One cannot really tell what a Hyderabadi will do at any given time or at any given place because Hyderabadis, by nature, are so utterly unpredictable. How we drive on the roads is one perfect example. This unpredictability also seems to affect those who visit the city. When one is in an Irani one expects every one to have chai whatever the weather outside. When it is chilly one cannot imagine drinking anything else (in an Irani anyway). But the other day I had a glimpse of a different type of unpredictability.
Last Monday morning I was in Adarsh. The weather had been quite different with dark clouds of the cyclone on the coast still hanging over the city. It had rained the previous night which added to the morning’s chill. Every thing appeared wet and cold. The sun wasn’t out – just the sort of weather to drink something warm, like Irani chai. Though it was half past nine in the morning it appeared like it was still early morning what with the cloudy weather and the chill.
I ordered my tea and waited for it. A young fellow, well dressed, with a small bag in one hand and a bottle of mineral water in the other hand sat opposite me. When I am in Irani hotels I like to play a game. I try to guess what people at the table would order. He looked like one of those visitors who come to the Birla Temple and stop at Adarsh for breakfast. I thought he would order something to eat. But when he ordered Limca I was slightly taken aback though the waiter did not seem very surprised. This was weather to drink something to warm your insides, not chill them I thought of telling him.
When the waiter brought the bottle of Limca the young man told him to bring a straw. So there he was, drinking Limca through a straw while I sat drinking my tea from the saucer. I wondered where he was from- perhaps from one of those places where they don’t sell any soft drinks.
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