Well, there is a reason for my hiatus in blogging (again !).
I quit the company I have been with for the past 9.5 years and took up a new job. In this process, I have also relocated from Bangalore to Hyderabad.
And my office in Hyderabad is in Gachi Bowli.
I did my M.A. in English (Class of '95) from University of Hyderabad, just down the road from my office now.So, in a sense, its back to where I started.
But this area - the villages of Gachi Bowli, Masid Banda, Kondapur, Serlilingampalli, Guttala Begampet, Madhapur, Miyapur - used to be very different during the early and mid 1990's. Back then, there was just a road connecting Jubilee Hills to Gachi Bowli via Madhapur. There was a single tea stall and a few temporary huts, in the area now called Kondapur X Roads. And there were the rocks. Huge boulders, fantastic rock formations..we used to use this road as a shortcut from the city, and for occassional beer parties on moonlit nights.
Two incidents that I can recall from 1994-95.
1.A friend and I went for a movie in Sangeet theatre (Secunderabad) and were returning by the Jubilee Hills-Madhapur-Gachi Bowli road at night. The bike got punctured somewhere near Kondapur. We had to push the bike till Masid Banda, to find a mechanic shop.Even there, the mechanic was not around. So, we had to leave the bike there and walk till campus.
2. Those were prohibition days in Andhra Pradesh. But we always managed to buy liquor from bootleggers or military folks. One day, we wanted to buy some rum and some one told us that in Miyapur village, there is a bootlegger who sells booze at all times of the day/night.So off we went from campus to Miyapur (via lingampally).Chanda Nagar had a few houses here and there. After Chanda Nagar, there was nothing but the two-lane mumbai highway till Kukatpally. Miyapur was known to us coz it had a dhabha.And when we reached Miyapur, we could not find the bootlegger.Some one directed us to Miyapur village (the village no longer exists..its full of apartment complexes now), and after some enquiries, we finally found a guy who sold us a full bottle of Old Monk. And then it started raining heavily. We were on a scooter (Bajaj Chetak) and a helpful villager told us that there is a shortcut from Miyapur to Gachi Bowli. It turned out to be a single lane kacchha road..after a few minutes, we realized we are better off on the high way, and turned back. By the time we reached campus, both me and Madhav were totally drenched. But we had the Old Monk !
Today, there is a four-lane road connecting Kondapur and Miyapur. The toddy drinking milkmen of Masid Banda village are probably multi millionaires now. The cow herd boys and Banjaras in Kondapur are probably moving around in BMWs.
Just Ten years ! what a change !
I quit the company I have been with for the past 9.5 years and took up a new job. In this process, I have also relocated from Bangalore to Hyderabad.
And my office in Hyderabad is in Gachi Bowli.
I did my M.A. in English (Class of '95) from University of Hyderabad, just down the road from my office now.So, in a sense, its back to where I started.
But this area - the villages of Gachi Bowli, Masid Banda, Kondapur, Serlilingampalli, Guttala Begampet, Madhapur, Miyapur - used to be very different during the early and mid 1990's. Back then, there was just a road connecting Jubilee Hills to Gachi Bowli via Madhapur. There was a single tea stall and a few temporary huts, in the area now called Kondapur X Roads. And there were the rocks. Huge boulders, fantastic rock formations..we used to use this road as a shortcut from the city, and for occassional beer parties on moonlit nights.
Two incidents that I can recall from 1994-95.
1.A friend and I went for a movie in Sangeet theatre (Secunderabad) and were returning by the Jubilee Hills-Madhapur-Gachi Bowli road at night. The bike got punctured somewhere near Kondapur. We had to push the bike till Masid Banda, to find a mechanic shop.Even there, the mechanic was not around. So, we had to leave the bike there and walk till campus.
2. Those were prohibition days in Andhra Pradesh. But we always managed to buy liquor from bootleggers or military folks. One day, we wanted to buy some rum and some one told us that in Miyapur village, there is a bootlegger who sells booze at all times of the day/night.So off we went from campus to Miyapur (via lingampally).Chanda Nagar had a few houses here and there. After Chanda Nagar, there was nothing but the two-lane mumbai highway till Kukatpally. Miyapur was known to us coz it had a dhabha.And when we reached Miyapur, we could not find the bootlegger.Some one directed us to Miyapur village (the village no longer exists..its full of apartment complexes now), and after some enquiries, we finally found a guy who sold us a full bottle of Old Monk. And then it started raining heavily. We were on a scooter (Bajaj Chetak) and a helpful villager told us that there is a shortcut from Miyapur to Gachi Bowli. It turned out to be a single lane kacchha road..after a few minutes, we realized we are better off on the high way, and turned back. By the time we reached campus, both me and Madhav were totally drenched. But we had the Old Monk !
Today, there is a four-lane road connecting Kondapur and Miyapur. The toddy drinking milkmen of Masid Banda village are probably multi millionaires now. The cow herd boys and Banjaras in Kondapur are probably moving around in BMWs.
Just Ten years ! what a change !
Comments
No, I read a post on Movies that made someone weep on Desi Pundit and while reading the comments there, saw your comment.You mentioned Vasanta Kokila/Moonram Pirai, and that made me curious to visit your blog..and then I discovered that you are a Tulu settled in Hyderabad..I like the Tulus..Sri Krishna Deva Raya was a Tulu (did you know that?)
cheers,
Kumar
Coz no where in his empire does Mangalore/Udupi fit, right? Or my history knowledge is really bad! :)
I mean, I remember 6 yrs back when I came to Hydie first, all the companies were concentrated around the Somajiguda, Punjagutta, Begumpet area. There were few big ones towards Madhapur, which people like me never cared to visit.
One visit to the hotel 36 Jubilee Hills from Somajiguda seemed like a looong one, because of the distance.
Now look at me... I come to this corner of the city with a grumbling face, and a regular rant that there is never a good hotel to eat out on a Friday around this place!
And dont even get me started about the standard of living in Kondapur/Miyapur!!!
Quick summary: Krishna Devaraya belonged to the Tuluva dynasty on his father's side. The Tuluvas originally ruled over coastal Karnataka; some of them became army chiefs under the Vijaya Nagara kings (Tuluva Narasa Nayaka, father of Krishna Devaraya was one such commander).
Did he actually speak Tulu? In all likelihood, he may have.But Telugu was the royal /official language of the Vijaya Nagara kingdom, and to as the King, he seems to have spoken and written more of Telugu than Kannada or Tulu.
The Vijaya Nagara kingdom at its zenith definitely had the entire Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and of course AP under its command.
See this link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Vijayanagara-empire-map.svg
The HUDA (Hyderabad Urban Development Authority) have planted saplings, and hopefully they will be allowed to grow :-)
I am nostalgic about all the rock formations here.Most of them have been detonated, turned into stones and used in the construction.There is a Save The Rocks society, but I doubt how much they can accomplish.
Thanks for stopping by.Checked out your blog.Looks cool..