Restaurant review: Shadab

Located in front of Madina Square, this restaurant is known for its mouth watering dishes ranging from Irani Chai to Biriyani. I have been there number of times and I dont know why I havent written about it till now. People say Shadab has surpassed Madina, another restaurant near it. I cant boast of trying every dish over there. Those I tried, have never disappointed me. Biriyani Undoubtedly the best biriyani in Hyderabad. Right amount of spices with nice long rice grains and of course a generous amount of chicken/mutton. People talk of Bawarchi, Paradise, Hyderabad House and numerous other joints when it comes to biriyani. Just have it once here, you will forget about majority of biriyani place. Kebabs Speak of it and you start to salivate. Highly recommended is the Reshmi Kebab, wrapped in silky and fluffy egg white the chicken pieces just simply melt in your mouth increasing your appetite ten folds. Not very impressive Seekh Kebabs. Pakistani Chicken You will get the resemblance of its name once you see the green coloured gravy. Nice spicy dish with boneless chunks of chicken drowned in a rich gravy. Baghdadi Chicken Talk of richness, this dish tops it. Boneless chicken dish with a gravy filled with cashew and butter. A bit on the sweeter side though. Pudina Paratha Slightly crisp with butter and mint leaf coated paratha. Goes well with the curry dishes. Never forget to take Falooda, Lassi or an Irani Chai after your meals. They help you to put a nice full stop to your meal. This place also offers dishes like Paya, Zaban, Magaz, Haleem etc. Havent had the time to try them yet. Dont be too experimentative about the dishes. Yesterday, the Chicken Sizzler was no good. Reasonable pricing and good service. technorati tag: hyderabad travel

"Giving somebody a job for a small salary...

... is same as condemning him to life imprisonment." This quote from Brecht summarized the whole idea behind the play I saw yesterday, "Dayashankar Ki Diary." We all dream, so did Dayashankar. He came from a small village to the city of dreams, Mumbai. He wanted to be an actor. Sixteen years of drudgery as a low paid clerk, burdens of his family away in his village and the constant realization of not being able to fulfill his ambition to be an actor. He never could make it to the silver screen, so he set a stage of his own. He tried to bury his failures behind his fantasies. And slowly the wall separating truth and imagination crumbles, making our protagonist its victim. We are reflections of our thoughts. We are all actors who live in both worlds. Some are successful in maintaining the balance, some are not. That does make them any less human, they just become the pawns of human misery. Ashish Vidyarthi enacted the whole play with brilliance. Taking us through his various stage of life filled with interesting characters and imagination. He is the only actor in the play but his vivid description of other actors creates an impression as if they were also present on the stage with him. His love for MLA's daughter Sonia, despise for his boss, dominating room-mate More and funny conversation of two dogs Softy and Tiger. He expressed humour in his own way, like comparing the swaying posterior of fisherwomen in Mumbai as clash between "two mountains" trying to decide which one was bigger. The play progresses showing signs of delirium of Dayashankar, first visualizing talking dogs to the missing king of Nepal at last. Ashish kept his audience riveted with his simply mindblowing performance till the end. Talk of the climax, it will haunt you for the rest of the evening. Question where real actors are born. Theatre will always be the answer... technorati tag: hyderabad life

I am listening to...

Song: Hey Hey, My My (Into The Black) Singer: Neil Young Album: Rust Never Sleeps My Rating: 4.9 out of 5 (Because I equally like its acoustic version, My My, Hey Hey (Out Of The Blue)) Stumbled upon it after I got to know that Kurt Cobain mentioned a phrase from it, in his suicide note. My first Neil Young song and I have been on trip with it since. Now busy downloading Neil Young albums. The phrase in Kurt's note was "It's better to burn out than to fade away." technorati tag: music

Great weekend....

With the unfortunate and sad demise of Rajkumar and the chaos that followed in the city of gardens (It was in fact !), my trip was cancelled. Three days meant to be spent in Bangalore was now to be spent in Hyderabad. No work, just fun was the motto and I stood by it. Thanks to Baddy also. Day 1: Woke up late. Some FRIENDS episode to kickstart the day before leaving for lunch. Went to an ongoing book exhibition and spent more than I had planned. Gorged at Ching Ling. Eating would have been an understatement. Watched Groundhog Day. A nice movie from Baddy's list of cult classics. After that went to IMAX to watch long pending Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire. Came back and watched Yahaan. Went to sleep after a late night dinner of noodles. Day 2: Had plans to go to Chilkur Balaji temple. Supposed to get up at 0500 hrs. Then late night sleepers are not suited as early risers. So had to delay the plan till 0700 hrs. A cool and pleasant early morning drive of around 25 kms from my place. A bit of photography was also done on our way.More about Chilkur later. Spent around 2 hours there. Got back by 1000 hrs. Praveen came for lunch. Went to Old Fox. No guess, gorged again. Went off to Club 8 for a drink and watched England getting battered by Yuvraj. Then a nice siesta followed. Went to Central and to Odyssey.Nando came to stay over. Smirnoff ruled the night. Day 3: Woke up at 1000 hrs with some after effects of the russian water. A hot black coffee and bottles of water got my system flushed. Watched Snatch. A Guy Ritchie flick. Well a great MOFO movie. Brad Pitt ruled. Home delivered lunch. And then Season Four of FRIENDS till evening. Well my trip woudlnt have been more great than this. Would have been no less fun also. Four movies, music, long drives. Never better. Anyway, no matter whatever comes... Keep them coming. Hey I forgot also got some books on Satyajit Ray which I ordered before and Baddy got his refrigerator. Some pics have also been uploaded. technorati tags: blog travel hyderabad photography movies

The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand

"...To say ' I love you ' one must know first how to say ' I.' The kind of surrender I could have from you now would give me nothing but an empty hulk. If I demanded it, I'd destroy you. Thats why I won't stop you. I'll let you go to your husband. I don't know how I'll live through tonight, but I will. I want you whole, as I am, as you'll remain in the battle you've chosen. A battle is never selfless." - Roark to Dominique after she says that she is married to Peter Keating. technorati tag: books

I am listening to...

Song: Guncha Koi Singer: Mohit Chauhan (Silk Route fame) Album: Main, Meri Patni aur Woh (Unplugged Video released) My Rating: 3.5 out of 5 (Nice and Slow) technorati tag: music

My new profile in Orkut...

...inspired from V for Vendetta

Pending reviews since last two weeks...

Movies V for Vendetta: Portrayal of an Revolution. A nice flick with smooth dialogues, some fine performance, overdose of English accent and a brilliant screenplay. Masked Hugo Weaving steals the show and leaves very little room for Natalie Portman. Nice flashbacks especially of Valerie.A monstrous product of the detention camp, this Guy Fawkes mask cladded charismatic V quotes Shakespeare with the same ease as he battles the bad guys with knives to make the audience to remember, remember the fifth of November... Crash: Makes you realise why some movies deserve Oscar. All through the movie you go through various emotions because you encounter reality in bits and pieces. In the end everything boils down to the prevelant prejudices among various stratas of the human society based on colour, race, nationality and religion. This reminds me of a quote, "Remember that everyone you meet is afraid of something,loves something, and has lost something." When we will understand and appreciate the above saying prejudices will vanish and we will be able to treat human beings humanely... Restaurants The Southern Spice: A restaurant situated near Punjagutta on the road towards Jubilee Hills. Filled with Dakshin cuisine in its menu with glimpses of Chinese, Continental and North Indian dishes. Though exhaustive in the non veg segment, vegetarians can have a tough time deciding the menu.Food is good.Service is smooth once you get going with the order. Doesnt have much to offer in the dessert category. For people wanting to have a overall taste of the southern spices, a Special Veg/NonVeg Southern Spice Thali is recommended. Extent of Spiciness: I spent the longest in the throne of wisdom the next day... Malgudi: Tempting Chettinad drew us to this place after an recommendation. Nicely decorated interior with soft lighting enhancing the ambience. Good sketches and dhoti clad waiters depicting a rural theme. This restaurant is situated in the Lifestyle building at Begumpet. Provides dishes from the Southern states of Andhra, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka and a few North Indian ones. Tried Chicken Chettinad biriyani and Chicken Chettinad curry with Malabar parantha and a chicken dish with spicy semidry roasted chicken. All mouth watering and delicious. Had to wash them down with a sweet lime soda. Chicken curry was especially hot. Service is fine and prices are reasonable for an exclusive Southern restaurant. Just get there with a right appetite to enjoy (We actually devoured) the blend of spices that southern India is famaous round the globe for... technorati tags: hyderabad movies

I am listening to...

Song: Ya Ali Singer: Zubin Album: Gangster [Movie] My Rating: 3.5 out of 5 (Note: Addictive) technorati tag: music

Deviations to be rectified... Soon

Erratic net connection welcomed me after coming back from Bhubaneswar. More thanks to the monitored surfing in the office, I have not been able to post in a regular manner. Things got sorted out yesterday evening. Went to watch 'V for Vendetta'. An anti-establishment flick had been long due for me, needless to say that I liked it. And IMAX screen is always a treat.

This weekend I went to Bhubaneswar

Back to the city to catch some breath, relax and recharge. The hectic train journey takes two days of your time, though the window side seat provides bit of respite with the moving scenery and hot/cool air blown directly to your face. Stations some empty and some teeming with people come and go. So also fields, some barren and some green till the horizon. Listen to music or get deeply engrossed in a book, nothing betters the sleep that one gets in the ever vibrating and swaying train compartment. One thing that strikes whenever you go to your own city is that, no matter how innumerable the changes are or how rapid growth it has undertaken, it always welcomes you with the same indifference. It makes you feel at ease and reminds you that no matter how old you grow or how long you have been away from it, you are still the same kid who learnt how to cycle in its lanes. Life here is pretty laid back. No one seems to be in hurry. Days are longer over here. You are never lost in the crowd. A hundred meter walk will never be without someone recognising you or without a smile that tells they are glad to see you back. Things are much simpler and above all "complexities never rise above your necessities".How hot or humid its climate maybe during the summer, the cool breeze takes away all the heat in the evening. Top it up with sipping a hot coffee in the CCD near XIMB, and you cant expect any better a deal. Things are changing over here too. Government is busy signing MOUs with software firms. Big industries are coming up to exploit the huge mineral reserves of the state. Roads are being widened. Fly overs being built. Green covers vanishing. Real estate prices soaring. Crowd is more hip. Crime rate has increased. All the signs of a growing city. The city where I went to my first school, made scores of friends, hanged out in the scorching heat, heavy downpours and breezy winters and of course rode my first bike. technorati tags: travelling life orissa