I wanted to start off by writing about how 2017 was but then I thought otherwise because it was no longer about 2017 anymore, it’s actually years before that.. The year that preceded starting Truffles and then from 2011.

While I might have expressed whatever I wanted to express to my friends/acquaintances I realized I needed to wrap up certain things here.

First, let me start with this, What is fucking wrong with you Hyderabad and Hyderabadis? Are you so content being the frog in the well, the so called Big Fish in the pond? with those self inflated egos?

And I mean almost everyone here, be that friends to acquaintances. Each one thinks the city is ‘booming’ based on what they do and what they want to believe. If I think about the list of people who think that way, then it’s 99.9% all the way. But as someone wise said, Just because 99.99% idiots think that’s the only way it works  it doesn’t mean they are right!

Over the years I have got unwarranted advise both externally and internally be that work or life, everyone became an expert, it didn’t matter that they flopped miserably when it came to themselves but yes loads of advice when it came to others.

The belief that this city is booming because of the sheer number of restaurants located within 2 square kilometres! We are no Bangalore,our closest neighbour city, not even 1/4th of it neither in culture nor in population nor in migration. Each restaurant opens up with a ‘franchise’ within 2 km radius and the Franchise craziness is rampant in a small city like Hyderabad unlike others.

Each one claims to be the ‘IN’ thing. Almost every place claims to have something different, but you look at it, its the same Stand Up Comedy Night or a DJ playing Bollywood, EDM, House, Hip Hop and yes how can one forget ‘LIVE MUSIC’!

It made me laugh when a city rag mag professed that Indie Music Scene is Booming!! Really? For all those Ignoramus out there, ‘Indie’ means Independent Music devoid of your crappy Bollywood or even Crappier EDM that has no lyrics.

I see the same faces singing from one joint to the other, if their mug shot is not at one venue then its at the next venue. Ditto with the DJ’s. A lounge can become a Nightclub, A coffee place functions as a bar & Brewery, anything new opens up, the Hyderabadis run like Rats to enter because they have to be the ‘FIRST’ to check in on facebook!

Ditto when METRO train was launched in Hyderabad, the need to be a part of the FIRST to check it stems from a deep level of inferiority complex, trying to gloss over one’s own failures and boosting a deflated ego.

Why is this city like this? Anyone who moves to Hyderabad lose their own identity and fall into that pit and cesspool of mediocrity and believe this is a ‘Happening city’ !

I remember just before traveling to US, I met up with a friend at Gacchi Bowli (the ‘it’ IT area) and he was saying the place is filled with IT folks in this area so yes business is good this side but he echoed the same sentiment, why the hell is there LOUD MUSIC EVERYWHERE?? and I mean EVERYWHERE!

Walk into any place post 7.30 pm and your eardrums are bound to be busted with LOUD DJs/ Live Music. Do you want to drown out your own insecurities, your own complexes or just that you don’t have enough brains to carry on a decent conversation with the people you come with?

I saw and still seeing the unfairness of it all. Be that people or the governance. A place can run up till 4 or 5 am provided cops get their palms oiled well while places that are closed within 12 midnight are often scrutinized because we didn’t grease them well enough.

But when the government does put a strict cap on these hours saying NO ONE can run beyond 12 midnight, people have the audacity to think WHY NOT?? On weeknight? 4 or 5 am? Are you out of your mind??

How many unemployed people are there in Hyderabad that they want to party like this every night? Welcome to Jubilee Hills and see for yourself, you wanna see National Integration? You will see Marwadis to Muslims, Andhraites from every caste mingling and partying together until the wee hours with the real estate money they got thanks to their father’s good luck with the lands.

There is no entrepreneurship here folks just blowing up the black money they have acquired, no matter how much our esteemed PM tried to stop it with Demonetization.

Almost everyone I meet say Yes Yes, give it some time, this city will ‘progress’, I really want to kick their ass to some sense (if they have one). On what basis? When the hotels occupancy is 40%, what kind of economy is that? It’s a bleeding market!

Do we have a sizable tourist crowd coming in regularly? NO, a Floating Business Crowd? NO, Small industries are growing? NO. The only thing is Information Technology and that too has been developed by the Visionary Naidu long back and whatever you see is still the ripple effect of it. Nothing Else. Nothing!

Creating ‘Batukamma’, Telangana Culture is not getting any tourists nor business crowd other than boot licking the current CM’s daughter and spending crores for her visibility. We are no Bangalore, Bombay or Chennai to have something to make people come here repeatedly.

A brewery plays super LOUD MUSIC and serves Biryani! Yes Biryani! While in the form of anniversary celebrations, people call all kinds of weird international DJs and people run for it like RATS again and again. 80% of the crowd don’t even know what kind of music they are playing, hell they dance to it, from 35 – 60 year olds like teenagers and then gloat on Social Media.

If you are wondering , then you should wonder and wonder hard as to why I feel about this.

If you are a part of this mediocrity, then Kudos you seem to love it, so keep loving it and  be in your own sordid shell. You don’t want to evolve, don’t want to change, don’t want to learn, don’t want to accept your mistakes and mediocrity and you are exactly the kind of 99.99% of people that are keeping this city mediocre, you just cant blame the Government for everything!

Hyderabadis, be in your stupidity. You don’t want to move out of this place even though you know there is a world out there in terms of opportunities that will change your life for the better. Because you say, ‘Aisich chalta hai’ (It’s like this only) .

I will tell you why and listen, it’s because you are fucking scared, scared because your actual skills and self will come out and you will realize what a competitive world it is out there. It requires sheer hard work in big cities to prove yourself and you don’t know if you are up to it. There I told it, now it’s up to you if you can take it Hyderabadi.

Other cities like Bombay, Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai are not perfect, hell they are another kind already but there are options, be that in jobs, skills, culture, tourism, cinemas, theatre, music, especially eating out – because other cities unlike Hyderabad are not stuck on local dishes only!

People don’t come to Bombay and want only Vada Pav, Only Idli Dosa in Chennai or only Bisibelle Bath in Bangalore but Hyderabad has become so synonymous with Biryani that there are millions of them from Bawarchi to Green Bawarchi to Blue Bawarchi to New Bawarchi and many more!

Any restaurant that has opened with any specialty  cuisine has failed miserably in this city. Greek? No! Thai? What’s that? Mediterranean? Woh kya hai bhai? Only cheap Chinese food and Biryani please! I want to spend only this much and eat like a Pig!We don’t want anything else but we are Super Great!!

We visit new places to check ourselves on Facebook or Instagram to let others see what a super life we lead! It doesn’t matter if you haggle over a measly 5% service charge or even a 100 Rs beer coming out of a Mercedez Benz.And if you think I am ranting over the so called ‘rich crowd’, the working professionals are just as worse. Irrespective of class or economic standards everyone are united in one thing, ATTENTION!

Everyone wants attention in their lives, they scream for it. Be that in their personal lives, walking into a restaurant, or walking into any place.

I WANT ATTENTION, I WILL CREATE A RUCKUS IF I DON’T GET WHAT I WANT! I WILL SIT FOR 3 HOURS OVER ONE DRINK BUT IN THAT I WANT A DISCOUNT, ATTENTION, THE OWNER’S NUMBER AND IMMEDIATELY WRITE ON ALL SO CALLED FUCKING FOOD BLOGS ABOUT IT! THESE PLACES EXIST BECAUSE OF ME AND ME ONLY!

That in a nutshell is this city for you. And I am not talking specifically about food industry as such, its almost in every sphere. The greed is so much it’s hitting the ceiling. Kudos Hyderabad you are well on your way to becoming Delhites but hey at least that capital city has so much to offer and to boast about. What do you have?

As for me, I am all set to say goodbye. To the mediocre city, to it’s people and to it’s non existing culture. 2018 will herald a change in so many ways. Cut my social circle even shorter than it was(can count on my fingers even now) and let go of all the baggage that has been bogging me down.

It’s time to say goodbyes to the farce of Facebook, Insta, Whatsapp and all that nonsense. Hell even the few hundreds I have on Facebook account are not worth it nor I even interact with them even rarely. The ones I know are ones I have on my phone and the rest on my phone book are not even worth a look.

So Hyderabad keep that 2018 and the rest of the coming years going and shove it into your ‘Up there’ place and that goes for Hyderabadis too. I am signing out and BTW have a Happy Fucking New Year!