Hyderabad 2.0

                                                   When you come to a city as a stranger , you are curious(rather worried!!) about a lot of things. How will the climate be?will it suite me? How will be the food? Would we get good accommodation facility? will it be safe place to live ?( more if you are a girl) … … etc etc .. and most importantly how will the people be?

 Well ...frankly speaking none of these questions occurred to me when I left Mumbai for Nagpur after 12^th and even when I left Nagpur/Mumbai for Hyderabad …. mainly because I always had few familiar faces accompanying me to these cities which made life simpler.

Talking about Hyderabad, where I relocated after my graduation i.e. from June 2009 till date, it  has been a good experience so far. Well from stranger to the city   in 2009 till now in 2011  the journey has been amazing!!

Lets start with a brief history of Hyderabad.

Hyderabad the capital of Andhra Pradesh, founded in the year 1591 by Mohammed Quli Qutub Shah, the fifth sultan of Qutb Shahi dynasty, offers a fascinating panorama of the past, with richly mixed cultural and historical tradition spanning over 400 years.

Hyderabad, under the Nizam's, was the largest princely state in India. Area wise it was as big as England and Scotland put together. The State had its own currency, mint, railways, and postal system. There was no income tax. Soon after India gained independence, Hyderabad State merged with the Union of India. On November 1, 1956 the map of India was redrawn into linguistic states, and Hyderabad became the capital of Andhra Pradesh which was formed by merging Hyderabad , Rayaseema region , coastal Andhra region and the Telangana Region….Yes this is the same Telangana  that’s trying to cause tsunami and earth quake into Andhra Pradesh Politics….. Coming to the tourist spots .. there are quite a few places which you can visit when you come to Hyderabad .. some of these are as follows

1. Hussain Sagar , Lumbini Park , Boat Ride
2. Nehru Zoo
3. Falaknuma Palace
4. Golconda Fort
5. Ramoji City
6. ........ 

Its better if you visit these places than reading some blogs about them ..So what I am going to tell you about is ..”aam aadmi “ of Hyderabad. Well , to start with , the people of Hyderabad are very helpful and humble in nature. Also lets see few statistics about how brilliant the people here are!!

High percentage of people getting selected in competitive exams such as IIT JEE , AIEEE are from Hyderabad.The maximum number of people scoring high percentage in mathematics in such exams are also from Hyderabad.. A.P .to be precise.The number of Engineering Colleges in A.P. is 494 which amounts to  1.6 Lakh seats .. Hyderabad (AP) has contributed to the country and world in various fields including Very Very Special  in cricket, Badminton ..so on and so forth … 

Well don’t get carried away by  these numbers . I will tell u , even an average person in Hyderabad knows more physics and mathematics than you!! Cant digest it ?? just read it ahead. I will prove it to you!!

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Chapter I        Mathematics

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Calculus

Limits  and Continuity

lim    x        =        lim    ( x + ∂)    =       ∞ x→∞                  x→∞ ( given that       lim    x/∂   =  0)                                   x→∞

 Didn’t know this before?? Never mind you know it now .:P  (Wondering that  L.H.S. is ∞ and R.H.S. is  ∞ so both of them are always equal ?? well that’s not true , there are orders even among infinities . But yes , in this case , both of them are equal!)

Situation:-

Pedestrian	Anna , Cinemax janeka kintna loge?
AutoDriver	150 Rs.
Pedestrian	Anna Secundarabad nahi jana hai .. Meter se to 100 bhi nahi hoga
Auto Driver	130 Rs.
Pedestrian	120 Rs.
Auto Driver	Bhiyya 10Rs se kya farak padta hai (has calculated in mind that …as it is  x→∞, how does ∂ matter) 130 Rs . mein chalo

Continuing  the discussion(;)) , in many such cases auto drivers will really test your limits (;)). To add further , if your autodriver has installed meter , be sure that (Speed of Auto <<<< Speed of meter) it will surely it will be super fast( please note that “it” here refers to meter and not auto).So advice :- Be continuously in your limits ( Don’t go to a place via auto unless you know how much it should cost)

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 Chapter II  Physics 

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The Generalization of Quantum Particle Physics over material bodies.

Δx * Δp > = h /2

The momentum and position of a particle can never be accurately determined simultaneously!

Wondering how can quantum mechanics be applicable in rigid body dynamics? well you may not be presented a proof but you will see it being applied every now and then.( well engineering of pure science concepts is finally what matters right!) I infact believe , if I stay here for few more years , I might get some insight into the “Theory of Everything”  or “String Theory” that even Einstein struggled to investigate.

Situation :-

1.You enter a shared auto first .

2.After you one by one few girls come , you are forced to get out and accept the front seat.

3.After the auto has sufficient passengers ( 4 in front excluding driver and 3 girls at the back ;)), It starts abruptly and there goes the quantum mechanics applied to rigid bodies.

The auto constantly bounces on the awesome roads and constantly moves to right and left ( “trying” to overtake other poorly loaded autos which have less momentum :P). For a quantum of time you would feel half of your body is outside the auto. But wait , you didn’t pay heed to your momentum , your momentum as it is ….cant be determined accurately ( its complex vector of right /left and or up/down when going down the hill). Given the complexities in finding out your instantaneous momentum, what do you expect about your instantaneous position?? You might be thinking you are thrown out of auto but it might not be true , given the Δx factor(;)).Even if you think half of your body is outside auto but you might be completely inside the next instance…. Well extension of this principle can to be applied to the daily traffic on roads …You might have skipped your heart beat a hundred times while trying to protect your vehicle from collision with speeding vehicles coming from all around.. well don’t get tensed next time , thanks to the bouncy tracks and complex momentum involved …the chances of collision are reduced .. it really works that way !!:P

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Chapter III  Geometry

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Straight Lines , Circles , Parabola , Hyperbola.

If you keep on magnifying any curve , it will appear like a straight line . In other words ,at microscopic level , every curve tends to appear like a straight line.

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Chapter IV   Physics

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The "Special" Theory Of Relativity.

When your speed approaches speed of light , the dimension of time slows down.

Its interesting to see application of both Geometry and The Theory Of Relativity together. 

Here it goes .. ( no hyperbola(e) here :P .. just try to understand ye para kya bola ;))

Some axioms to be stated (Facts :P in other words):-

1.The number of high speed vehicles ( for eg. Pulsar 220 cc , high end Cars including race cars ) is very high in Hyderabad

2.A small portion of roads in Hyderabad does have enough width allowing many vehicles travel at a time. 

Pedestrian/Biker	Anna , Cinemax ko kaise jate hai ?
Einstein	Yaha se seedha jao koththguda signal tak. Waha se madhapur ke lye seedha chale jana. Fir waha se ek chou-rasta lagega , waha se straight jubilee check post lagega, waha puch lena mil jaega
Pedestrian  ( Caught in the vicious circle!!)	(…Pedestrian is as  it is confused about the straight answer !! :P)  Anna kitna time lagta hai yaha se??
Einstein	Are 5-10 min mein aa jaega.

Our pedestrian/biker starts immediately after hearing this guidelines from Einstein. To his surprise , is bowled by the googly that ..not a single road is straight as told by Einstein ( may be Einstein got confused with the straightness of space-time curve !!) ,when he sees roads coming from 4 directions and none of which can be called straight….finally ”Some how” he reaches Cinemax but only after 25 mins… Are you wondering why so late??.. The reason is that Einstein had calculated the time based on the lightning speed of vehicles mentioned in axioms above and not Bull Cart !! You better get one of them soon (:P)

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Chapter V              Philosophy

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Philosophy about the odds and Way Towards Success

Hyderabad is not having a humid climate , especially in Summer it gets too hot to live.But Hyderabadis are very much determined . The climate is too dry .. so what ??? We wont allow a single dry day to happen here !!! is the moto.Didnt get an idea?? Get Idea!!(:P) .. I am talking about the liquor shops which are found everywhere like general stores(:P) I believe Hyderabad has more liquor shops than General Stores (:P) The total revenue goverment collects from them amounts to more than 6,500 Crore Rs.!!! 

Hyderabadis also believe in saying when there is a will there is a way.( Don’t start thinking that I am talking about Wills ‘cigarette shops being present everywhere !!:P)

I am talking about the awesome roads here. Before the rains , you will see nice straight roads. But be patient , its only matter of few days and the situation comes back to normal.Even drizzling rain showers are enough to wash away the fine coating of tar spread over the roads. You are blessed if construction work is going on near your area , (...along with the gift of mosquitoes ) when the Big trucks stop near by , they create  big pits in the area  adding further to the diversity of  shapes and forms to the roads.Then one day it rains heavily and entire road is filled with water(mud to be particular). I recently came to know that this pit and  improper drainage system etc aren’t “by mistake”. All of this comes under the hidden agenda by the municipality to increase the falling ground water levels ..:P. So every Hyderabadi has to believe in the saying “when there is a will there is a way” to reach any place from anywhere during these period…

.......Remaining chapters of the book are washed away in the heavy rains last year .. I am trying to find them .. keep visiting !!!

Hyderabad 1.0

Hyderabad

Its been more than  an year since I left Nagpur and  Mumbai for that matter(once again) , and came to Hyderabad. The memories of that day are still so fresh in my mind as if it had happend not more than  a day before...

Finally the day we were waiting for had arrived ..and  I was among the lucky  few who had got the joining letter (finally) after the long wait. On getting the email regarding the same from Oracle, people immediately called each other to convey the news .

Well yes , I am talking about the time when we had waited too long for the offer letters from Oracle that infact some of us had left the hope of joining Oracle. In fact many of them  were repenting as to why they had waited so long instead of going for the alternatives they had.

The news of many other companies differing the joining this year had further added to their panic. But now everyone was relieved (or at least oracle recruits).But wait ..what about joining date?? 15th June!!! Only 10 days more!!.. We never thought that we would  have to join at such a short notice and  now we didn’t even have enough time  to enjoy our last free days… After enjoying the four years of college hostel life like four  years of vacation from studies , finally now we would have to work :P…

There was one more turn in this , I was going to experience  my first  flight journey from Mumbai to Hyderabad via flight.. I was a bit scared about it !!Right from  my childhood everytime I used to see plane , I was  reminded of some plane crash news. I knew that whatever I used to think about flight was not the truth still I was a bit skeptical about it . Incidently my birthday date i.e. 18th Aug is also among the  black days involving Plan Crash casualities incidently of an Indian …Subhash Chandra Bose who is believed  to have  died in plane crash .Thankfully Ugam had booked a ticket for me adjacent to his seat  , I thought  incase I get scared during the flight he would  be there to calm me.

Our flight was at 2pm on 14^th June. We reached the airport well in advance at around 12:30pm. After  wishing goodbye to our family members , we finally  proceeded towards the checkin counter .We deposited our heavy bags at the luggage counter. I saw my luggage go over the belt and tried confirming if it is going to be put in the flight.The lady laughed and nodded her head. In few minutes , announcement was made and the we were specified a boarding counter where a bus was waiting for us to take us to the plane.The plane was a midsized one with capacity of around 200-150 passengers. We boarded the plane and  got our seat. Once the safety instructions were over , after a while ,the plane gradually started speeding up.. After covering some distance over the runway , there was slight  disturbance and then plane had left the earth’s surface.It  got inclined a bit after taking off and now we were about to see  the aerial view of Mumbai as it looks in google maps.Ugam tried to relieve me by telling me about beautiful  view we get from the plane once it takes off to heights. He infact offered me his window seat so that I can get the glimpse of the world outside the window.I happily accepted the offer since I was much relieved then .. after the takeoff. As I peeped outside , I saw the tiny creatures walking on the road .The cars,flyovers appeared as if they were part of  some video game which I played in childhood.

                 

The world outside the window was really amazing , I was seeing the entire view of Mumbai and it was exciting.Soon the plane gained height and we were surrounded by dense clouds all around .The clouds appeared to be of different sizes and shapes. I saw different birds flying in the free air , few men looking at the sun , Army man saluting the plane .. well your imagination has no limits in such a situation . I felt I would have written one poem during our journey had I been a poet. Well nevertheless I really enjoyed the journey.It was less than 50-55 minutes when we were given a signal that we will be landing in Hyderabad in few minutes . The view of Hyerabad was like green and Rocky platue .The climate around looked pleasing , with distinct signs of rains .We landed on the airport safe and sound, and there I completed my first flght journey that too happily.

 We collected our luggage and came out of airport .We saw a lot of cabs( called   “Taxi” in Mumbai) waiting for us outside. We hired one of them and asked him to take us to Madhapur area . We started the cab journey and were welcomed in Hyderabad by the wonderful chilling rain showers near the airport area. After around an hour’s journey,  we had reached our destination the Oracle’s  Guest House. Luckily ,it had not  rained much  in the area near our Guest House. As we entered the Guest House ,we were given a warm welcome by the in charge and were allocated   rooms. We got into our allotted rooms and relaxed for sometime.The first evening in Hyderabad went flying  … talking to families about our safe arrival at the Guest House,coupled with little bit of roaming around the Guest House to get acquitted with the new place, the day finished fast  and finally “the Day” came ..

The first day in the first company in our lives and  we were pretty excited about it. We got up early next morning, we wanted to be there before  time.As we were getting  ready to leave for the first day at office ,I met 3 more people at the breakfast table .Just like us, they were also freshers joining on that day. …Rakesh , Dheeraj and Sivakumar.

The four of us  hired an auto while Rakesh had his dad drop him to the Oracle Campus.On our way to Oracle ,we observed series of buildings of corporate companies one after another and we were getting curious about how Oracle Campus would be!.As we got down from our auto , we saw 3 Buildings standing tall infront of us , those were the 3 bulidings of oracle.We were then guided to go to the main gate where our names were noted down and we were given a temporary id Card. We assembled in a conference room of one of the building where  we had a welcome session from HR followed by many form filling sessions , followed by account creation sessions the next day and yeah .. now we were a part of the Corporate World .

After the initial Training period(called honeymoon period in oracle where one has no work and still gets paid!!) we finally went to the allocated teams and started working ... Time has been just flying ever since. Now I realise I have been in Hyderabad for so long ..almost 2 years. These have  been really two  happening years and will be in my memory forever.

Dialogue in the Dark

It was  a sunny Saturday in Hyderabad  , the winter had suddenly disappeared after few days of joint venture with the rains, leaving us with the ruthless Sun’s acquisition over the climate .We didn’t need an Oracle to tell us that the weekend at home ( where there is no AC like one in the office ;)) is going  to be  too hot .Feeling the heat ,unable to bear the boredrome , we were wondering what to do  to  kill time …….(its better to kill than being killed ;)) .. Being a weekend ,it was supposed to be different from usual  boring day at office , nevertheless bright Sun had kept us inside Prakash Palace  till late in the evening( don’t go by “Palace”in the name ..its just another apartment in Telangana infected Hyderabad where we stay ) when the light started disappearing and night started approaching with the darkness.We also finally decided to go out  to Inorbit Mall, one of the largest malls in Hyderabad.

We reached the Inorbit Mall at around 6:30. ( Its called In-orbit because you will find hundreds of people orbiting there  everyday ....even on a week day) As usual , the mall was over flowing with people like us ,who had come to the mall to spend leisure time on their weekend (  .. or  were they on Go-Green movement !!  I would prefer roaming in Garden/Park though ;)) We entered the mall , clearing the security checks and there we saw a poster in front  of us

“Dialogue in the Dark”..

A Wonderful Family Entertainment Experience ..

 Lets Play!

Curiosity crept into our minds as we read the poster. Is it some kind of adventure sport , is it some kind of show .. what is it exactly?? We were confused ,so we started hitting arrows in the dark  about what was written on the poster and began  to discuss about what kind of experience will it be if we happen to visit the place. Well ..as  usual , handful of people gave their opinions about whether we should visit the place or not , before we finally gave green signal to  the idea  .

Santosh had rejected the idea straight away saying that it would be  nothing but some marketing gimmick we see these days , often used  to promote an ordinary work  as a creative /extraordinary idea ( well this “idea” is superset of the idea which changes your world everyday).

Neera too showed red signal to the idea saying that she was not interested in hearing so called “Gyan” from anyone  about any values  or something like that …or any “dialogues” for that matter …Ratin disagreed with them  saying that it might be some kind of new “adventure sport” which we should not be missing to experience. Shaila joined hands with Ratin in support of the “cause” saying that she too would  give recognition to “the dark matter “  by visiting the place at least once and… you never know  ..it might turn out to be “cool” ( not to mention we badly needed cooler atmosphere ;))

As the discussion ended ,we had reached the 5^th Floor via lift( yeah it’s the same lift which gives a “lift” to your obesity) and entered the Reception Desk of “Dialogue in the Dark”. Near the desk , there were few people (just like us )who were asking at the reception if it was a restaurant or some gaming zone or some show or ….

As we neared the desk , to  our surprise ,we saw 2 visually impaired girls greeting us. We greeted them back .One of them  asked us  if we wanted some help and pointed to a girl standing besides them  .She was already explaining few people about what was meant by   “Dialogue in the Dark” as we joined them.

“Its an exhibition where you will be in complete darkness and (still) you will  experience,feel and roam to different places such as cafeteria , super market , boat ride etc .”.. She said . This had  thrown some light  into our heads about the exhibition  as we bought the tickets .The hour later was in complete darkness.

As we entered the first room , we were briefed about what’s going to happen inside and how  we should go about it . It was going to be complete dark inside so were supposed to deposit mobiles , watches and anything else which would reflect or shine and hinder the experience .We were given  walking sticks which visually impaired people generally  use for navigation . We were explained how to use them ( well ..we were also asked , not to use  the stick  to settle any personal scores with anyone once we go in the dark ;))..

We entered the first dark room , it wasn’t complete dark as  few rays of light were entering from the room outside.There   we met a guy called Venkat who was going to guide us throughout  the exhibition .Though we couldn’t see him clearly due to dark ,we could hear his clear voice as we introduced ourselves to him .So on his instructions ,  we approached an adjescent room using wall as navigation tool. When we entered the dark room , there was nothing we could see  at all…however hard we tried, light refused to show  any presence .The entire place was filled with darkness!!!!!!!!!

But wait ,was it  just  darkness all around ? ..not really!!…  There was a pleasent sound of waterfall , birds were chirping all around .... yeah we were in the garden exploring the flaura and fauna using our senses of smell , hear and touch  and ..also with the help of our guide Venkat …We navigated to the waterfall and experienced the pleasing cold water .We then identified the trees and flowers  in the garden.. …. Not  far from there ,where we also identified the  “ BEWAE OF DOGS” zone … No , we didn’t see any such board  , we saw it through the voice of barking dog  near by .The garden was meant to please the visitors with warm heart …. And there we were ready to go to next place..

As we approached the next room through our walking stick  as navigator, we sensed that we were crossing a pretty busy high way . The atmosphere was filled with  sounds of Autos , Taxis and people all around .As the traffic became lesser with  the sounds disappearing slowly , we crossed the highway . We reached a bus stop besides which there was a garage with lots of tyres and few vehicles parked . We could clearly identify  “Hamara Bajaj” and “Hercules Thriller”  parked in the garage….

Just then , Venkat announced a good news for the ladies in the group. We had just entered a super market. There was a shop of bangles near by followed by shops of  spices ,vegetables and fruits...On  getting the news ,people started trying to explore  them immediately. Sound of  Bangles followed pretty soon from nearby place when  one lady was trying to grab the bangles . Besides Bangles’ shop , was a fashion Clothing store where Jeans pants and T-Shirts put on the display .(I tried to match the T-Shirt and Jeans size by the way ;))

I could imagine  how happy Columbus would have been on discovering America after the long blind journey in the hope of finding India( thought he thought it to be something else and it turned out to be something else ;)) as I was observing the joy of the adjacent lady as she discovered the Bangles’ shop , the fruits/vegetable shop near by and so on.. ‘I will also try and guess all the fruits and vegetables correctly ‘, I thought to myself as I neared the shop. I did recognize handful of vegetables  including onion,potato,carrot etc and fruits like banana , orange, grapes etc… We could find almost everything there , indeed we were in the super market!!.. As we explored further , there was a  shop  where soaps were on the display .. “Its Lux I am sure!! and the other one is Nirmaa !!!”  One of the ladies exclaimed .. Venkat replied in affirmative and the lady went happily to explore the items at the next counter..The next counter  had sugar,beans,dals  etc and she recognized all of them immediately and correctly. When people were exploring their respective shops , suddenly came a voice of little Anurag “ Mummy ,  I have got toys!!”, yeah .. there were few stalls for the little ones too with  soft toys ,toffees, chocolates etc...

We exited super market from one end and super boat ride was waiting for us at the other end as we entered the next room. We reached the port meant to take us to the boat in which we were going to have  the boat ride .As we reached the boat ,Venkat helped us enter the boat and seat comfortably.Soon when everyone settled down , Captain Venkat declared the commencement of the sea journey as the sound of boat motor destroyed the silence in the room .The  boat started tilting towards the ends as it acquired the speed and we received felicitation from the sea in the form of  small droplets of  water  as they got sprinkled into air. During the journey, we again had one more round of introduction within ourselves and we soon started singing songs  to enjoy the journey further..As we approached the destination ,Captain announced that we were nearing the end of our journey , heading towards the Sea-side Cafe .

 We got down from the boat , entered the Café where Amruta , the Cafe attendant was waiting for us to come in .She welcomed us .Melodious bollywood songs in the background  and pleascent smell of scent refreshed us within seconds .Rima orally presented us the menu in the Café.(as there were no menu cards to be  read by us) We checked our pockets for cash and tried guessing the denominations. I tookout the “longest note” which I had from wallet , for giving 100Rs..

We had ordered one Maza,one Coke , Chips and Coffee.It was served to us in no time even in the dark.I had never noticed and  enjoyed the “KRKRRRR” crispy sound while eating chips as much as I did there. As we were enjoying the food at the café ,Venkat  intimated to us that the cafeteria was the last stop in the exhibition .. that’s where the journey ends. …All of us  had enjoyed the exhibition thoroughly well .So we started finishing snacks and got ready to say Good Bye..

I thought I would ask Venkat our guide , to come with us till the end of the room where we would be facing light so that we could see him in person having companioned us for around an hour.I never did ..As we approached the last room we were getting blinded by the light and he was infact accompanying us till the end .As I opened my eyes slowly , I could see Venkat standing in front of us and he was infact blind…..

                     

                             Dialogue in the dark

                      It was an exhibition where we  roamed to places ,

                      We observed the things and made guesses

                      Using touch ,smell and hearing senses

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                       In today's world we are too busy to understand & see  
                     Blinded by the surroundings we often divide and neglect thee

                      Try to  open your eyes in the dark and believe me

                      All the differences will collapse in a wee 

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                      “The dialogue in the dark”

                      It was the  symphony of the dark    

                       inside our hearts ,has  left a mark!!