Volume 8 - 9 April 2007

A long weekend... one that saw us celebrate Easter, and therefore wishes to you all (belatedly though).

Today some of our colleagues start their Internship... got a chance to speak to a couple of them... and they all are so excited. All of us who are veterans of the past 1-week or so can vouch that Summers are actually a nice and pleasant experience even if the workload is huge...

They say that Hyderabad is a Food Connoisseur's heaven. Since the 29th of March, my fellow travellers and I have tasted and tried all possibilities that exist for idlis/dosas/apams/sambars/rasams and what have you. But the real differentiator that I have noticed for every place that I have been to is inarguably the vegetarians' pet delight (and often enforced) - 'Paneer'. That's right...paneer! It has this amazing quality of being prepared, presented and peppered in ways unimaginable.

The City of the Nizams houses a restaurant chain by the name of Kamat(/h)'s... they serve a nice platter. The South Indian thali that I had (in company of Punjabi Lassi) was wholesome and at a price of Rs. 30 goes well with the economy conscious eater.

The place is hot like Chennai but not humid. Evenings can be called pleasant though the atmosphere gets pervaded with strange aromas and smells every now and then.

Traffic is amazing... there are little or no signals and the credo that every driver follows is - 'Make your own Road'... this has changed little since the last time I was here. Pedestrians are very daring - they jump into the middle of the road, look the driver in the eye, remind them of the Congress, and walk through. Yestereve, I was not being able to decipher the pattern of the traffic and so I was guided across the crossing by a man who must have first crossed this road when the British were still here.

There are many treasures around here and I intend to explore them all... as I am sure that others around the country must be doing alongwith their summers. Mail in your experiences.

Au Revoir