My Favourite city - Hyderabad aka Cyberabad

Yesterday I came to know about this contest organised by Tata Motors where one had to write about his favourite Indian city as per design, drive and connectivity of the place. Since the last four years, ever since I was transferred from Hyderabad, I have been living here Bangalore. Having lived in both the cities for a fair amount of time, it didn't take me much time to decide which city I loved more. Both cities are quite similar in many ways and would fare very well in my opinion if a survey was done about most liveable cities in India. Some people would have probably chosen Bangalore over Hyderabad for its climate, because the two cities are otherwise similar in various aspects. But for me, Hyderabad fares a bit better if these three parameters are the sole criteria - design, drive and connectivity.

What I like most about Hyderabad is the harmonious existence of the old traditions and modernity and its cosmopolitan way of life. The city is quite old, almost 400 years old and has a rich cultural heritage. Both the old city and the new city co-exist side by side. Even in the old times, the city used to be an important centre for trade and commerce in India. During the period when the Nizams ruled it, Hyderabad used to be the largest state in India. But after India's Independence when Andhra Pradesh was created on linguistic basis, Hyderabad was made its capital. Like Chandigarh, today Hyderabad is the joint capital of the two states simultaneously - that of Telangana as well as of Andhra Pradesh.

Then in the late nineties and early 2000s, during the tenure of Chandrababu Naidu, who had envisioned Hyderabad becoming the Silicon Valley of India, the city gallopped its way towards realising that dream. During that period, several global IT firms set up their branches in Hyderabad. Since then, along with Bangalore, Hyderabad has come to be dubbed as the IT capitals of India. Not just the IT companies, but today Hyderabad is home to many international MNCs like Dell, IBM, Microsoft, Facebook, Google, Oracle and Deloitte, research and development institutes and defense establishments. The city has seen unprecedented growth and developments in the areas of IT, Biotechnology, Construction, Pharmaceuticals and Tourism in the recent times. Thus Hyderabad is seen as a promising first tier city with immense business opportunities. It is one of the primary destinations in India for FDI (foreign direct investments). Thus the city that was once known for its minarets and domes and as a pearl and diamond trading centre, is now an important IT destination in India and is called "Cyberabad".

If we look at the city's design, one will find several mesmerising heritage structures that were constructed during the period of Qutb Shahi and Nizam rulers which showcase Indo-Islamic architecture (a style influenced by the Indian medieval architectural style, that of the Mughals and also of the Europeans). The new city has been very well-planned and several parks, upscale residential and commercial buildings like shopping malls, and recreational centres like multiplexes or Ramoji Film city dot its landscape. The industrial areas are located in the northern end. Then there is the "Cyberabad" area that is spread across a sprawling area housing many IT and bio-pharmaceutical companies.

Hyderabad is nicely connected to all parts of the country by railways, roadways and airways too. Several domestic airlines fly from the city to other places in the country and one will easily get a domestic flight to travel to any major city in India from Hyderabad. The city is also well connected to all neighbouring towns and cites by many express trains. One will also find regular bus services available to nearby major cities like Mumbai, Bangalore, Nagpur or Chennai. Additionally it also boasts of a well-maintained intercity bus service. Bus services as well as motor rickshaws and taxis are available to all corners of the city from Hyderabad.

(This has been written for “Made of Great zonal wars” sponsored by Tata Motors. Visit the website http://madeofgreat.tatamotors.com/ if you wish to know what it is all about)

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Besan Ka Halwa (Gram Flour Halwa)

Today happens to be my mother's birthday and I wanted to make her day extra-special. To be honest, I am an introvert and I'm not that good with expressing feelings. So even though I love mummy very much but I hadn't really gone out of the way to express my affection for her before. But the last few days, I don't know why, I was feeling really emotional about my mother and today I wanted to surprise her by preparing the breakfast myself, that too a dessert because she has got a sweet tooth. Though I am not that good a cook and except for the occasional noodles or egg omelettes or tea and coffee, I have seldom spent much time in the kitchen (unless of course when mummy needs some help) but today being such a special occasion, I wanted to give her a sweet beginning to the day. I wanted to make her feel special.

Since the last week or so, I had been planning for this day, how I would wake up early and finish up all the kitchen chores like washing up the previous night's utensils and also cleaning up the kitchen counter-top before she woke up. That is exactly what I did this morning. I wanted to give her a break from the morning chores. But the real surprise for her was going to be the dessert that I was planning to make for her. I took the help of internet and browsed through quite a few delectable dessert recipes. Some of them looked really good and enticing but I feared about whether I would be able to make them successfully. Being a total novice, I didn't want to take a chance with a complicated recipe, had my attempt failed, it would have spoiled the occasion. So after much brain-storming and going through several you-tube tutorials and recipes, I finally settled on preparing Besan Ka Halwa for the day and for that I followed Masterchef Sanjeev Kapoor's recipe. Not only is the dessert fairly easy to cook but it also tastes wonderfully well, and on top of that, it brings back my childhood memories -- how I used to relish eating the sweet dish whenever mummy prepared it. I knew that I wouldn't be able to replicate the same taste of the halwa like mummy used to make, but I wanted to give a good try. So I got down to work.

But since mummy has diabetes, so I couldn't have used the normal sugar. Therefore I decided to substitute it with Sugar Free Natura. Sugar Free Natura contains Sucralose - a sugar derivative that gives the same sweetness of sugar but without that many calories. Thus it is an ideal sugar substitute for the diabetics and all those who are conscious about their weight and fitness. 

Additionally I also made a little modification to the original halwa recipe -- since mummy used to love eating chocolates before diabetes, so I added a little cocoa powder too to the halwa to give a chocolaty taste. This is how I prepared Besan Ka Halwa, the recipe is very simple.

Ingredients that are needed:
Gram flour (or Besan) 2 cups
Desi Ghee (clarified butter) 1/2 cup
Sugar Free Natura 1/2 cup (had it been normal sugar, 1 cup would have been used)
Cocoa Powder 2 tbps
Milk 2 cups
Raisins about 2 tbspns
Cashewnuts about 10-12, chopped
Almonds about 8-10, chopped
Green cardamom powder 1/2 tsp

How to prepare Besan Ka Halwa:

My mother tells me that halwas are best cooked in thick bottommed pans. I used a kadhai (or wok) for the purpose. After heating it up for a minute or so, I added the gram flour and dry roasted it on low flame for about eight to ten minutes, stirring continuously. A distinct smell starts coming out as you dry roast the gram flour.

Then I added the desi ghee to the roasted gram flour and mixing them nicely, I continued to stir. This needs to be done for another four to five minutes until the gram flour turns slightly golden brown.

Now was the turn to add milk to the mixture. Even as I was adding the milk slowly, I was also simultaneously stirring the gram flour mixture so that no lumps were formed.

After a few minutes, when the milk almost got absorbed, I added 1 cup of Sugar Free Natura, the cocoa powder and also the green cardamon powder and mixed them up nicely. I also added the raisins, the crushed cashewnuts and three-fourths of the chopped almonds. Turning the mixture up and down with the spatula, I let the halwa mixture to cook for a couple of more minutes.

Now it was ready to be served. By this time, mummy had woken up and was taken by surprise on finding me cooking in the kitchen, that too so early in the morning. Adding the remain of the crushed almonds over the halwa, I took the bowl to her and wished her Happy Birthday. She had tears in her eyes and hugged me tightly and blessed me so much. When I told her that since I had used Sugar Free Natura, so she could eat the halwa as much as she wanted to, she was so happy. 

The icing on the cake was that the taste had actually come out really well. For a moment, I couldn't believe that it was me who had prepared it. Mummy loved every bit of the Besan Ka Halwa and that made my day. :)

 

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