Ae Haaalo re halo, amey farwa chaliye! Been on this trip to South India over the past few days, and think there’s no better topic to write on than the experience. Presenting now, Travelogue South India!
So my first stop was Chennai. No matter how much you may have supported or loved the super kings for winning the IPL, being to Chennai and hanging around town is a different feeling altogether. So what is different there? If you truly ask me, I think practically EVERYTHING is different there. For a Gujarati born and brought up in Delhi who has never been anywhere down south, the feeling is just all new. So what do we people have for food through the day – thepla, dhokla, khandvi, fafda, mathiya, mamra, undhiyu, and on and on and on(ya I just know these many names). What do people there have for breakfast, lunch, dinner? Sambhar Chutney, Sambhar Chutney more Sambhar Chutney with idli, dosa, uthhapam and a few other varieties. It’s not just love, it’s a passion. I mean I fail to understand how somebody can have a similar meal each day, and in some cases all the time. For the one and a half day that I was there, I saw as much South Indian food to fill up the kitchens of Sagar Ratna(which by the way is continuously deteriorating as I hear from sources). Moving over to the language, I think, I am rather sure that had I gone to Germany, France, Japan or any other place instead of Chennai, it would have just been the same. I did not understand a single word, A SINGLE WORD of whatever the locals there were uttering. I felt so lost and out of place in the city when I was by my own, that u can only see it to believe it! J I must admit that I was warned by a ‘Young Man’ from our community before I went there, but I was least bothered to pay any heed. Now I can only say, yes you were right Chemical Man!
Next morning, I was at Bangalore(sorry Bengaluru). Oh the weather, immediately brings a smile on your face J Brazil is supposed to be the coffee capital of the world. If there is a city that can probably give it some competition, it has to be this one! A coffee shop here, one there and one there, and oh there’s another one. They are everywhere! As a friend there told me, at some points you can actually see multiple Café Coffee Day outlets standing at the same point. Phew! No wonder MNCs and other IT companies have ensured that youngsters turn coffeeholics! Thank fully, there are good places where you get good North Indian food which made way for me having a sumptuous meal after a couple of days(gluttonous eater I am). Evening sets in, and suddenly, out of the blue it starts raining! No sign of a rain earlier, and there it was, making the city look even beautiful. As I later was told, it pours in Bangalore every now and then, without warning for any amount of time. It’s another thing that all of this leads to an even higher number of traffic snarls across the city, which already are very high by the way! In simple words, I can say it’s a small city made to seem big thanks to its traffic jams. Lovely place in totality, must visit whenever u happen to go down south.
Let us move to Hyderabad. Much unlike the Nawabi feeling I had in mind, the new city is developed like any other regular urban center. The food joints are nice and the weather which is supposed to be hot happened to be pleasant because of the looming cyclone back then. Something interesting about the autos there - they run on half meter after a particular time in the night. When told so, my friend had to call somebody up just to check how this works? So the amount that it shows on the meter is multiplied by 1.5 to get to your final amount. Thought we Gujaratis ought to know this J
All in all, it was lots of fun going down under! I Must recommend all these places to those who haven’t been there so far. As I am beginning to realize in life, it is quite important to explore the world around you in order to grow.
Wish you a Happy Journey, and in case you need any advice, any contacts, any information about these places, their hotels, how to go and where to enjoy, please mujhe phone mat karna :D J I will be the last person who can help with you any of these things after this one trip J
Aaujo, read on!
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