10 Things That Hyderabad Had

Here is a list of 10 things I could think of which were synonymous with Hyderabad in the 70s and 80s.

1) Double decker buses
Going up and taking the front seat was a huge high. Nice.

2) Trailer buses
Sitting in the back bus was very interesting.

3) Empty parking spaces
We could park anywhere and everywhere without the parking mafia fleecing us.

4) Irani cafes at every corner
Feel like a chai, stop at any corner and you'd find a nice, peaceful joint with nice and peaceful people inside.

5) Apsa
The mango beverage developed by AP government which lasted not too long.

6) Huge hand-painted movie billboards
No printed digital billboards then. All big hoardings were hand painted and well some of them were more dramatic than the others. Some had no resemblance.

7) Tailoring shops
We all had our favorite tailors who stitched our clothes. They had this way of measuring you out which is a unique experience.

8) Cloth stores
We had to buy cloth to get it stitched in cloth stores.

9) Cobblers - Lidcap stalls, we'd get our shoes and chappals regularly repaired, now we throw them away before they are past expiry

10) Soda bandis - The lime soda stuff was awesome

What else?

The Koni Adventures - Hanuman Temple at Hayathnagar

Not too many would have discovered this fine little temple that is just coming up at Hayathnagar, on the Vijayawada highway, just where the highway touches the ring road. The irrepressible Koni in his many travels finds such wonderful locations and when he thinks they are worth sharing he takes  a lot of care to show us all his discoveries. For some time he had been telling me of this new Hanuman temple he had discovered atop a hill and how he dreamt of putting up a large Hanuman idol on the ringroad side of the hill and make it a landmark.

Way up to temple

The day of reckoning was today and we all piled into his car. Me first, Ranjan next and Vardha last. We had to drive all across the city, through a surprisingly thick traffic on a Saturday morning and finally reached the outskirts. The temple has some directions to it already even though its very small. The entire area as we approach the ring road looks as if we have entered some foreign country with wide, well laid out roads, flyovers and such. The little hillock had a winding road up to the temple and we drove all the way up.

Atop the hill

A short visit to the temple which was open and completely uninhabited save for a watchman and a few devotees who were cooking their midday meals.

The Hanuman temple

There were lovely panaromic views of the plains for as far as the eye could see.

View including the Sanghi temple in the background

We could see the Sanghi temple to one side, the majestic ring road on both sides and enjoyed the peace and quiet for a while before we headed back out.

The ringroad view

The spot for the proposed statue looked very promising as it overlooked the ringroad for miles.

The retreat

Thanks Koni for the drive and the experience.