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Home  Hyderabad Related Hyderabad is no longer hyderbadi
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Hyderabad is no longer hyderbadi |
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Written by hyderabadi
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Tuesday, 17 October 2006 |
I guess it’s not a surprise to hear that Hyderabad has changed in the last decade or so. As is the common case with a economically vibrant city, hyderabad attracted a lot of folks from surrounding areas and the population grew tremendously. New people bring their own culture, and hyderabad changed.
Hyderabad used to be a unique city in india in a lot of ways. Back in the 80s/90s,
It’s part of south india, but perhaps only city where north indians felt comfortable to live and work in. People in madras, didn’t know hindi and were somewhat hostile to north indians. While Bangalore was a nice city, language problems existed and there wasn’t a decent sized north indian community. It’s part of andhra pradesh, but people from andhra were intimidated to visit hyderabad. The indimidation factor ? Language problem We used to share a joke, that hyderabad is one place where to telugu natives meet and converse in urdu. Urdu was *the* language, Auto drivers acted as if they didn’t understand telugu, rickshaw drivers had that unique “lungi with belt” look adopted by amitabh in desh premee. There were just as many theatres playing hindi movies as there were for telugu. In fact, the top movie theatre in hyderabad during the 80s (Maheshwari/Parameshwari) rarely played telugu movies they were all hindi movies ! Old city was really old, I mean 400 years old. Old city meant, charminar and south of charminar. City center was Kothi, Abids, Nampally, Basheerbagh. I guess i can keep listing some of these things, but there was a character to the city. It was not a hustly bustly north indian city, nor it was culturally inward focused south indian town/city. Hyderabadi urdu was different, hyderabadi attitude was different. In short, Hyderabad and hyderabadis, were unique.
Today, the city is centered at Panjagutta, somajiguda, Khairatabad (prasads + ntr garden), begumpet, ameerpet areas. Abids is not crowded. Roads near LB stadium, basheerbagh are relatively free of traffic compared to panjagutta chowrasta. We could drive through sultan bazaar, find parking, get our shopping done with literally no crowds on a weekday evening. We had much harder time parking in hyderabad central. Urdu is language of choice even telugu's. I doubt, if we’ll see sholay run for 365 continuous days in the present day hyderabad or even deewar playing for 100 days.
This hyderabad, feels a lot like a big cosmopoliton city. More open and welcoming to all cultures and languages, but it feels like a distinctly cosmopoliton city trying to become a big metro, than a historical hindu/muslim city that is a cultural bridge.
I guess these changes are good and economic boom is great. I am just being a bit nostalgic. The hyderabadi unique character is now missing in hyderabad
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Last Updated ( Friday, 17 November 2006 )
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