Home and Back

This visit, I found India much changed. Not so much Mumbai, where I stayed briefly, but Hyderabad, and to some extent, Delhi.

But even Mumbai (south Bombay ie), where there is less capacity for new real estate development, had changed. Old haunts nostalgically revisited could't quite conjure up the magic anymore. The Tea Centre in Resham Bhavan was a hollow shell of its original, buzzing self. Stripped of the sumptuous Raj ambience and equally delicious snacks. On the night we visited it, Not Just Jazz By the Bay, was full of aunty-jis and uncle-jis listening to some very loud, below par renditions of old rock and blues favourites. No, def not the happening Jazz I remember. Planet M, too, seemed a little tired in comparison to the days following its launch. But that's Bombay all over. Yesterday's hotspots are constantly replaced by newer, trendier hang-outs.

There's not much you can do in 2 and a half days, but I did manage to meet and catch up with old friends--Monks, J, G, and the Sis. And to eat some delicious fish at Mahesh Lunch Home. Can't go wrong there. Gulp some fresh lime soda at Mondegar while admiring Mario's wallpaper, and stroll down Colaba Causeway delighting in its sameness. Even the beads-wala at the turn past Leo's to Cotton World was still there!

Then we took the train to Hyd. Now Hyd has changed--almost beyond recognition. Almost the first difference I noticed was in the traffic. Volumes of traffic now clog its roads. An impenetrable wall of shiny cars and chillar traffic (two wheelers) crawling to the cacophony of horns and the MCH's ubiquitous, and already inadequate road-widening efforts. I can only guess at where so many new cars have come from

Then I saw all the brand new retail malls dotting the roads all the way home. Meena Bazar's new glass-and-brushed steel showroom opposite Lifestyle, the White House, the Bridal Mall, another Mall, Walden, Pulla Reddy Sweets, Amrutha Mall, jewellers, jewellers and more jewellers, the huuuge Hyderabad Central Mall, Brisah Mall, Wills Lifestyle, Q-Mart, Tommy Hilfiger, that fresh fruit centre... by the time we passed Elahe I was ready to scream.

Unlike here, most shops in Hyd open till 9.00 pm and the malls until 10.00 pm. And they were packed with shoppers buying like there's no tomorrow. Whether the result of the call-centre boom, the software boom or something else, I couldn't say, but I was staggered by the pace of development, the influx of visible wealth, and invariably, the explosion of consumerism. Oh yes, and all the sho-sha that I thought was restricted to our brethren (should that be sisters) from up North. So I saw the woman on the street dressed to kill. At the shops, the cafes, restaurants, tailor's--everywhere. Fashionable types with sunglasses perched on their streaked, re-streaked and carefully disordered tresses, dressed, accessorised, and made-up to boot.

Oh, and everything cost loads more than it did last time. Cinema tickets were Rs 180 (£2.50) a ticket for a movie at iMax. Restaurant bills for four averaging to around Rs 2,000 (£25-30). Shirts/T-shirts around 1,400 (£15).

The three weeks in Hyd passed in a whirl of social visits as Hyd is filled with both my and A's families. Lasting memories: dinners of Biryanis and traditional meethas. Watching A's relatives play cards till 4.00 am. Drinking numerous cups of tea not made by me. The cats sleeping curled at my feet under the mosquito nets while I re-read some of my favourites--6 Georgette Heyers, 5 MM Kayes, 1 Carl Hiaasen, 1 William--till 3.00 am daily. Waking up, therefore, at 11.30 am to a leisurely breakfast and braving the traffic around tea-time to visit friends and relatives and yes, to shop.

Oh and I can't forget the last night at Nizam Club, celebrating New Year--not for the food, which was eminently forgettable but for the Chhammak. Glitter doesn't do it justice. The word has to be Chhammak. Over-the-top dressing with a vengeance, really!

In between, I managed to visit the Sis in Delhi for four days. And met Taps, Rums and baby Gaea, Vix, S, spoke to numerous old friends and made some new ones. Delhi's relatively more organised traffic was a pleasant surprise. The wide roads even nicer. Lasting memories: Cold minus central heating (it's amazing how quickly you get used to the comforts of the West), oh and a surprise cold shower when someone accidentally switched the geyser off. Sharing a room with sis like in the old days. Plus both doing the shawl-over-the-eyes bit.

Turquoise Cottage, Cafe Turtle, another bookshop (I forget the name) in Statesman House. Dilli Haat. Khan Market. GK. CP. and Gurgaon. This was my first visit to Gurgaon, courtesy Rums. Reminded me a bit of the Chandigarh of the 80s and Hyd/Bombay today. Typically North Indian red brick houses and sky scrapers. That was a lovely day Rums and I talking about this and that, reliving old memories and creating new ones.

And kabab rolls, dahi bhallas, papdi chaat, brownies, uttapams, hot-heat Chinese, Bluffmaster, more masala chai and loads of gupshup... I wish I was back.