The Hyderabad Days

The Hyderabad days, I must confess, were comparatively uneventful, although not without note. Punctuated by the occasional visit by a high school friend of Aahlad's I mostly stayed in his bed, catching up on my Netflix and reading and learning Nepali and playing on my computer. His foot slowly got better, but every time he went to the doctor's, they ordered a longer recovery period. He wasn't complaining: it was an excuse to stay in bed, and keep relying on his mother for breakfast (and lunch, and dinner) in bed. I must confess I enjoyed that perk as well. His family was interminably hospitable and kind, really indulging my (and of course, their son's) laziness. My mom had told me to fatten up before I go to Nepal: some extra insulation against the cold and snow. This, combined with my habit of not saying “No” to hosts, meant that I ate a good deal of food, in proportion to the amount that Aahlad did not eat. His mom was quite pleased with this.

I got out of the house a few times, to wander around and see a few of the sights of Hyderabad. I walked around Golconda Fort with Harinath, Aahlad's father. It is a beautiful old and dilapidated fort on the tallest hill in the area, built on top of some of the large piles of large boulders that scatter the area surrounding Hyderabad. From the top, you can see for miles around, the entire city of modern day Hyderabad along with the walls of what used to be the city. I realized, from the view, that iI had actually been there before: a year ago, while contemplating the possibility of doing a study abroad in Hyderabad, I had gone to Google Maps and visited some streetview bubbles that were taken from within the fort.

(An interesting thing about the fort, and about the city: it used to be incredibly wealthy, and sometime in the 12th century was the site of the worlds only diamond mine. It is also the source of the Kohi Noor and the Hope diamond and other famous giant diamonds of the world. Anyways, and this is where it gets really cool (if you are into etymology), the area got so rich that these days the word Golconda means a source of great wealth! That's it. But I always find locations-as-words an interesting take on the legacy of a place. Sodomy, sybaritic, Golconda. And, Magritte did a painting of raining businessmen that I animated, once upon a time in the days of my youth, an dthis painting was called Golconda. And I just happened to visit the place!)

I spent Christmas day wandering around the dense Muslim neighborhood at the center of the cityish, visited but did not ascend the Charminar, a beautiful four-pointed mosque qua tourist cite, and the Chowmahalla palace with its beautiful gardens and miscellaneous exhibits (the artsy collection was divided into the Hall of Crafts, Hall of Arts, and Hall of Cookery. There was also a really beautiful collection of Qurans). In the antique car collection, for the first time, I got a baby to stick its tongue out at me: success at long last. That was a nice day.

I also got to meet many of Aahlad's friends one evening when I attended my first Indian university student party, which was a fun endeavor. Never have I felt more out of place when I was sitting at a table, in a country on the opposite side of the world from where I was born, surrounded by people that I don't know and don't share much in common with speaking in a language that I knew nly two words of (Telugu), about race car driving. But the night got better, as I drunk a bit more, and then a bit much, and was dancing to Bollywood songs around a bonfire with random strangers. All in all, a good experience to have, probably, although a little awkward and then a little too drunk.

…

And that was basically it for Hyderabad. On the second of January, I boarded a plane in Hyderabad to leave India for what must be several years. I flew through Delhi, and for some reason the flight was international? This meant that one of my last experiences in India was landing in the international arrivals terminal of the Delhi airport and confusingly going through customs again, in a nice parallel to my landing here in the first place on September 1st, so many months ago. This time around, I was a bit more confident and comfortable, although not much: my next flight departed at 7am, so I ended up getting an hour of sleep huddled uncomfortably on the floor in an out of the way corner in the airport.

Anyway, though: I did make it to Kathmandu. And I once again began to doubt my strategy of buying the cheapest flights, regardless of the expected misery component. But I made it, and was able to sleep upon arrival. So long, India. I'll miss it. It was a wonderful country, big and crazy and chaotic, a bit dirtier than I was used to, more dogs and more smiling faces, delicious foods and a rich and deep history. I'm grateful for the opportunity that I had to explore it and see some of its many aspects. I wonder when next I'll return?