Let the games begin!

Ad from Deccan Chronicle

The Military World Games began here today. Members of the US team are participating and security is extremely tight as there have been blasts in the city in the past few months and India remains on Al-Qaeda's target list. Because of the security ordinary citizens cannot view the games! I wish they would at least televise them. In the bottom left corner of the ad you see the famous landmark of Hyderabad, the Charminar (char = four, minar = tower), which was built over 400 years ago.

"It's not whether you are knocked down, it's whether you get up." -Vince Lombardi

Lion

A lion soaking in the sun at the Nehru Zoological Park.

"The lion and the calf will lay down together, but the calf won't get much sleep." -Woody Allen

International Convention Center

Hyderabad International Convention Center - HICC. This is a world-class state-of-the-art convention center. Now that Hyderabad is on the world map, it really needed something like this. Recently the 58th International Astronautical Congress was held in this center. Another indication that Hyderabad is on the world map is that the World Military Games are going to be held here in the next week, and in Jan 2008, the sixth SIGHAN workshop on Chinese Language Processing will be held in the city!!

"If I were asked under what sky the human mind has most fully developed some of its choicest gifts, has most deeply pondered on the greatest problems of life, and has found solutions, I should point to India." -Max Mueller

Saraswati

A statue of goddess Saraswati in the Crafts Village (Shilparamam). Saraswati is regarded as the goddess of knowledge, music and the arts. She is depicted in white clothes with a stringed instrument called "Veena".

"Art! Who comprehends her? With whom can one consult concerning this great goddess? "- Ludwig van Beethoven

Crafts village

Near the HITEC city is a crafts village called Shilparamam. A large number of stalls sell a variety of beautiful handmade products.

"Everything has it's beauty, but not everyone sees it." - Confucius

Cyberabad

HITEC City.

Hyderabad Information Technology Engineering Consultancy City. This building houses software companies. This part of the city is called Cyberabad. When Bill Clinton visited Hyderabad (the first US President to do so) in 2000, there was a huge billboard which said "Welcome to the H1B capital of the world." H1B is the visa for working in the US. A large number of software professionals working in the US are from the state of Andhra Pradesh (of which Hyderabad is the capital), or many from other parts of India have got their education/training in Hyderabad. I hope to post some photos of some nice buildings in this area called HITEC City. There are an unbelievable number of classes available in Hyderabad for various computer languages and packages, and from what I understand they are running full. As with some other large cities in India, there are many BPO (business process outsourcing) offices providing call/support center, back office and medical transcription services. India is moving up from BPO into KPO (knowledge process outsourcing).

Although BPO and software industries have raised the living standards and contributed to a rising middle class, which in turn has stimulated consumerism and many MNCs (multinational companies) are opening their development centers and factories, young Indians have begun to pay the price with their health. Long hours of sedentary work, a change to fast foods, and the fact that Indians are genetically predisposed to diabetes and heart diseases, all contribute to younger and younger patients showing up at the doctors. And it does not help that India is moving in the same direction as the much criticized US healthcare system.

"They have computers, and they may have other weapons of mass destruction." - Janet Reno, US Attorney General in the Clinton Administration during an address at the Conference on Critical Infrastructure Protection at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

A series of arches at the Qutub Shahi Tombs

A corridor of arches surrounding the main chamber of the tomb. The group of people seen is standing at the entrance. On the ceiling between two arches there is an exquisite pattern in a circle and each one is different!

You walk through a series of arches, so to speak, and then, presently, at the end of a corridor, a door opens and you see backward through time, and you feel the flow of time, and realize you are only part of a great nameless procession. -John Huston