This is my third week in Hyderabad and I have come to the conclusion that people in this Southern city cannot drive among other things.

People come from any direction onto the road, No hand or turn signals before executing turns. Horns are the alternative for any sort of signalling. Yesterday, the transport from work to my hotel (which are about 18 kilometer apart), dropped me in front of the gas station and I was going to walk the 30 meters to my hotel. Suddenly a guy in a HUGE SUV barrels down the road towards me. I wasn't sure which direction I should jump. So I jumped to my right. He turned to his left and came to a rubber burning, screeching halt. Then he had the audacity to glare at ME. ME! I saw he had 3 kids in there, who were thrown around since none were belted in, even though the vehicle had seat belts. That is another thing they haven't figured out, how seat belts work. So, I ask him very politely if he was some sort of Kamikaze diver on a mission. He asked how dare I speak to him that way. He asked me if I knew who he was? I said "No, I have no idea who you are, do you who I am? No? Any reason why you wanted to turn me into road kill?" Moron.

But I must say the food here is second to very few places. I have had the biryani at work as well as a few restaurants, including Hyderabad House and Paradise, and I am frankly quite amazed how much better this stuff is compared to the crap in Bombay.

There is a preperation of chicken called "Chicken 65". I have asked quite a few people why it's called 65. Nobody has a good reason. Some of them were

* The chicken is slaughtered on the 65th day... then why is there a Vegetable 65?
* There are 65 kinds of spices... I refuse to believe this, being a decent chef myself.
* This was the preperation on a menu and was the 65th item on the menu... a little more plausible, but still no cigar.
* There were other strange reasons, like, it was made first in 1965 or the word in Telegu translates to something.

I spend most of my time with my friend of 17 years, Naval (yes, that is a real name ;-) ), lots of memories. He lives about 2 kilometers from my hotel. I get excellent home cooked food and get over my withdrawal of Shay with Naval's little baby. They have even done my laundry, how cool is that?

Last weekend I was in Bombay and I took about 4 kilos of biryani with me. Man people loved it. Tricia, Pia, Vicky, Dad, Venkat, Ashu, Benny ate Biryani over 3 days, and are still lovin' it.

This week wasn't too bad at Infosys. Most of the work was done over the last two weeks and case studies have been handed out. Some requirement analysis and implementation is on the cards. I work 9 hours a day, 5 days a week, but my team is currently working 12 hours a day, 6-7 days a week.

This weekend looks interesting since I will spend some time with Naval and his family, as I have been. Along with that I will meet up with some Yezdi Hyderabad Club members, probably dinner with AVM Rudra, my dad's boss and friend when he was in the Indian Air Force, finally plan to catch up with Gaurav, who was with me in college. I also plan to go get some quick executive training on a particular analytic software.

More on Hyderabadis next week.

BTW, I still have not found any Mongolians.