Hyderabad shines in monsoon rain: Hot street food, long drives bring joy

Hyderabad: The seemingly unending hot summer days are slowly giving way to cooler climes, as monsoon showers dissipate the heat and dust in Hyderabad.

There is a welcome drop in temperature, power bills will be low and never mind if the rains make bigger pot-holes in the roads and cause huge traffic snarls on every road in the city! Hyderabad has turned green and beautiful, inviting people to go on long drives and quick weekend trips even though the cost of petrol is now at an all-time high.

Roasted Corn

There is an all-pervading aroma of corn being cooked over the coals.

The rainy season is when certain foods make an appearance which everyone craves for. Street food stalls serve piping hot fried crispy treats, steaming hot and spicy foods and popular hot beverages like masala chai and coffee. These comfort foods give you that warm feeling inside and make any rainy day perfect.

Street Food

Dosa, pav bhaji and idli vada vendors make a killing out of their small stalls and kiosks.

Plates of ragda pattis and samosas are sold like hot cakes. Even small stalls selling soup and momos will do brisk business on a cool, rainy day. The rains are here to stay for a while and so is the mood for hot, spicy snacks. Street food like pani-puri, bhel-puri and sandwiches may tempt you to make unscheduled halts.

Masala Chai

There’s nothing better than a cup of piping hot spiced tea better known as masala chai on a dull rainy day.

Irani cafes are full of people savouring the special Irani chai which is a full-bodied tea boiled with water and milk together while sugar can be added while boiling the tea or after.

Paradise Tea stalls and Pista House are popular halts for people from all rungs of society. Masala Chai is brewed with different combinations of warm spices like peppercorns, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves and ginger.

There is no standard recipe for making masala chai and different tea stalls use their own proportion and ingredients.

Weekend trips

Short weekend trips offer a quick getaway to nearby locations. Nagarjunasagar Dam and Srisailam are popular destinations for visitors from Hyderabad.

Srisailam

Srisailam offers you beautiful natural scenery with ghats, cliffs, plateaus, craggy ridges and dense forests.

The temples of Srisailam allow people of all religions inside the temple. Srisailam near Hyderabad is also a unique forest sanctuary apart from being an important pilgrimage town.

It is a wonderful destination for it makes a refreshing weekend break from Hyderabad. The forest of Srisailam is the hub of the largest tiger reserve in India. The reserve of Srisailam has 3,568 square kilometres of land and shelters animals and birds of different species. They are Blackbuck, Panthers, Tiger, Chinkara, Spotted deer, Nilgai, Pangolins, Leopards, Soft-shelled turtles, Porcupines, Crocodiles, Birds and Snakes.

Nagarjuna Sagar

Nagarjuna Sagar, at 150 km from Hyderabad, is one of the most prominent Buddhist centres and attractive tourist spots in Andhra Pradesh.

Known in ancient days as Vijayapuri, Nagarjunasagar takes its present name from Nagarjuna, one of the most revered Buddhist monks, who governed the sangha for nearly 60 years around the turn of the 2nd century AD.

It is also a place of immense archaeological significance and excavations which reveal Nagarjunasagar as a centre for the propagation of Buddhist teachings in South India.

One of the early river valley civilisations took birth here. Enthused by the peaceful environs of this place, Buddhists made this land a great hub of learning, setting up one of the four major Viharas here. Further down in history, one of the first Hindu kingdoms of South India, Ikshvakus made this place their capital. Once Vijayapuri, today called Nagarjunasagar, it boasts of the world’s tallest masonry dam.

Nagarjuna Dam

Nagarjuna Dam, completed in 1966, is 124 metres high and 1 km long and has 26 crest gates.

The lake, which it straddles, is the third largest manmade lake in the world. Four km from the dam is the viewpoint, where a panoramic view of the amazing landscape, is simply a feast to the eyes. One of the earliest hydroelectric projects of India, the Nagarjuna Sagar Dam is a symbol of modern India's architectural and technological triumph over nature.

The period of monsoon in Hyderabad is from mid-June to October. Plenty of rainfall and an accompanying high level of humidity mark the monsoon in Hyderabad. July has the maximum number of rainy days while September gets the maximum rain. Heavy rain affects Hyderabadi people in most of the areas, vehicles get jammed on roads everywhere and it sometimes brings normal life to a halt. Songs on the FM radio are about the rains and there is a song in every Hyderabadi’s heart even if he is stuck in a traffic jam caused by rain. This is why the monsoon is eagerly awaited, year after year!