I called Vasu, my partner in these walks, , and he was game. He also got his childhood friend Anand who was at All Saints High School with us and then went to Little Flower Junior College and further on to CBIT with Vasu. Though we were in adjacent classrooms in All Saints and had many common friends, Anand and I didn't recognise one another one bit. We probably operated in different orbits. But that didn't matter as caught up now and tried to get a few common points like friends, teachers etc.
Here's the Shehr walks schedule.
Anyway the three of us went to Yusuf Tekri, an old imposing mansion at Toli Chowki, apparently owned at one time by a Subedar from Gulbarga who served with the sixth Nizam. Right now it's not inhabited, except for a few youngsters who were busy doing something on the steps. Not long after, we were joined by a young couple, a journalist and a professor of public policy who teaches in Gitam. I remember meeting them on the Rashtrapati Nilayam walk and they recognised me as well. Since we recognised one another we didn't reaquaint ourselves with names. So I ended up not knowing their names but knowing another young man, Bismay, from Bhubaneshwar, who I met for the first time. Wahaj came with Dheeraj and we got off to the food walk in the right earnest. This is just a food walk said Wahaj which sounded interesting.
Toli Chowki as I remember in the 90s was full of farm houses and rather desolate. It was then the beginning of the Old Mumbai Highway once you passed Mehdipatnam and wound it's way along fields I guess until one hit the Central University campus which was equally desolate. Now Toli Chowki a crowded, glitzy place with all kinds of Middle Eastern and mediterraneen food, brought home by Hyderabadis who lived abroad and have made their way back home. The farm houses have gone and so have the trees and its just crazy buildings all over.
We walked to the famous food court where 4Seasons is located, opposite Shah Ghouse restaurant, and a hundred other food outlets, a few minutes from where we met. Wahaj guided us in his unhurried, courteous and controlled manner. He has this way about him where he makes everyone comfortable, says just enough, is approachable, has a sense of humor, is knowledgeable...all wonderful qualities...most of all he just handles everything so smoothly that you can just relax and have a good time.
We first walked into this place called Fire and Ice which is a few shops away in the same row as 4Seasons. Here he ordered small portions of Qubbus (a fluffy roti) and falafel. We stuffed the Qubbus with falafel (like a vada pav) and added the other ingredients with it. Delicious. There were some dips to go with it.
Post Qubbus and falafel he ordered Mutabbaq which was like a sandwich - chicken with some fine fillings between bread. Again, delicious stuff and I had a quarter, very conscious of the fact that we have other joints to visit. The conversations were fun with Anand sharing a lot of information about his life in Wisconsin, his DJ son who had this fascinating career, Vasu with his jokes, the rest of us doing our bit and Dheeraj and Wahaj chipping in. As we stepped out we picked up a hibiscus drink. Quite nice.
A few shops down we walked into Siddique Kebab Centre, and went upstairs to sit. It's a bit crowded but we found places. Wahaj ordered a fish kebab (a whole fish) followed by chicken kebab. Quite filling and I was suggesting we walk around a bit before our next stop. We circled the food court and moved on.
We crossed the busy road and walked over to Hassan Dairy where Wahaj ordered some nice khova malai bin and gulam jamun bun. Though it looked rather heavy it was not - was not very sweet, not very heavy. I ate a quarter and loved it.
Onwards to Nice Juice Centre where we had a choice of fruit salad or fresh fruit juice. Since chai was on offer next I decided to go with fruit salad and it was pretty good. I shared it with Anand, it was pretty huge.
And then we trudged along to the Kabul restaurant nearby which had a zafrani chai counter outside and i shared one with Vasu.
And then pudina paan at the paan shop, small a very handleable. I was feeling quite full by then. We bid good bye to the rest and headed off. Anand said we could do a walk around the complex he lives in and so we did walk for 10 minutes before we headed back. Fully worth the 1500 bucks. Thanks Deccan Archives, Safwan who pointed me in the direction, Wahaj for leading the walk and Dheeraj for helping.
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