Hyderabadi Fever (KP#1)

It was in August of 2017 that I moved to Hyderabad – I had got a job in an IT firm. Frankly acknowledging, I wasn’t much psyched about moving to Hyderabad – I didn’t know much about the city and most of my friends were in Bangalore, Pune or Chennai. According to studies, it was supposed to be the most livable city in India, but I still had the jitters. Mostly I grew to like this place (love this place actually..I am too timid to acknowledge it outside of brackets), but one side of this city vexed me perpetually – why do the people here are so abso-f-lutely nutsss about Biryani! For those of you who don’t know, biryani is a dish made out of aromatic rice, well cooked flavoured ‘dum’ meat and assortment of 'exotic' spices (Am I not the King of Adjectives?). Needless to say, it’s pretty rich and spicy. Now, I know every city has its “Go To Food”..London has (or had) ‘Fish n Chips’, Delhi has its parathas, New York has its clam chowder, Paris has baguette etc. I understand that the citizens of a great metropolis NEED their comfort food – BUT Biryani and Hyderabad make a different story. It’s like, everything in Hyderabad revolves around biryanis! I am ashamed to admit this, but I looked at it very condescendingly, I am human after all..and I had my reasons..

So reasons you ask, well, here’s the account, one-fine-day wise..

Thursday – I observed that some of my colleagues had biryani very regularly for lunch. Fine, ok. Chalta hai.

Friday – One of them had biryani on two consecutive days for lunch. Now, IT companies provide free dinner for its employees (something I was pleasantly surprised to find out..it just felt like human rights!) and this Friday we ran out of food, so our office admin ordered biryanis from Paradise restaurant. Again, for those of you who don’t know, Paradise is Mecca for biryani lovers. Everyone in office figuratively fainted. Lots of oomphs and aahhs followed. That particular colleague had biryani again! That’s three times in two days, in front of me. I was praying for his tummy with a weird look on my face.

Saturday – My teammate had invited me to his birthday party at his place in Manikonda. We had expensive booze and…biryani! This time from Shah Ghouse (another popular biryani joint). By this time I was already a bit disgusted of biryani.

Sunday – I had spent the night at my colleague’s. With a massive hangover, I returned to my hostel in Madhapur at noon. I took a bath and went to the dining area. Guess what was there for lunch! Biryani! Trust me when I tell you I lost ‘it’. I swore to myself and my friends that this was disgusting beyond my imagination and that I will never have biryani here in Hyderabad. Period.

Important disclosure: I am from Calcutta and I am a big fan of Calcutta biryani. It is less on spice and a big soft tender ‘aloo’ (potato) along with a boiled egg is a must with the rice! We in Bengal love our biryani but absolutely no way is it so involved in our lives and important decision making.

Fast forward 6 months, I am slightly drunk after a hump day party (mid-week party). I reach home and ordered the spiciest biryani ever from Zomato (it’s a food delivery startup) and had it happily! Surprised? Yes, over the course of time, Hyderabadi biryani took over me.... It started 4 months ago when I visited this new quaint little terrace restaurant with a friend of mine for dinner. He strongly recommended the biryani - I almost shrieked - but a deep-rooted hunch made me say ok to it. My friend knew about my not-so-favourable views on Hyderabadi Biryani, so he kept asking me if I’d like to have something else and kept giving me tips on how to ensure that my stomach is fine after the spice assault – apparently having ‘raita’ (yogurt + cumin + water + onion + chillies…) helps. So there I was knowing I will get disappointed, but inside of insides, I prayed for a miracle. Alas! The biryani was spice, fiery, salty AF, all at the same time. I kept munching with a smug look. My friend looked at me and his heart fell. We settled the bill and left.

Later that night something strange happened. In my memories, I revisited the taste of the biryani, and to my surprise, I actually felt it was not bad (I am sure it has happened to you too with some food). The next weekend, I decided to try the biryani of Hyderabad Flavours (it is a restaurant near to my hostel) and oh mon Dieu! I fell head over heels for biryani, for the first time, I could feel the burst of flavours in my mouth, the depth of the tastes, its fragrance and the sheer brilliance of mankind for coming up with this dish. Tears were flowing from my eyes (due to the spices..and maybe a lill due to happiness), but I kept mixing the raita with the biryani and kept munching it, one scoop after the other. I felt liberated. My prejudice had evaporated and I finally felt the weight of dislike taken off my shoulders (come on, accept it that it is never very healthy to harbour negative feelings, in general). It was like flying. Not exaggerating, promise.

Fast forward 2 more months, just for old time’s sake I ordered Kolkata biryani from Bijoli Grill. It had everything right…the subtle flavour, the ‘aloo’, the boiled egg.. but, I am almost ashamed to admit it, I didn’t feel satisfied! The whole day I was restless, questioning myself about philosophical stuffs, the nature of human nature etc. etc. and finally at 1.30 am I ordered a spicy Chicken Fried Biryani from Food For U in Kondapur. And when I unboxed it, there, sitting in the box like a beautiful letter from the universe was a boiled egg! I have never heard of egg in a Hyderabadi biryani (unless ofcourse its an egg biryani). The universe had given me the signal to accept Hyderabadi biryani freely without inhibitions! And so I did. Food karma at its best.

What did I learn from this whole experience? A lot of times things don’t turn out the way we had planned or expected.. in such times, smell the roses, find the bright spot, roll up your sleeves and make best of whatever is there at hand! When I came to Hyderabad I was in a bad place – my grandfather had passed away recently, our financial issues were skyrocketing, I was unable to secure a high paying job even after my MBA etc. etc...but Hyderabad gave me a new chance to start over again with new prospects. I grew to appreciate it and feel really blessed.

Hyderabadi fever is on baby!

P.S. – If you are ever in Hyderabad, do try out the biryanis from the smaller lesser known places after you have tried on Paradise and other legendary places, you might just end up pleasantly surprised!

P.S.2 – I still haven’t figured about saalan (a curry served with biryani here)..Universe, another intervention please?