Warangal, Hyderabad, Kurnool, Bangalore & Toronto - for me, these names bring in a wave of memories, emotions, associations, love, nostalgia and a sense of belonging. These cities complete "Me". My association with these places in a nutshell:
Warangal: A person can go anywhere in the world but can't disown his birthplace. Warangal is intertwined with my life in a big way. That's the place where my roots lie; my parents were born and brought up there; I was born there; every anecdote I hear from my family since my childhood is invariably linked to the city. whenever I see my passport, it reminds me where I belong to; whenever news channels report anything about Warangal, a reflex action occurs regardless of how stupid or useless that news bite is; whenever anybody says good words about the city, an amusing happiness seeps in.
Ironically, I can literally count the number of days I lived in Warangal because I was just born there but was completely brought up in Hyderabad. In my childhood, 8 out of 10 families (5 paternal, 5 maternal) among my extended family lived in Warangal thus making it the only holiday spot or a getaway for me and my sister.
All my childhood summer vacation memories, bonding with cousins, train journeys, first hand experience of a rural milieu (my paternal grandparents lived in a village near Warangal city), witnessing my grandfather addressing village conflicts in his daily darbar, experiencing out-of-the-world respect from the entire village, being addressed "chinna panthulu" - these memories are injected deeply in blood and soul -to remain for life :)
Though my extended family moved to Hyderabad, there are many more relatives in Warangal. My parents and close relatives say there is our relatives' house in every street of the city at an average. When I visited Warangal to distribute wedding invitation cards, we visited around 40 households in a day; a Facebook group solely for my cousins (and a chain of their cousins) most of who belong to Warangal is 700+ strong :) This explains my social ties with the city :)
Hyderabad: If you ask my wife as what am I passionate and obsessive about, she replies "Hyderabad" without any hesitation. As said, once a Hyderabadi, always a Hyderabadi ! I'm a Hyderabadi by choice, chance and conviction. I think, behave, live like a pakka Hyderabadi so much that my orkut profile name says "Chandu Hyderabadi". Yes, I can replace my last name with Hyderabad. May be that's called IDENTITY.
The environment during childhood shapes a person but Hyderabad has been shaping up my attitude, behavior since the time I could remember (and earlier too). If I have to write about my love, experiences and association with Hyderabad, I should simply start writing my autobiography ;)
I wear my Hyderabadiness on my sleeves and the city runs in my blood. Enough said !
Kurnool: It often happens that we learn more about life when we are out of our comfort zone. Kurnool happened to me like a training center for life. 17 years of indulgence, whims and fancies were abruptly put to a pause when I moved to this city for my engineering (b'cos 4600 was too big a rank in EAMCET 1997 to bag admission in a good engineering college in Hyd). So initial few months were a unique blend of unlimited and unchecked freedom and emotional roller-coaster ride.
Being away from family was much more difficult than I was prepared for; I was missing friends, Hyderabad, love and affection while the entire world turned upside down to me. For the first time, I realized the need to take care of myself and build an attitude. There was nobody to guide, console, rectify. This environment gave me a golden opportunity of self realization which helped me get rid of my kiddish ways to give way to a more extrovert, practical and aggressive approach.
I don't know how my life would have been if I did my B.Tech in Hyderabad, but my stint in Kurnool has helped me mature in a big way. I slowly fell in love with the city, relished the exposure to a different milieu, culture, slang, attitude, ways of life. Four years in a place will automatically create some soft corner in the heart and I'm no exception. Now I take pride in my association with Kurnool and as in the case of Warangal, my reflex action works here too :) (Read: Remembering College Days)
Bangalore: Never in my life did I think, Bangalore would be one of the important places in my life. That was one of many other cities till I was 25, when my life swayed uncontrollably with advent of my girlfriend (now wife) in my life. When I proposed to her for the first time, she was working in Seoul, Korea and for the next 2 years she traveled between Bangalore and Seoul for every three months. So I had a chance to meet her once in three months. In those breaks, we made sure she traveled to Hyderabad and I went to Bangalore to spend as much time with each other as possible.
That phase is associated with so many sweet memories when Bangalore (and Hyderabad) witnessed our sweet nothings, blossoming love and romance. Bangalore was (is) so much like Hyderabad in terms of lifestyle and it didn't take time for me to relate myself with the city.
I got engaged, married in Bangalore and that made the city even more special :)
Toronto: If Warangal is my janmabhoomi, Hyderabad is my karmabhoomi, Toronto happens to be my dharmabhoomi (if this suits the rhyme :$). Toronto made an unimaginable, unfathomable difference to my life standards, lifestyle, career, image and what not.
Toronto is my first destination out of India. After studying, working and fooling around in India for 27 years, I got my first opportunity to expand my horizons in terms of career, knowledge and exposure. While I haven't done significantly more than what I did in India, returns were manifold. I'm blessed with opportunities, success, luck, good wishes, respect in such a way that today I feel I'm living a dream.
Toronto has bestowed me confidence and attitude that will drive my life in a different gear till the very end !
These five cities make my tale and hence I wrote this Tale of five cities !
Warangal: A person can go anywhere in the world but can't disown his birthplace. Warangal is intertwined with my life in a big way. That's the place where my roots lie; my parents were born and brought up there; I was born there; every anecdote I hear from my family since my childhood is invariably linked to the city. whenever I see my passport, it reminds me where I belong to; whenever news channels report anything about Warangal, a reflex action occurs regardless of how stupid or useless that news bite is; whenever anybody says good words about the city, an amusing happiness seeps in.
Ironically, I can literally count the number of days I lived in Warangal because I was just born there but was completely brought up in Hyderabad. In my childhood, 8 out of 10 families (5 paternal, 5 maternal) among my extended family lived in Warangal thus making it the only holiday spot or a getaway for me and my sister.
All my childhood summer vacation memories, bonding with cousins, train journeys, first hand experience of a rural milieu (my paternal grandparents lived in a village near Warangal city), witnessing my grandfather addressing village conflicts in his daily darbar, experiencing out-of-the-world respect from the entire village, being addressed "chinna panthulu" - these memories are injected deeply in blood and soul -to remain for life :)
Though my extended family moved to Hyderabad, there are many more relatives in Warangal. My parents and close relatives say there is our relatives' house in every street of the city at an average. When I visited Warangal to distribute wedding invitation cards, we visited around 40 households in a day; a Facebook group solely for my cousins (and a chain of their cousins) most of who belong to Warangal is 700+ strong :) This explains my social ties with the city :)
Hyderabad: If you ask my wife as what am I passionate and obsessive about, she replies "Hyderabad" without any hesitation. As said, once a Hyderabadi, always a Hyderabadi ! I'm a Hyderabadi by choice, chance and conviction. I think, behave, live like a pakka Hyderabadi so much that my orkut profile name says "Chandu Hyderabadi". Yes, I can replace my last name with Hyderabad. May be that's called IDENTITY.
The environment during childhood shapes a person but Hyderabad has been shaping up my attitude, behavior since the time I could remember (and earlier too). If I have to write about my love, experiences and association with Hyderabad, I should simply start writing my autobiography ;)
I wear my Hyderabadiness on my sleeves and the city runs in my blood. Enough said !
Kurnool: It often happens that we learn more about life when we are out of our comfort zone. Kurnool happened to me like a training center for life. 17 years of indulgence, whims and fancies were abruptly put to a pause when I moved to this city for my engineering (b'cos 4600 was too big a rank in EAMCET 1997 to bag admission in a good engineering college in Hyd). So initial few months were a unique blend of unlimited and unchecked freedom and emotional roller-coaster ride.
Being away from family was much more difficult than I was prepared for; I was missing friends, Hyderabad, love and affection while the entire world turned upside down to me. For the first time, I realized the need to take care of myself and build an attitude. There was nobody to guide, console, rectify. This environment gave me a golden opportunity of self realization which helped me get rid of my kiddish ways to give way to a more extrovert, practical and aggressive approach.
I don't know how my life would have been if I did my B.Tech in Hyderabad, but my stint in Kurnool has helped me mature in a big way. I slowly fell in love with the city, relished the exposure to a different milieu, culture, slang, attitude, ways of life. Four years in a place will automatically create some soft corner in the heart and I'm no exception. Now I take pride in my association with Kurnool and as in the case of Warangal, my reflex action works here too :) (Read: Remembering College Days)
Bangalore: Never in my life did I think, Bangalore would be one of the important places in my life. That was one of many other cities till I was 25, when my life swayed uncontrollably with advent of my girlfriend (now wife) in my life. When I proposed to her for the first time, she was working in Seoul, Korea and for the next 2 years she traveled between Bangalore and Seoul for every three months. So I had a chance to meet her once in three months. In those breaks, we made sure she traveled to Hyderabad and I went to Bangalore to spend as much time with each other as possible.
That phase is associated with so many sweet memories when Bangalore (and Hyderabad) witnessed our sweet nothings, blossoming love and romance. Bangalore was (is) so much like Hyderabad in terms of lifestyle and it didn't take time for me to relate myself with the city.
I got engaged, married in Bangalore and that made the city even more special :)
Toronto: If Warangal is my janmabhoomi, Hyderabad is my karmabhoomi, Toronto happens to be my dharmabhoomi (if this suits the rhyme :$). Toronto made an unimaginable, unfathomable difference to my life standards, lifestyle, career, image and what not.
Toronto is my first destination out of India. After studying, working and fooling around in India for 27 years, I got my first opportunity to expand my horizons in terms of career, knowledge and exposure. While I haven't done significantly more than what I did in India, returns were manifold. I'm blessed with opportunities, success, luck, good wishes, respect in such a way that today I feel I'm living a dream.
Toronto has bestowed me confidence and attitude that will drive my life in a different gear till the very end !
These five cities make my tale and hence I wrote this Tale of five cities !
2 comments:
Touching, one cant really get enough of Hyderabad and Bangalore :) and of course the birth place, stirred some really happy moments and touched a cord there...!
:)
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