Re-Initiation and House Rental

I titled this a re-initiation based on an old document on wikipedia about tribal initiation.. "An initiation is also a ceremony by which a person is introduced into a society, or other organized body, especially the rite of admission into a order."

The initiation ceremony with colleagues and team was with a long drawn out drinks and dinner at Zaffran Exotica on Rd12. Food was above average consisting of multiple rounds of appetizers and drinks, and then followed by a simple rice based main course and dessert. Blenderspride and Old monk still seem to be favourites in mid level restaurants in the town. Also, caught up with a number of friends and visited various joints including Ohri's, Deccan@Kakatiya, Little Italy etc..

Last week also brought along the long and boring KANK [ kabhi alvida na kehna ] making it my first movie at IMAX and in hyderabad. I expected a lot more masala and entertainment from Karan Johar than the boring infidelity story. God, rani was crying all through the 2nd half...Loved amitabh's role as "sexy sam".. Reminded me of Hugh Heffner from playboy... After the movie a stop at Ohri's for a midnight coffee and we headed to the "end of mid term" bash @ISB, which was in full swing at 3:00 am with booze and music in high gear.

On the home front, signed a lease in Jubilee Hills after a long search. For now I settled in a 2700 sqft house and plan to move out in a year into my own place. We have a nice family in the ground floor and they are going out of their way to make me comfortable etc.

Independent House Rental : When it comes to independent houses around jubilee, banjara, srinagar, prashashan nagar, hitec etc., they vary from 17k to 50K for 1700 - 4000 sqft and also the price goes up with amenities. Normally it goes around Rs100 per sqft in a good neighborhood with nice features etc. I liked this house since its a stones throw away from my kid's school, coffee day, food world, a couple of nice restaurant [ trying not to give away the exact location ]. Security is acceptable and my house is half a km from the main road making it more secure due to a lack of pass-through traffic. Second on my list was a beautiful house at the edge of a valley with a private lawn etc., but the drive was too long from where I intend to join my kids and from my office.

Apartment Rentals : On the apartment front, I felt claustrophobic in the big townships I visited. There were some major builders who divided up 1500-1700 sqft into a 4 bedroom apt and the bedrooms were smaller than my hotel room at ameerpet. IVRCL towers is a departure from the rest and is very well laid out. The only challenge is that its far away from the city for now, but as hyderabad expands, this area will certainly become a city of its Own. Its around 14KM from Jubilee Hills checkpost and 20 KM from Ameerpet.

Main city of hyderabad is saturated at this time. No growth in property values and everyone is running towards the outskirts. Sainik Puri, Tarnaka, HabsiGuda etc., are also good areas with low rentals, in the 8k to 15K range, but they are far away from the IT Centers and some of my team members take 1.5 Hour to 2 hours on a good day to get to Madhapur. Future may look very good once the ORR [ outer ring road ] is complete. There was a newspaper column yesterday interviewing a couple of folks that bougt acres of land 100 KM away from hyderabad... I doubt it will get to 100KM away from the center, but the city is certainly evolving into a world class and happening place with the new airport and the knowledge corridor being connected by an 8 lane, elevated expressway soon. [No Hype .. Real Facts ]

There are some new and very upscale townships being constructed by Jayabheri named Orange County, [.. wasnt that the county bankrupt at one time ?] as well as L&T in the knowledge corridor -aka- gacchi bowli. They are going around 3500-4000 per sqft and are looking like the next big towers that will come up in this area. Also heard that there is a 90 floor tower being constructed soon some where around here. While I was in the US it was very hard to believe the hype, and believe me, there is a lot of Hype .. but Hyderabad is a happening place.

Thats enough for now.. more later..