A lingo of our own....

'Deccani' or our very own Hyderabadi lingo has been ridiculed, praised, loved and looked down upon and yet remains very much in place. It has changed considerably, as dialects do, as they evolve and new phrases and expressions have enriched our local 'Hyderabadi'. From its early days, Telugu, Marathi and Kannada have contributed to the natural, earthy feel of the dialect--where else (but in Hyderabad) can you come across an expression like "gol phiraistunDu or pareshaan chestundi" or "zara darwaaza band cheyi beTa"? Bollywood, I'm not much in the know of Tollywood, had stock situations and standard Mehmood jokes based on Hyderabadi, including songs like "humeiN kaale haiN tau kya huwa dilwaale haiN', from 'Gumnaam' way back in the sixties. Not that we were amused.
One feels it would help to have an online glossary of Hyderabadi/Deccani and some of our friends have done just that. There's a need though to expand the database, incorporate some missing ones and include some of the quaint, old phrases that are getting extinct.

Wah Hyderabad!

Taking the same thought forward, from last time--is Hyderabad ready for the big league of metropolises or is the pretence getting to it? On the one hand, there are islands of relative prosperity like Jubilee Hills, Banjara Hills, parts of Madhapur, Begumpet and other areas. We have 'service apartments' in and around Hi-tech City to cater to the inflow of MNC personnel, the hospitality industry says things are looking up like never before, all hotels are notching up high occupancy rates and real estate prices are going through the roof. On the other, a half-hour thundershower is enough to throw the city out of gear, kill a few people and disrupt thousands of lives for a few hours. And, in terms of infrastructure, the city's bursting at the seams--the roads can't take the traffic, new roads and fly-overs are a long way off from nearing completion and as for our City authorities, the MCH ducks for cover, when it is needed the most.

No one spares a thought for large swathes of the city's population living in sprawling slums from Uppal to Rajendranagar and Kukatpally to areas beyond Vanasthalipuram, sans government facilities in terms of civic amenities, not to speak of two of the most critical areas--health and school education. Don't mention government facilities like the Osmania Hospital, Gandhi or Niloufer Hospital, which were known to be the best in town at one time (when we were growing up in the sixties and seventies). Many schools run by the government do not have roofs, boards, desks and benches, leave alone enough teachers.
And yet, we claim Hyderabad is the most happening place. We need to shake ourselves out of this delusional state and get real.

Monsoon showers in Hyd......

"Monsoon arrives in Hyderabad in June and lasts four months" Institutional Greening through water harvesting, MANAGE - The National Institute of Agricultural Extension Management, Hyderabad
The rains are here and the infrastructure of the city, as always, is unprepared and under severe stress. The streets are beginning to overflow. Potholes make life interesting for motorists and bikers and there's more to come. Traffic, already at a snail's pace on most of the city's busy roads has waterlogged roads to contend with. Let's only hope that the Public Health folks are more prepared, because monsoon showers lead to largescale outbreaks of disease. And that's the last thing Hyderabad can deal with. That's the plain and simple truth folks. China can build a road right up to the base camp of Mount Everest in four months, but we take ten years to build half a fly-over!
Hyderabad can be the new Shanghai:
And they say Hyderabad is as happening as Shanghai. 'They', in case this needs any explanation, happen to be politicians and bureaucrats--who between them have reduced Hyderabad to its current state.

Georgia Tech in Hyderabad

It's just a matter of time before all the big guns of higher education with a global reputation hit India. And one hopes that will happen sooner rather than later. Hyderabad notched up a first of sorts, in that Georgia Tech will have a major presence here. If you ask me, as a college teacher I would say that this is just what the doctor ordered for higher education in India. It is time we woke from our complacent, smug state, learned to compete with 'good' colleges and universities, stopped shouting from rooftops that we're 'as good as the best', let in some competition to shake us out of this delusional state and hold a mirror up to us. We're already way behind where we should have been, in terms of quality collegiate education and if we let the marxists prescribe what is good for us in this realm, education will take on Groucho Marx-ist overtones, with due apologies to the great comedy star.....In this instance, the A.P. Government deserves a generous pat on the back.

see also:

Georgia Institute Inks MoU To Set Up Campuses At Hyderabad And Vizag By Pradeep Sadanapalli | June 6, 2007

Govt for Georgia Tech campus in city 17 Nov, 2006 l 0203 hrs ISTlGanesh S. Lakshman/TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Georgia Tech : Why Hyderabad? Source: The New Indian Express @

Georgia Tech to set up its intl campus in Andhra, BS Reporter / Hyderabad June 5, 2007

Pressure cooker schools and colleges

HYDERABAD: "If you got 90 per cent or more in class X and haven't yet decided what to do with your life after school, count yourself lucky. Most other high scorers have had their decision made for them — not necessarily by their parents."
Cram schools hunt & trap students, 2 Jun, 2007 l 0220 hrs ISTlMRIDULA CHUNDURI, TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Come examination time and results, it's cramming all the way for millions of students. Board exams are a nightmare in our system with percentages determining everything and 1 mark slipping a student down by 10,000 ranks, especially in the Board of Intermediate and Eamcet examinations. One can well imagine the amount of stress an average student is subjected to, in such a scenario. High School and intermediate education (plus two or grades XI AND XII) badly need reforms. The emphasis, for the past several years, has been mainly on cramming and more cramming, regardless of any understanding of concepts.

From the time that the Intermediate results have been out, the newspapers have been flooded with full-page advertisements with each junior college flaunting its own list of 'toppers'. Most of these 'colleges' are pressure cookers where students are made to grind away, by cramming for hours on stretch. These colleges thrive on a system that glorifies and has institutionalized memory-based modes of learning that leave no space for individuality or creativity. Also, they're geared to 'bring the best' out of the 'creme de la creme' of students. Kids who are either average performers in terms of their grades (as reflected in their marks) or are backbenchers, as some inevitably are, can take a hike under the existing system. The colleges in question are essentially money-spinners with an ever-expanding network and enjoy such clout that it is widely believed that they determine just about everything from syllabus structuring to the pattern of exam papers and the continuance of the EAMCET exam....When will things ever change in India that is Bharat, or nearer home for Hyderabadiz and Andhra Pradeshis.....

See also:

'Pressure cooker' schools warning