Strong winds wreak havoc; two killed The Hindu, Apr 15, 2007
Shopping, food are good in Hyderabad :
Vishaka Singh, IndiaGlitz.com, April 22, 2007
All it takes is a cloudburst or a determined shower, so to say, to throw city life completely out of gear. If the wind-god decides to puff and blow, Hyderabad has had it. Hoardings go flying, trees get uprooted, power lines snap, and life, in short, gets totally dislocated. If two tall trees sway this way and that, our electricity folks feel they've had enough.We who belong to this third world city that nurses delusions of leapfrogging into an elite club of metropolises know how to sift the grain of reality from the chaff of hype and illusion...
It's a bit difficult to swallow the bitter pill that a city that lays claims to competing with Shanghai or Singapore, has infrastructure so flimsy and frayed at the seams, that a downpour can paralyze it and a deluge all but destroy it. But that's the plain ole truth--Hyderabad is an overgrown village and if you need further evidence--after all the polluted lakes, overcrowded localities, ill-equipped hospitals, pathetic schools, choked drains, land grabbing cases and insane traffic--you need help!
On this rather sober note we look at our beloved city this week--preferring NOT to look at its hoariness, heritage, history, aristocracy, culture and legacy, for the moment. Remember Faiz--"Aur bhi dukh haiN zamaane meiN mohabbat ke siwa..."
