Trip to Hyderabad

This was my first visit to Hyderabad and when the time for booking tickets came, we zeroed on train as my mom was also traveling with me. While looking for train found a Rajdhani is available between Bangalore and Delhi which goes via Secunderabad. This was my first travel on a Rajdhani train. Read the thrilling journey from our home to Majestic railway station in Bangalore to board the train in a separate post.

For a Rajdhani train, it runs very slow. Indiarailinfo.com says it runs on an average of only 62 km/hr. Bed kit was good but food was not upto the mark. We reached Secunderabad at 7.35 AM right on time. Alighted on platform #1 and took the left way to come of the station. Little further was the taxi and auto stand. I booked a MERU cab for Rs 900 to Gowlidody (near Gachibowli).
Hyderabad is still a well breathing city and better on traffic compared to Bangalore. On the first day went to Karvy as I had little work there. It is located in the Financial District, Nanakramguda, Gachibowli. This area is like Electronic city / Whitefield of Bangalore. Big beautiful campuses of the likes of Microsoft, Infosys, Wipro, ICICI bank etc. Nice tree lined roads with footpaths makes this area a good workspace.

Golkonda fort

I kept the second day for sightseeing. In the morning, we went to Golkonda fort. I wanted to have biryani in Paradise but was unable to locate one after leaving Golkonda fort. After going round and round for a long time we settled for shahi Dastarkhwan. This is a nice restaurant in the Lakdikapul area of Hyderabad. We went for biryani and some chicken starters. The starters included Irani Jhoole Kebab and Chicken Malai Kebab. The taste of biryani was good but such biryani could be found even in Bangalore. The most unique and tasty item in the lunch was Irani Jhoole Kebab. It was just awesome – melting in the mouth. After lunch, on the opposite side of the restaurant found a paan shop. I am not a regular paan eater but an occasional sweet paan after a pomp lunch makes it good. Well, the sweet paan do not come cheap at Rs 20 a piece. Then we went to Charminar. Finally ending our day tour at Hussain sagar in the evening.

Makkah masjid as seen from Charminar

The third day we were to attend a birthday. In the afternoon I went to Telecom nagar to buy a gift for him. In the evening went to playstreat in the Telecom Nagar area of Gachibowli for the birthday party. It is a nice children’s cafe with lots of games. They charge on hourly basis.

Charminar

The fourth day was marked for our return to Bangalore. So spent the morning of the final day in leisure. In the evening we had to board the train Duronto AC express from the Secunderabad railway station at 9.30 PM. I was planning to leave Gowlidody at 7.30 PM on Ola. But got late as I went to the nearby market to finish some chores. By the time we boarded the Ola cab it was 8 PM. Given Hyderabad’s low traffic I said to myself, we should be able to reach. Asked the cab driver, he also said it should take around an hour. But after we crossed Hussain Sagar, we were caught in a traffic jam. The pace of the can kept going down due to slow moving vehicles and was coming to a standstill often. After sometime, I could see the railway station but there were bumper to bumper traffic before us. At that moment it veered in my mind that if I am going to miss the train. Landed at the front of the station couple minutes before 9.30 PM. Took our luggages and ran towards the platform. On inquiry found that Duranto to Bangalore is going to leave from platform # 3. At platform #1, there was a escalator which was of great help to my mom. Hurriedly we went towards platform # 3 but I could see no train at platform # 3 from the overbridge. Oh did I just missed the train! On getting down to platform # 3, we found that the train has not arrived yet. What a relief it was! The train chugged in 10 minutes later. We boarded our compartment. Our bogie was low on passenger. My mother and my berths were on different compartments in the same bogie. However, during ticket checking TTE provided berth in the same compartment. The Duronto AC express runs very well and takes less time than the Rajdhani express on the same route. Next morning the train reached Yeshwantpur station on time. After getting off the train, booked an Ola cab and reached home.

Sitting at the leisure of home I still sometime think about the nerve wrecking moments to catch the train both while going to Hyderabad and leaving from there!