect feeling" is important. I have spent a lot of time in quest of this "click" and sometimes, I do feel insecure. Silly as it may sound, this insecurity has even led me to force myself to generate that "click" with certain people that I have thought to be good matches and who have liked me. Trust me, that doesn't work.

At times when I am stable and happy, I really don't need anyone. I don't know if I want to marry. I do not think I am ready for marriage and I don't want to "settle" for someone. I still want to wait for "the feeling". But things like "you might end up alone" do scare me at times when I am feeling low. So, though I was against the concept and though I am not mentally prepared for marriage, I was tempted. I still said "no" in the end but I don't like the pressure that's building up. Even though I know that I am happy with myself most of the time, I am scared that I might start wanting someone in the future and by then it'll be too late and what they say might turn out to be true. So I am scared I will settle even though I don't want to. Get it?

I am curious to know who Shelina (the character in the book) ends up with and what she decides to do. Can't wait to finish the book! Won't blog about it just in case someone plans on reading the book. Wouldn't want to spoil it for them.

Right now, I have a lot of things on my plate to think in that direction. Moving out of the city is one. Also, I want to travel more, read more, create more, explore more!

By the way, this thought of moving out of the city has been eating me up. Everytime I think of it, my stomach rolls up and I divert my mind somehow. I don't even know if I am doing the right thing but I don't want to run away this time. I have to face it.

*cribs*.. I am in such an age where there are just decisions to make all the time.. decisions about career, relationship, life! I do not know what I really want to do or be, I am not in the "perfect relationship" that I always wanted and no clue about where my life is headed. It was all okay about a couple of years ago till I was in college. I was a confused person but I was quite okay with that. No one else cared about it either. But as I am growing up now, it's like- everyone is expecting something. They expect you to be responsible and to know what you want in every aspect of life. It is pressurising. Sometimes everything is so clear and sometimes it is so confusing that you just want to go hide yourself under a blanket for as long as you can so that you don't have to face the world.

Need a hug! Anyone?

Benetton! (Day 53 - Project 366)

Shopped at United Colors of Benetton today!! :) There is always a "upto 70% off" sale at their factory outlet in Parel, but hardly anything worth purchasing. Since the last couple of weeks however, things have changed!! They have new stuff on sale and I felt like buying everything they had today.. but had to be happy with just one top. Chinky however bought a pair of black heels, a belt and denims! And we are planning to visit the store again this week! :)

Feels great after getting a good deal !! :D

I am back :P (Day 52 - Project 366)

...so guess who's back??! I am really really sorry this project had to suffer a break :( I tried hard to keep this going but something came up on Day 41, and I had to go out of town immediately. The next 4-6 days kept me so busy that I had no time to breathe. Post that, there were so many events to go to that posting everyday became difficult. I did click pictures whenever I could, but posting was the hard part. I admit I also got lazy to return to my blog after the 6 day break! A lot of people asked me why I wasn't doing Project366 anymore and it sure did feel good to know people followed the series! Even though there has been a break, I still want to continue with Day 52. I will try my best to keep up with this!! :)

To give y'all an update, a lot of things have taken place. Barcamp Mumbai was back for the eighth time this Sunday (19th of February). For those who do not know what Barcamp is, you should read up this: http://barcampmumbai.org/index.php/Main_Page#What_is_Barcamp.3F. This is the link to the wiki page for Barcamp Mumbai. Though I could not be present all day unlike last time, I took a session for the first time! :) And people actually listened and asked questions too! :D I was nervous while presenting a mock session to someone but was surprisingly cool & calm during the main presentation! :) Sharing some pictures of the Barcamp clicked by Ankit Daftery :

This is the wiki board where people, wanting to take a session, can stick post-its in the available time slots. The columns stand for the rooms. So there are multiple sessions happening simultaneously in different rooms, and it gets really hard to choose one over another! The topic can be anything! It can range from art, cooking, history, education, to even psychology, technology and medicine!

I missed having these :( This is what happens when you arrive too late!

Random pics from the sessions :

And this was one interactive session that made you dance, workout and laugh - all at the same time:

You can find his whole album here : http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151314043695112.811748.676005111&type=3

Looks like fun, doesn't it? To know of future barcamps, you can follow @BarcampMumbai on Twitter or join the group on Facebook. These Barcamps also happen in other cities all over India. You might want to keep a track of those here: http://barcamp.in/index.php/Main_Page

I might upload a video of my session if I like it. Still have to view it myself! :)

--- x ---

Played badminton and skipped after really long last evening:

I've played badminton a lot but I think I skipped after years!!! Don't even remember when I did it last. I might have been eleven.. no wonder I am so short :P

--- x ---

Today was quite unlike any other day.. After a long time, I woke up at 6:30 and went for a jog. Mornings are so pleasant!

Post that, I did yoga for an hour, got ready and went to shoot random pictures & videos with friends (Chinky, Alisha, Ashu).

It was real fun shooting videos and photos all morning..

After having some chai at my regular chaiwallah, I spotted two cats sitting back to back, one cat facing the back of another. They had been sitting that way for a long time and people were stopping & looking at them as they passed by. We took shots of these cats, and I mailed them to a friend a while back who frequents the place. He already knew about them and told me he looks at them everyday whenever he's around that area- right from afternoon to evening! They just keep sitting that way, he said!

I first thought they were.. ahem.. "humping"..*cough*.. but they were sitting quite apart for something like that to be possible :P That made me wonder how cats do "it" anyway. :S :P

I saw them today in the morning. So maybe they sit like that all day.. my friend happens to be there only post lunch to see them in that time slot. Peculiar behaviour, don't you think? I really wonder what could be the reason behind it. Don't they get bored sitting in one spot all day in the same position? They don't even move when you're clicking them!!

The rest of the day was spent at home trying to fix my laptop and working on something. My childhood bestie Chinky surprised me by gifting me these lovely pair of earrings that she made herself:

The stars have a different kind of shine to it.. I can't recall what this material is called!

Pretty, aren't they? :)

She keeps doing a lot of this stuff and you can check her other creations here: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150519826238678.401955.516218677&type=3

I think she deserves an exclusive post on my art blog! :)

That's it for today I guess. But do keep checking back! I do not plan to give up on this one, though I may have skipped a few days. :) Adios!