A historical city nestled at the center of the Deccan plateau in southern India. It’s popularly known as the pearl city of India. It’s known for its history, culture, food, palaces, gardens, Tollywood, and finally for its emerging tech industry.
I arrive in the city on August 30, 2022, on a 4-week business trip. I expected it to be like any other typical Indian city bustling with crowd noises, crazy traffic, and high risers followed by slums. I’ve been to many cities around India such as Bangalore, Mumbai, and Delhi to name a few. But I’ve always found them overwhelming with people constantly going about doing their business, always in a hurry to get somewhere with no time for attention to give into their own surroundings. But I was pleasantly surprised when I arrived in Hyderabad, it looked like a modern version of any city I’ve been to, with much cleaner and friendly people who spoke more than one language. It’s a city that has had strong cross-cultural influences from the Chalukya empire to Qutub Shahi Rulers and to Nizams who let go of their reign after Indian independence. I was excited, I wanted to immerse myself in this diverse culture of Hyderabad. Being a foodie, I wanted to quench my appetite by indulging in local cuisines, which I hear are influenced by the past and the present.
My stay was at one of the posh hotels in the area called Banjara Hills. At first glance, it looked like a modern part of the city with high risers, houses with tall concrete fences, an undulating landscape, and lots of green areas. I could say it was a posh area by the number of luxury German cars I saw driven by chauffeurs moving dignitaries around.
Then the sun came out, and along with it brought all the citizens of Hyderabad to the streets. The noise from the vehicles brought the city alive. I wanted to quickly get into grips with my location, the places I have to visit regularly, and my motive for transportation. I quickly realized that Uber service though it’s convenient, it lacked the safety and the standard I’m used to backing in the United States. I had to find another way to transport myself between meetings so as to not just rely on Uber. I found out the hotel offered rides pre-booking which were somewhat reliable and had better standards compared to Uber, so I decided to use them to attend my meetings.
The hotel I’m staying at offered free breakfast with my reservation. It’s always good when you don’t have to spend a lot of time thinking about what you’re gonna be eating and where. I found free breakfast is like a gateway drug, you have plenty of choices and you always end up overeating. The hotel also had two restaurants one offering Chinese and the other Italian food. I made sure to check out the gym and the swimming pool so as to keep me motivated throughout my stay. I like workouts, especially running on a treadmill. it’s been part of my life routine since my early 20s.
Since there is a 12hr time difference between Hyderabad and California, I wanted to expedite adjusting to the local timezone by not sleeping during the day. So I booked a hotel cab and went to the high-tech city, the technology epicenter of Hyderabad city. I was surprised by it high risers, closely clustered office buildings, and restaurants.
As I contemplated on things I want to accomplish in the next few weeks, I knew my stay was going to be exciting and full of opportunities to learn and immerse in local culture.
Roy D