hyderabad

i promise to keep this one short, the last few posts have been pretty long...

hyderabad then... it was cool in the noisy dirty smells of wee indian city kind of way. the rikshaw drivers there were an absolute menace, always starting at "400 rupees sir, very long way" for journeys that should only cost 50 or so and absolutely barking mad. it was fun to get them right down, i love how when you walk away or flag another rikshaw down they suddenly think your price is fair! i visited the golconda fort which was pretty cool. i arranged with my driver to be taken back into hyderabad when i was done, so i had an hour to mosey around the fort and look at all the various rooms, chambers, temples and the palace inside. i met 2 hyderabadi lads, both called arshad. their english was great, both of them were studying engineering at the university and they were really impressed when i tried out my hindi on them. as we walked down the hill we chatted about various things, their hopes and dreams, cricket. the usual :D arshad 1 wants to go and work in newcastle with his cousin so i told him that he'd have to call his cousin a geordie the next time he spoke to him which had him in fits of giggles. when i got to the bottom i saw that my rikshaw had buggered off, probably because i refused to give him the return fare beforehand.

i flagged another one down and headed towards the charminar, an old islamic arch that is the earliest example of islam in hyderabad itself (the original city, at golconda, had to move due to water shortages.. hyderabad is where it moved to.) the charminar area is intense. very busy with lots of bazaars, rikshaws, cyclists, chai stalls, people and pearl shops. hyderabad is world famous for its pearls, shop after shop after shop all with fantastically beautiful necklaces, bracelets and the like on display. i had a good wander around there and then headed back to my hotel to get tarted up, as i had heard that a new club had opened in town and it was the place to be seen. i've not really had a chance to experience much middle-class living in india, i'm mostly confined to grotty backpacker rooms and dining experiences so i thought i'd have a look. it was oh so very lush inside, really sleek and modern. the music was tragic, however. really old crap songs - wet wet wet all tranced up and techno'd. it was very strange. as the night wore on i got talking to a couple who were recently engaged called anuj and divya, theirs was an arranged marriage. i was fascinated to hear their tale, anuj is indian but lives and works in america and he had been in hyderabad for a week to meet his new bride, whose hands and arms were covered in the most beautiful henna and mehindi (i'm not quite sure i know the difference between the 2) and her ring was beautiful. we found somewhere to sit and drink coffee and we chatted away until the wee hours about all manner of things. i was most interested in anuj's recollections of arriving in america for the first time as a 16 year old who had never left hyderabad. he had exactly the same kind of culture shock i had coming here, but in reverse.. everything was cold, clean, efficient. nobody looked at him, it was all so big and bright and fast and alien. we spent a very interesting few hours indeed chatting away and sipping our coffee. the next day i was due to head to bengaluru by train. i got to the train station and i was still waitlisted. for crying out loud! what's the point of this poxy waitlist thing? if there's no room on the train don't sell me a ticket, i'll make other plans!! i ended up waiting at the train station for 4 hours so they could print the chart up and see if anything was available. surprise surprise, there wasn't. so i bit the bullet and went to the bus stand to get an overnight local bus. no ac.. no sleeper berth... just me, my bags and a very hard seat for 14 hours. when i got there i was relieved to learn that there was a deluxe ac bus direct to mysore - my final destination! woop! and it left in 40 minutes! woop woop! i grabbed myself some lays and a cakebar (my travelling staples for times of emergency hunger) and jumped on the bus, whacked my seat back as far as it would go and settled down for some snoozing.

next stop, mysore. city of spices, oils, sandalwood and incense.