Hyderabad

'Aisle seat in front please' was what I asked for while checking in to Kingfisher Airline's morning flight to Hyderabad. Fortunately the flight was on time. I am always extremely edgy before boarding a flight but Galatea had the air of a seasoned traveler about her. She had a black cardigan hooked into her shoulder bag and Shantaram hugged under her arm. Scraggly hair hanging over her shoulders made her seem like she had just stepped out of a shower.

The deep red of the airline uniform attracts the eye but not as much as the shapely bodies it partially hides. I must compliment Mr. Mallaya on selecting the flamboyant look but I sensed a hint of careless superciliousness among the crew. I mention this to Gal as we file past the first class seats. 'Its just your middle class mentality' she said shuffling gracefully to fit into a pin cushion, 'I find them cute'. 'Cute? Fifty odd kilos of unadultrated sex appeal', I think to myself.

Normally I find the whole charade of in-flight safety procedure announcements and meal service extremely tedious, but not that day, not in Kingfisher. The eighteen inch long skirts were exactly at eye level. As the hostess bent down to pluck out a meal-tray she formed a deep-red, smooth, ridge-less question mark right in front of my nose. I was opening and closing my mouth to get extra air. I am sorry but I just could not figure out how it could be so smooth and checked out the other hostess. As in such situations, I turned my open-mouthed curiousity towards Gal.

Without lifting her eyes from Shantaram, she said sternly, 'It's called a G-string'.
'Part of their uniform?' my eye brows merging into my hair line,
'Shut up and eat', she whispered.

Suitably chastised by her prescient abilities I finally turned to the meal.

Amazing this Hyderabad Airport. You come out right into the thick of the city taffic. Its conveniently located right on the main road. Chandrababu Naidu had built a flyover to allow exit the airport quickly. This one however is so tiny that it gets backed up end-to-end everytime the traffic light opposite HPS turns red. It took us two hours to fly in from Delhi but an hour to cross over to Panjagutta.

I used to live in Bangalore and like most north-Indians what I craved for in food was a bit of spice. Karnataka food served in Bangalore is bland so our most popular meal-out used to be Andhra-thali. Nagarjuna, just off Brigade road used to be the place to go to. You could experience some spice and the amazingly quick customer turnaround. Then came Eden-park off Cubbon road. Still serves superb Chicken-65. So I expected to savour Andhra-thali in its truest form in Hyderabad. Nothing doing! Hyderabadis it seems, don't give a fig for Andhra-thali. No one I asked seemed to know of a decent place. Gal came to rescue again. She had found a fellow Punjoo among the Hotel staff.

We finally reached Abhiruchi. A first floor dark, thick place on S D Road, serves some of the best stuff I have ever had. The basic thali itself is quite good, with lots of Ghee poured over the rice. The real things however are called side-dishes. Chicken gongura, mutton ribs and fish fried are worth the effort. If you are a light eater, don't fill up your thali with rice and rasam, keep stomach space for these. The meal must be signed off with curds heaped with sugar crunching in your mouth. This experience cost me Rs.120 for two (Gal is a vegetarian). And by the way you do it with your fingers here.

Hyderabad Postal Dept. has a unique characteristic. The house-addresses are sure to confuse the best of snoop dogs, only the postmen can find your house by the address, . Abhruchi for example is at 1-1-274/4, SD Road, Secunderabad. Syndicate Bank's ATM is located at 5-9-246/1, Opp. Grammar School, Abid Road, Hyderabad. No one seems to know what the numbering logic is. Its just there. Then, in early nineties someone tried to clean these up and created a colonywise logical house numbering series. This created a virtual chaos because letters kept on coming from all over the world on old addresses. Now most residential colonies have two house numbers, one looking like the bowling analysis of Ajit Agarkar as above and on the same name plate a "new number".

I learnt, from Gal, that Hyderabad is the cleanest city in India of its size. Its the only city other than Surat and Chandigarh (which are much smaller) that clears up its entire garbage every day. You need to visit the old city area to realise what a great achievement this is. I didn't see a single open garbage dump, nor did I see emaciated cows and bulls ruminating on road dividers like in Delhi. Over the past six months, MCH has been running a city-wide civic awareness campaign. Loud messages saying that public toilets are clean and safe were inviting people to use them. They have placed bright, large trash-cans across the city. Kudos Hyderabad, you are setting new benchmarks in urban living in India. Cheers!

More on Gal!

Imagine the aviary flutter of waiting-room hearts,
By the tapping of a four inch heel.
Imagine the soar of desire from a lowered glance,
getting impaled on wit of shiny steel.

Think of a report scattering the gulls on a lake,
As she gracefully dives into a brawl.
Think of a coy sheath over a toughened blade,
And you’ll know a bit of Gal.