After leaving Pune, we got back to Hyderabad but immediately left the airport to drive to a temple called Yadagirigutta to stay for three nights. If you’re familiar with a placed called Tirupati, then you can say that the aim of this place is become like a Tirupati, but for the state Telangana. This temple also happens to be the place my parents actually got married at.

At this point, we were at the last leg of our trip, being that there was less than a week.

We actually stayed at this temple for 3 nights. The temple itself was so unexpected and beautiful upon arriving there. It looks like the whole thing had been remodeled and had just opened up in the summer of 2022. So, we dropped off our bags at the one hotel on top of the hill, and my uncle who drove us there suggested we grab darshan (viewing of the inner sanctum where the idols are kept) as soon as we freshened up. We were in and out within 30 minutes. The energy inside the temple was so magnificent, and extraordinary. The sense of peace that I felt was something quite unexpected. So our next two days were centered around getting some things done at the temple, and visiting a nearby village called Pochampally. We had some incredible darshans and overall it felt like a very fruitful stay that was very much meant to be.

We came back to Hyderabad on Monday afternoon, and sped off to pick up some last minute material for some sari blouses I had to get stitched. In the evening, we ended up ordering in Biryani and just chilling out and watching a couple of movies. The next day, which was Tuesday, was a day we saved to finish some last minute shopping, and probably spent about 3-4 hours handing off our clothes to the tailors (people who stitch sari blouses/dresses, etc). I didn’t anticipate this to take so long, but every five seconds the Masterji would get interrupted with a phone call, or some question, or another client, and if this really doesn’t test your patience, I am not sure what will. Then on Wednesday, we saved the day to go visit some of my mother’s relatives who haven’t been keeping too well. If you’ve never visited Old City, I’d highly recommend doing so, as it’s so different from the rest of the main city. All in all, the day passed by with a few hiccups here and there, but whatever was left of the day we spent time packing and spending time with the family.

We left early Thursday morning to head to Bangalore for a day of shopping before our flight out that night. We were always supposed to fly out of Bangalore, but I specifically wanted to head there earlier to visit a couple of stores I’d been hearing about for ages. I was a little hesitant when the morning of came around. It had already been a tiring trip, and I was anxious about how tired we’d be by the time our flight time came around. We got down at the airport, had breakfast and headed off to the first store called Angadi Silks. This store had been spoken about to me for such a long time, that I was like “ok what is the deal here?” The collection turned out to be quite unique, and I would definitely love to go back and look around a bit more leisurely. After this, we grabbed lunch at a cafe called Sri Rameshwaram and I think I had the best ghee Masala Dosa, filter coffee, falooda, and tomato rice, that I’ve ever tasted. Our bellies full, we rushed off to KSIC silks but didn’t find anything there. So the last stop was Commercial Street, and we headed to Mysore Sari Udyog. This was a place where we found quite a few things, and it was hoppin’ inside with loads of people shopping. We wrapped up our evening by having dinner at a place on MG road. Shopping in Bangalore was so fun, and again I wish we had more time.

After dinner, my mom and aunt dropped us off at the airport. The security check was a bit brutal, but after freshening up, we sat down for a last chai at one of the restaurants.

I was feeling some pretty mixed emotions. One way, I was looking forward to going back to work and having a routine, yet it always feels a bit sad leaving behind people that you care about. I do wish our trip was a bit longer so we could have spent some time leisurely with family and doing other things, so it wasn’t as packed. There are so many things I can actually say here- which I really don’t know how to articulate well. I think that if one has all the comforts, India seems a great place to live at. Yet, if you don’t have these things, then small things seem like a hassle to get done. I hear about the struggles my uncle has been facing in farming and the mess around lands, etc. and I wonder, is our legal system here structured better to avoid situations like this? But, honestly who knows. I think customer service, hugely being outsourced in the states, has definitely changed things. But then again, I see the customer service here and even places like Europe, where I realize that there’s no such concept, and people really have no idea what it is like to have a good experience. The traffic is a bit nuts. Highrises keep being built without any consideration to much zoning, water supply, etc. Again, I am fully aware that I am just an outsider looking in. I have no idea if my family that lives there feels bad about things to the extent that I sometimes do, but then again maybe feeling bad isn’t right either.

Well, that wraps up our trip- hope you had fun reading!

Till next time,

K