The City of Pearls -Travel Series 1

THE CITY OF PEARLS - TRAVEL SERIES   PART 1 

Who doesn’t like travelling? New places, new people, new traditions, new customs…And a hodophile like me would find it very exhilarating and thrilling. The trip to Hyderabad was quite spontaneous, so we were very unprepared. My family of 4, my aunts and uncles, my four cousins and my granny. That’s a lot of folks. We had three cars and it wasn’t very comfortable though it was fun.

 Me and my family took a car from Chennai all the way to Khammam in Telangana where the rest of the people live. The drive takes about 12 hours. A long drive via Nellore, Guntur and Vijayawada, it is very tiring but nevertheless the farms and fields and the sunset make it worth it, so I suggest you try it someday.

There are also a lot of restaurants on the way like Amaravati where you find authentic Andhra cuisine and snacks for the rest of the ride. We reached Khammam and spent a day or two lazing around. It was going to be a long weekend and quite boring so it was decided after a lot of pondering that we would be going to Hyderabad to sight see few places in one part of Hyderabad and (there was also some important work to be done there).

   And so, the journey began. All of us packed and we were to start in the afternoon. Three cars and 13 people, we had to fit somehow. The kids kind of got a car for themselves with a driver. So, it was me, my bro and my 2 cousins in our car and the rest of the adults along with two other cousins got onto the remaining 2 cars.

   We started from the house around 3:30 in the afternoon after having lunch. And then the adults left us to ourselves and went on their way chatting and having fun for themselves.

    We started from the house around 3:30 in the afternoon after having lunch. And then the adults left us to ourselves and went on their way chatting and having fun for themselves.

    Our car followed theirs’, we shouted, screamed, sang along to the songs playing in the car, chatted about all sorts of stupid things, played silly games and laughed like mad people. The driver didn’t seem to be bothered about it so we didn’t stop. After a while my uncle called the driver and told him that we would be stopping by at the restaurant ‘7’ for snacks and a break. Funny name it is, but I would totally recommend you to go there. It is very refreshing and you can find all sorts of food. There are a variety of stores like Cream Stone and Subway and there is also a separate kitchen where they serve normal Indian food. That day they gave us jalebi as a starter for free. I have a sweet tooth was quite disappointed that they gave only one but the jalebi was amazing. Then I got myself a subway bun and everyone got themselves what they liked. After eating, the kids and I went to explore, there were cute bunnies nibbling on carrots. It was such a sight!

And then we were behind the clock so we started and after a while, suddenly, I could hear splashes on the windows and before I could realize, it was raining cats and dogs. The downpour was so amazing and made the scene a much more beautiful place. The view became murky and unclear. After some time, the rain stopped and nothing interesting happened after that. 

    We pulled over at Hotel Minerva, Himayat Nagar, Hyderabad where rooms had been booked, at something like 9pm. Then all of us went into our rooms and quickly freshened up and were ready up for dinner. This time we thought we would try food in local places instead of the hotel’s restaurant. So, we went over to a tiffin center and ordered Dosas and Idlis. They were fairly tasty. We decided that we would walk over to the hotel since it wasn’t far away. On the way, I had pineapple juice. For some reason, I love pineapples so much. A tiring day it was, so it didn’t take much time for me to fall asleep...

To be Continued...