One side of his personality the true Hyderabadi doesn’t often get to show is his ‘sticky’ nature. The Hyderabadi persists with some things to the end and for as long as it takes. This side of his nature is more often on display when he isn’t in town leading to some surprising conclusions by others about Hyderabadis. Not many know the reputations Hyderabadis have built all over the globe for their perseverance even in the face of adverse circumstances. Two years ago I got such an opportunity to display this tenacity the Hyderabadi is known for, when I was in the Andamans. After all, I am a true Hyderabadi.
Four of us were selected as Media Fellow by an NGO in Port Blair, and of those, I was the only Hyderabadi, not surprisingly. Two days after I landed one of the Media Fellows, a writer from Bangalore, quietly packed his bags and left. A couple of weeks later another guy, a freelancer from Kolkata also waved us good bye. The third guy, a senior journalist also from Kolkata, gave me company for a month or so and also departed leaving me to hold the fort. I had, when packing my bags, told my friends and family that in no circumstances would I return before the three months was up. So I was stuck in the Andamans for three months.
Now, for those who do not know, the Andamans is eighty five percent of jungle. In fact, all habitations are deep inside the jungles. Needless to say, the jungle often shows up in the form of foot-long centipedes, deadly snakes and mosquitoes the size of small birds. Apart from these to contend with, there was the bad food, the unfriendly people (at least those I met appeared quite unfriendly) and the torrential rains. It was quite a struggle for me to hang on when all the other Media Fellows had fled leaving me alone to hold the fort (and also do what all the Media Fellow were supposed to do- write long and boring reports.)
I stayed there for the entire three months for two reasons, mainly. One was that I was from Hyderabad and no one from Hyderabad likes to make a fool of himself in other places. (It is, of course, an entirely different matter that we Hyderabadis make fools of ourselves all the time when we are in Hyderabad. You only have to see us on the roads to understand the levels of unsurpassed foolishness we are capable of. And that's just on the roads!)
The second reason was that the Andamans was an incredibly beautiful place. It was almost like paradise to me. I visited several places in the Andamans which had names like Billy Ground and Mayabunder. Two years ago, this day marked the end of my first month of the three month stay and later (probably in the post after the next) I will write about all the places I visited in my first month at Andaman. And also about some of the nice people I met there.
Four of us were selected as Media Fellow by an NGO in Port Blair, and of those, I was the only Hyderabadi, not surprisingly. Two days after I landed one of the Media Fellows, a writer from Bangalore, quietly packed his bags and left. A couple of weeks later another guy, a freelancer from Kolkata also waved us good bye. The third guy, a senior journalist also from Kolkata, gave me company for a month or so and also departed leaving me to hold the fort. I had, when packing my bags, told my friends and family that in no circumstances would I return before the three months was up. So I was stuck in the Andamans for three months.
Now, for those who do not know, the Andamans is eighty five percent of jungle. In fact, all habitations are deep inside the jungles. Needless to say, the jungle often shows up in the form of foot-long centipedes, deadly snakes and mosquitoes the size of small birds. Apart from these to contend with, there was the bad food, the unfriendly people (at least those I met appeared quite unfriendly) and the torrential rains. It was quite a struggle for me to hang on when all the other Media Fellows had fled leaving me alone to hold the fort (and also do what all the Media Fellow were supposed to do- write long and boring reports.)
I stayed there for the entire three months for two reasons, mainly. One was that I was from Hyderabad and no one from Hyderabad likes to make a fool of himself in other places. (It is, of course, an entirely different matter that we Hyderabadis make fools of ourselves all the time when we are in Hyderabad. You only have to see us on the roads to understand the levels of unsurpassed foolishness we are capable of. And that's just on the roads!)
The second reason was that the Andamans was an incredibly beautiful place. It was almost like paradise to me. I visited several places in the Andamans which had names like Billy Ground and Mayabunder. Two years ago, this day marked the end of my first month of the three month stay and later (probably in the post after the next) I will write about all the places I visited in my first month at Andaman. And also about some of the nice people I met there.
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