Mushrooming eateries on Prenderghast Road and its traffic woes.

Our house is on Prenderghast Road at Secunderabad.  Several years ago, Prenderghast Road or PG Road in short, and the residential colonies adjoining it were very calm, neat, peaceful, and pollution free. However since 15 years the main road is developing into a commercial area and many multi-storied buildings have come up along it and in the adjoining colonies. This transformation is making the place increasingly busy, noisy, dusty and polluted. The first commercial shops were mostly readymade garment shops, grocery shops, medical shops and road side vegetable and fruit vendors.  Then all types of eateries started coming up.

PG Road, a stretch of about 1.5 Km., lies between Mahatma Gandhi Road on the East and Ministers Road on the West. Starting with “Paradise Multi-cuisine Multi-Restaurant Complex” on the MG Road side, there are now a number of eateries all along PG Road with the last one being “Chung Hua” a Chinese restaurant on Ministers Road side. Every evening more eateries and street stalls open up all along the road. Every type of cuisine, food, snack, sweet, refreshment and drink is available here. The above photographs cover just a few of these eateries. People seem to love the eateries and street food of PG Road, every evening they rush here from all directions. Our area gets choked with such heavy traffic and haphazard parking of vehicles. This is a big inconvenience and nuisance.

Ten years ago the local Government in the name of “Public Interest” and “Master Plan” decided to widen PG Road. They selectively took away land from house owners on the main Road; we had to give away 40 Sq. Yds. of our land. With some powerful people not yielding their land the Road widening is not complete. And in areas where it is widened, like in front of our house, people park their cars or vendors open up their evening shops, and all this where we once had our garages L. With such background I dare not complain to authorities about the rush on the roads. They would certainly ask us to donate more land in the name of “Public Interest” and “Master Plan” so that they can further widen the road in front of our house. And ultimately on this widened section more eateries can open up to fill the pockets of those who overlook these illegal and unhygienic eateries.

Mera Administrators Mahan! And God Save the Residents of PG Road.

A Very Grand and Elaborate Wedding @ Hyderabad! Expenditure - Rs. 45 Crores!

Yesterday (25th Feb.) we attended a very grand double wedding and reception function of Mr. Ravindra’s sons Ch. Rohit and Ch. Ranjit. The venue was GMR Arena at Hotel Novotel, adjacent to Hyderabad International Airport. The pre-wedding functions began at Hotel Novotel on Sunday, 20th Feb. with Mehandi and Sangeet. And from 21st Feb. to 24th Feb. there were theme parties in Nizami, Bengali, Rajasthani and Punjabi styles. And yesterday the double wedding took place in a very large “Jhoda Akbar” type of setting and the reception in a much grander “Undersea” setting with hundreds of sculpted oysters, seahorses and dolphins everywhere. The huge stage had a large water pond and a gigantic oyster with plenty of colourful lighting effects. At the reception, the newlywed couples appeared as the huge oyster on the stage opened up dramatically. There was plenty of entertainment through cultural programs yesterday and on the preceding days by well-known dance and music artists like Sivamani, Naresh Iyer, Karthik, Sunita, Vijayalakshmi, Mallikarjun, Gopika and dance troops choreographed by Satya and programs by few other artists. The master of ceremonies was Udaya Bhanu assisted by Shiva Reddy. At the beginning of the function, the MCs explained in detail about the efforts that went into the preparation of this venue and about the exotic food awaiting us. I clicked the above pictures; to give the readers of my blog an impression about the rich and exhaustive décor at the wedding and reception functions.

Apart from the grand and unique “Jodha Akbar” and “Undersea" themes and the cultural programs, everything else related to the marriage is praiseworthy. You can see pictures of the beautiful Wedding Invitation Card worth Rs. 3,500 in my earlier post: http://srisrilara.blogspot.com/2011/02/wedding-invitation-weighing-over-one.html  . A pink coloured Mercedes Car, unique to India, was specially bought to ferry the brides around the city, while the grooms already own many Mercedes Cars of M, C and other classes. Extensive and exclusive diamond and other precious jewellery were bought from Tribhovandas Bhimji Zaveri, for all the functions. The grooms and Mr. Ravindra bought custom built Rolex wristwatches for the occasion. The grooms wore creations of Gucci from the Runway collections, Armani, Hugo Boss and accessories from Versace. The brides wore Manish Malhotra lehengas for the wedding and Versace gowns for the reception and their mother-in-law also wore Manish Malhotra creations. Mumbai’s most popular Mehandi artist Jamila did the Mehandi for the brides and other family members. Mickey Contractor did the make-up for the grooms, brides and their parents. With such elaborate arrangements and the best and finest inputs to the celebrations, it is obvious that this wedding has cost Rs. 45 Crores that is Rs. 450 Millions!

Very soon, everyone will get to see this double wedding on TV, in NDTV’s program: “The Big Fat Indian Wedding”.

Shut your mouths, marauding multi-tongued monsters!

Before you read my article, please listen to this fervent speech (video clipping) in Lok Sabha today, in favor of “Telangana State formation” and see the news clipping pertaining to it:

(Please click on news clipping to zoom in)

As the State Assembly and the Lok Sabha are in session now, the people of Telangana belonging to every nook and corner of the area, every Government organization, every department, every community, every profession, students and the elected and other leaders have intensified their  agitation for a separate Telangana State. While the State Government is trying every dictatorial and violent method to tackle the agitating politicians, leaders and the people; the MPs of Telangana have taken up the issue in Lok Sabha. Today the demand for Telangana State reached a peak in Lok Sabha and it got overwhelming support from the NDA and few other MPs. They spoke very strongly in support of formation of separate Telangana State and urged the central Government to introduce a bill to this effect without any further delay.

Today’s developments in Lok Sabha are once again making the looters of Telangana to speak all sorts of nonsense with illogical reasoning projecting fictitious problems if Telangana is formed. And as usual they do not speak on the genuine reasons for the demand for a separate State which is concerned with the self respect of the people, decades of neglect and non-implementation of agreements, broken promises, constant cheating and deceit. These marauding monsters have either supported or promised separate Statehood for Telangana in the last two general elections and deceived the people after getting elected. Today they are once again wagging their dirty tongues against Telangana. Shame on these few dirty politicians who are harassing the people of Telangana.

Not social drinking, it is greedy and desperate drinking culture.

Till some years ago we have never heard of cocktails or liquor being offered in our community during wedding ceremonies and for that matter at any other important celebration. But nowadays a few families have begun to include cocktails. Unfortunately, at such cocktail parties it is noticed that a few members not accustomed to social drinking, drink carelessly, become noisy, misbehave and sometimes create violent situations. Such situations are naturally preventing many others from arranging cocktails at their parties and popularizing this culture, and the family tradition is being quoted in support of their decision.

Many men in our community do consume liquor occasionally within small and close family and friends circles. But when it comes to large scale celebrations; offering drinks is a strong “NO” for them. They enjoy their drinks amidst a gathering of likeminded people.

This article is about some relatives of mine who are desperate to have liquor at each and every community function. It may be associated with any of the several wedding related functions, events related to birth or death; liquor is on top of their mind. They do not participate wholeheartedly in any event; they just wait for their gang of associates to assemble and then run away from the venue, the gathering, and their families to consume liquor. Someone among them volunteers to sponsor the liquor party, the liquor is procured and it is consumed secretly away from the venue in dark areas amidst bushes, behind parked cars or in an adjoining building under construction sitting on sand and gravel heaps. This scenario gives a very bad and sad impression about them. This same group of people at every gathering in the community behaving in this desperate manner for liquor is earning a bad name for them. They may term this partying as social drinking (as depicted in the above cartoon) but the community has begun branding them as drunkards and alcoholics. This is not good for them and the reputation of their families.

My advice to this group or any other group in such a situation would be to meet once or twice a week at some bar and enjoy their drinks, so that at community gatherings they need not crave for booze and run away from the venues. It would be highly appreciated if they begin to behave like every other guest.  

I cannot personally advise them because it would lead to arguments and strained relations; so I am putting it in writing. May be if one of them reads this article and shows it to his group; they may argue among themselves on the contents of my article and come to a wise conclusion.

A Wedding Invitation, weighing over one Kilogram!?

A Wedding Invitation in a box, weighing over one Kilogram!? That is a very grand, huge and heavy Wedding Invitation Card/Box! from a close friend of mine. All that I have to remember from it as from any other Wedding Invitation is the date, time and venue. And then the sad part is to discard it as trash!

Choosing a Wedding Invitation depends on the taste and budget of the Bride and Groom and their families and the market offers countless options. It is not proper for me to make adverse comments on anyone’s choice of Invitations as it is a part of their dearest celebration. But I would like to express my opinion that a very simple invitation card, an invitation over the phone or an email invitation from a relative or friend would be sufficient for me to convey their message. I say this because I find it very painful to tear and dispose of Invitations bearing pictures of Gods and very grand and expensive ones. And this is the opinion of my family and most of my friends share.

Valentine’s Day Celebration – 2011, a Candlelight Dinner @ Home!

Yesterday, Valentine’s Day, was a lovely day. We celebrated it at home, with a splendid Candlelight family dinner. The above photographs speak for themselves!

In the past few years, on Valentine’s Day we cut the cake at home, exchanged gifts and then went out for dinner to some restaurant. Past experience of heavy traffic on the roads and at the restaurants made us celebrate this Valentine’s Day entirely at home. To make things easy for the ladies, part of the food was ordered from our favorite restaurant. Under Candle lights the ambience of our dining room becomes exotic and we get to enjoy a dinner filled with lots of love and togetherness!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Love is the condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own…..HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY!

Please click on the link below to enjoy the Animation and invigorating Music in the original version of the above Valentine’s Day Greeting Poster made by me! for YOU!:

http://srisrilara.glogster.com/happyvalentinesday/

You may then click on the Photographs in the Musical Poster; to zoom in.

Have a Great Day! with your family, friends and all loved ones.

Peddamma Gudi, Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad.

Peddamma Gudi, that is Peddamma Temple at Jubilee Hills, on Road No. 55 is a very popular Mahakali Temple in Hyderabad. The Goddess here is known as Peddamma, one of the 11 forms of Mahakali and hence the Temple is called Peddamma Gudi. The Temple is said to be about 150 years old but it has attained prominence since 1993 and has developed into a very large and beautiful Temple.

Peddamma Brahmotsavam or the Annual Mahotsavam is a very grand festival celebrated at this Temple. This year’s Mahotsavam commenced this week on 8th February, that is as per tradition on the day of ‘Vasanta Panchami’ and came to a close yesterday, ‘Magha Shukla Ashtami’ that is 11th February. During these four days of festivities, the Temple is visited by thousands of devotees. The Temple looks much grander with copious floral and lamp decorations all over the Temple. On the third day of the festivities, that is on the day of ‘Ratha Sapthami’, a very attractive Rathotsavam Festival (Chariot Festival) is held. This year’s Rathotsavam Festival took place on 10th February.

In the above photographs, you can see the grand Raja Gopuram of the Temple and the beautiful Chariot used during the Rathotsavam Festival.

 
 
 

Countdown to Cricket World Cup 2011 Reaches the 10-Day Mark!

Exactly ten days from now the ICC World Cup 2011 tournament would start. This is the most important cricket meet in the limited over format. All the cricket playing nations of the world would be participating and the winner of the tournament would be recognized as the World Champion until the next Tournament in 2015. In between, the entire cricket Matches played between any two countries or three countries are insignificant before the World Cup Tournament. I may not be able to watch all the games but I will certainly watch the highlights of the Matches on TV and monitor the results as the Tournament is in progress.

The World Cup Cricket Matches, starting from 19th February will be played in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. In all, 49 Matches will be played, with the Final on 2nd April at Mumbai. There are 14 countries participating in the tournament. In Group “A”, we have Australia, Canada, Kenya, New Zealand, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe and in Group “B” we have Bangladesh, England, India, Ireland, Netherlands, South Africa and West Indies.

Despite poor performances and disappointing results in the past four years, our cricket commentators, analysts, veteran cricketers, statisticians, the print media and the electronic media are confident of India’s victory and are unanimous in concluding that winning World Cup 2011 will be cakewalk for India. I wish it is true.

ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 Schedule:

Praga Tools, CNC Assembly Reunion Dinner - 5th February 2011.

Tonight, we ex-colleagues of Praga Tools Limited, CNC Division, twenty of us, had a get-together Dinner Party at Hotel Nakshatra, Secunderabad. The reunion went off very well and everyone expressed that we should try and meet more often. The party lasted for over three hours which is an indication of how happy everyone was in one another’s company. And even after three hours of partying no one appeared tired and no one was in a hurry to leave. While some of us have been meeting on and off professionally or at some functions at the houses of colleagues, most among the gathering have not met for over a decade. Yet no one appeared unfamiliar with one another, it was as if we parted from ‘Praga Tools’ yesterday and have met today for the Party.

Each one of us addressed the gathering to inform about our present preoccupation and the welfare of our family. I am happy that everyone and their families are in good health and their children are doing very well.

Fortunately, I was chosen to organize the Party and extend invitations. This responsibility made me happy as I was in touch with all ex-colleagues since a week, renewing ties. I am very glad that all of them could attend the Party and make it a memorable evening for me.

"Old Friends are Best."