The Hyderabad Industrial Exhibition- Numaish- Welcome Smart shoppers ;)

A very familiar name to all hyderabadis is the Hyderabad Industrial Exhibition also known as Numaish which happens every year from Jan first week to mid Feb and is one of the most sort after  shopping paradise to look out for.  It has been happening in Hyderabad for quite a long time now and has become sort of a tradition. It happens at the Nampally cross roads.

It was not anything much different from any of the previous years, but the crowd seems to have tripled or may be quadrupled. I happened to go on the 26th jan, Republic day, a public holiday, oops.. We reached there at 4:45PM and there was car, car everyhwhere and not a place to park. All the parking spots were full. The roads were completely jammed, honking cars, scooters and the monstrous buses, with people bustling and jostling everywhere.One guy stopped us and told, we could park our car, but we had to give him 200 bucks, we were hell ready, but then he said we had to give him our car keys, not a chance, dad was not ready. Then i felt we would probably go back home but that also was a distant dream since if we had to take a u turn and go towards home, it would not take less than a hour. But then luck shined upon us and we started following a few cars into a tiny little street, only to find that the space in front of the shops were being used as car parking spaces at a lot of places. I was impressed by the space utilization.But it was a cheap deal at 60 bucks and it was pretty close to the exhibition.

Yes, so finally we got the grand entry into the 73 All India Industrial Exhibition. The tickets costed us Rs20 each. Yes we still have our small toy train running around and a hoard of shops mostly catering the women shopping arena as usual, 😉 sorry boys. There are a lot of kashmiri shops selling beautiful churidars , stoles, bedsheets and crape sarees. The stoles start from from 150 and range up to 400. But anywhere you go bargaining is a must. You have to leave your shopoholic heart at home and be ready to let go your favorite item if the shop keeper does not give you the item at the desired price. I too got carried away and got duped at a few shops and regretted later. I went into a stall selling Lucknow chickan work kurtis and loved a white kurti, but when he told it would cost me 1500 i backed out, because a local hyderabadi would not  spend so much in one store at the exhibition. Then he showed me one worth 950 bucks, i said 500 and looked at dad, who was already disappointed with my poor bargaining skills, dad said 350, but first price is always the first price, the man knew i was ready to pay 500 and did not reduce a penny more. So i took it, though it could have come for less. So advice tip is, quote your first price carefully.

There are also Bengali saree shops who are ready to give Bongs a special discount 🙂 🙂 . As usual you would also find, a lot of snack food joints, a few gas goli stores :P, lots and lots of casual clothes, jewelry and accessories stores. Also there are kitchen ware outlets, where the guys outside are busy showcasing there vegetable cutting tools, wasting loads of vegetables. But people also were no less making the place around dirty, littering them with plastic bags, ice cream boxes and left over food.

I could not explore all of the exhibition, but a few takeaways for my readers who plan to visit it, would be, be there before 4PM, well in advance, do not wear or take expensive items, because when there is crowd, there are pick-pocketers, a bag to dump in all your shopped items, and most importantly be a smart shopper, “BARGAIN”, don forget this mantra. 🙂 🙂 A nice experience with family and friends 🙂

Its not about the bike… Its about Lance Armstrong, a Tarnished name now.

Book: It’s Not About the Bike: My Journey Back to Life                                                                                                                                 

Author:Lance Armstrong with Sally Jenkins

Genre: Autobiographical/Personal Memoirs

Madhu Stars: 4.5/5

A struggle of Cancer, Cycling, and the fight to be the color yellow.

                                           Lance Armstrong, one name which will never be forgotten in the world of professional cyclists. But now may be for the wrong reasons than the right. It was very difficult and dicey for me to write this post, because it was going to be strictly a book review and not a post in support /against of Lance.

The book presents a detailed insight into the life of a very prominent cyclist Lance Armstrong the six-time winner of the Tour de France, his hardships, his failures and his enduring tales of success.  Lance as a kid, always felt irritated and burnt down by life, and hated to see his mother take up so many difficulties just to give him a better life. He also felt helpless when his father left him even before he was born and also when his step father hit him, but yet his mother stuck to such people, just because his step dad’s income made their life a little easier. His mother’s presence was the only solace in his life, and one another thing which gave him strength from the inside was Cycling :). He grew passionate about it from the age of 10 and he initially won state level competitions in  Swimming. Then later cycling became his primary sport and love. He was the number one athlete in the under 19 category.

It was all good and success kissing his feet, not that he was not losing races, but he was being noticed, that he was diagnosed with Testicular cancer at a very later stage. The cancer had already affected his brain and lungs. The book is a more of a world in itself, a world of Lance when it got bad to worse and to a situation where you live with him through his cancer.  He has very well presented every detail of his illness and mentioned every bit of his treatment that you can feel through the hardships any cancer patient goes through.  But with his grit and determination he fights every obstacle in his way and leaves no stone unturned to win over death. He wins. He cycles, he lives with the help of his friends, doctors, his mother, his nurse La trice, His love then, Kik, and many more of his fans who included cancer patients and who were inspired by his struggle. He always lived in the fear that cancer will relapse, and he also gave up on cycling thinking living is more important but his passion for the sport brought him back to life in the real sense and then he fights through only to win,  Tour de France, not once or twice but 6 times.

For a cancer patient to overcome his illness, and cycle in such dire climatic conditions cannot obviously be taken very normally and suspicion around him always lingered. He tested positive, then he had reasons, he denied, he retired, the allegations continued, he finally admitted. But what is the truth? After reading his book, i get biased, i feel after one goes through 3 majors surgeries, recovers from the cancer, and assuming he doped himself, it is still difficult to win a race like  Tour de France   though i agree it is unpardonable.

Lance started Lance Armstrong Foundation, to give back to the people suffering from cancer. The yellow Livestrong bracelets is its creations which i flaunted in my school time without even knowing what they symbolized. The yellow color represents the Yellow jersey given in the sport of cycling to the person who leads Tour de France.

But what i found out on the net (http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2265.It_s_Not_About_the_Bike) was very disappointing and shocking to me, He did drugs that’s what everyone says, but that’s not my job to find out, I can just tell my readers the takeway’s from the book. A very very interesting read, (Please do not hold any preconceived notions in your mind), real life is always more tempting to know off,  it gives you inspiration to fight back. It tells you how difficult a cycle race is, be it storm, hail or ice, one has to keep cycling. The right set of people who want you to succeed will always be there in your life. And lastly, god will not knock on your door and help, but he will send people, resources, its up to you to use them in the right direction.

Images Courtesy: Google.

Information sources: Wikipedia