First Impression

Hitec City is a misnomer. Firstly, it’s not a city, only a couple of long stretches of road too narrow for the traffic it caters to. And it’s definitely not ‘hi-tech’ either. Grand corporate offices abound but lanes around most residential areas are perpetually dusty and in a terrible state of repair. Finding a place to live here is really difficult, particularly if you’re planning to shift in with people who’re fresh acquaintances. Most restaurants are too expensive for the quality of the food they serve, more so considering their chaotic ambience. Locals sparingly speak in any of the languages comprehensible to the vast non-Telugu speaking population. All of Hitec City, from general stores to apparel showrooms, seems to be concentrated within a radius of five hundred metres. Nightlife here is non-existent. Period. For a place where high-earning bachelors and spinsters are dying to spend big bucks, it’s unfair that anything and everything beneath the moon should shut down at 10 o’clock with scrupulous punctuality.

Nevertheless, once you’re inside one of those glass-and-steel wonders thronging the area, Hitec city is fun! Offices here are more of hangouts than workplaces. Grab some latté, light a fag, shout across the cubes, chat through training sessions, shoot innocent looks of admiration at pretty ladies and gorge on lots of free food… Wi-Fi hotspots are numerous and offer terrific download speeds. Cellular service providers, banks and the like make every effort possible to rope you in as a customer with not even half the formalities required elsewhere. Just belonging here brings a sense of importance that we freshers are so desperate to experience. Then there are work timings that are extremely flexible. Mournful Mondays and Freaking Fridays only belong to some distant world I feared I might step into. Of course you have the weekends to yourself, for the IMAXes and Fusion 9s screaming out for attention, but who the hell cares when it feels so good being at work!? Apart from the moments I miss the days at my alma mater… Life is beautiful.