August 28, 2009

Lost Glitter

I have been living here in Hyderabad for three and a half year or so, and honestly I don't like it here. I was happy in Khammam where my Dad works. Travel brochures admire Hyderabad's rich culture,the heritage buildings,the food,the nizams...whatever.
They don't really interest me anymore.Donno if it's just me, but I kind of feel frustrated. A city has it's advantages for sure. Education,amenities,lifestyle- but they bring with them a hell lot of other problems I just can't put up with. A small walk for groceries has become an ordeal, traffic awareness is nill. You may end up getting hit even if you're on the correct side,thanks to speeding youngsters.
Corruption: It's at it's zenith now.The blood sucking bastards seem to think everyone's rich,and are now upped their demands because of guess wat, Recession! MFs
Autos: Ask an autowallah at the Secbad station,corporate hospital or anywhere for that matter, chances are you will be asked for almost double the normal fare. It actually takes quite a while to actually find one who's willing to go. I once waited an hour with my sick aunt in front of the Apollo hospital. There were about a dozen autos and no one was interested! Swear to god if I had a truck, I'd have mowed them all down in one go. If there is one thing I'd like to do,it's to
kick autowallahs' a@# and take them off the road. no regrets or Sympathy.
Next,I think people have a serious attitude problem here. I was brought up in a very civilised society(and I don't mean posh) and I find this quite revolting. And no, not everyone is bad, just a few inconsiderate,arrogant oddballs. And where do they get their manners from? I bet you've seen one of these scenes atleast once: A man scratching his crotch (eeeyuk),Women spitting red paan, road sides that smell of urea,people listening to loud music on phones and a lot more.
Once I was going somewhere in an RTC bus.The man sitting beside me spit on the floorboard between his legs! I immediately changed my seat.

All the glitz and glamour of Hyderabad is limited to the posh suburbs and other establishments meant for them. The rest is frankly, in shambles. Heavy rain last year submerged almost the whole of Tolichowki,an area close to Golconda. An improved drainage system would have helped. A minor accident caused a 2 hr traffic jam. Well connected roads could have avoided it.

Back to travel again. A tourist arriving straight to RGIA and staying at Taj Krishna is most likely to 'love hyderabad'. I beg to differ.

What we need is a little education in Ethics,Hygiene and good living.
Basic infrastructure,Health,Transport need utmost attention.
A full scale development project covering all basic aspects and ignoring 'glitz' might help.

But again, their are:
- ministers who want their share,then the contractors,then the small fry.
-The rest spent on cheap material and a flyover or two will collapse(scores die)
- An enquiry ordered.
- Heads will roll(Not really)
- Elections.
- Screen Refresh.
- New project.

Life goes on....

4 comments:

Janit said...

I agree with what you have written here Aziz. But, apart from the autos and a few arrogant oddballs, not all people are that bad. Believe me, I have lived in Blore, Pune, Mumbai and Hydi. I found that the average Hyderabadi is nice to you. Banglorites, Puneites and nowadayts even Mumbaiyya dont respond properly if you dont speak their language. And the rickwallas of Pune and Banglore are far worse as compared to Hyderabad.
And as far as the politicos go - the less said the better. :-)

Hey, nice blog btw.

Aziz Siddiqui said...

Thanks Jatin

Unknown said...

frankly.. there are always these kind of concerns where a comso or metro city is concerned.. most of the areas r just included as part of the city so dat next time there is inflow of funds,these can be developed.. but its not like everyplace can be fine...
n hyderabad has a huge cultural n economic diversity so u cant expect everyone to behave in a similar wae.. u got illiterate as wel as wealthy-white collar job pepl...

Aziz Siddiqui said...

@sakshi: I have no qualms with the illiterates. It's the better one that I'm worried about. If you ever visit Hyderabad, visit 'old city'. Even the literate,well to do ppl der are...nt at all easy. arrogance, attitude, bad manners...u name it. well, as you rightly ponted out, this is to be expected...