Hyderabad Blues

I'll start with the disclaimer : I'm not actually feeling blue but I liked the title!

I never posted about my first impressions of Hyderabad but since I've been here nearly three weeks now, I've kind of lost my momentum for that. Suffice to say, it's a nice city, though sadly lacking in libraries and plays and cute guys. The lake is beautiful and the whole lake-side area has been developed pretty well, with a nice waterfront feel to it. I liked a lot of localities which had good shops and roads, though I'm staying in an the Hyderabadi equivalent of Kandan Chavadi in Chennai (actually I don't even think that counts as Chennai, just as I think Madhapur is probably not part of Hyderabad).

What I actually wanted to post about, was how it feels to be in a new city. I came here seeking independence. And boy, did I get it, but as I've been saying to friends, I don't know what to do with my new-found independence! I haven't gone for any night shows yet, as I don't know who to go with. I went for a play reading, which was laughably bad enough to almost inspire me to start my own play-reading group. I've been to the museum and Char Minar and malls and eating places. What's left to do? So I've been watching more TV than I ever wanted or intended to watch in my whole life. I've sent enough national smses and made STD calls, so much so that it would be better anc certainly cheaper if I were in Chennai! I've been desperately seeking books to read, as I was foolish enough not to bring any, as I thought I'd be having too much fun to be reading :P

An appeal to the Hyderabadis out there - do tell me more about what to do in this city!

This may not be much of a post but at least it cured my blogger's block to an extent so I hope I will be posting a lot more.

My Last Week in Chennai

My current mood : Slightly depressed and nostalgic

Immoral Policing?

Superintendent R. Natraj comments that he is "all for people loving each other" and "loves to watch people dance", when asked about the recent hotel incident. WTF?!!
Also he claims that Chennai is more liberal and accommodating than cities like Hyderabad and Bangalore. Huh??

My Experiments with Truth

I should have known that my idyllic state of the previous post couldn't last. Hot on the heels of that post, my mother calls up and tells me she forgot to make the potato curry and I should take over. Although if she saw its current state, she would probably have preferred to eat the original raw potato.

I think I took more potato flesh off than skin when I was peeling them.(For information, the eyes on a potato totally gross me out. Reminds me of some ingrown toe-nail or something). Then put too much turmeric, too little chilli powder and I am very doubtful about the salt. My maid burst put laughing when she saw the resultant mess in the kadai (the kadai was too wet apparently and the oil was put in too late). And uttered the ominous words, let your father eat an unusual dish today. Hardly what any budding cook wants to hear. Now I've fled from the kitchen, as I think there's no way she can do anything worse to my curry, short of actually burning it. Which, come to think of it, may not be a bad thing to happen.

Any idea why I called this post my experiments with truth? Because I cooked it up!

I hope I have a better way with words than with food :)

PS. The maid and I seem to be bonding over this experience. She tells me that my grandmother will be so happy that I can cook.

Sunday Morning

Did you ever hear music so beautiful, that somehow you have to stop, listen, and dream.

Something that makes you wonder what is life, something that absolutely tugs at you.

I get that feeling every time I listen to the ragam Hindolam / Malkhauns or Ananda Bhairavi or Purvi Kalyani. Right now it's L. Subramanian doing the honours.

And I am picturing myself floating away...

You know you're a workoholic techie geek when

1. You go to work on weekends, even on a Sunday.

2. You put in a minimum of twelve hours a day, with no upper limit.

3. Your only social life occurs in the office cafeteria.

4. You and your office friends make sad software-related puns, for which you all laugh hysterically.(for example someone says, "I want to try eating this for a change", and another wiseass remarks, "But you might catch some disease and finally regret it!")

5. You've only seen your family for about an hour daily and spoken to them for even less time.

6. The only stuff you read is MSDN or Google.

7. You find yourself swiping an imaginary ID card to enter any room anywhere.

8. Your wrists and fingers hurt from the repetitive movements involved in using the mouse and keyboard.

9. The above-mentioned activities are also the only physical exercise you undertake.

10. You can drink coffee at any hour of the day, be it noon or night.

Girls Don't Quiz

Thanks to Prashanth for showing me this article. It brought back a lot of memories!

Back when I used to quiz (this was in school) I was the almost the only girl who did. I've always found it strange and sad that there were never any girls there. The only time I've ever seen an all-girls team in a quiz was in a school General Assembly. Two friends and I were the underdogs there, as we were the junior-most and also the only females on stage. The quizmaster was some patronising 12th std chap. Understandably we were a bit amateurish in 9th and there was one sad round where we passed every question, so much so that the audience would auto-complete the pass for us when it was our turn. But in true Disney movie-ishtyle we won, and in a neck-to-neck finish. Then our principal had to smirk and announce to the other teams, "How does it feel to be beaten by a bunch of girls?!" Well, really! As though that should matter!

The patronising quizmasters are a whole other story. Always addressing questions to the guys. If our team won, then the guys would get the congratulatory handshakes, I would probably get a smile if I were lucky.

An unforgettable, particularly hideous episode, was during the regional finals of the Limca Quiz, I think when I was in 11th. I was in the team with two guys. The quizmaster was Barry O'Brien (@#$*&^$).

Barry: Where do you find the Mount of Venus and the Line of Jupiter?
Me: In the palm of the hand.
Barry: Oh, I said where would you find the Mount of Venus and the Line of Jupiter.
Me (slightly puzzled): Umm, I would find them in the palm of my hand.

Then Barry was like, hmm, what's your name? I told him. He asks the guy next to me his name. Having obtained that vital information, he announces, "Then why don't the two of you hold hands and show the audience?"

Show them what, that we have hands??? The memory of that day still enrages me! I wish I had thought to sue him for discrimination right then. Not only did it serve no purpose except to tickle his infantile sense of humour, it caused me to be teased with my teammate for quite some time after that.

Sadly my quizzing days ended in college, more or less. And nowadays the quiz finals still have fewer female finalists than can be counted with half the fingers of one hand. I don't think it has anything to do with the different ways the male and female brains are constructed or any such nonsense. But I don't have the answer.

This is not really a post

LaunchCast's Classic Rock station ROCKS!
In the span of forty minutes:
Bob Seger - Turn the Page
Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody
Pink Floyd - Time
Eagles - Life in the Fast Lane
Led Zep - Rock and Roll
John Lennon - Imagine
Some other very listenable stuff too, not as famous as the above.

Ah, the sweets of broadband! Anyway, this is just a filler post. A proper one coming soon to a screen near you!