Holi!

This is a week late, but last Wednesday was Holi. Holi doesn't have quite the same following in Hyderbad as it does in North India, but it was still celebrated with fervor by our assembled friends. I'm still trying to get the paint off my eyebrows! Check out the photos on my Flickr account for more Holi goodies.

Mea Culpa Scooter

In Hyderabad, The scooter is king.

Like most cities in Asia, Hyderabadi streets are not dominated by the automobile: here, lesser forms of transportation rule. This is due in part to the fact that the price of a car is out of reach for most citizens (and despite some recent setbacks, cars are becoming a lot more accessible to "the great multitude"). In Hyderabadi streets, it breaks down thusly (in approximate order of density): auto-rickshaw, two-wheeler (scooter/motorcycle), car, bicycle, jay-walker, street cart-peddler, cow, donkey-cart. Now ato the mix the following conditions: the fact that at any time some of these transport vehicles are going the wrong way; that traffic laws (except in the few places where they are semi-enforced by uniformed officers) are totally ignored; that in traffic each lane often supports triple or more the number of vehicles that it should; that India has an astronomically high traffic-death rate; and that the density of exhaust fumes during peak traffic times reach truly hazardous heights. In other words, chaos, dangerous chaos.

So, of course I went ahead and bought a scooter! This despite the preceding, and despite voting with my feet (most of the time, anyway) for cleaner and better transportation. In NYC, I bicycle to work almost every day, even in freezing temperatures. I feel like a traitor somewhat to the cause, but considering the distance of my commute (9 km) and prevailing temperatures (90-95 Fehrenheit), I decided to go for motorized transport. Many people cautioned me against this decision, due to the hostility of the streets here. But in reality, I am finding that the challenges of bicycling in NYC are more or less the same as those of scootering in Hyderabad. It is a matter of degrees. The tricks I have learned back home in my 4+ years of zipping in and out of traffic carry over here.

Now if I could just get a decent battery . . .

Morning Wake Up Call

With a population of nearly 4 million, Hyderabad is home to one of the largest urban Muslim populations in India. For centuries Hyderabad has been a major seat of Islamic culture, and at its peak, during the reign of the Nizams from the early 18th century until Independence, was the wealthiest and largest of the princely states of India. A symbol of this legacy is the Mecca Masjid mosque, which was built in the 17th century under the reign of the 6th Sultan of Hyderabad. With space for 10,000 worshippers, it is easily the largest mosque in the city.

Each morning during our stay in the city, we have been rustled from our slumbers by the call to prayer, which this morning came around 5:50 AM IST. The sound is unlike anything I have heard. It sounds like a chorus of humpback whales performing their songs, as interpreted by Animal Collective. It is really something else.