Ala Vaikuntapuramlo

When a movie has ALL elements required of an entertainer, the expected outcome is, at best, a disastrous potpourrie of ideas. Yet, what turned this imminent debacle into a super success is Allu Arjun's  energy and style quotient  that took Ala Vaikntapuramlo to another level altogether.
The movie begins with Murali Sharma, in a hospital, swapping his new-born child with that of Jayaram as he wished for his son's luxurious upbringing in the latter's house. Arjun, despite being constantly mocked by Murali, turns out to be smart and intelligent. On the other hand, Sushanth, the son of Murali turns out to be an unassertive failure, pampered as he was in the lap of luxury. Half way through the film Arjun discovers the truth of his parentage and then on tries to bring his alienated parents together and help his family.
The first half of the movie was fun to watch, with Allu Arjun's (rarely seen) restrained performance. He struggles through  middle class living with Murali's constant put-downs. The first half was well-paced, representing a nice, comic and well-paced family drama.
In the second half, it looked like the director decided to put in all the elements that the mass audience expects of a Allu movie. Gone was the restraint of the first half, the pace quickened, throwing in as many characters as possible...reducing super talents like Navdeep, Ramakrishna, Tabu, Tanikella, Rajendra Prasad, Brahmaji, Sunil, Vennella Kishore, Nivetha Pethuraj ... to caricaturish portrayals. Sad to see the blink-and-miss roles.
Navdeep's presence, especially, made you look forward to watching the magic created by the duo in Arya 2 repeat itself. But alas, this was not to be!
Only three characters were etched well. Allu Arjun as hero, Murali Sharma as the villain and Sachin Khedekar as Arjun's grandfather. And what remarkable performances by all three!
Sachin' s character is a catalyst to all the important twists that the story meanders though and he made sure he involved Arjun at every pivotal point to highlight his grandchild's prowess.
The heroine is Pooja Hegde's  beautiful, long legs which are used to portray the message, 'when a girl says no, it means a no." That's the role and significance of the heroine in the movie.
The songs also have everything in them, local, melodic, folk, item song et al...Samaja makes a significant impression with its melody.
And for the very first time, I noticed fights in a movie. They were very stylishly choreographed  and quite gracefully executed by Arjun.
Despite the flawed second half, slick execution by the director, Trivikram and super energetic performance by Allu Arjun has helped create yet another successful movie by the duo
A 3.5 on 5 rating for the sheer entertainment value.

Sadguru's Re-Engineering program

There is no dearth of babas/sadhus/self-proclaimed gurus in India.The more suave and clever ones with even passable English speaking skills have been marketing spirituality brilliantly. Over decades, the materialistically rich but spiritually empty West has sought the Indian babas, willingly relinquishing their money and property to be emotionally, financially, physically and mentally exploited . Thus we find obscenely rich babas who have found means to escape the law, till they are (as wont to happen) ultimately caught by law.
My friends and even acquaintances know that I am a very unlikely claimant for such mumbo-jumbo.
Of late, as most of the needs and responsibilities of life and living seem dispensed with, pensive thoughts on meaning and purpose of life haunt me. Towards this pursuit I have been reading a lot. I read different philosophers. Somehow through all this, I was attracted to Sadguru/Jaggi Vasudev's videos. As a rationalist, I find myself agreeing to most of what he says. What he says isn't new.  These are things I already know. Yet, a validation gives me a sense of vindication.
I enrolled for his re-engineering program which consists of an online course of 7 sessions lasting 90 minutes each. I listened with rapt attention to the discourses as he spoke about everyday stuff that a common man experiences. It made so much sense to me. This course was offered free of cost. Following which, I enrolled myself for the paid physical class of 3 hours x 7 days. And that's when the magic started wearing off.
This is also a lesson for entrepreneurs to take care of their franchises as well as they do with the brand...
Videos from the same online course were played one each day in the classes. Thus, what I heard in the online course got reinforced. I found myself listening to that magnetic voice with the same attention. He didn't speak of religion or spirituality but of empowerment, responsibility, loving self and loving all...
My expectation from these classes was that I can further build on my thoughts on life, its motivation, peace, meditate in groups etc...
But what happened was totally the opposite. The volunteers are given a strict regimen to follow and they apply it with a vengeance. Apart from the 90-minute videos everyday, there was an introduction to Jaggi Vasudev's different courses, programs and yoga practices.
Learning is always good but what if it is enforced? No rules are mentioned at the beginning of these classes but they keep a watch with hawk-like eyes and if they find you violate any rule, they swiftly swoop down upon you, forbidding all that they have apparently been instructed to.
Some rules followed during  the program:

1. Be on time: if you are late by even a minute you are pulled up, made to stand outside the room and asked for explanations.
2. No notes taking.. I have this habit of making short notes of important things. When I wasn't allowed to on my tab, I started doing so in a notebook. But shortly this too was disallowed.
3. Sunday is a full day, When asked about the schedule, you are asked to wait and watch the next day. The venue for the Sunday program is informed at 9 pm the night before. You reach  home at 10 pm and are frantically looking at ways to re-schedule your commute at 5 am the next day! On going to the venue, you learn that some outdoor games are involved and a mandatory participation by everyone, sport shoes or no....
You are asked to come, attend the program on an empty stomach at 6 am but beware no breakfast comes till 9.30 ! You must have woken up at at least 4.30 to get ready and attend this program. So, see if you can remain without food for 5 hours' time after waking up.
Sunday was also a day for guru pooja and you are urged to bring flowers, fruits, coconuts, a white cloth. For those not religiously inclined, this request can be infuriating!
4. 40 people are stuffed into a non-ac room. Fortunately, I participated in winter. Can't imagine how summers would be
5. Any drinking water/washroom breaks are strictly frowned upon. You are supposed to  remain seated for 3 hours in your place.
6. During the program, you are asked to discuss topics among yourselves in small groups but not enough time is given to elucidate the information gathered.
7. If you have any queries regarding the videos/programs, the standard answer is "you will learn it in the next few days of this program."
Don't expect the volunteer conducting the class to have the knowledge or be enlightened enough to know these answers
8. In a room where the acoustics were not really taken care of, I ensured I sat next to the speaker so that I could hear clearly. I sat with my head bent and eyes closed which is my way of paying attention without distraction. But then a volunteer comes running to 'wake' you up.
If you love the discourse so much, you will not get distracted and if you find it boring, and drop off, nothing can make you listen to it anyway, isn't it?

I wanted to leave the program the very next day. But then I continued as I wanted to see it through...and also alert others about it.
What was good...
Breakfast and lunch was provided during the full day session on Sunday. The satvic food consisted of almost 0% cooking. The menu was made of a hot glass of ragi milk, various fruits and salads. It was not only very healthy but also quite tasty. I always believe that the taste of food depends on the care with which one prepares and all that love and care reflected in the food. All cooking was done by the volunteers. The menu, along with the recipe is predetermined.
I am sure that people will be more willing to participate if things are not enforced.
It will be good if they share the detailed program before it starts. You are at least aware of what to expect in the 7 days. Nothing would then seem enforced as you have willingly enrolled for something that you are conscious of and not something that is sprung upon you as a surprise
My recommendation is to continue listening to Sadguru's videos. The re-engineering program online is very good but then don't waste your precious time for these physical classes. Speaking of yoga, practising yoga has many well-known benefits. Just do that. There is no need for all this mumbo-jumbo. 

Prathi Roju Pandage...really?

There is no panduga (a festival/ a celebration) in this Prathi Roju Pandage (meaning every day is a celebration).
On the contrary, it is slow, preachy with a very thin story line stretched to two and half hours.
It is for people who like Baghban. Got the drift, I guess.
The story is about Sathayaraj who, diagnosed with lung cancer, is given five weeks to survive.
He lives in Rajahmundry leading a happily retired life after having ensured the successful future of his four children. Three of them are abroad and are busily engaged with their projects, deliverables, deadlines. They all come to a mutual agreement that they can only be in India for the last two weeks of their father’s life and a total of four weeks which  included two weeks to perform the last rites. Sai Dhram Tej, our hero, is the son of the eldest son, Rao Ramesh, who could not be as calculative and lands in India at once.
He urges his grandfather to celebrate his last few days and do all that he had ever set his heart on. But the grandfather seemed to be content in his life already…not the one to pine for his missing children and feel neglected.  There’s very little value that Sai Dharam Tej adds to his grandfather’s life.
The movie has so many characters coming and going that you don’t really know who is who after a while…and frankly you stop caring after a point….
The heroine, Rashi Khanna looks beautiful and portrayed as a dumb head who is obsessed about tik-tok videos. So, you get an ideas about her contribution to the story.
Two people who do well are Ajay and Satyam Rajesh who play the comic villains.
Similar to Venky Mama, this movie stands on the shoulders of veterans like Sathyaraj and Rao Ramesh.
Rao Ramesh has outdone himself. The movie can be watched for him alone…
What the director forgets is that its nearly 18 years since Baghban. Times have changed. People are financially stronger. Parents have learned to live without depending on children and vice-versa. We have drawn our own lives in compliance with our needs that seldom concur. Yes, the loneliness persists but you don’t need someone to come redeem your life.
I expected to see some great family bonding and a comic relief but what I ended with was an unnecessary sermon about how one must take care of one’s parents.
Went with great expectations after seeing the trailers but just a 2/5 experience for me. This movie will make sense more to people who are still financially dependent on each other as a family and therefore need each other in their lives
A VenkyMama for me anytime over this if one must experience the 90s kind of movies.

Venky Mama

Movie trends keep changing every few decades. After the 70s wave, we now again live in the era of experimental movies and new form of story-telling.

Also, the era of bio-pics, the Dirty Picture heralding a beginning ...now milked to exhaustion! Tired of watching these bio pics, (esp from our hero of hysterical nationalism), stories drawn from real-life incidents, the historicals, the gangster movies and all, the heart was yearning for the good old entertainers with a simple story-line. 

In Telugu movies, the 90s was dominated by Venkatesh kind of movies, attracting the family audience. Many of us would be dismissive of Venkatesh's stardom calling him an actor who catered to ladies' sentiment alone. 

Now again, we have in Venky Mama, a commercial, which has all elements of a pure entertainer. And we can only watch admiringly as Venkatesh emotes so effortlessly and so well! It was a treat watching him again in his original form after a couple of decades. Sorry Nag Chaitanya, your uncle has outshone you in this joint venture.

Nag's character gets orphaned in childhood and Venkatesh brings him up. The movie explores without emotionally exploiting this uncle-nephew sentiment. It touches your heart as you know that they are real life uncle-nephew and that Nag's father had indeed separated from his mother in his childhood. The story mostly builds on this sentiment, and how they try to get each other married and how misunderstandings are built around the grandfather's belief in astrology. The heroines don't really have much to do.

Those who yearn for movies based on  good family story (without again the trend of a large joint family kind of set-up), will love this movie.Towards the end there is some villainy, perhaps to showcase Nag Chaitanya's action abilities but that still doesn't help. Despite Nag's very sincere performance, Venkatesh, even at this age stands out with his brilliant comic timing, and the movie belongs to him alone. Go watch and be entertained!

I don't need to rate this. Sufficient to say it is the 90s Venkatesh kind of a movie. The Telugu movie buff will know :)

Evaru

Writing a review for an Adivi Sesh movie seems an exercise in futility. I went to see the movie without reading a review or even viewing the trailer. His movies beckon the rarest cine-goer to the theatres. Evaru is brilliant too but a tad less than his previous Goodachaari.
Its time Adivi Sesh (à la Atul Kulkarni of Hindi films) gets his due with his brilliant line-up of movies... besides the very handsome looks.
Evaru, like his earlier movie Kshanam is an edgy thriller. Adivi Sesh is a cop who doesn’t care too much about inane stuff like scruples. He is assigned to a murder case involving Regina Cassandra to help her.
Every step is a brilliant mind game between the two characters Adivi Sesh and Regina Cassandra. Every detail provided by Regina is countered with an opposite view by Sesh. Writing Evaru review can be a very tricky exercise because any unthinking remark can give away the plot. There are very few characters in the movie…only those that are required to take the story forward. Naveen Chandra & Murali Sharma have important roles in the movie. Naveen has a meaty role that is very different to the ones he played in his movies so far. The plot takes you through many surprising turns and reveals deeper and darker secrets, each adding to more intriguing elements to the story, leading towards the climax.
Its drawback lies in the fact that it should have ended five minutes before it did when Sesh walked out of Reguina’s room. It would then have led to a stunning climax. But adding one more twist post that seemed pretty contrived.
It is based on the Spanish film, The Invisible Guest. But that’s just the premise. The screenplay is its own and keeps you engaged from start to end.
A 4/5 rating from me. Go watch!

Telugu Films: June-July 2019

The cine-goers have been hankering for a ‘different’ movie. We were lapping up girl-meets-boy-running-around-trees storyline for decades.
But soon enough, the tired audience wanted different. And different is what the Telugu audiences are getting in abundance these days. Each of the films, especially the low budget ones, come up with stories so widely varied!
To name a few:
Falaknuma Das: A Malayalam remake, is adapted to fit into the image of Falaknuma, Hyderabad old city, its streets, its flavours, the botis, the payas, Irani chai, lassis, the street brawls et al. It is about how the hot-headed 23-year-old protagonist, VishwakSen, mellows down after many high-drama experiences in life. 3.5/5

Mallesham: Priyadarshi, who has only been playing the hero’s comic friend from the beginning of his career chooses to portray the true story of Mallesham and his travails in trying to improve the ilk of Pochampally weavers by inventing a machine to make weaving easier. Priyadarshi was brilliant in this movie slipping effortlessly between different moods and moments. The movie is a tad slow though, reminding you of the ‘art’ films of the yore. 3/5

Agent Sai Srinivasa Athreya: Naveen Polishetty a relative novice, playing the role of a wannabe sleuth with some fixed, (unintentionally funny) ideas in his mind about how a detective ought to be and behave. A comic thriller that has you engaged with its myriad twists and turns as the hero gets inadvertently drawn into a 'big' case that he was hungering for. Brilliant acting by the hero. And some great comic scenes. 3.5/5

1st Rank Raju, a Kannada remake, speaks about the futility in the mad pursuit of people (parents) who measure success in terms of ranks in academics. About how important is an all-round development. 2.5/5

Brochevarevaru Ra: For me the best of the lot. This movie is a writer’s narration to a female lead. How the characters from the narration and reality interact and affect each other’s lives forms more than an engaging narrative. Sri Vishnu, Nivetha, Ramakrishna and Priyadarshi playing their roles brilliantly. 4/5

Make use of this weekend to view some of these movies with story lines as different from each other as possible.

De de pyaar de

De De Pyar De trailer looked interesting. There was a prospect of comedy I was looking forward to watching.
To summarize, the movie is about a 50-year old romancing a 26-year young thing. So, what’s new, you may ask. Let me tell you, then.
This movie takes you back to those days when comedy need not equate to crassness. It need not be slapstick to be entertaining. It shows how one can have a decent storyline with all elements of drama, melancholy and comedy woven into it.
It starts with how Rakul Preet Singh, the 26-year-old meets the 50-year-old Ajay Devgn and what starts as a random acquaintance blooms into a full-blown romance. Much time is wasted trying to establish the bond between the two, though.
You get to sink your teeth into the juicy parts of the story only after interval when Devgn, who his daughter had declared dead to her fiancé, lands bang in the middle of her betrothal along with Rakul Preet. The ill-prepared Rakul Preet then discovers that Devgn has two grown up children in their 20s; that he has a sexy looking ex-wife (Tabu); that he has a set of parents who blame Devgn for the break-up between Tabu and him.
What ensues is a set of emotional moments between the bitter daughter and father, the son’s crush on Rakul Preet (who is introduced as Devgn’s secretary), the father (Alok Nath)’s caustic comments about the age difference...
Tabu has some powerful lines written for her and seems to remain in control through all this chaos as she tries to bring the groom’s family and hers together.
There are moments, mostly unspoken, which reflect fine lines in relationships. It does not boil to a simplistic 'Age doesn’t matter in relationships’ theory. It is that hesitant touch when Devgn wants to draw Rakul Preet close but feels awkward when he realizes that she had worn his daughter’s clothes. About when Devgn’s sense of responsibility towards his daughter overpowers his attraction to Rakul Preet. Despite that, his brooding moments through his daughters’ engagement reflecting his longing for Rakul Preet. This tells us that age doesn’t take away our longing for loving and being loved. It only awaits the right person to re-ignite it.

The Indian hero always shows himself being much younger than what he actually is. In such scenario, it takes a lot of courage for Devgn to allow himself to not only be shown as a 50-year-old but also to be called a ‘buddha.’

Javed Jaffery, a psychiatrist, plays the practical voice of the societal expectations from such a skewed relationship.

Like the many movies cautioning the teenagers of the perils of hastily venturing into inappropriate relationships, this one too cautions about the possible long-term effects of this age difference on a relationship.
This hitherto unapproached subject of age difference is supported by a powerful statement like ‘In earlier times also we had marriages with huge age differences but at least this is happening with the girl’s consent.’ 

A good entertainer this one with splendid performances by Tabu and Devgn. There is nothing intense about this movie. But, rest assured, it is not a Total Dhamaal either. 

Maharshi

The movies of Mahesh Babu that I like are far and few between. I do not like those commercially-oriented ones with barely-there story lines. To his credit, he does try different genres in his films.
What evoked my interest in watching Maharshi was Allari Naresh’s presence. That Naresh is a good actor (forcibly confined to certain genre) is no secret. I am so glad that in this film he got to do something other than hare-brained comedy (though he excels at those too).
The 3-hour film is divided into three phases of Mahesh Babu’s life. A college, corporate and village life.
The movie starts with a college scene with blossoming friendship between Mahesh Babu, Naresh and Pooja Hegde, the heroine. (Suspended belief called for.)
It is the usual college scene except that Mahesh Babu has extraordinary intelligence (and loads of attitude).
He has mapped himself to a path of success wherein relationships don’t hold much meaning and are seen as impediments. He loses the two friends he makes in college before he sets forward on the journey of his life to the US where his innovative ideas in mobile applications, find him soon heading the company he works for. Just as he starts wallowing in his long-dreamt success, a blast from the past makes him visit Naresh in his village. The visit sets him re-thinking the meaning of success and this forms the third and final part of the movie.
The next act in village and the ensuing confrontation with Jagapathi Babu forms an interesting duel between two minds.
Both Naresh and Jagapathi Babu shine in their performances. Mahesh Babu looks uncannily like his father. Of course, with far better dancing skills.
The very brief almost cameo- like appearances of Tanikella Bharani, Prakash Raj , Jayasudha and Vennella Kishore remain inexplicable. I mean such powerful performers in such blink-and-miss roles? To the extent that even Pooja Hegde, the heroine’s presence was just not required. When will we get rid of the obsession with glamor quotient in Telugu films?  The heroine for Naresh is completely justified though. Without all the song and dance, we would have a crisper movie on hand. and, the fights too...too many of them just to showcase Mahesh's action skills.
The story, though not really new, is very predictive but still gripping throughout, so much so that I never realized when the 3-hour long film got over.
What works for this film by Vamsi Paidipally, is that after a long time, we have a message delivered very effectively in a film without sounding preachy. At the end of the movie, your heart will go out and want to do something for the farmer.
Brings to mind the slogan so aptly raised by Shastriji “Jai Jawaan, Jai Kisaan!” So true! Where would we all be without the two?
Yeah, go watch the film while remaining vigilant of the above-mentioned minuses.
A 3.75/5 experience for me.

Jersey

The tag ‘Natural Actor’ sits on Nani well. This aspect is reinforced in the Telugu movie, Jersey.
 That, after a plethora of attempts at larger-than-life portrayals, he has returned to his Amol Palekarisque role brings great relief to his audience.
This is what he does best and not the Krishnagadi…Krishnarjuna etc. etc. kind of movies. (Perhaps the word Krishna doesn’t suit him?)
Neither Nani nor the movie fight shy of portraying the hero in a grey shade, a rarity in Telugu movies where even heroes over 50 want to show themselves as young and inviolable. In this movie, Nani’s age is a year older than what he actually is in his real life. He allows himself to be amidst 19-year-old youngsters bringing forth the stark difference in age and physical sprightliness.
As is his wont, he doesn’t seem to act. He lives the role. He portrays a successful but an arrogant cricketer who loses both, cricket and a government job, giving up the former and suspended from the latter. He now sits moping at home watching cricket and, in general, wasting time as his wife works, albeit reluctantly, in a job that doesn’t pay her much and in which she is humiliated from time to time.
But his love for his son keeps him going. Nani must have had an emotional attachment to the role as he named his reel son Nani and himself Arjun (his son’s name in real life) in the movie.
The son’s simple wish of getting the Indian jersey for his birthday is what forms the premise of the film. Nani feels humiliated and helpless as he sees himself unable to fulfil his son’s one wish.
The awakening happens when his wife catches him taking money from her purse. That triggers the end to his inaction.  He now wants to do something about his life instead of whiling away his time hoping to get back his job (by bribing the lawyer, which he refuses to).
Nani has played the role seemingly with lot of ease. In reality, how hard he must have worked, how much he must have practised to get those perfect shots with his bat. Not once does he make you feel he is a novice at cricket. At the same time, he allows his efforts to be noticed in his attempts to fit in and show himself as physically fit as the 19-year-old cricketers.
The movie is simple with no twists and turns. The hero tries to shed his looser label and fulfil a purpose in life. The journey from an insignificant existence to a meaningful one is what makes it so endearing to the audience. Plus, the fact that Nani is one of us, adds to the appeal.
The heroine, Shraddha Srinath’s acting was a little forced as she doesn’t have much to do but keep yelling at Nani. The kid is cute, a tad too cute perhaps. The cuteness factor could be turned down a little to concentrate more on some unspoken moments between father and son.
Sathyaraj as Nani’s coach and mentor is brilliant. Brahmaji, Rao Ramesh and Sampath Raj do well in their cameos.
There are times when you feel the movie is pursuing too many sub-plots. The more the sub-plots, the greater the difficulty in tying them together and bring them to a cohesive end.
Go watch for the Nani who was before Krishna etc…you will find him again in this movie.
After the director takes you to a crescendo in the post-interval portion of the film, the end was a definite let-down.
What works for the movie is the sincere efforts of the director, Gowtham Tinnanuri, a relative novice who knows how to cash in on Nani’s histrionics.
For me Jersey is a 3.5/5 experience.

Apna Time Aayega

Indian cinema trying to replicate a success story has become quite a hackneyed theme.
In this scenario, though based on a true story, Gully Boy offers a fresh approach, a fresh story and is different from all the movies (biopics being the latest trend) that get churned out regularly.
Apart from the odd Lootera in the beginning days of his acting, Ranveer is known more for his loud expressions, attire and persona.
In Gully Boy he has proved he can also underplay and do it well. The movie is about the underdog and pursuit of his dreams. When I heard this one-liner, my reaction was a yawn…so, what’s new?
What’s new, however, is its treatment by director Zoya Akhtar and execution by the lead actor, Ranveer Singh.
The hero doesn’t portray the typical larger-than-life persona. His no make-up look shows him as a very real person. The body language accentuates the humble demeanor he displays when in the presence of his employer, (eyes bend down, speaking in controlled voice).
Ranveer is accepting of his vulnerabilities and makes mistakes just like you and I do. He witnesses a deep rich-poor divide when he works as a temporary driver to his rich employer, yet there is no bitterness in him…. only a quiet note to himself ‘apna time aayega’ (my time will come). He defies his father who believes that they are born for and meant to serve the rich meekly all through their lives. Despite his poverty, Ranveer exhibits a strong set of values, standing by his friends, his mother…
The movie is filmed in Dharavi, the famed slums of Mumbai. Zoya speaks of the humdrum of life; of how the lead pair of Ranveer and Alia meet unknown to their parents; of their daily commute together in the local train; of their respective lower middle-class households; of Alia studying to become a doctor. All this is shown in a very matter-of-fact way without belittling the people of Dharavi or their surroundings.
Ranveer, on the other hand, is clueless about his life and its goal. He is happy penning lyrics for rap songs. Life has its plans when he happens to meet Siddhant Chaturvedi (an Emcee himself) who nudges him into singing (or is it called rapping?).
I don’t understand rap much but what I can empathise with is the yearning in the mind of a young boy who is from an impoverished background and hopes to make it big one day. Alia adds the subtle counterfoil to this ambitious Ranveer.
The movie could be considered as a take-off from where 3 idiots left. it will appeal more to the suppressed lot and not to the middle & upper middle class where lot of us have already allowed our children’s dreams to take wing.
Chaturvedi adds greatly to the energy but seems, unfairly, to be left out of the so-far-shared success journey towards the end. What could distract you is his uncanny resemblance to Shahid Kapoor.
I loved the simple synergy in this movie. One need not get unduly stressed wondering who is backstabbing who. The emotions of anger, happiness, friendship are never camouflaged. At 153 minutes, especially post interval, the film does drag a bit though.
I’d rate it a 3.5/ 5.

Thailand: its culture and practices

This is my concluding post in the Thailand series on Preparing for, Eating at and Touring Thailand.
Here I list some of my observations regarding Thailand culture and its practices. Hopefully, they will be of use to people who plan to travel there.

About Thailand Hotels:

1. The hospitality industry doesn’t pander to you as the ones back in India do. Even at a 4-starred hotel you’d rarely find bell boys to help carry your luggage … neither during check-in nor check-out times.
2. The best of the hotels doesn’t provide you with shampoo bottles or soap bars. You’d find these provided in different soap dispensers in liquid form.
3. For the coffee and tea preparation in your room, you are daily provided with just the required number of coffee, tea and sugar sachets, not one more.
4. The toothbrush kit, when available, is of superior quality, similar to what you buy for your regular use.
5. Many a time you find, close to the reception area, free snacks and sweets available throughout the day for you to dip into for your hunger pangs.
6. Along with all the usual stuff, we found, in two of the hotels we stayed in, clean beach towels and umbrellas for the sudden torrents.
7. All three hotels we stayed in provided us with pin-drop silence and a peaceful night’s sleep.
8. Thankfully, the hotels are strict about smoking and non-smoking rooms and therefore my room didn’t have the smell of smoke hanging in the air.
9. Bottled water, one for each person each day, was provided free of cost in the hotels.
10. All the hotels have the check-in time at 2 pm and check-out at 12 noon. They allow you to store your luggage with them even after you check-out.
11. The hotels aren't really costly there and compare with those in India.
12. Of the three hotels we stayed in, Ibis, Krabi was the best experience and The Mailka, Phuket the least.Holiday Inn Express, Bangkok was a pretty good experience too. 

Other practices

1. As in India, Thailand too charges its foreign tourists higher than the local ones for entry to various tourist spots. For visitors from the West, the cost is a fraction of their currency but for the Indian tourists, it is multiplied by two and a half ( at current currency conversion rate). 

   

   Entrance ticket to one of the tourist sites.

2. Tissues are used abundantly. Not only do you find it in the bathroom in the form of toilet paper, but you also find boxes of tissues in the bathroom, at the dressing mirror, at your bedside…in short, everywhere. Being an avid tissue user, I really didn’t mind. The quality of tissue is also amazingly soft and not abrasive like the ones we find here.
3. Some hotels provide you with shuttle services to the beach every hour.
4. What saddens you though is the abundant use of thin plastic carry bags. Every time we shopped, we politely turned them down.
5. English is spoken or understood by very few. We  approached some school kids on the street for directions, assuming that, like in India, English is spoken by almost every school kid. But , no, they didn't understand the language either. 
6. The different modes of transport are the abundant cabs found on the street, the tuk-tuks (like our autos) and the sky train in Bangkok. Like in India, you can negotiate with the cab and tuk-tuk drivers.
7. Most of the cab drivers are swift and smart with their phone use. You name the place and you are quickly driven there. But you can never see where they drive you because guess what…the Google maps are also in Thai.
8. Bangkok airport has a complicated wi-fi connection system and takes 20-30 minutes to connect.
9. Most of the temples are of Buddha and you need to take off your shoes to enter a temple. You also need to make sure you cover your knees and shoulders before you do.
10. Most of the restaurants run till late in the night, almost round the clock with no breaks between lunch and dinner times.
11. Water isn’t available for free anywhere. You’d need to buy it.
12. Forex exchange kiosks are found almost everywhere.
13. The roads are free of troughs and craters and are very beautifully maintained.

I hope you find this list useful in guiding your preparations when you visit Thailand.

Thailand: touring Bangkok, Phuket & Krabi

BANGKOK
We landed at Bangkok at 10. 30 pm and went for visa-on-arrival process. We filled out a form. Despite a long check-list of required documents, the only proof that they asked for was the to & fro tickets. After 15 minutes of waiting, we were beckoned and handed the stamped passports.
We headed out to our hotel (Holiday Inn Express) and reached at around 12.30. Hungry and tired, we checked in and asked for some food. We were told that there was no kitchen and suggested we go down to the Mc Donald’s attached to the hotel which had plenty of beef, pork and chicken options but nothing that we vegetarians could eat. We had booked ourselves into this hotel at Siam, in the centre of the city but found nothing to eat in its neighborhood. Walking around at 1 in the night, we were looking for something to eat when a kind tuktukwala (tuktuk: like the autos in India but bigger) stopped and asked, “India?” and promised to take us to an Indian restaurant. I normally avoid Indian food outside India but then having no other recourse, got into his tuktuk and visited the Indian restaurant, which, as imagined, served an absolutely bland fare. By the time we slipped under covers, it was 2 am!
The next day was a trip to Ayutthaya. We started at 10 am, took help of the hotel concierge and booked a cab for THB 2000 to Ayutthaya and back.  All along the way, we were taken to several temples which belonged to many centuries back and were mostly in ruins. Though history interests me, after a point of time I was pretty tired from seeing ruins after ruins. There was the palace thrown in as well, but at around 11.30 am, at the beginning of the tour, it was too hot for us to enjoy going around. In the process, I got severely sunburnt.
The next day was the flight to Phuket in the evening. Therefore, we went for shopping at Pratunam, the street shopping at Bangkok during the first half of the day. For me, it was very much like the Sultan bazaar of Hyderabad, with crowds jostling against each other. There was a great fear of pick-pocketing and we were very careful, clutching on to our wallets and phones. We bought some clothes suitable for beach. At Pratunam clothes were as cheap as THB 65 for a t shirt! We also shopped at the adjacent Indira market where you find stuff priced slightly higher comparatively but still cheap.
We ate some Thai food at the food courts there. When we emerged onto the main road from Indira market, we found, to our astonishment, a line of Indian restaurants, mostly vegetarian! So, for people who want to stick to a familiar cuisine, this is for you guys.
After shopping, we rushed back to the hotel, picked up our luggage and headed to the airport to Phuket.

AT PHUKET
At around 8 pm, we arrived at Phuket at a fairly better time than we did at Bangkok. We booked ourselves at Malika Hotel at Phuket Town. Phuket looks like a sleepy Kerala village. There is lots of greenery with long coconut trees swaying all along your route from Phuket airport to the town.
Even at 8 pm, we (again) found no food or kitchen in the hotel open at that time. Too tired to go out, we survived on some salvaged food from our bags.
We then held a discussion with the hotel receptionist for our next day’s plans. Don’t be fooled by the frail appearance of the receptionist. On travel review sites, people have mentioned about how this poor, frail thing carried your suitcases to the top floor in absence of a lift and the bell-boys. (She  actually sprinted upstairs with two 10 kg suitcases in each hand!
I would say definitely, in this case, appearances can be so deceptive!
She booked us to a Phi Phi island trip at THB 2000 each. Later, we found out that the people from other hotels had paid 900 to 1200 max for the same trip.
Though the hotel was set in a serene environment, it has no lift and no phone to call the receptionist! Just imagine trying to ask for something…
The next morning, we set out for a trip to Phi Phi islands and several other islands and beaches en route.
Organized by the APJR group, the whole trip experience was rather mediocre.
After Phi Phi islands, we returned in the evening at 5 and went out for a stroll and dinner in Phuket town. After knowing how much the hotel could overcharge us by, we decided to go to one of the several tourist centres to book a taxi for the next day to Krabi. By now, we knew better than to arrive late to a hotel and starve.
But we found our driver, Mr. Chai, through a car mechanic’s shop. We had strolled by to ask for a tourist centre who could book us a cab in Phuket Town and they called up this excellent driver who charged us cheaper than the tourist centres did . He was a thorough professional, arriving on dot the next day at our hotel, drove at optimum speed and with great care to Krabi. Mr. Chai can be reached at 081-6062485.
Phuket to Karbi is exactly 3 hours. Starting at 11. 30, we arrived at Krabi at 2.30 pm.

AT KRABI
Reaching our hotel IBIS, Krabi at 2.30 pm, just in time for lunch, was a vast improvement when compared to arrival times at Bangkok and Phuket.
Krabi, at 4,709 km² is the largest island in Thailand and, therefore, will have you puzzled about where to stay. Look no further…Ao Nang it is. It is closest to the beach and has a 2 km stretch of way-side shopping, stretching from our hotel to the beach. During our foray for lunch, we chanced upon a Thai- cum-Indian restaurant. We ordered Thai food sharing our requirements with its Indian owner and Thai chef.
The next day we went to a 4-island tour through the hotel @ 1000 THBs each. Where Phuket beaches are for those who swim, snorkel, dive etc. Krabi is more of pristine, clean beaches and fine sands. In sharp contrast to the APJR group we went with in Phuket, Krabi Mukandaman Travel, (phone: 075-695-591) was very professional. They had far superior boats, uniformed personnel and the jewel in the crown was the excellent tour guide who was so mindful of our needs, took great care and sprinkled his conversations with much witticism.

Mat, our cheerful tourist guide

To experience the feeling of being one with the nature, do visit Ao Nang beach in the evening. A quiet peace engulfs you as you walk away from the noise of the main road towards the beach.
The environment is electrifying with only the noise of waves splashing against the shores as you walk past many restaurants of various cuisines, massage parlours, live music, candle light dinners…the works!
Next time, it is straight Krabi for me!

Thailand: preparing for the journey

When you want to visit a country, the first thing you need to plan is about which parts of the country you want to tour. This again depends on why you want to travel to that country in the first place.
Ok, so here is how I decided. I got Diwali holidays for a couple of days at office. Combining that with three days’ leave and 4 days of weekends, gave me a solid 9 days off. I decided to keep one day to myself to sorting and unpacking the mess post-travel before joining office from Monday.

So, what could be done in these 8 days?  Looking at Thailand map made me realize that the names of places that float around were at quite a distance from each other, two cities (Bangkok & Pattaya) in the North Thailand and two cities (Phuket & Krabi) in the South. A preliminary research made me realize that doing all four, plus travel in the given duration was tough.

Bangkok was, after all, just another city, like any other city in the world. Pattaya was a city famous for its night life. Could easily skip that. That means we devote our time to the South where the delightful islands of Phuket and Krabi lay. So, the plan was made: the briefest of times at Bangkok and the maximum time at Krabi.
Flights tickets from Hyderabad to Bangkok and back were booked. Extensive research done on which hotels to stay at, depending on the proximity to prominent landmarks, and booked. All these activities were done online and took about 14 days. By then, I was about a week away from travel and didn’t have the time to apply for visa from Hyderabad, as apparently, we need to show proof of to and fro tickets plus where we planned to stay during the entire duration of our Thailand stay.
Next, was applying for Forex. This was the easiest of all tasks as I could book the forex online and get it delivered the same day. I got it at the rate of Rs. 2.89 to 1 THB. I applied for 15000 THB, hoping it will do. The cards were always there, anyways.
We stayed in two 4-starred hotels and one 3-starred (where the 4-starred one wasn’t available). We didn’t travel by public transport and always took the cab. What I mean to say is that we definitely weren't on a money-saving mode. Yet, we only incurred a cost of 22000 THB for our sight-seeing, food and shopping expenditure. We swiped the card when we thought we might fall short of cash.

A vegetarian foodie in Thailand

In India, we vegetarians not only have access to a great variety of food from across the globe, but also find the assuring green dot marking all vegetarian food. We realize how blessed we are here when we go to countries where we aren’t as privileged.
When we speak of breakfast buffets in Hyderabad, the lavishness of the spread is incredible. Plus, any non-veg food is normally placed separately and at a distance from the vegetarian food. Such checks ensure that vegetarians get to eat only vegetarian food.
When I go to any place, in India or abroad, I steer clear of Andhra food. I have it at home every day, anyways. I try to eat Gujarati food in Gujarat, Bengali food in Bengal, Malayali food in Kerala…
In the same way, I eagerly looked forward to eating Thai food in Thailand.
Why getting Thai vegetarian food is not easy in Thailand
First, nearly 90% of the Thais do not speak English. So how do you make them understand what you want? Second, what is the definition of vegetarian food? All sea-food is vegetarian for them!
Okay, so how did I go about taking care of this challenge?

At the first hotel we stayed, I asked the receptionist, who seemed intelligent and knew more than a smattering of English, to write the above note for me. The note states that 'this person has below food restrictions: meat, eggs, seafood, mushroom'.
They may not understand the meaning of vegetarianism like we in India do but they take food restrictions very seriously. When I showed the above note at the hotels we stayed, I was cautioned about those items in the breakfast buffet (which, in short, is nearly everything on the table). We ended up having loads and loads of fresh fruits, croissants, bread, butter, cereal…
Back in Hyderabad, I always found non-local fruits expensive and flavorless. But here we could eat the freshest exotic fruits every day.
So, even if deprived of those 10-15 items on the breakfast menu, the restaurants generously offered to prepare 2-3 Thai food items exclusively for us.
Here is an instance to show how seriously they take your food restrictions. At a restaurant we ordered some pizza and fries. (Burger was ruled out.) We were cautioned about the presence of egg in the pizza base when the stewardess took the order, but the chef came out of the kitchen after a while saying that he couldn’t serve us the fries as they would be fried in the same oil that the chicken was! I wonder if, even in India, we find such honest confession!
Back here, we think that if nothing else is available, we have at least the Macs and KFCs. In Thailand the burger would inevitably be made of chicken, beef, pork…vegetarian burger in these places is totally unheard of…
At any restaurant, do not rely on the waitresses. Have the chef called. He will give you the true picture of what is veg and what is not. Basically, there is no veg food on the buffet. Don’t believe even if the waitress says so. It is simply because she doesn't know!
Almost every item has a base of fish sauce/oyster sauce. Even potato wedges which looked so tempting was forbidden as it was sprinkled with chicken powder!
Certain food being kept separate is something we experienced in Krabi only. Krabi has a substantial number of Muslims and here the pork is kept separately, far from all the other food.
Water is a premium here. Water is kept in one of the dispensers, along with the juice dispensers. The restaurant personnel may wink at your attempt to carry away a morsel or two from the buffet table but any attempts to fill your bottle with water is frowned upon.
Drinking water from taps is not available at any of the tourist spots. You must buy bottled ones.
Vegetarian food is construed as Indian food. The cab driver who took us about in Bangkok also attempted to take us to an Indian restaurant.
But when we insisted on a Thai cuisine, he took us to this quaint place which served only Thai vegetarian food! Can you believe that, in a country that thrives on non-veg food, we found this nugget...a small dining room attached to the home of a 60-year old home cook.

Those tastes still linger in the mind and I have found no match to them in my entire Thailand journey.
If nothing else, there are abundant 7-Eleven grocery stores which contain supplies of bread, butter, marmalades that helps you stay afloat.The labels, the ingredients, all product information is in Thai and then out comes the above note again to ensure that the food you just bought contains no meat. The 7-Elevens come to your rescue especially as some of the hotels close the kitchens at night times.

The bread, unlike the dry version we find in Hyderabad, was the softest and freshest I tasted in a long while.
With that note in hand, I got to experience the best of Thai vegetarian food in Thailand.
Yet, if you still want to eat Indian food in Thailand, Indra market at Pratunam, Bangkok has a couple of them in their food court. And when you come out of Indra market, you find at least 5-6 (as far as the eye could see) of Indian restaurants lined up on the main road. So, you have your shopping and food at the same place.
Two things I strongly recommend there: the sweetest and freshest pineapple that are found in abundance. Two, tender coconut and tender coconut ice cream. These are the best you’d ever taste.

To bottu or not to bottu?

               

I went through a hassle-free security check at the airport in India and at Bangkok immigration. 

The security system at Thailand doesn’t comprise frisking at any of its airports. Your luggage is scanned, and then you are let through a metal-detector. 

On one of their domestic flights, however, after I passed through the door, I was called aside by the female security personnel, frisked and then let through. I was the only one there with a bottu on my forehead. 

I was wondering how many of the security people understand this bottu culture of South India and that Hindus, identified by their bottu, normally do not give reason for suspicion at airports. 

As a South Indian, I was reluctant to do away with the bottu that I am used to from my birth. But, I did remove it, and then onwards I wasn’t stopped or questioned in any of the Thailand airports. 

It went back on through the duration of the trip but at airports, it came off.

So, on the last leg of my journey from Bangkok to Hyderabad, I was bottu-less. 

Okay, as a prelude, I am fair-complexioned, but I wasn't aware how it would, in combination with the bottu-less state, give rise to these interesting occurrences…

1) At the immigration center, I am asked my nationality as an answer to my query on filling the immigration forms.

2) A woman at the airport exit asking me if I was interested in foreign exchange.

3) The taxi driver asking me in English where I wanted to go.

A foreigner in foreign countries anyway, and in your own too?

So, to bottu or not to bottu? 

The woes of traveling by Hyderabad Metro Rail - Part IV

The last and final part to the topic on Hyderabad Metro Rail.
This post contains a list of miscellaneous things that bother me…and also some good things about the metro.

Smart cards: Are they really smart?
You buy a smart card for traveling by the metro train every day.  Once the money is used up, you recharge it. There is no upper or lower limit to the recharge. You deposit Rs.100/- when you buy the card. The advantage is not having to stand in queues every time you buy a ticket. There is also a 10% discount on your ticket whenever you take a ride. That translates to a mere Rs. 4/- off on a Rs.40/- ticket.
If, God forbid, your card is lost, and you have no record of the long id number on the card, you are doomed. You have lost the deposit money plus whatever you have recharged it with.
If you plan to return the smart card, you are refunded only Rs. 60 of the 100/- deposit. Why? Tax, it seems. Remember, you are not warned of these charges when you buy the card. At the time of purchase, you are told that the deposit is returned when you surrender the card.
I think Metro should also think of linking to a bus commute after one gets off the train.

Lack of neatness:
Look at the thin film of dust on the staircase railings, dirt and pigeon shit on stairs, dirt on train floors…its everywhere.
In the initial days of metro travel, when the train was sparkling new, I boarded the train at Ameerpet and saw to my horror that someone had left large puddles of pickle oil on the floor. People were very nonchalantly stepping into it and spreading it everywhere else. I quickly grabbed some tissues from my bag and mopped up the oil so that it didn’t spread elsewhere.
A few tissues later, I saw that I was not only mopping up the oil but loads of dirt along with it! For me, it was mana metro, mana Hyderabad, but looks like this sentiment isn’t shared by the metro personnel. 

The value of time:
Time isn’t really valued much in the metros. We aren’t really aware of when the next train arrives. There is a display at random about the arrival of the next train but then there is no strict adherence to that timing.
The duration of 6.30 minutes, though an improvement on the earlier 15 minutes, can still be improved. If a train is missed, waiting for nearly 7 minutes for the next one can delay your office-reporting time by those many minutes. And time is valuable in the morning hours. 
Those elaborate, international-airport-like security checks…are they really necessary? Many a time, you hear the train overhead leave when you are trying to do several activities at the security gate: remove water bottle--push your luggage through the scanner--put the water bottle back—gather your bag—lug it back on your shoulders--take out the smart card---swipe the card--put it back and then… trot across the concourse---ride up the escalator. By this time, the train is gone. And all you want to do once you reach the station, is scram across the floor and quickly into the about-to-leave train.

The crowds: 
The crowds are thickening now as more and more people start traveling by the metro. The crowds add more noise.
Also, several outlets are set up at Ameerpet station. They make the station appear more crowded.
Does the regular commuter, think of stopping to buy something at the end of the day? All you think of is, when does the next train come and when do I get into one and go home as soon as possible?
The jostling to get into the available 3 coaches has started happening as there is no queue system; the scramble to get into the lifts has also started.
At times, the non-functioning air condition in the train, especially at night times puts the burgeoning crowds to great inconvenience.
Autos are lined up at the water tank side of Tranaka metro station in such a way that they obstruct the travelers from entering the station area.

Some good things: 
The ticket issuing system is smooth. The ticketing staff has always been pleasant to interact with.
Lost property found: I lost and got back my umbrella which I had left in the train while getting off at Ameerpet.
Very thoughtful of them to build a FOB at Paradise station. Getting off or onto the station becomes very easy!
The entire infrastructure is very beautiful. The area around the station, the station, the train, the platform, the drivers… all are world-class. Some stations are kept very clean (like Tarnaka).
Area around Miyapur is like a park where you want to go to relax.
It is heartening to have a commute in Hyderabad which doesn’t make you wait too long and normally sticks to the 6.30 minutes wait time. It is also one of the fastest modes of transport on Hyderabad roads.

Waiting eagerly for HMR to extend the services to Hi-Tech city. It will be a great blessing to thousands of people commuting from the other end of the city.
All my 4 posts regarding different aspects of the Metro are for providing feedback so that if these teething issues are taken care of, we can anticipate smoother operation when the routes are extended.

The woes of traveling by Hyderabad Metro Rail - Part III

The third in the series is one on NOISE in metro station and the train.

How we Indians thrive on noise!

By the time a person reaches Ameerpet station on the last leg of his daily commute, after 8+ hours of work, 3+ hours of commute, at the end of a tiring day, he meets this scenario…

Ameerpet is an interchange station and therefore more crowded than the other stations.

But that still doesn’t warrant the continuous cacophony from the pervasive speakers. You wander if you are in a metro station equipped with the latest infrastructure or in some village fair.

A regular commuter, laden with a bag weighing 5+ kgs on his back, tired, wanting to go home cannot expected to be tolerant of the continuous announcements from the mikes placed all around Ameerpet metro station.

Please do not touch unclaimed baggage. If you see one, report to the authority.

Travel beyond what you paid for is a punishable offence.

Please do not cross the train tracks. It is a punishable offence

Now you have bike facility at xxx metro stations.

Please note the change in metro timings from xxx to xxx on weekends and on weekdays.

You are under CC camera surveillance. Misuse of alarm is observed.

Do not lean on the doors.

Stand behind the yellow line till the train stops.

While boarding or deboarding, don’t get in while the doors are closing.

I forget the others. But this goes on….AND all these in THREE languages continuously in a loop.

People on mobile phone trying to talk louder over this noise…

The security personnel, especially at Ameerpet, talking to one another in loud tones.

The noise continues in the train with some commercials screaming at you inside the train, people speaking on phones, playing music and videos.

In one of the trains, the door behind the drivers’ cabin makes a chattering noise throughout the journey.

There are very few announcements cautioning people from playing music on their phones.They don’t care. But for a commuter, to be subjected to insensitive intrusion into their space, strict monitoring would certainly be helpful.

There is just SO much noise to put up with at the end of the day!

The woes of traveling by Hyderabad Metro Rail - Part II

The security system

Modern day dictum requires the use of security system at entrances to crowded and eminent places.
The system is a pain for anyone. Who likes standing at the entrances and be probed, patted, have pockets checked, bags searched…? You learn to grin and put up for the 1-2 times mall visits a month, or 4-5 airport visits a year.
But what when you commute by the metro and are subjected to this kind of checking twice a day? And what if rules keep getting added with the least concern for the commuter? And executed with the least politeness? Being treated with suspicion twice a day is no fun.
When I started using the metro for travel, I was asked to put the backpack which contains, a laptop, an extra pair of shoes I carry every day, a water bottle and my wallet, on the conveyor belt for scanning.
I used to carry my lunch bag in my hand and a slim 7"x 7" sling bag across the front containing change for Rs. 500/- for my daily commute, my office ID card and my cell phone.
All the travelers are asked to put their bags on the conveyor belt and have the luggage scanned. I comply to this.
A few days later, one of the security guards asked me to put my sling bag also on the conveyor belt. Containing just a little cash, a cell phone, the metro card and the house keys, the bag is just too thin to cause any suspicion of a physical threat. A physical examination would have been enough. But the guard insisted I put it on the belt. The cloth bag comes without a zip or a button and I ran the risk of the contents falling out in the transaction. Moreover, exposing my iPhone to the hazard of x-rays twice a day was unacceptable to me. I feared it would cause a damage.
So, now I have another piece of luggage to be added to the backpack...this sling bag.
Third, my lunch-box is made of several tiny plastic boxes containing tiny portions of various items, solid and liquid. Because it is plastic, it tends to topple over when I keep it on the conveyor belt.
The security guards insisted that I put it on the belt too. During the return journey, the empty set of tiffin boxes would be knocked off the conveyor belt and fall to ground because of its lightness. (Was a disaster when I tried carrying a pastry daintily back home one day).
The next item to be added to the backpack in addition to the laptop, shoes, a water bottle, my wallet and the sling bag was now this lunch box.
I start out from home now by holding the cell phone, the house keys and the metro card in my hand. Rest of the things are now stuffed into the back pack, to be placed on the conveyor belt.
The next set of instructions came a few days later. ‘Take out all the water bottles from your bags and hold it in your hand’. Ok. So now, I go to the conveyor belt, wait for a few seconds to take the water bottle out of its slot in the back pack, keep it in my hand along with the house keys, the metro card and the cell phone, enter the cordoned security area for a physical examination by the hand-held device, emerge on to the other side, collect my backpack, re-insert the bottle in the backpack, swipe my metro card at the entrance, run upstairs while balancing the water bottle, the metro card, the cell phone, the house keys and a heavy backpack on the back,  and with no hands left to hold onto the railings of the escalator, I risk my safety.
The new weight of the backpack, now also with an umbrella due to rainy season, is around 6 kgs.
When I start from office, I perch the bag on the table to enable me to push it on to the shoulders. Heaving it across the shoulders otherwise, causes the handles to graze the arms.
Security system at Ameerpet is a nightmare. The conveyor belt there is just a few inches above ground level. And one needs to pause in front of the belt, peel off the back pack, put it on the belt, bend down again on the other side to pick up the heavy backpack and put it back on your shoulders as there is no table or perch to rest your backpack on.
Another very dangerous thing one observes at some of the conveyor belts is that the they keep running and have no perch preceding or following the running belt because of which, if you wear a flowing dress, beware, your dress is likely to be caught. Second, there is no table or perch when the bags emerge on the other side and that’s why a security guard is allotted to collect your bags to prevent them falling off the belt.
The most ironic thing about the security is that as your bag goes through the x-ray machine, sometimes, there is no guard sitting there to watch the contents of your bag. You could put anything inside.
And sometimes the guard is busy doing important things like making calls as your bag is supposed to go through. And you emerge on the other side wondering why your bag hasn’t come through yet. You see that it is still sitting perched at the entrance to the conveyor belt as it is not pushed onto the belt by the guard. So you go back, push your bag through the entrance onto the conveyor belt and breathe in relief as the bag comes through this time.
To add to all these woes twice a day, is the utter lack of empathy and politeness by the security staff.
Why are we commuters subjected to such security system twice a day?
How are they going to manage when the crowds thicken due to extension of routes?

Having a walk-through metal detector plus the hand-held one will give the commuter the freedom to to carry his stuff whichever way he wants to and also save him from the rules which change ever-so-often (about things that can go into or need to be removed from the bags).

The woes of traveling by Hyderabad Metro Rail-Part I

Walk…walk…walk

No sooner did we Hyderabadis revel in the advent of the metro, than we started witnessing its rapid deterioration!
You can refer here to the extreme glee with which I welcomed the metro. Anything that caters to increasing the level of urbane infrastructure in Hyderabad, warms the heart at the prospect of improved standard of living.
After the usual Hyderabad frenzy of initial rush, I took a casual trip one day. My heart was singing as I saw the well-planned infrastructure, the cleanliness, the sparkling newness and the near-empty spaces within and outside the train.
All this experience was short-lived as my new job entailed a commute of 25+ kms to Hi-Tech city. And that’s when I realised what I was getting into.
I figured a combination of routes and travel and finally settled on getting down at Ameerpet and opting for another transport from Ameerpet to Hi-tech city.  I was at peace at finding a routine.
Well, what do you know?!
Traveling by metro is strictly for the physically strong.
Prepare for walking…walking long distances and climbing up and down staircases.
A typical metro station has four entry points...two on each side of the road. On one side is a lift and the other side an escalator plus steep staircases to go up/ down. Climbing all these can be intimidating. Escalators/lifts may not be on the side of the road you want to get off on and therefore climbing down these steep staircases can be gruelling.
Watch out especially for metro stations on SP road, most of which have access only on one side of the road.
The example of Parade Ground station…
While traveling towards Uppal, you come across the first entry to Parade Ground station. And what have you here? A formidable climb up two steep flights of stairs to reach the concourse!
If you want to be smarter the next time and take the second entry point to the station, you walk 300-400 metres further and get to use the lift to go to the concourse. But after reaching the concourse, you keep walking and walking… seems like almost a kilometer… to reach the platform! And I imagine it to be so for all the stations on SP road which have entry point only on one side of the road.
Once you reach the concourse, watch out for all the floor space you need to cover to get to the platform!
At least the train floor is on the level of platform and one needn’t have to labor to get onto the train.
Okay, now here comes the not so funny part….in all stations, 2 of 4 escalators are kept closed ‘to conserve electricity.’ In few of them all 4 escalators are closed, and only lifts are in operation. So, once you get off the train, you need to walk some distance from your coach to reach the lift.
How do I know the pain of walking all these distances?
I had hurt my foot and was working from home for a week. The first day I returned to work, I had someone drop me at the station (very close to my home) and made an effort to get into the train by walking slowly. But when I got off at Ameerpet station and asked for a wheel chair to my waiting cab downstairs, I was asked, 'had you asked for the wheel chair at you starting station? If not, you don’t get it here either.’
Slow walking (and delayed healing as a result) for the next couple of weeks was my only recourse.
Conclusion: Senior citizens, physically challenged…keep away! The metro is not for you.

How dare she!

Returning home, weary from work

suffering the sluggish traffic,

sprawling through potholes filled with pools of fresh rain

lost in thoughts.

Wanting to reach home

to plan for Friday and the weekend

...the usual stuff.

Unexpectedly, I catch this 8-9-month-old,

squeezed between her parents on the scooter

smiling and waving at me!

I looked up startled, waking from my trance,

wondering at what just happened…

I dismissed it…

just a fleeting moment in the humdrum of life!

Few minutes later, they cross me again

…and in those few moments, she smiles and waves at me, again!

I smile and wave back at her.

Shaking off the momentary distraction,

I got back to wondering how much farther my destination was.

But that vision comes up again…

the tiny being smilingly waving at me!

How dare she disturb me like this,

from my inane existence of Monday to Sunday

In this constant quest for ‘space’

when we all distance ourselves from one another,

how dare she disturb my space, break this reverie, and breach my world with her smile?

How dare she still revel in that innocent glee

unaffected by this world deluged with shrewd manipulation

How dare she smiles at me

and touches my heart in places I have closed to the world.

How dare she finds and targets those soft spots behind the hard shell?

How dare her parents gave birth to this little thing whose very fragility tugs at my heart strings

The image does not just cause transitory ripples.

But remains embedded as a memory, tapping at my heart again and again

asking me to raise my head from the hubbub of life, wake up, and live!

How dare she!