HYDERABAD’S NEW DIL-SE- HYDERABADI

Kaustav Das

B.Com III Year

10-10-2016

Woke up on the upper berth of Secunderabad to Guwahati Superfast Express and heard my mother
shout, “Wake up, you sleepy head, we are here!” It was a cloudy morning and the first spell of
monsoon was about to hit Hyderabad. I came out of the station and took the cab ‘successfully’
booked on Ola by my father. It was a 2 hour long drive and it had started to rain heavily. After about
an hour of travelling, we were again stuck in the traffic. I thought,” What a lovely day in
Hyderabad”, and as soon as I lowered the window glass ‘SPLASH!’- a bike racing through the
narrow spaces, threw the muddy water clogged on the roads, right on my face! I was too premature
in praising the lovely day.

****

“Applied online?” asked my friend Nikul Vaja who was also new in Ahmedabad. We were having a
conversation about DOST (Degree Online Services Telangana) over phone on a video calling
application IMO. I told him about the process and how to select the desired college(s) and give
priority numbers (which was same in Ahmedabad too). What a pain-in-the-neck process it was for
students and adding limited knowledge about the city to it you all will know how much problematic
it was. “Indeed” said my friend.

****

“No! Mom it can’t be ,“ I said to my mother as I was following Google Maps instructions which
showed the location of my allotted priority No.2 New Government Degree College, a modern multi-
storeyed pink colour building (as shown in Google) in a location where we found ourselves
standing in front of foul-smelling entrance of a college gate which read in bold Government Degree
College, Khairatabad. It was a sunny mid-day and father, mother and I were in search of my degree
college to get me enrolled. Anyway, we told ourselves ‘what’s in a name’ and entered the college. At
the end of the day, I was a fresher in Government Degree College, Khairatabad.

****

It’s almost a month after I joined, I was making new friends every week…. thanks to ever-continuing
multi-phases of DOST allotment! Swaroop, Sai Kiran, Kaustav- A group of three friends from
different phases of online allotment. Let me brief you about them. One, who is crazy about movies
and ‘I- am-neutral-anytime guy’. And the other, whose natural processor (brain) is so slow that it
beats old Mediatek Android Processor in being slower than it, but do keep in mind never hit him as
his reflex action is faster than Usain Bolt. Lastly, Kaustav, that’s me, a 19 year old Assamese guy in
Hyderabad, who after being exposed to Hyderabad’s air, sun, rain, people and Biryani became Dil-
se-Hyderabadi. Now, here we are as wild as the wild hogs. Creating our own stories...

I guess here is the moment to thank Hyderabad for the precious things I’ve got- the three of us and
Biryani!