1.75 kg biryani in 10 minutes!
Staff Reporter, The Hindu
23 musclemen from 16 States take part in ‘biryani eating contest’
Hyderabad: The city of nawabs and kababs witnessed a unique event the other day. A biryani challenge to be precise. Well, biryani may be the dish to die for. But how much of it can you eat? continue reading
J.S. Ifthekhar, The Hindu,
Effort to recapture the ambience of the palace which was venue for official banquets of the Nizams
HYDERABAD: Breathtaking and awe-inspiring. That about forms a word picture of the famed Chowmahalla palace. But the renovated palace is even more enticing. With the restoration of Afzal Mahal, the grandest of the four palaces, nearing completion, Chowmahalla is all set to regain its past grandeur.
Conservation architects Rahul Mehrotra and Raja Martand Singh are doing a meticulous job to recapture the ambience of the palace which served as a venue for official banquets and receptions of the Nizams. By November-end Afzal Mahal is expected to be thrown open for visitors.See also: Chowmahalla Palace to play host to celebrity banquets
Nov 2007, 0221 hrs IST, SAPNA KAUSHIK, The Times of India NewsHYDERABAD: It is a warm, sunny afternoon as the middle-aged gentleman sips his cup of Irani chai with a calm, peaceful demeanour. Listening to Md Yavari’s conversation, one would never guess that he is a migrant from Iran. Reiterating the fact that Hyderabad is truly one of the few cities that is a real melting pot of cultures and peoples, he insists "Hyderabad is where I belong to." And other Iranians settled in the city eagerly endorse his sentiment. "I always feel I am a part of this land," Yavari smiles as he reminisces about how his family came to Hyderabad just a year after India’s independence. There has been no looking back for him ever since. continue reading
2 Nov 2007, 0000 hrs IST,TNN
It was Halloween night and folks at this nightclub got down to some real s
pooky affairs! Dead men walking, dark spirits and devils rising - the evening had an eerie aura of the other world. Everyone let their hair down and the sights, were well, hair raising, what else! Actor and model Deepika Padukone was flown down for this party and although she wasn't dressed for the occasion, she cast a spell anyway! Srikala Reddy seemed to be leading from the front, dressed in a stylised sorceress' dress. Actor Navdeep was here looking every bit a Halloween freak, while Nitin and Bharti sported scary masks through the evening. Others seen enjoying themselves were Dhisha Girglani, Priya, Meer Aga, Meera and more. OVERHEARD: "It's alright if the skeletons from the closet come out today!"
Our city has quite a presence on the web. Be it news, culture, music, or politics, there are any number of sites looking at Hyderabad from one perspective or the other. Of course, this is true of other cities across the world, as well. Hyderabad on the web is more appealing than the city in reality. Let's hope reality will catch up at some point with the picture that the eye of a camera, or the click of a mouse would reveal.
All is definitely not well with the world. Hyderabad's most prominent landmark, the four-minared architectural marvel that has defined it for more than 4 centuries, is not in great shape. While hi-tech cities in low-tech surroundings bloom, plush gated communities mushroom, skyscrapers sprout and all the cars, autos, bikes and buses of Bharat that is mahaan, converge at Punjagutta or Paradise, depending on where you are and regardless of where you wanted to go in the first place, the collective, incremental effect of idlers, lovers, tourists and vandals, not to speak of the "vagaries of nature" to use a popular cliche, is taking its toll. Of course, there is the obvious, but the unmentionable--sheer neglect by government agencies, paid to keep it alive and going. Tell them this and they'll blind you with statistics--so don't even think of getting into that!
On another note, who's pulling a fast one here--a Hyderabadi or a Bangalorean? Hard to tell, eh?
PS. info courtesy: Thadakamalla Sujatha Rao (New Zealand); and Yahoo! 360° - Pavan's Blog, "Hyderabad IT World ~ July 01, 2006"
"…….in near future
The mind itself is of the form of all"
 |
