Food for Hyderabad's nocturnal

An exclusive edition for all those midnight vampires prowling in the city searching for food at midnights. There are quite a few restaurants offering midnight biryani and other eclectic varieties. Here is the list of a few that I know of.

Ameerpet - Begumpet - Panjagutta

• ITC Kakatiya's Deccan Pavilion, Begumpet - It is actually a Coffee shop, A coffee shop with a difference serving "mood cuisine" for your every mood. However it has the best midnight buffet in town. Costs about 600Rs. Begins at around 12 midnight. Deccan Pavilion's midnight biryani, and their grand buffet with Indian, Oriental, Italian, Central European and American dishes make for unforgettable odd-hour delicacies.
• Promenade, Aditya Park Inn, Ameerpet - Their midnight biryani is called Midnight Masala and hosts a wide variety of dishes on the menu. The buffet here should be costing around 500Rs though I am not very sure. This hotel is located on the road opposite Satyam theatre.
• Tulips, Green Park, Begumpet - A relatively smaller and a cheaper version of the buffet mentioned prior to this. They have about 7-8 items with their main focus on Hyderabadi biryani. This would not hurt your pockets too much and costs about 225Rs. It is open till 3 in the night.

Banjara Hills - Jubilee Hills - Madhapur

• Ohri's Banjara, Banjara hills Rd no 12 - This is the place I eat out midnights most frequently. The reason this place is so good is not just the food factor but the havmor ice cream parlor open till 3 PM. They have the best ice creams to choose from like Awful Awful, Bulls Eye muffin.. Oh and by the way, the buffet is decent (Read as nothing too great) and costs you about 250Rs.
• Windows of the World, Hi-Tech city, Madhapur - Right in the heart of the Geek Kingdom, WoW serves good(read better than decent) midnight buffet. This should not cost you more than 250Rs. They also have an alacarte which is worth a visit.
• The Square, Novotel, Madhapur - Another coffee shop turned midnight food spot. I am sure I need not talk about the pricing aspect. But that aside, the food is supposedly good (never tried) and is famous for its desserts and seafood.
  

Secunderabad - Tankbund - Lakdikapul

• The Pickels, Basera, Near clock tower - They have a good variety of fish and meat starters. The food tastes great and isnt too much on the expensive side. True value for money. Both the buffet and a-la-carte menu are worth giving a try.
• Anmol International, Tankbund road - with an insipid menu this is one of the lesser known spots for midnight biryani. The food is bad and so is the variety. Costs about 200 bucks and is a strict No - No!
• Salt and Pepper, The central court, Lakdikapul - This is a 24 hrs. cafe with midnight dinner. They have a unique round the clock alacarte snacks menu running. The midnight buffet comes at a price of 150Rs but is surprisingly good. Do try the snacks though!

There are certain other options available such as

• The bread omlette guy near Himalaya book store, Nagarjuna Circle
• The omni-present Kwality walls icecream guys
• Hotel Mariotts midnight buffet (need to explore)
• Taste of Hyderabad - Midnight biryani takeaway in Ameerpet
• Midnight - Dial-A-Meal, Waiter on Wheels, offers home delivery at 66667788

If anyone knows of any other places, do leave a comment so that it can be added...

The Indian tale of oil subsidy

Here are some facts about India's oil consumption:

The Situation*:

• India is the sixth largest consumer of oil in the world, using 2.6 million barrels per day, or 3 per cent of global demand
• India imports more than 70 per cent of its oil and charges retail consumers of petrol and diesel less than half global market prices
• At current crude oil prices, India's total fuel subsidy this year will be around 17.5 billion dollars, or 2 per cent of gross domestic product

The Numbers: If we see the numbers from 2002, petrol prices have risen by 86.8% where as diesel rose by 116.6%. However crude rose from 20$ a barrel to a whopping 140$ which is a 600% increase. So where is all the excess coming from? Ans: Government subsidies. It amounts to about 77000 crores of subsidies which are partially redeemed by Govt and the rest as losses on the books of public sector oil companies.

The Consequence: Inflation and rocketing fuel prices are almost directly as a result of this. The prices have not been passed on to the consumer. Instead, on the facet of serving the public or call it the fear of loosing the "Seat", the government has decided to bear the burden along with public sector companies like ONGC, HPCL.

From an economic perspective, passing on the costs to the consumer could result in higher costs of travel and hence greater inflation. However, such a prolonged burden on the government has sent the oil prices sky high and resulted in inflation. Such low cost of oil products also deters efforts to develop alternative sources of energy.

The Irony: Picture this situation - A guy comes in his 100CC moped, shells out 56 bucks per liter and curses the government for exorbitant oil prices. A Merc rolls by shells out the same 56 bucks per liter and the only thing on his mind is the scratch he got on his car because of a "stupid" motor-bike. Why should someone who can afford the luxury of a Mercedes Benz or any car for that instance be subsidized? Why should a guy who goes around with a fuel economy of 70KMPL be paying the same as a guy who goes at 5KMPL? What logical sense does that make?

The Solution: Given a subsidized price, the government is not offering a reason for anyone to avoid personal transport and switch to mass transit. No subsidy should be offered to those who use cars. Company cabs can be an exception. Luxury segment bikes also may not need a subsidy. Ex. 150 CC and below could be entitled to a subsidy. Unless the government takes some serious steps towards this, inequality will and so will inflation.

The Formality: Disclaimer: I am solely responsible for any of the opinions expressed.
* Source: globeinvestor.com

A story of a Night-out, a highway and a Bus!

It was 4.30 in the night... on the Hyderabad Vikarabad highway! 2 cars were cruising along at 80 kmph.. all of a sudden one of the cars meets a bus coming from the opposite side on a narrow bridge and what was to follow was described as a "near death experience" (as described by Gundz). Sounds like a Gult movie flick with an awesome screenplay?? .. The whole story follows ... read on!

There were quite a few members of the Ol' gang who happened to be in Hyderabad on a particular weekend. So some of us decided that we all meet somewhere and do something exciting. As always 'something' always turns out unplanned and a fusion of a series of whims. The planned meet turned out to be a real crowd puller. What initially was intended for 4-5 guys ended up with about 10 of us. Busy people traveled from far off lands to attend this sammelan leaving their assignments behind.

Strangely as planned, all of us met at Hotel Paradise for a round of Hyderabadi biriyani. The next destination was Runway 9. After 2 hours of karting, TT and snookers we all sat down discussing the plan for the night. Given that it was raining all through the day, we left our bikes at a Kompally and stuck with our cars. We then decided that we head for the city and decide the next course of action over dinner. We ended up eating a 5 course meal for about 3 hours. Soups, starters from Peking Palace, Ameerpet and Icecreams from Ohri's Banjara.

At 12.30 we left the city to go to a small hillock located beyond Shamirpet. For 3 hours in the pitch of the night we sat there discussing about college.. jobs .. anything and everything! At about 3.30 we decided that we go and see the Anantagiri forest near Vikarabad. Little did we know what was going to happen next!

Anantagiri is about 70 kms from the city. Driving at 4 in the morning was no easy task.. The road was almost smooth with some exceptions. This actually happened when we almost reached Anantagiri. We went ahead of the Indica and so all I have is a third person account of what happened. The road was really smooth and so the cars were cruising at 80kmph. At one point there was a bus coming in the opposite direction... It was not untill the car almost reached a narrow bridge that they realised that it could not have accomodated both the vehicles. The car managed to stay on the road... the left set of tyres hit the parapet on the bridge leaped half a meter in the air and landed. The rim was bent and tyre punctured.

After half an hour of repair, it was finally fixed and we all strode back ending up skipping the whole forest part. But that was definitely enough adventure for all of us! Some of them were almost sorry that the car did not fall into pit below .. where some where least bothered and busy in scaling their own peaks when others were repairing the car!

That my friends is the story of a night-out, a highway and a bus!

Kuntala - Hyderabad : The Road Trip

Blame it on Murphy's law but that was just the best weather to sleep. Rainy.. dark.. cloudy... and Cold! Well it could be attributed to the fact that we all woke up at 5.30 to begin our trip. With hazy eyes and heavy hearts, we hit the road. We were out of the city by 6.30 as we cruised along the Medchal highway. A couple of drizzles and a railway gate later, we stopped at an obscure village to have awesome sambar idly and piping hot Upma!

Originally we planned to cover the stretch of 250 Kms from Hyderabad to Kuntala falls in 4 -5 hours. But given our regular pit-stops every other hour to admire mother nature took us about 7 hours to reach Nirmal which is 210 from Hyderabad. We stopped to admire lush green meadows at one point and an old dilapidated sentry tower which resembled the scenes from "Dil Chahta hai" a few kms later. These detours turned out brilliant!





Once we were at Nirmal we finished with out lunch at Hotel Mayuri which was supposed to be the best in town(hated it though). We picked up a few beers and headed for Pochera Waterfalls.
The route to the waterfalls was pretty scenic and also included a small stretch of ghats along the NH5. There was greenery all around. The whole day we never caught sight of the sun which made it even more perfect for such a trip.

Though there wasn't too much water around, we enjoyed getting soaked under the water and even ventured into areas we werent officially supposed to go. After about 2 hours at this place we proceeded to Kuntala which was 10 kms off the highway. The walk down to Kuntala was about a 1000 steps and the waterfall was the highest in AP. We once again treaded on the slippery rocks, and climbed the rocks along the waterfall. We managed to give the camera a dip in the holy Kuntala water after which it refused to function anymore.

The most difficult part of the journey was the night drive along the NH5. We started back to Hyderabad at 6.30 and had our dinner at Kamareddi. Owing to the asshole lorry drivers who wouldn't dim their lights on the highway and the heavy downpour, we reached Hyderabad at 11.00.


Route: Hyderabad - Kamareddi - Nirmal - Pochera - Kuntala - Hyderabad.
Vehicle : Maruti 800 (10 years old) - A whopping 17kmpl !!
Cost: 4 of us and 600 for each including fuel, food and beer!

Top 10 Hyderabad Hangouts

Bored in the weekends?
Wondering what to do with friends over spare time?
Here is my choice of some of the best hangouts in the city.

1. Runway 9: Being a speed maniac, Runway 9 tops my list. 17 Kms from the city on the Medchal Highway, this place offers the largest Karting track in India. Apart from Go-Karting, Runway 9 also offers various fun activities such as Foose ball, TT, Skating, Pool parlor, archery and many more. It also hosts an Inhouse Pub called Chequered Flag and a restaurant. Atleast 3 hours of guarenteed fun!!
   
2. Alleygator: If playing snookers, bowling and video games is all you want to do the whole day, then Alleygator is the place. This one stop entertainer is dotted with four lines of bowling alleys, six pool tables, a wide variety of video games etc. The cafeteria here serves mouth watering food. The alleygator also has a 34-seater private theatre which is offered on hire. It is located in Secunderabad on SD Road, beside the Clock tower.
3. Xtreme Sports Bar: This is THE place for all those who enjoy couple of beers and sports alike. With huge screens all around, Sports can become a lot of fun here.. more so because of the accompaniments . Do make it a point to go to this pub if you are a sports fan!!
4. Drive around Shamirpet: Its a pleasant drive which is about 35-40 Kms from the city. Shamirpet Lake is the best spot around there where you can even camp and do some hiking activities. There are quite a few Dhabas on the way where you can have food.
5. Speed Boat Ride: If speed is your idea of fun, then this is a must try. You hitch a speed boat ride from Lumbini park on tankbund and circle around the Hussain Sagar.
6. Prasad's IMAX: This place turned out to be one of the hottest spots in the city very fast. Enjoyed by kids and dudes alike (for totally different reasons ofcourse!), Prasads has all the ingredients to become a converging centre for fun-filled activities. Right from movies to videogames, icecreams, tattoos, scary houses, 3D... 4D... 96D, it seems to accomodate everything in that four storeyed building.
7. Ocean Park, Treasure Island and Jalvihar: Like in any metro, Hyderabad also plays host to a couple of water theme parks where one can get indulged in wave pools, dance floors, thrill rides and a lot more. You can easily spend a day at any of these. Entry ticket is about 150-200 bucks each.
8. Gandipet Lake: Similar to the Shamirpet lake, this is also a huge lake on the outskirts at about 20 Kms from the city. There are many eateries around so food is never a problem. The surroundings here are very pleasant and landscaped gardens with a swimming pool are among the recently added attractions. You can laze around, explore around the lake.
9. Resorts: There are many resorts that have sprawled in and around Hyderabad. Pragati, Celebrity and Dream Valley to name a few. Swimming pools, billiards, TT and various other sporting activities are present in almost all of these resorts. These are more fun when visited in a group of 5-6.
10. Lounge Habits: These are your great escape from the hustle and bustle of urban living - watch movies on home theater systems, play XBOX/WII on the same, Board Games, Pool, TT, Foose ball and read books - over good food and great company.try It out.. Its FUN!

Any other places that you know of .. Drop in a comment.