The train ride from Warangal to Hyderabad was a smooth ride. We used the time to catch up on journaling and sleeping. Upon arrival in Hyderabad, our respective hosts were waiting to take us to their home. My Host, Mr. and Mrs. Mahendra Baid, took me to their daughter-in-law’s fashion boutique, called Goodlum’s. Shweta is the wife of their son Mahavid and is a fashion designer that uses vegetable dyes. I must have tried on over half of her one of kind collection and purchased 2 beautiful dresses. It is too bad I didn’t take any pictures of each outfit because they were all so beautiful!
My evening with Shweta and Mahavid was great fun. They took me to a great restaurant called Little Italy, which is known for it’s gourmet vegetarian pastas and other italian food. We also went to Eat Street which is a series of restaurants along a man-made lake. In the lake is a large statue of Buddha. At night, the lights are all lit up around the lake, along with the statue–they call it Necklace Road because it the lights around the lake look like a necklace from afar. This part of Hyderabad is beautiful and appears to be more modern than the rest of the city. Mahavid said it is the best part of Hyderabad. After the dinner, I went to a dance club at the Taj Banjara Hotel. The music was a mix of Trance, Indian Dance music and Hip Hop. Lots of people were on the dance floor and the energy was infectious. I loved it!
The rest of my stay with them was mostly consumed by Rotary events, but I did have more close discussions about life, politics, religion, and business. I learned a lot from them and became very fond of them in my three day stay.
