The Railroad Affair!

This train will go till Vijayawada!!! repeated the exasperated TTE wiping off the sweat-beads from his extra shiny forehead. I sprang up from my berth only to hit my head on the berth above mine.

 “Ouch! Did you just say it won’t go any further? How will we reach Hyderabad?” my reaction baffled him as he couldn’t match my expression with the questions.

“Why don’t you all pay attention when the announcements are being made? It was announced LOUDLY and CLEARLY yesterday at Howrah itself that all Hyderabad/ Secunderabad bound trains would go till Vijayawada and no more. A bunch of careless hippies is all the Indian Railways caters to these days.”  This remark of his sent a shock wave throughout the compartment which probably reverberated throughout the train. Quite a few passengers almost charged at him, making it look like a scene from some ‘struggle for independence’ movie with my husband Soum in the lead. I could almost hear their silent slogan “Simon Go Back!”

Sensing the gravity of the situation, the Indian Simon quickly abandoned that side and came over to ours blaming the Railway announcers for not being clear and the so called netas and activists for launching the ‘Telangana Rail Roko’ movement, and we blame the politicians for changing sides!

Blocking everything happening around me, I tried to concentrate on the task at hand which was to find out a way of reaching home. After much deliberation, Soum and I decided to do what the others were doing…getting off at Vijayawada and looking for a ride to Hyderabad.

Vijayawada station was a complete mayhem as we weren’t the only passengers stranded there. Other trains crowding the station bore a deserted look and the sleepy city was wide awake! Fortunately, there were autorickshaws plying at that hour of the day…err night. So we rushed to catch hold of an autowallah who agreed to take the two of us to the bus stand for thrice the usual fare. With two suitcases, two bags and a jumbo suitcase we didn’t have much of a choice, did we?

Well! The story doesn’t end here, once we were in the auto, not-so-comfortably settled with our baggage, we were informed that even the buses weren’t plying. It took the autowallah shoving all our stuff and the two of us inside the auto to realize that. Playing the role of a gracious host, he informed us of the shared taxi service which carried passengers from Vijayawada to Hyderabad. Thanking him profusely, we requested him to take us there and then began and ended our paid auto ride between the two gates of the same railway station, a thirty five seconds walk to be precise.

Finding a good seat in the taxi with hundreds of stranded passengers aiming for the same uncannily reminded me of the Indo-Pak partition as the urgency to reach home and the fear of not making it was way too evident on each face. It took us our entire might to accomplish our mission, might is our right…indeed!

Six hours twenty minutes and innumerable seconds later the Secunderabad railway station was within our tired sight. Wouldn’t have been happier if I reached the moon! Though the journey to the moon would have been easier with no one on the seat behind ours throwing up all the way, I guess. That one was the most unwanted of the events as Soum had to empty almost the entire bottle of perfume. We had to change cabs from there to our house and doing that was an ordeal in itself. After much jostling and wading through the sea of over-eager touts we managed to reach our pre-booked cab and from then on, there was no looking back.

Now that I sit and write about it, I can’t help but wonder what would have happened had we reached Vijayawada in different conditions. Because of our agitated state of mind due to the agitation, we couldn’t enjoy the amazing scenery. The sleepy town that welcomed us with open arms actually offers a breathtaking view. With the Eastern Ghats giving us company on one side and the sparkling Krishna river one the other it is quite a feast for the eyes. Alas!

Thought for Food...

Hyderabad never fails to amaze me!

Just when I had planned on having Hyderabadi Biryani, my first after re-settling here, everything went haywire. Wait till you know why.

Happiness engulfed me this morning when we decided that I had cooked enough for the entire week and, it being Friday, I was indeed entitled a day off. So no more cooking for the day and Hail Hyderabadi Biryani!  Jubilant, I made it a point to go to the World Wide Web and announced it on where else but Facebook…Afterall I had to share my joy with my friends and loved ones following the saying ‘happiness increases when you share it…and blah and blah and blah…’

Quite a few reactions came to my status update. Some people expressed excitement over my good fortune, some were a tad bit jealous of my tryst with delicacy; some were even surprised as they couldn’t fathom the reason for the sudden shower of favor. And one in particular was worried about my much too frail tummy as she is very well acquainted with my laborious digestive system.

Well, riding on my enthusiasm I passed the day and then came evening, the time much awaited by my desperate palate. I was all set to go and claim my reward for being so patient (hardly so…) when suddenly there was a huge rumbling sound. Was it my stomach or was it really the blue umbrella overhead? To quell my fears I went to the balcony. Oh boy! My worst fear had come true. The blue umbrella wasn’t blue anymore, you’ll think that obviously it was black since it was after dusk, but it was white. The heavy downpour had covered everything around me making it look white. Had it been any other time I would have reveled in the snowy beauty but today it reminded me of a shroud as I could see my well laid plans breathing their last.

All this while I was juggling between mutton and chicken, the kind of Biryani I would have, but now mutton and chicken had surrendered to cats and dogs. Dismayed, defeated and resigned I came back to my room and started planning on what to cook for dinner, but not before I had sulked long enough. After much deliberation I zeroed in on rice and veggies boiled together since I didn’t have much choice or desire. Ready with my ingenious preparation I got a call from my darling husband saying that since it wasn’t raining anymore (yes it had stopped raining now but I was too overwhelmed with grief to notice) we should meet at the nearest food joint.

Since Biryani had eluded me so mercilessly I decided to switch my loyalties to the ever faithful pizza, which would have come to me at home, had I decided otherwise. Just when we unlocked our door after a treat of yummy pizza and yummier garlic bread, the sky erupted once again. Though I didn’t bother with the sky or its color anymore, yet it seemed as if amidst all the thunder and lightening the Hyderabadi sky was demanding a vote of thanks from me for giving me the much needed breather in the form of Pizza even if it tastes way different from Biryani. Thank you my dear Hyderabadi blue-black-white umbrella for the shower of…

Hyderabad Hues

“You have a severe case of tonsillitis”, said the doctor.
Never was I so relieved to hear these words. Since everyone around me suspected it to be H1N1, a mere ‘tonsillitis’ coming straight from the doctor’s mouth was like apricots dipped in honey, though it being lodged in my throat wasn’t quite appreciated.
My relationship with Hyderabad has always been quite a roller-coaster ride, just when the sickening feeling in the pit of the stomach subsides and I start enjoying it, it’s time to get off. My first visit to this city of ‘nizams’ was in way back in 2005, a time when Kondapur was full of rocks and unused land. I had come to the city for a final interview at Google and boy was I excited or what! Though I couldn’t make it through the final round, yet the city made it straight through my heart. We stayed at a guest house in Banjara Hills and that part of the city never fails to impress you. That overnight stay in Hyderabad left me wanting for more.
Years passed by and Hyderabad became a distant reality. Then came 2009 and Hyderabad pulled me once again. This time it was after clearing the final interview. My new job was that of a wife to the institution named Soumava Das Gupta. Though he isn’t as big a conglomerate as Google, yet he is an institution in himself. My second stint in the city was a little longer than my first one and lasted for six months. The stay began with chest congestion and running nose and ended with an upset stomach. Not that I didn’t enjoy in the meanwhile. The time without medicines was quite nice actually. Had a brief but enriching stint at Oakridge International School. Fell in love with  the Golconda Fort, Salar Jung Museum, Ramoji Film City, Nagarjuna Sagar and of course Eat Street.
Left Hyderabad for Kolkata Last August and while I was bidding farewell to the city, something within me said ‘Goodbye doesn’t mean forever’. Of course I chose not to listen as I was way too thrilled to go back ‘Home’, as called by the ‘Bongs’ here, where my evening snack wouldn’t be a slim choice between ‘vada’ and ‘mirchi bhaji’ anymore. Where I wouldn’t have to spend the first five minutes of every meal outside home picking out curry leaves. Little did I know that I would come to miss those small little specialties of Hyderabad so soon, not to mention the ‘Hyderabadi Biryani’ and the wide array of ‘kababs’.
Came May, 2011 and with all our bags packed we landed on the Hyderabadi turf hoping to keep them unpacked for much longer this time. As the cliché goes, history did repeat itself and I am here again in front of my laptop with a burning throat, blocked nose and an ever-present taste of strong medicines in my mouth. Yet there’s another thing which overrides all of the above, HOPE !