For a long time I tried to change my vote to Austin and it was in fact my default vote since I hadn't lived in Hyderabad (India) for a long time. But now that I'm not in India as a tourist, and am in fact living in Pune, I am seeing Hyderabad as a place where I could see myself living. And it's amazing.
Let me start with the FM radio. The constant Telugu songs - old, recent and brand new. The banter of the RJs who speak decent Telugu for a change. (The early days of cable TV and FM radio were filled with people whose best quality was their upbeat nature rather than a grasp of fluent Telugu. Now we get both skills.) The ads for programs which play sound bytes of actors - or rather some random voice actor imitating the voices of the stars.
Then there's the food. I would love to be able to just walk over (or drive to) to any of the restaurants and try out their food. For the most part they are the same, but Hyderabad, which is now an A1 city, has a rich variety of restaurants.
Then of course there are the movies that I'd love to watch without reading reviews, or about a billion days after they are released. In case I haven't said it before, I'm a proud Telugu, and would rather watch a bad Telugu movie than a good Hindi movie any day. (Of course, I'll make exceptions for exceptional Hindi movies like Lagaan or Munnabhai MBBS.)
Lastly, there's the tourist spots. Birla Mandir, Tank Bund, Charminar, shopping in Koti/Abids and the numerous malls and multiplexes.
If ony I was born 20 years late, and went to college in Hyderabad and then went on work there. Aah ...
Let me start with the FM radio. The constant Telugu songs - old, recent and brand new. The banter of the RJs who speak decent Telugu for a change. (The early days of cable TV and FM radio were filled with people whose best quality was their upbeat nature rather than a grasp of fluent Telugu. Now we get both skills.) The ads for programs which play sound bytes of actors - or rather some random voice actor imitating the voices of the stars.
Then there's the food. I would love to be able to just walk over (or drive to) to any of the restaurants and try out their food. For the most part they are the same, but Hyderabad, which is now an A1 city, has a rich variety of restaurants.
Then of course there are the movies that I'd love to watch without reading reviews, or about a billion days after they are released. In case I haven't said it before, I'm a proud Telugu, and would rather watch a bad Telugu movie than a good Hindi movie any day. (Of course, I'll make exceptions for exceptional Hindi movies like Lagaan or Munnabhai MBBS.)
Lastly, there's the tourist spots. Birla Mandir, Tank Bund, Charminar, shopping in Koti/Abids and the numerous malls and multiplexes.
If ony I was born 20 years late, and went to college in Hyderabad and then went on work there. Aah ...
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