Hanging out in Hyderabad

Before coming to India, I had made it a goal of mine to find a host family to take me in so that I could experience Indian family culture as well as home-cooked Indian food with that special taste that only a mother’s cooking can provide. Thankfully, I found this and so much more in the lovely city of Hyderabad located in the state of Andhra Pradesh in Eastern India.

A common sight on commuter trains in India.

I traveled to Hyderabad along with a few friends I met in India on a 12-hour train ride. It seems traveling by train in India is quite a common form of transportation though it was incredibly different from any train I have been on in the US. Luckily, we traveled in the A/C sleeper compartment of the train. However, I took a walk towards the back of the train during the journey and noticed the conditions slowly get worse and worse until I reached the “unreserved class” of the train. The unreserved class is simply everyone who couldn’t get a proper seat on the train crammed into a tiny compartment which smelled of an unfortunate mixture of sweat, curry, and a dead animal. Afterwards, I understand now why on some trains people opt to sit on the roof of the train instead of inside the compartments.

The overnight train dropped us off in Hypuris which are basically round pieces of bread deep fried and then warmed on a skillet so that the pocket inside of them fills with hot air and makes the bread rise. On top of that, we had fresh cut chilled Hyderabad mangoes (which I’m told are the best mangoes in all of India) which melted in my mouth whenever I took a bite. After a hearty breakfast, we set our sails to begin exploring Hyderabad.

derabad early in the morning where we made it to our host’s abode just in time for morning tea and breakfast. The breakfast was a delicious meal of

Charminar from afar, nearby, thousands of people
bustle around in an exchange of money, food,
and endless noise.

Our journey led us to the district of Charminar which is named so because of a towering monument in the district-center which reminded me of the Arc de Triomphe in France. However, Charminar was built two hundred years prior to the Arc in France, so perhaps it was French who copied the Indians…Either way, Charminar (which just so happens to be the background image of this blog) is known as a local’s shopping stop with blocks of vendors hawking their items from all around. We ventured into a few stores which were selling the handicrafts for which Hyderabad is famous for; pearls, bangles, and textiles. You could almost see the money signs behind the vendors’ eyes light up as we passed by each of their shops and if we ever

dared to step into one, we were given the royal treatment.

Old men adding finishing touches to handcrafted silks
in the backroom of a textile shop.

I have to say, it was certainly a feeling I could get used to as I walked into air-conditioned shops where assistants brought me the comfiest chairs in the house to sit on and asked if I wanted chai tea, coffee, or anything else. Luckily for me as well, the girls who I was traveling with stopped into many of the jewelry shops where I wasn’t obligated to purchase anything. The proud shopkeepers were also happy to give us a behind the scenes tour of their shops where we saw people hand sewing the beautiful and ornate shawls and dresses that girls wear and whittling away at precious stones to make jewelry. I was surprised too to see that no kids were working in these textile shops as I had expected from my impressions of the numerous sweatshops which supply the infamous textile industry in Asia with cheap clothing for the rest of the world. Instead, old gentlemen with a steady hand and an eye for detail were all sitting around making clothes, chatting away, and listening to Bollywood music hits.  

My imitation of Buddha, I have a ways to
go before I can look as serene as him

The rest of the day was spent sight-seeing, visiting museums, and stumbling upon grandiose monuments including a 150 ft. tall Buddha statue standing in the middle of a lake in the heart of the city. We took a water taxi to visit the statue at dusk. While we were treated to an amazing view of the statue lit up with vibrant colors, the cityscape surrounding the island was absolutely breathtaking. Even from the ground, I could see the beauty of necklace road, named so because from the sky the road looks like a necklace during the night from the lit up businesses and streetlamps as it winds around Buddha’s lake.

Though I saw and visited many more places while in Hyderabad, it was these small and random experiences which have stuck out most in my mind. For me, the most authentic travel experiences are the ones which no tourists or guidebooks know about. I certainly feel like I got to experience many things off of the beaten path in Hyderabad thanks to the wonderful hosts I was able to stay with who showed me around the great city of Hyderabad.