Returning back home!!!

Returning back Home!!!

It was spring with gracious monsoon keeping it on par with an English county weather in the region; when I reached back home almost after a decade of immigrating to a foreign country, known as the land of opportunities; without realizing descending flowers of the cantonment Oak, and Neem trees relentlessly observing several march pasts of the military regiments sprawling across the city.

I boarded the plan in NY, USA to reach Bangalore non-stop at the International Airport and then decided to board the train journey from Bangalore to Hyderabad - The city of Nawab and Pearls. The spirit of yawning city slowly waking up to challenges of the morning sun shine, and my twelve hours of train journey from Bangalore city was pleasant, except for the provoking neighbor sleeping sound with large and agape whispers of snoring heart, to keep us awake every hour amidst cold weather in the AC coach of the Bangalore express racing at about 150 miles an hour with intermittent stations with fresh brewed cup of coffee, and snacks available 24X7 keeping us alive; with served refreshments till late with several vendors abode at every station premises.

Amidst morning sensation waking me up with several thoughts of my home left away almost a decade ago; and my thoughts of forsaken home was intriguing; due to acclaiming conviction of my relentless search of an exciting career that I wanted to pursue abroad;

My thought was flowing seamlessly through the morning breeze with partly sugared and freshly brewed cup of coffee, enlightening me through the next station. I was observing paradigm shift in our consumerism with several retail chains encouraging our local retailers such as Reliance to get more competitive, thus embarking our Indian shores in less than a decade by leveraging potential market in a developing country was imminent. There are many retail giants such as US dollar stores, Dominos, Pizza Corner, Burger King, Coffee Day, and best branded Dockers and many software companies relishing its presence in Indian shores. There are many crowded multiplexes with several multi storied buildings few miles away, clearly visible from the Hi-tech City station was appealing.  

The charm of the city fearlessly shying away, descending in our fascinating culture has not faded away like a beautiful bride hiding her face behind the veil, with the Hyderabad’s special food from Bawarchi Biriyani to Haleem which are iconize in the European menu relishing your taste buds. The city has been preparing for big festivals presiding over the weekend, in the intrepid icons of Ganesha and Ramadan in every corner with special Haleem served ceaselessly.

The train reached the Secundrabad station, land of dreams and hopes of modernization in the twin city of Secunderabad, with a large fountain clock reminding us of the British Time Zones, featuring our passion towards foreign school system up to the Train stations, by embracing alien culture gracefully in to a large democracy.

On arrival, I remembered memoirs of pearls picked up for my wife adoring her neck beautifully from Charminar to the famous Jagdambal Pearls situated near Paradise circle; adjourning my next trip owing to the budget constraints; as we found real authentic pearls exported worldwide that inspired my wife to keep up to her expectations of a marital bliss by presenting her on a birthday occasion.

We wandered across the city from Golconda Fort to Charminar, enjoying the taste of special tea known as ‘Charminar chai’ portraying Arabic tale of the city and fine dinning in restaurants like Tabla, Chimneys are contemporary, which are authentic cuisines fresh to date in my memory. I could recollect some of the famous spots in the city such as Agrasen Bavan and a palace in Begumpet hosting several VIP functions is one of Nawab’s collections of yester days that are standing tall, amidst recession or market growth to my fascination; and the paradise biriyani house is one among the favorite places alluring its charm and crowd since 1953 in crowded down town.

I picked up an auto rickshaw right out of the station, which is an affordable mode of transportation for most of Indians till date without any woes of increasing fuel prices or expensive auto companies like GM, Ford, Chrysler, Honda, Toyota, Hyundai, Renault, Volkswagen and BMW’s embarking our Indian roads with upcoming manufacturing plants in Chennai known as ‘Detroit of India’ and in other parts of India.

It was impressive to find an electronic meter in auto rickshaws replacing its mechanical counterpart with a reasonable fair reaching back home in the Southern suburb of an upscale colony, primarily consisting of Defense colonies, DRDO complexes with well planned gated residential communities around the city, known as enclaves.

Indeed, the fascination is around the enclaves comprising of residential complexes that are planned meticulously and executed nearly three decades ago, featuring the architect of typical Indian architecture with careful space utilization, needless to state the extravagant bungalows defying all gravity of economics.

After an exciting ride of an auto rick to my home as it may sound like a James Bond’s movie ‘Octopus’ fearlessly jumping signals at times was a thrill to reckon of a roller coaster ride with my raising adrenalin; most of these are converted to LPG fitted engines, with sufficient emission norms or safety measures taken hopefully. I often noticed public transport buses stop sporadically at stops.

Finally, arriving in my neighborhood in the southern suburb of Secunderabad as I walked my way home glancing through new ‘Reliance Fresh’ super markets, and ‘More’ groceries raising its bar to reach the Indian market is imminent in the neighborhood with the changing attitude of Indian consumers; and newly constructed bridge to resist floods was a challenging work due to immense rainfall and recent floods in the city with improved civic system.

In the market yard, it was different types of merchants from flower vendor with the fragrance of jasmine, lily rising away in gentle air through famous Kebab centers as it can’t miss its faith finding its way through aerial route.

The market yard gets busy in mid-morning, unorganized and yet you get all vegetables you need for the occasion, groceries fresh from the garden with all vitamins and minerals without worrying about inorganic. I thought market has made significant progress in revamping yard pillar by renovating large iron gates with name plates gleaming; which looked like the smiles of an inauguration party leader.

I didn’t realize the awaiting shock or awe at the door steps of my home left without occupying, which was constructed less than a year ago with my dream come true flashing across as my memories of challenges arising at the time of purchasing the house, as you would reckon love at first sight is always special.

I could smell the freshness of masonry work and carpentry engulfing my heart and sprit, walked into the warmth of my newly constructed home as we enjoyed dwelling in our home with large and spacious hall, dinning, kitchen and 2 bedrooms with required wardrobes was just fascinating to us.

On a fine day early in the morning celebrations of my housewarming festival started with the nearby temple priest praying aloud to wake up everyone in the neighborhood and the austerity has begun with my parents, friends and families all congratulating us ostensibly.

It was summer and the conditions with blue skies were perfect to plan for a cricket match, the only sport that I missed all these years since 1996 was imminent and touching back my hometown was quiet fascinating. In all sense of freedom returning home looking at our gracious Indian culture was joyful with heart filled in gratitude, with our country growing in recent years in technological developments; it is the best place to settle down at perfect time as I thought.

After working for a few years in the USA before returning permanently to settle down in India finding it in Hyderabad as one of fastest growing city after realizing its growth potential.

Here, I am starting my professional career again in the city that is predominantly covered by the charm of Nawab’s, and the contemporary antiques comprising of Hi-tech city hosting software multinationals such as GE, Dell, IBM, Deloitte, Novartis and Accenture software consulting services and many more MNC’s touching the Indian shores, naming it a ‘Silicon Valley of India’.