Greetings!
Though I am (or was) a keralite by birth, I have lived my 22 years (soon to be 23!!!) in hyderabad as a hyderabadi.. So its the hyderabadi blood that runs through my veins, hyderabadi delicacies appetizing the gourmet in me and of course the hyderabadi hindi that I speak!! (not very successful with that). Keeping the hyderabadi spirit I am here to talk about something that connects, something that runs through like the blood vessels in our body the old, historical, classical hyderabad and the modern, stylish and contemporary secundrabad. The hyderabad traffic, something that can surely be attributed as the lifeline of hyderabad, which keeps hyderabad moving and alive. what can I talk about traffic, its just the same like in other cities in our country or better or worse or competing with others to get more worse... But for my mind, this traffic (in shakespearian style!) is more or less like a play, a drama with the commuters, pedestrians and everything you find on those roads playing their roles, and there are some colourful chracters in this play that I would try to introduce in this topic...

Hyderabad roads can be compared to a race course, actually its more than a race course with the path full of potholes and gutters and something where you get to see Moto GP and Formula One Grand Prix happening on the same track at the same time...
'A treat to the human eye
A threat to the passerby!'
Moto GP is run by the dudes of hyderabad, who are well known for cockroaching (my apologies for the neologism) their way ahead through anything that they define as a path and F1 Grand Prix by their arch rivals, auto rickshaw (herewith reffered to as Ferrari) who can zip their way through much to the peril of the precarious passengers. These Ferraris are known for their sharp turns at great speeds performing incredible feats and rolling over in the end result..
'Fear is Fun...
Passenger's Fear is Auto driver's Fun... '
So with the dudes and Ferraris holding the reins of defining and pushing the limits of speed, we also have the dudes of yore and now retired from the race, struggling to keep up with the pace and constantly hurling curses on those who do.. Hey C'mon!! they are all playing their roles, the dudes, the ferraris aren't they?? Some go a long way and retire, some go even longer and higher and rest in peace!! Its all in the game.. Then there are the big guys, the APSRTC buses who always seem to have some number displayed on their foreheads.. 216, 217??? or is it 007, james bond style because these guys surely have the license to kill and do whatever they please on the roads(track I mean).. And finally the latest entrant, the 21st century ultra modern riders displaying the oh-so-cool stunts like talking on the mobile while riding....
"Hello... I am coming.."
Yamraj:" Hi!! Welcome..."

With all these characters thrown in we have the hyderabad traffic racing, struggling, strolling ahead.. Now for some of the common scenes and more introductions as the scenes are enacted.. This scene is when all the characters meet at the crossroads (ameerpet for instance) and suddenly the atmosphere changes....
"Its the time to disco!!"
Oh yeah the disco lights are on... Red Yellow Green Yellow Red Yellow Green Yellow...
Red means rush ahead as fast as you can, Green means move with caution and Yellow means.. Yellow means what?? May be its for the disco lights to look more colourful.. So they all party, singing and honking at each other.. Nice and sweet. But not all the crossroads are so nice and sweet or rather meant for partying even though they have those disco lights. You will soon know why!! Just at one of those crossroads a dude eager to rush through looks around and finds no danger lurking around, he slowly tries to sneak across and suddenly.... Something from nowhere crosses him at lightning speed, an alien attack perhaps!! our dude looks around and up in the sky for any signs of UFO but only finds his engine turned off and the key missing!! what was that and why does it want my key?? In that moment of panic his eyes finally sight the alien dressed in khaki trousers and not so white shirt with a strange looking helmet something used in the army. He's no alien, he's none other than the argus-eyed traffic cop waiting at the other end with a tight lipped but radiant smile beaming with pride for the feat accomplished with an agility and adroitness rarely seen among his clan. The dude is fully aware that this cop is only known to speak liquid currency, so the negotations take place the settlement is made and the dude surges ahead furious with his futile attempt..

This whole family of cops can be seen at various places, playing different roles with an ulterior motive of earning some money. Their primary targets are always the dudes and one of the scenes often taking place is where the cop standing next to a maruthi van on which is written RTA certified PUC.. The cop stops a dude passing by..
cop: " pollution"
dude:" who is polluting?"
cop: "pollution dikaao!!"
Just then a ferrari passes by puffing smoke like a chimney but the cop knows he's not a pricy catch. after sometime we see the heads of the dude and the cop trailing a two wheeler with the eyes fixed on the rider.
"Gorgeous!! wasnt she?? "
Both of them nod indicating a tacit approval.
Good she wasnt wearing a helmet. Who wants those beautiful faces covered with helmets. Some do wear, much to the dismay of the dudes. whats the use? whats the use when the dudes zip and overtake just to catch a glimpse of that face through the rear view mirror (alas! some use of it). sad state of affairs. Helmets should be banned for those lovely damsels on the roads.
A lot more scenes happen in this play and a small topic is insufficient to describe all those. With bits and pieces of information I know, this play was a mere bricolage of my mind. There are more colourful and lively characters known and unknown making this lifeline of hyderabad, which is bustling and growing enormously.

Disclaimer: All the characters and scenes aforementioned are only the product of my hallucinations. They have absolutely nothing to do with the real life of hyderabad. Hyderabad is a wonderful city with organized traffic and wide and clean roads and cops who know nothing but discharging their duty assiduously. If you witness any of the incidents or scenes then its only a delusion created owing to your tired, over stressed, crazy and psychopathic mind. Good day!

Greetings!
Here we are stepped into yet another year of our lives and marching ahead. Every year we see and are part of joyous celebrations around the world happening on this technically defined new year.. This might not be a milestone or a significant event in our lives but surely is a means to appease ourselves, our minds by celebrating mediocrity. We simply cannot tolerate routinism, we are always in dire need of celebrations, happiness, sorrow, pleasures, emotions..... A mixture of all this and more and more and insatiably even more... We cant take loads of just happiness, then it becomes routine. we need that dose injected with sorrow and other unhealthy emotions. We cannot live, forget living even exist in a world of complete peace. Thats how it has been. Right? Too much of digression perhaps.. With my neurons charged up and firing, digression should be permissible to certain extent.. Isnt it? ok getting to the topic in discussion. Let me clarify, folks! this is not a wake up call from God to write abt God.. God!! I have some personal questions here.. He or She? Human being? Animal? Super natural force? Something beyond our understanding? So I limit myself to stating God simply and quite contentedly as God.

God made man (thats what Im trained to believe!) and man made religions. Every religion right from its inception has been serving some altruistic purpose. We humans who have classified (in the beginning of course) ourselves into religious groups have been following and preaching the purpose. Well in the course of time we felt mere classification isnt enough (mediocrity you see!) and started differentiating ourselves into religious sects and in addtion started cultivating religious fanaticism which slowly led to intolerance and many more disastrous events in this world. So religions ultimately tend to be a human purpose whatsoever it was and it is now.. Lets just separate the God factor from the religions for the time being and look for it in our day to day lives...

Who calls for God and when?? Most of us do... some of us pray or call when we are in need of help, support to fulfill our desires in life, some do it when in trouble, some attend to God to seek guidance in life and a good number of us also tend to express our gratitude for everything that God has showered upon us whatever way it might be.. Very well.. and there are some who make a living in the name of God. I would like to quote something from the movie 'Bruce Almighty' where Morgan Freeman who dons the role of God dressed in pure whites (one of my favourite characterisations of God, different and interesting) says "People want me to do everything for them. What they don't realize is *they* have the power. You want to see a miracle, son? Be the miracle.." That supernatural force or something beyond our understanding has gifted us this divine spark to think and decide on our own. That spark is always with us, within us... when we call for God we are associating with that spark, calling within ourselves.. Its just that some of us feel that presence strongly at some sacred places like shrines, temples and churches. That omnipotent force is everywhere and can take any form or shape, like that of a friend who pulls you out of a peril, a foe who forgives you even though he gets a chance to destroy you, a mentor whose words of encouragement has helped you reach your goals and many more such instances.. If you truly and wholeheartedly desire to achieve something, then the whole universe conspires for it to happen for you.. This could be God or a mode to communicate there is... isnt it??

On this green planet which has the ability to support life, we have seen a variety of species evolved and still evolving. Out of these different living creatures, the human beings are found to have an exceptional and uncanny ability to think of its own, make decisions and choice of its own, something which we define and regard as the Will. Nature has given every animal, every living being some set of traits, which help them to live, to survive. They dont think, they dont make choices, they just know what is to be done. Their sole purpose is only to be part of the food cycle so as to maintain the ecological balance. Human beings on the other hand have been handed over the power to think, to decide and we, right from our ancestors have used that to reach where we are now. But where's the purpose???

We live to fulfill our desires, a desire to be happy, a desire to achieve our ambitions, goals, a desire physical or spiritual it may be...But the purpose part is still not clear.. Let me quote something from the movie 'The Matrix', where Agent Smith says this to Morpheus, "I'd like to share a revelation that I've had during my time here. It came to me when I tried to classify your species. I realized that you're not actually mammals. Every mammal on this planet instinctively develops a natural equilibrium with the surrounding environment, but you humans do not. You move to an area, and you multiply, and multiply, until every natural resource is consumed. The only way you can survive is to spread to another area. " Is that what we are made for?? Consume and spread??
I only have questions to ask!!!

Coming back to the will.. Have we ever seen an ant celebrating a birthday party!!! Or all those insects, cockroaches whom we hate just because they steal and contaminate our food, or the dogs performing fornication (They dont have the rituals of marriage and dont derive any kind of pleasure doing it). They are not ashamed that they run around naked or steal our food, they are trained by nature to do so in order to survive. Similarly humans have a free will governed by a set of pre-defined laws, customs and conventions. We are trained to know and realise what is good and what is bad and we exercise our will based on these laws. These laws are different at different period of times and different geographical locations. We also tend to display restraint, astonishment and hatred towards those who go beyond these laws and we seldom realise that what might be pre-defined bad to us must be a pre-defined good to them. We live a life with a freedom bound by laws and anything out of ordinary, out of convention is regarded as absurd. But human mind is inherently absurd and is capable of recollecting absurd, out of ordinary events with relative ease than the ordinary ones.. If I mention a "mother****ing ***hole" here you tend to associate this more often than any other part when you recollect this blog. Mind is fascinated by absurdity. Its this absurdity and curiosity that has led to so many inventions and growth in our lives. A life full of conventions and customs and a mind fond of the opposite. Strange isnt it??? As I said I have only questions to ask!!!