The Sunrise Effect

The city I live in, Hyderabad, has a few irresistible attractions- the Charminar, Golconda Fort, Irani Chai, myself, Biryani, etc., etc. Though not technically in Hyderabad, the Shamshabad airport could also be called an attraction considering the number of people who are going gaga over it. But what not many know is that watching the sun rise over the placid waters of the Hussain Sagar lake from the Necklace Road is one thing worth getting up early in the morning. Not many really know it if the crowd that I see at Necklace Road on Sunday mornings once a month is anything to go by. We Hyderabadis aren’t the sort to jump out of bed at five in the morning for anything least of all watch the sunrise though we don’t mind staying up until unearthly hours in the night to watch cricket. Anyway I am glad I am one of the few Hyderabadis who know how stress busting it is being at Necklace Roads early in the morning.

The one or one and half hours that I spend at Necklace Road and later at Adarsh Café sipping Irani chai while reading the Sunday papers is very soothing to the nerves and very, very therapeutic. So soothing that for a couple of hours to half a day after returning from the morning rendezvous I feel almost like a saint especially on the road. I do not get annoyed when a crazed youngster whizzes past me on his bike with its horn blaring. I don’t even feel like bursting a major blood vessel when an autorickshaw driver cuts into my path dangerously and instead I slow down to let him pass and pray he reaches home safely with his and also his passenger’s limbs all intact and in one place.

On normal days I feel like strangulating certain drivers on the spot. But on days I’ve been to Necklace Road I feel like stopping such drivers and in a gentle voice advise them to take out an insurance policy if they cannot help driving fast without a helmet and cannot avoid driving on the wrong side of the road with one hand while the other hand is holding up the cell phone, with the entire family riding pillion. That’s how saintly it makes me feel. In fact I don’t even curse aloud when I drive over a super size pothole and don’t also get the usual murderous thoughts about doing things to the guys responsible for maintaining our roads. In fact, quite surprisingly, I feel sympathetic towards the GHMC engineers because, poor sods, they don’t have enough time to look after such things what with so many channels to watch on TV.

So the next time anyone catches me with a beatific smile on the face they know where I’ve been.