Paradise Biryani

Saying goodbye to the Nairs marked a low point in my trip so far.

The thought of not seeing them back in Amherst the way I would Jeff and Sreela saddened me quite a bit. After all, apart from crazy Ms. Catherine Stryker, Radhika was the first friend I made in the Valley. We all met in a step aerobics class that we took at a local gym. Befriending Catherine and Radhika was literally the saving grace of my social life.

Sudhir and Radhika

The Nairs also represented family and a loving home away from home for me. Whenever I'm with them, I feel loved and cared for. That's probably because both Sudhir and Radhika have hearts the size of the universe....always welcoming, always warm and open...with a passion for life and of course, good food:)


We visited a couple of historical sites during our last few days in Hyderabad. Chowmahalla Palace is located at the heart of old town Hyderabad. Through Sudhir's connections, we scored a private tour around this gorgeous location.  They even turned on some of the lovely chandeliers in the queen's chambers for us just so we could quickly take some snapshots of her lavish entertaining quarters.

Chandelier in the Queen's quarter in Chowmahalla Palace

The next day we visited an ancient fort located in the outskirts of Hyderabad called Golkonda. The fortress citadel was built for defense from the invading Mughals from the north. One of the most fascinating things about this fort is how it was designed with a perfect acousticsystem, by which a hand clap sounded at the fort's main gates, the grand portico, was heard at the top of the citadel, situated on a 300-foot-high granite hill. Our persistent guide (we didn't want to have a guide at first, but the guy persisted, so we ended up hiring him for what turned out to be a pretty good tour actually) made sure that we got to clap our hands, shout out our names, and hear the echoes in different corners of the fortress.

Golkonda

Of course, when it comes to spending time with the Nairs,  a delicious meal is always in the schedule. For our last evening in Hyderabad, they brought us to a restaurant called 'Paradise', which supposedly served the best biryani rice in town. One of the most memorable moments of the trip consisted of Sudhir threatening his son Rahul, who was misbehaving in the car on our way back from Golkonda, that he won't allow Rahul to come along with us to have his favorite dish if he didn't stop teasing his younger brother Arjun. The threat worked wonders. Realizing that he might be deprived of this delicious dish, he immediately stopped whatever nuisance he was engaged in with his brother. Jeff and I were intrigued. This has to be some seriously good biryani if even the mentioning of it managed to stop a teenage boy from teasing his younger brother.

L to R clockwise: Sudhir, Jeff, me, Radhu

I brought some leftover biryani for my plane ride to Calcutta. I shamelessly savored my delicious meal as the other passengers were toying around with their bland airplane food.

I'm heading out for some souvenir shopping with Sreela and her mom in a few minutes. We're right in the middle of monsoon season right now. The rain and the tropical terrain reminds me of home.