Hyderabad’s fast disappearing Deccani Tehzeeb!

Hyderabad is like a delicious dish. Having tasted it once, the tourist or visitor is sure to come back for more. Alas! The city’s glory is fast fading. The broad roads then are crowded with heavy traffic today. The laid-back attitude of Hyderabadis’ relaxing in cafes is no more the norm of the day. Chai and "Biscoot", which formed the daily delights of casual talk, are fast losing their sheen. As it is the morning shows in small theatres have already stopped. The slow-paced lifestyle is evolving to be a life in the fast lane!

However, the legacy of Hyderabad’s richness cannot be fathomed. Like the proverbial saying the proof of the pudding is in the eating, Paradise hotel has classic snapshots of a few places of 1960s and 1970s, which are hung inside the hotel. These snapshots can easily transport to an era where famous places of the city enthrall you with their beauty. The calmness ushers in an unknown peace. There are lots of such nuances which refresh the memories with erstwhile glory.

For instance, the Irani Cafés then had an aura of richness of Mughals. Cafes were designed like western saloons. Chairs had oriental designs. Walls were plastered with Mughal motifs and works. Women on murals wore thick jewellery with eyes delicately touched up with Kajal. Surprisingly, cafes had huge sound systems. Rolling out from these were Hindi classicals doled out by Rafi, Kishore and Mana Dey.

The city of pearls was also known for its rich Nizami legacy. The old city still holds to an extent the allure of bygone eras. The multi-hued, rainbow tinged bangles, the sarees with rich embroidery work, the sweet paan, which is a delicacy tasted after a sumptuous Biryani. Attar, the rich perfume which comes in sparkling colours and in even more dazzling vials… are a few among many things that make Hyderabad an incomparable abode.

Ironically, how many are aware that Hyderabad was known as a city of Gardens? The bio-diversity of the land had attracted many a traveller. The jubilee hills was a jungle where tigers, panthers and snakes used to habitat. Uppal also boasts of a similar story. In fact, I was quite taken back when I heard my boss, who is hitting his 60; mention that Masab Tank was a thick jungle where his father used to go hunting. Imagine all these places, which were once jungles, today leave no traces of such wondrous glory. Slowly these interesting facets of Hyderabad are fading away.

Where am I going with all this, well, I came across a book that had a few classic pictures of Hyderabad that instantly struck a chord with me. I simply couldn’t resist sharing these snapshots, here they go…

Pretty Woman. Pretty Movie.

Flashback to 1994. The day was scorching hot, the comforts of an air-conditioned theatre sounded like a cool option to two college going lads; a quick glance at their time-table revealed they haven’t much to lose. They decided to jump on the bandwagon of college bunkers and sneak into a theatre which had a classical rating of ‘A’. Though a little trepidation and hesitation nudged their hearts, yet, the will triumphed. The movie was ‘Pretty Woman’ starring Richard Gere and Julia Roberts.

‘Pretty Woman’, a rom-com genre, has a story as fresh as a rose and a cast that’s truly refreshing! However, it did rub a few critics on the wrong side. Cutting to chase, Vivian Ward (Julia Roberts) the lead actress in the movie stars as a prostitute. Apart from a few unmentionable scenes, the film was quite an eye-opener on lot of issues. The story is all about a rich entrepreneur, who accidentally meets a prostitute and consciously falls in love with her. Sacrilegious?!  No, it isn’t.

Though it sounds incredibly ridiculous, given the circumstances they meet and the peculiar situations the heroine manages to hastily rush into – falling in love for both seems inevitable.

 A few scenes clearly turn you misty eyed, especially the one where Vivian, who is by then a transformed person, enters a showroom only to be shown the door on account of her tawdry dressing. When Edward Lewis (Richard Gere) hears about the cheap treatment meted out to Vivian, he decides to visit the showroom along with Vivian and flex his powerful, financial muscles - the staff is ready to fall down and worship.

Another occasion is when Vivian is at loggerheads as she must attend a formal dinner, but doesn’t know anything about dining etiquette. That’s when hotel manager, Barney Thompson (Hector Elizondo) steps in to show the ropes. The relationship these two share on screen is extremely touching. Scenes like these are quite a few, which never fail to soothe the emotions and add a twinkle to your eye.

What stands as the icing however is when Vivian’s dreams get answered. Vivian’s childhood fantasy of seeing her Knight in the shining armour riding out to her brandishing a sword comes true, when Edward comes searching for her atop a limo, brandishing an umbrella. 

Inside the theatre, half way through the movie, one young lad notices the other lad slowly bring out his hanky and wipe away the tears that seem to well up in his eyes. The other lad tries to hide a guffaw!

On the whole, it wouldn’t be right to say that the movie was good. Actually, it was incredibly haunting and highly romantic. In fact, last year, ‘Pretty Woman’ movie stars celebrated the completion of twenty-five years.

Twenty-five years?! That’s a long a time, you might scream. Definitely it is!

Since then, lot of water has passed under the bridge. Young lads then are grown up adults now. While one lives in America, the other, in India. While one is working as software professional. The other is wasting his time writing reviews… like this one.

Time passes on. 

However, ‘Pretty Woman’ still remains young.