I have been in Hyderabad for about 3 weeks, so its probably too early to comment on the city. And no matter how much I tell myself, involuntarily I end up comparing it to Bangalore. And that is the entire fault. Most things seem not good enough. I work and stay in this place called Madhapur which is some distance from the main city. Everything around Madhapur is exorbitantly pricy thanks to the impression that software folks make a lot of money. Many of the local people are puzzled as to what these guys do on the computer to get paid so much and change the city completely. Hyderabad has seen a lot of growth in the last few months [and years]. The govt. seems to have done some really good work in terms of growing the city. The roads are wide and well laid out, traffic is a lot lot better than you know where, and it’s largely a beautiful city. Lot of rocks and hilly terrain in and around the place – the sort you would travel miles to reach. The people are yet to catch up with the growth though. Its like a sudden gush of activity has poured into an otherwise laid back, quiet, conservative place.

Microsoft is a fun place. A lot of smart folk around and very little time on hands. I am working on the WinFS team here. I should be talking more about this soon. Last week I went for the 6^th anniversary celebration of the India Development Centre. Kinda weird to say my first 6^th anniversary.

I have rented a flat here and am finally going to try to live independently. I haven't started cooking yet, but considering the options that I have I might as well cook :). Before I took the house, I liked the idea of opening my door/window and looking at the fields around. Now I know I see the fields and the pigs together. Sometimes buffaloes too. Hmmm.