NAA BHAGYAM

Everyone loves the city/Place one has lived in. One has emotions,One has memories connected to it. One has a little part of him connected to that city always even if he lives far away from city. One feels the city he lives in is the best in the world. Indeed it is best city because all the dreams and pleasures he had felt are in that city as he grew up there.


This note that I'm writing is an ode to that city that I grew up in which May/May not be the same again.

                                    

Disclaimer: This article is just a note about this city and the emotional connection I have with. No political sides taken here. :)

         I take a pride in calling myself a Hyderabadi. It is called A City of pearls, A City of Nawabs and of course the city which made Biryani famous and a distinction of being the only city which can make it taste good. To be precise, Mouth watering. :)


        A city that has culture quintessentially conservative yet modern in its own way. Be it the Huge Ganesha's idol that is put in the centre of city every year or The Haleem Season when all most the entire city throngs to these shops to savour the sweetest delicacy you ever get to taste on this earth and important of all the Urdu Mixed accent of Hindi laced with the local Telugu language that the local guys speak and the slang they use, My city is truly unique.


        I had been brought up here. I used to reside in the heart of city near the famous Birla temple. The first memory I have of this city is the famous Ganesha idol I have mentioned before where my dad used to take me before it is about to be immersed with such a grandeur. Every one in the locality used to dance to the rhythmic percussion beat in a different style of dance which I later came to know as “Teen -Maar”. All The festivals have their own way of celebrating style here.
  
       The most innate quality of us is the way we bond with others. We bond with people easily. My Granny always says the one thing she likes about the city is the way they address each other calling Anna(brother) and amount of respect they give each other which she thinks the other big cities like Chennai and Bangalore lack. The city has its own way of loving each other, I agree on that with my Granny.


       All of my life I had been in Hyderabad. I fell in love with her. I realized “How much I missed her I and How much she means to me” only when I had to move out of here. There is no exaggeration here but, my city beautifully treads between the different strata that reside in the city carrying the spirit this city stands for in their hearts.
  
       Now, I see my city change in front of my own eyes. I don't know if the change is for good or bad or necessary. As Someone said,“ Change is the Rhythm of Living” and My city is changing slowly.

      And this change has taken its effect on the Spirit of the city is associated with it. Of late, the spirit has been losing its sheen. Owing to Political scenarios across the state, City has suffered a lot. The spirit the city was broken to an extent. I see an emotion that has indifference to your surroundings and hatred which has crept into the bodies of the same people who carried the city's spirit I mentioned above.


      I don't know what is in store for my city next year. But, I am sure that my city would regain its lost sheen. The spirit of the city might be broken but not dead for sure.

P.S. Khali-peeli angrezi bahut hogaya miyan!! Seedha Hyderabadi mein-ich boltun...

Hyderabad ke sabhi Potte aur Pottiyon ko Naye Saal ka Mubarak!! :)

Please...

It has always been about you
Every time, It's not me but you...

You always had it your way,
And I never had any say...


Still...

Why is it hard to accept me as I am,
When all I ask you is to just feel.
And please don't say 'U give a damn'...
As this is one thing with which you have to deal.


Please don't ask me to bury my past,
So that we can have a future
If I do it I will be just a Miscast
And our relation... A Falling Structure...

HOME-BOUND

        It had been a real long time. I have been too busy. To be frank have been to lazy to take time and write something out here. I have been concentrating on too many stuff to write. Finally, I did decide on what to write.


                                           MY CHEDDI GANG

        Every set of friends thinks they are special and unique and they are the best. We don't. There is nothing special about us. We are just a bunch of friends who studied together, who hang out together once in a while, pull each others legs all the time and yeah forgot to mention this, Ofcourse a bunch of nice looking guys :P.

Disclaimer: Whatever that is written here are purely facts and everything that resembles to actual characters is intentional. :)

        It struck me this week when we all met up as one of us is leaving for his internship to US in Surgery. First in our gang to fly overseas. What a bundle of contradictions is what we are and what a metamorphosis it has been for the past 15 to 16 years. From a bunch of mischievous teenagers to sons who continue to meet their fathers expectations as well as theirs.

        Kaasi, Massa, Guddu,Patty,Bull,Tipple,Appa.... a weird bunch which has been holding together even while everyone of us were busy with our own goals and careers. I wondered,What had been holding us strong for so long. I felt, My gang is a 'Home-Bound' one and will always be, the only common thread between us that had held us so long.

        Schooling was fun.

       The first major funny incident(read intentional accident) and top one would be when one of the nicest chaps in the class was a victim of tipple n his badmaashi. Even now, that chap's mother asks me about him when I visit that guys house. That chap had been subjected to severe treatment on his bum courtesy: TIPPLE. The other major one was when patty introduced himself to us for the first time. We even laugh now thinking how funnily he had pronounced his old school name. The famous Panch Pandavas was the running joke since school days. Or be nonsensical egoistic clash between appa n guddu for something trivial due to which they two didn't speak for almost 7 years.

       10th standard was founding stone where everyone was undergoing a huge character/attitude change towards life. To be frank, after 10th none of us were in touch till we actually got into our graduation. That 2 year period was a major transition in our Individual lives where each one came to know lot about life and other stuff. The most grueling period.

      Why was that distance in spite of being near. I still don't know the answer. I don't even want to know the answer as that period was the time where we just entered the world to stand in our own feet and know what is it to be all by yourself. It came unannounced into our lives telling us there is a whole new world out there where the average guy what we have been in school was in process to find that we are not underdogs but guys who know what they want and know how to get it. Some have got it. Some of them are still in the process. We all will get it.

       Enter graduation, where everyone was in different colleges and pursuing different goals and ambitions. The outlook towards life and to each other had changed to greater extent and most importantly, in-spite of so many changes, the inner most, core element of being 'Home-Bound' hasn't changed.

       Now, whenever we meet I find this element that has been binding us together getting stronger and stronger. Far from the family, in a new world, new environment , we are still discovering the 'REAL' us. We all discuss the conservative mindsets we have been brought up in and how we are in changing those mindsets to our own individual convenience.

       These changing mindsets made us become independent. The one great thing about us is that. We all bought what we always wanted with our own individual efforts. Not even once did we ever ask for a helping hand. Not because we are egoistic but because we know we could get it ourselves and we know we could handle ourselves.

        While Each of one us are still in our paths of goals, fulfilling their responsibilities and nurturing their beliefs about life. One pursuing after something that is so personal and important to him to prove something to someone. The other in the process of finding his real self. One in the process of finding his feet back while the other in the process of fulfilling his family responsibilities.

        As someone said, its a tough world out there, we all are facing the rough patches in our lives without relinquishing the true self and hopefully we come out flying 'Home-Bound'.

P.S: Guddu we all sincerely hope u complete your education before our chidren :) and hope u r having a ball in those formals out there. Will miss ya for sure....