Victor Feinman

Last weekend I went to Hyderabad, India. I went with Aayush Jain, Rohan, Samir (all Indian-American) Ester aka Ichen (Chineese-American), Faisal (Pakastani-American) and Gaurav Gupta (Indian). A mixed up group to say the least. Gaurav went to school in Hyderabad so he was able to show us around. It was his girlfriend’s birthday so celebrated with her and her friends at a nice restaurant.

We left campus on Friday Night at 5:30 and took taxi to the train station outside of Bangalore. From there we took a sleeper train to Hyderabad. Gaurav already booked a hotel for us, so once we arrived in Hyderabad, we went direcly to the hotel to drop off our bags. We were supposed to do a bounch of activities but ran out of tim and only got to eat lunch, walk around Paradise, Hyderabad and meet Gaurav’s girlfriend for her dinner party. That night was un eventful in that after the dinner party we just went back to the hotel to sleep. The hotel wasn’t up to my standards and would not stay there again. The beds were not clean and I woke up with bug bites all over my body. The shower and the toilet area were one of the same. They did not believe in toilet paper in this hotel and thankfully Ichen brought a roll for us.

The next day was more fun. It was Sunday and better then that it was Aayush’s birthday. If you understand what happens in India when it is someone’s birthday you would understand why I was so excited. After breakfast at this place called Dadu we went to Runway 9 more information can be found http://www.runway9.in/karting.html This place is a small amusement and family center. Once we paid the Rs.20 entry fee we all made a B line for the Go Karts. The go karts here are actually real racing go karts. They are a lot more fun then the go karts back in the US. Before I left for India I took a trip to a grassroots race (Thank you Bob and Terry Hoops!!!) so I was on a racing high which intensified when I got in the cockpit of the kart. The first time we went around 4 times and of course I won the race I thought four laps wasn’t a sufficient number of laps to give my competition a fair chance at the title so I purposed to race again. This time six laps, but the catch was that the losers had to pay for the winners ticket. They agreed even after witnessing my performance the last race.

From the moment we started the race, I was out in front and led the pack for all six laps. I had Gaurav videotape the race for me so I have proof that I won.

After we traded racing stories we went into the building to play foosball, air hockey, and table tennis. Ichen and I left a little before the rest to shoot archery. I haven’t done that since Summer camp (so long ago I don’t remember what year). On the way out of Runway 9 we decided to give Aauysh his birthday bumps. We all took turns holding him and kicking his ass. It was funny he didn’t take it well. Haha.

As soon as we left Runway 9 we went to eat at the Paradise Hotel where supposedly they have great Chicken Biriyani. We ordered two chicken and two Veg biriyanis. They weren’t all that good. Right after the waiter took my order, Gaurav and I snuck off to buy Aayush a cake for desert. I chose the cake, chocolate, I swear it looked good, but in the end it wasn’t. I snuck it into the restaurant and gave it to the staff to hold onto it for us. When dinner was over we had the waiter bring out the cake American syle. We all sang Happy birthday then immediately smeared cake all over his face, Indian style.

After dinner Ichen, Samir and I wanted to go out for drinks, but apparently the bars all close early and we didn’t have any time to make it out. Instead we went to the closest liquor store and settled for a few beers, rum, and some coke. We went back to the hotel and played “never have I ever”. A Childish game, but it was a lot of fun. That was Sunday.

The next day, Monday, we had a lot to do on our list and we were already running late. Ichen and I were the first ones to get ready and check out of the Hotel. Aayush and Rohan went to a travel place to book a cab for the day. I got upset because of how long it was taking everyone to get ready and decided to walk off by myself to get some cash and breakfast. Our agenda originally had the local temple then the Buddha statue, the fort and finally go back to paradise for some last minute shopping. Well that all went to hell when the taxi took over an hour and an half to arrive. I was adamant about seeing the fort. It was the one thing I really wanted to see.

Man was I glad that I made everyone go. It was awesome. I saw ancient ruins and we paid a tour guide to explain what everything was. The fort was for a whole community, but the king and queens quarters were huge. The king had over 100 wives which he only saw one of them at a time and each night it was a different queen. Each queen would be able to meet with her king 3 times a year. This pretty much concluded our trip in Hyderabad.

Since I had a bad experience on a semi sleeper bus from Hompi to Bangalore and we reserved tickets back to Bangalore on a semi-sleeper buss, I picked up a sleeping pill from a chemist. On the way back I took the pill and invariably fell asleep. I don’t’ know if it was the pill or not, but I actually slept. I did, however, wake up a few times along the way and I am still pissed at Gaurav for actually booking a semi-sleeper bus.

See my photos from Hyderabad on flickr… Click here.