Hyderabad Blues - Part 1

Swaram must be wondering how am I qualified to talk about her adopted city :P

But yes, I have lived there 2 years of my life - time sufficient enough to build memories. I am going to share some of them here...

Whenever I hear Hyderabad, top things that come into my mind are Kamat hotel opposite to Birla Mandir, Khairatabad, Lakdi Ka Pul, Mother Teresa High School and St. Mary's School. My experiences map into only these places.

Let me start by telling you all that I was just 9 years old when my parents were transferred to Hyderabad. We were put in Mother Teresa High School. I do not really have many memories of my classmates or teachers from here. However 2 incidents are very raw in my head:

1. One of my classmates was Marium. She had very curly long hair. That particular day, she had not combed her hair well and it was all streaming over her face. I asked her casually - "why have you not combed your hair?" and in response (broken english), she responded "I had head bath today only ya". I was quick to catch that and called rest of the gang and announced "hey you know what... Marium had head bath today only after all these years...".

At that point, it was fun. I never realized the amount of hurt I would have caused to her by making fun of her english. Marium, in case you get to see this post, I am terribly sorry. It was certainly not my intention to hurt you ... I just wanted to bring out the pun in your statement.

2. Sankranthi is one big and colorful festival in Hyderabad. What makes it so is the kite flying tradition that is associated with this festival. Since we were staying on the 2nd floor of a house, my sister and I were enthusiastic to fly a kite - a first in our life. so, off we went to buy a kite from lakdi ka pul market, which was walking distance from our house.

On the way back, a bunch of small (rowdy) boys snatched the kite from my hand. I was dumb stuck on how to react. Although I considered myself very bold (misconception, later I realized), I failed to react boldly at that instance. I saw a familiar face bicycling near by. It turned out to be Shabbir, my classmate. He asked me what happened and I told him about the incident. Immediately, off he went on his bicycle, fought with the guys and got my kite back. I was so happy and Shabbir was the knight in the shining armor for me. Shabbir, thank you very much for getting our kite back. I hope you will read this.

Sadly, end of that year, my father decided to change our school to St. Mary's and I never kept in touch with my Mother Teresa Gang. However, these 2 memories are very fresh in my mind as if they happened yesterday :D